Instead, I asked, “What does your momma think?”
He rolled his eyes. “Momma thinks Asher hung the moon. You know that. She’s so glad he’s home for the summer, she’ll agree with whatever he does.”
“Or maybe she knows that Asher could make more to help pay the bills by working for someone else.” Arguing with Steel was one thing. Defending Asher was another entirely. I knew it and I did it anyway. It was as if I couldn’t control my mouth. I said those words without being able to stop them from pouring out.
“You seem real sure that Asher knows what’s best.” There was a sourness in his tone and I didn’t blame him for it. Everything was still raw and new between us.
“I was just thinking is all. Not my business. I’m sorry. I don’t know what your bills are or how much the farm makes for you all. You do. It’s not my business.”
He was quiet for a moment and I wondered if I’d said the wrong thing yet again. This was going to be difficult for a while. Maybe forever. Could I do this? Was this even fair to Steel?
He admitted, “I don’t know what the farm brings in,” and he didn’t seem proud of that fact either.
“Oh,” was all I said.
We rode in silence to the only seafood place in town. I fidgeted my hands and kept my gaze out the window like I’d never been here before. Part of me hoped to see Bray out there somewhere on the street. To assure me it hadn’t been him in the truck. I really wanted to know that it wasn’t. Then suddenly Steel said, “Asher does. And Bray. They help Momma with the finances. Asher did it until he left. Momma does most of it now, but Asher was so good at math she had him start helping when he turned seventeen. When he left for college, she let Bray step in. Someone had to step in. Bray was the best choice.”
He didn’t have to admit this to me. This was another thing about Steel to love and respect. He was honest, didn’t lie to make himself look better, but even that couldn’t change my heart. I wished it could. Even when my heart should’ve lied, it didn’t.
“They’re older,” I replied simply to comfort him.
He nodded. “Yeah, but I care more about the place. Making it a real working farm. Turning more than just enough to pay the bills. I want to see it thrive. Give Momma some extra to put back into it. You know what I mean?”
I tilted my chin, but didn’t say any more. Instead, my eyes suddenly found Asher. Like they always seemed to do. He was walking out of the hardware store with Hannah Watson stepping beside him. She was talking and smiling brightly, her face turning to gesture as they strolled, while Asher listened and took it all in. The small lift at the corners of his lips meant Hannah was making him truly smile, and Asher was liking whatever she was saying. Until this moment, I’d always liked Hannah. She was beautiful, smart and nice. But now I hoped she tripped over her pretty blue sandals and fell flat on her face. Or for a truck to hit her in the street. What was happening to me?
“Asher moved on that fast enough. The boss’s daughter is already hanging on his arm. Not sure Denver was expecting that.”
Why did Asher need another job anyway? That was silly. I suddenly agreed with Steel. There was no point in him working elsewhere with so much to do on their oen farm. Especially if it meant he was going to be around Hannah all the time. Wasn’t she supposed to be off at school? Why was she traipsing the streets with Asher? Drooling and looking all pretty?
“I thought she went up north to college somewhere,” I said a little too loudly, trying to then soften my voice at the end, but you could still hear it sounded all wrong.
“She did. Guess she’s home for the summer.”
A summer romance.
My stomach turned sour.
I wasn’t going to be able to eat anything now. Not a single bite.
Why did I have to see this? I wanted to see Bray, not Asher.
“Ready for lunch?” Steel asked as he parked the truck.
“Yeah,” I replied with even less enthusiasm than before, unsure I’d be able to swallow even one fried shrimp after the scene I’d just witnessed in the street.
I watched as Asher walked out to his truck and Hannah climbed on the passenger side. They had ridden here together. They were headed somewhere together. Asher was supposed to be working. Why wasn’t he working instead of gallivanting all over town with Hannah? My stomach clinched, jealousy dulling everything around me, even the air now smelling different to me. The sun looked less bright, the sky less blue, and my heart kept fracturing more and more. I didn’t know that it could break any more. But it seemed it could.
Asher Sutton
I HAD NO idea why I was at Jack’s with Amber Fort. But after the day I had with Hannah flirting incessantly with me and my trying to make sure she understood we were just going to be friends, I needed a drink. A big one. Hannah wasn’t taking the hint, though. When I walked into Jack’s, Amber had been here all tanned up from working at the salon with her tits and legs on display and I figured I needed a distraction. Amber knew the score. She wasn’t in it for the romance or promises of a forever. We’d messed around once in high school. She knew the drill.
Amber sat down on my lap as soon as I took a seat on the closest bar stool. “My day just got a helluva lot better,” she drawled, leaning in to shove her cleavage in my face. I wished that I could say the same.
“Heard you were driving around with sweet Hannah Watson,” she continued. This town had little to do but talk about people. I figured they’d have me and Hannah engaged by next week at this rate. Another reason to let Amber sit on my lap. Maybe enough people would see it and I’d just get labeled a manwhore instead.
“I’m working for Denver,” I told her as if she didn’t know this already.
She wrapped an arm over my shoulders and leaned in closer. “I heard that, but I also know you like your girls sweet. I figure it’s about time you tried some naughty.” I assumed she saw herself as the naughty in that sentence.
Vince Wallace and Todd Hyatt walked in and headed for a pool table. “Asher! Heard you were in town,” Vince called out while walking over to me. I’d played football with both of them. Wasn’t sure what either of then were doing now, though.
“Yeah, I’m home for a bit,” I told him.
“I see you got some good hometown entertainment,” he said grinning at Amber who just giggled.
I wasn’t sure how to respond to that.
“Ash, man, saw you play this year on TV. It was fucking crazy to see. Kept telling the boys I used to play on the same field as you,” Todd said as he took a beer from Jack’s nephew Roy who was working the bar today.