11
Trent
Every July, Trent’s parents would put on a barbecue with all of his brothers. For his mother, it was a chance to see the grandkids and get the family all in one place. For his father, it meant a pleasant family gathering, but it also meant checking in on all of the Havenview chains at the same time.
Trent was scheduled to leave in four hours to catch a one-hour flight to Dallas. He would be gone for a week, and his stomach was already bursting with nerves about leaving Grace.
It wasn’t that he suspected something would happen while he was away. It was that he was going to miss Grace while he was gone.
He had grown used to having her around on a daily basis and the thought of going seven days without her seemed impossible.
He’d spent his morning gathering up his and Bex’s bags, loading them into the car, and making a pitstop at Grace’s condo to say goodbye.
She wrapped herself around him the minute he walked through the door, Bex toddling in front of them, and sighed, “I can’t believe you’re leaving!”
“Come with me,” he said impulsively.
Trent had mulled over the idea of inviting Grace several times. Even Bex had asked if she was coming along, but he didn’t know if it would be too soon for family gatherings.
“I can’t,” she said in an adorable whine. “I have to work.”
“Blow it off and come hang out with me for the week,” he said.
“Trent,” she giggled, “I’m the only chef working on the yacht! I can’t just bail on it.”
He knew she was right, but he was disappointed.
Still, his family was one of the most intense groups he had ever met, and he wasn’t wild about the awkwardness that may have unfolded during their week-long stay.
“Maybe it’s for the best,” he said with a one-shouldered shrug. “It’s too soon for you to meet my crazy family. They would scare you off, and then I’d be devastated.”
“Is that right?” she flirted, nuzzling close and pulling him into a passionate kiss. “You’d be devastated without me, huh?”
Trent leaned back in for another kiss, loving the way her lips stuck to his whenever he pulled away.
“Yes,” he said. “I would.”
Grace had her arms thrown around his neck and she was looking up at him with the cutest expression. She squinted her eyes as if she were trying to figure him out and then gave him a beautiful smile as she said, “I love you.”
Trent felt a jolt of electricity spark through his chest, making his heart feel like it was on fire.
He blinked in surprise but said nothing.
Grace, still looking confident, softly asked, “Is that too soon?”
Trent hesitated. “It’s soon,” he said.
Grace nodded, but she seemed unfazed by his answer. “I thought so, too,” she said. “But you know what? I don’t really care. I just wanted to say it so I would stop thinking about it so much. I love you, Trent Haven, and I’m gonna miss you and Bex so much while you’re gone.”
“Then you’re in luck,” he smiled. “Because we’re going to miss you right back.”
Trent only stayed a while longer before he had to make his way to the airport, but her words stuck with him the whole drive there.
She loved him.
It was too soon. But that didn’t mean he wasn’t feeling the same way.
Trent loved Grace. He’d been feeling that way for weeks, but he didn’t know what the rules were about vocalizing. He cursed himself that he didn’t say it back to her, but he was afraid of what it would mean if he did.
The truth was, even though it hadn’t been that long, Trent was starting to feel like Grace was the one.
The plane ride was quick, which was good for Trent because Bex hated being on planes. Not that Trent was especially fond of them, either, but Bex got fussy and tended to cry during takeoff.
When he got to his parents’ house, things had already gone crazy. His brothers were all outside playing football, some of their girlfriends playing along while others hung out with the kids or watched from the sidelines.
Trent spent the first couple of days at his parents place sharing meals, watching movies together, and playing sports with his brothers. To his surprise, his father waited three days before he started talking business.
"Mom must have lectured him," his brother Holden whispered with a laugh. "He never goes this long with talking about the ranch. He must be jonesin'!"
It was after a family dinner as his father brought homemade pineapple tarts and coffee around the table that he finally piped up about business. He went through each brother, from oldest to youngest, asking how their ranches were doing. As part owner of all of them, he had the reports on paper, but Joshua Haven always liked getting the news first hand.
"And how's the ranch treating you, Trent?" his father asked, making his way around the table. "I heard you're having a banner year for produce."
"Yeah, we have almost double what we had last year," he announced happily, eager to compete with his brothers’ good reports.
"Must be those bees!" Holden snarked, knowing full-well that Trent's bees were long gone.
"Yeah, must be," Trent smirked, then nodded toward his father and said, "That was a great idea there, pops."
"How's Bill doin'? He still takin' care of my ranch?" Joshua asked, digging into his second pineapple tart.
"Of my ranch?" he corrected with a laugh. "Yes, he is. He comes in a few times a week to make sure everything’s going smoothly and see if we have any problems."
"Are there ever any problems?" his father asked, eyeing him curiously.
"Nothing we can't handle," he said.
"And how's tourism?"
"Good, we're booked solid for the rest of the year."
"I still say we should expand. I'd like to bring twenty or thirty more cabins onto the property. What's the point of having all those acres if we're not going to utilize the space!"
His father had been pushing for more tourism and less farming, but up until this year, Trent had been happy to have a working farm. He liked working with his hands, and more than that, he liked teaching Bex about farming as opposed to catering to tourists.
But Grace had come up with an idea that Trent couldn't deny, and ever since launching the yacht experience—stressful as it was—Trent had found himself always thinking of new experiences they could bring to the ranch to give the guests a better experience. He wanted the majority of the experiences to be farm-centric, like horseback riding or doing the tours through the animal enclosures and the orchards, but Grace had opened his eyes to new possibilities like a spa, featuring products made exclusively at the ranch like honey and milk baths and aloe vera treatments.
He told his father about his ideas and finally revealed that he had launched the yacht experience. He had never seen his father so happy.
His father brought out a bottle of bourbon and poured a shot into his and Trent's coffees and announced that the whole table should celebrate Trent's success. It was a silly celebration, but he raised his glass all the same. It was at that very moment that he began to miss Grace terribly.