It wasn’t that her mother’s cooking wasn’t good. On the contrary, it was as good as ever. But Brenne couldn’t enjoy it, not after the fallout from her shouting match with Alex. Word of her indiscretion with Jameson’s best friend had reached the big house before she did. Her older brother had followed her up the stairs, words coming out of his mouth like they were shot from a cannon, but she didn’t hear any of them. She blocked them out and slammed the door of her bedroom in his face.
Brenne had kept her dinner plans with Gavin that night, mostly because flying away in a helicopter to anywhere that wasn’t her family ranch had been high on her list of priorities. The dinner itself had been as tasteless as the one she was consuming now.
Gavin, for his part, understood her situation, even if he wasn’t full of advice on how to deal with it. “You both have strong feelings for one another. If you can find a way around the obstacles standing in your way, you might end up with a successful relationship.”
He’d said the words with his characteristic equanimity, like a math teacher laying out the logic required to solve an equation. She wondered how he could reduce the explosion of emotions she felt when it came to Alex down to one if/then statement.
Mama May wasn’t the only one watching her fail to eat her supper. She was the focus of attention at the table, despite the snippets of conversation that were passed around to quickly die in the face of the awkward silence hanging over the table. Jim glared at his plate, eating around the split in his lip he’d gotten during the tussle with Alex.
She’d been leaving the big house to head to the helicopter when Mark had caught up with her, informing her of Jim’s attack. Brenne didn’t know how to feel about it at the time, so she’d shoved it deep down inside, but in the back of her mind, she’d worried about how bad Alex might have gotten hurt. At least it was only Jim, she’d told herself.
Still, a bigger showdown could be on the horizon. Jameson had been in a foul mood since, walking around in such a funk that it was almost as if you could see the dark cloud above his head, raining resentment down on him. She’d managed to ignore him last night, but Brenne knew a reckoning was coming. It was only a matter of time.
“Well, might as well clear the plates,” Mama May said with a hint of dejection. “A perfectly good roast wasted on most of you,” she grumbled, rising and taking her plate up in her hand.
“Delicious as ever,” Mark said, sopping up the last bit of gravy on his plate with a homemade biscuit. Nothing could put a dent in the college athlete’s appetite, not even their current epic-level dysfunction.
Brenne picked up her plate and carried it into the kitchen. “Why don’t you stick around and give me a hand cleaning up?” her mother said when she stopped at the sink to rinse her dish. It was couched as a request but there really was no tactful way to tell Mama May no. They worked in silence as the MacAllens filed in with their dirty dishes, then filed back out again.
Her father was the last one to linger, finishing off a tall glass of milk. “Don’t tarry too long,” he told Mama May before kissing her on the cheek. “That police show you like has a new episode tonight.”
“I’ll be in before the opening credits. Now shoo so we can get this done.” Her mother waved her arms to move her father along, and Bill left the kitchen with a chuckle and an air kiss aimed at Mama May. They were a ray of sunshine in her otherwise dark mood. For too long, Bill MacAllen had been too sick to do much more than breathe. To see him back to his old self was a much-needed relief.
“Don’t you think it’s about time you made up with Doc Parsons?”
Brenne turned her head to take in her mother, who was sealing up the leftovers for storage in the fridge. “Pardon?”
“As long as you two been seein’ each other, you’re really going to walk away from a little strife?”
Brenne could have been bowled over with a feather. “What do you mean?”
“You think I didn’t know you’ve been sneaking around all over Whiskey River and half of Lubbock to hook up with that man?” Mama May shook her head. “You’ve underestimated your mother.”
“If you knew, then why didn’t you say anything before now?” Brenne stood at the sink, clutching the rim for fear of her knees giving out. The scale of Mama May’s revelation had her reeling.
“It wasn’t the right time. I knew what you were up against. Alex and Jameson had always been so close, so I couldn’t fault you for sneaking around. But now that things are public, you’re free to do what you want.”
Brenne let out a bark of laughter. “You think I’m free? I’ve spent my whole life with a pack of overprotective brothers. Now that they know about it, the shitstorm is just starting.”
“Watch your mouth, girl. You’re still young enough for me to wash that mouth out with soap if you test me.” Her mother’s voice was gruff, and Brenne didn’t doubt for a minute that she’d try and feed her the soap if she got riled enough.
“Mama, Jim tried to take Alex to the woodshed last night. And it’s only a matter of time before Jameson has his crack at him. Heck, I wouldn’t be surprised if a whole posse of MacAllens went riding over to the Parsons’s farm to avenge my honor.” She scoffed, feeling defeated. “I’m as free as a caged bird here.”
Mama May wiped her hands on a towel and turned to look at her. “What about that fella with the helicopter? Gavin Jeffries seems nice enough, and I’m sure he’d be obliged to take you anywhere you want, if you asked him. There’s your freedom. Why not take it?”
Brenne stared at her mouth, realizing she was right. I’ve underestimated her. Mama May saw clearly, but she didn’t understand. “Gavin is great, and he’s a wonderful friend, but that’s all he’ll ever be. And while he might offer me the chance for adventure, it wouldn’t be a real escape. Whiskey River is my home, and temporarily running away from my problems isn’t going to help solve them.”
As she spoke, she realized she was convincing herself as well as her mother. “It’s like when you fall off a horse. If you don’t get back up on it, you’ll build the fall up in your mind until you never want to get back on a horse. The fall festers in your mind. I don’t want what happened between me and Alex to fester. Better we put it behind us, grind through the pain, so we can go back to being neighbors.”
Brenne knew in her heart that Whiskey River was home, and she had no plans to move away, even after her spectacular crash and burn with Alex. It wasn’t going to be easy to move on, but running away from it wouldn’t make it any easier. They were part of the same community, a community both had fought to save. They’d have to behave like grownups and put this ordeal behind them in order to heal.
“I heard Gavin isn’t going to build his big factory here anymore,” Mama May said, her tone mild.
“It’s not really a factory,” Brenne corrected, “but you’re right. He’s not.” It was the one good thing that had come out of last night. Whiskey River was safe, and she and Gavin would remain friends. It was a better outcome than she could have hoped for, but her relief at the averted crisis wasn’t enough to pull her out of her depression.