“I suppose that would depend on if I possessed any self-destructive tendencies.” The answer to which was a total yes. Maybe it was the blunt nature of the couple she’d spent the day with or the warmth of Gillian showered her in—affection Colby had in no way earned that inspired her to complete the thought. “Or if by grasping a second chance to turn back to an earlier chapter, I sabotage the progress I’ve made.” She had made progress, dammit. No longer reliant on her mother’s goodwill or stifling herself to fit into the mold her family wanted for her, she’d actually settled some of her wilder ways.
“Well, you are the only one who can truly decide if this is the path for you, or not.” Gillian met her gaze, the ever-present smile ghosting at the corners of her mouth. “But you have friends who will support you and help you no matter where you decide to direct your energies.”
About that… “I want to apologize in advance if what I am about to say is rude.” The girl could leave her mother’s house, but her mother’s rules didn’t always leave her. Not when the rule of politeness, never rocking the boat, and keeping her head down had been a way of life. “I met you this morning, and I really don’t know anyone else here except for Luc. To be blunt, I’m not sure he counts.” Distrusting the sense of connection blooming after such a short acquaintance with a patient and currently with the physician and her husband, Colby sighed. “We’re all acting like I’m staying here—permanently. But I don’t know any of you.”
Not even her dark mysterious host with his palpable loneliness and toe-curling smiles.
“You know, I like to think we’re making a play for you,” Gillian said after a long, almost contemplative silence. The response was not what Colby expected. “Sometimes you meet people, and you click. You know they are the right kind—the good kind. The kind that belong with you.” Her gaze dipped to her left, focusing on her husband. “Sometimes those people are stubborn, and don’t think they deserve to belong somewhere. They get this damned idea they aren’t good enough, even if what they decide to measure themselves against is so damnably incongruous…”
Chuckling, Owen reached over to cup his wife’s cheek. The gentle action coupled with the size of his broad hand stroking Gillian’s face left Colby feeling as though she intruded on something inescapably intimate and profound. Turning her attention to the catalog once more, she sighed.
“Colby?” The question in Gillian’s voice demanded her attention. “You aren’t sure of us yet because you aren’t sure of yourself. You aren’t sure of Hudson River because it doesn’t fit the image of the place you planned to go…” The road curved and on one side she could see the drop toward the river, and on the other a farmer’s market filled to the brim with people laughing, shopping and making their way through their lives.
“There’s a saying about how when we’re born, we don’t get to choose our families. That choice comes later.” Reaching over the seat, Gillian held out her hand. “As adults, we can choose the life we want, and we can make it happen.”
“Does it ever get hard?” Colby should have swallowed the question the moment it danced across her tongue. “Being so damn nice?” The longing to just take them at their word, to take Gillian’s kindness and even Brett’s—though arguably her host had a more authoritarian manner to his kindness.
Though she offered only a shrug for an answer, Gillian’s smile didn’t diminish. “If I could explain it to you I would. I am—me. For what it’s worth, I like you, Colby. I want to be there to help you, but no one is going to make you stay.”
“Or maybe they will,” Owen’s contradictory statement tugged their attention forward. He’d turned onto the long slip of a road leading toward Brett’s house and they weren’t the only one there. At least a dozen cars were parked in the grass just off the driveway. Even inside the truck, the bass beat of music vibrated and smoke rose from three grills stationed on the stone patio—a second one Colby hadn’t noticed before.
Her stomach sank. A party meant tons of people. People she didn’t know. Glancing down at her jeans and t-shirt, she hoped she wasn’t underdressed. Then again, maybe she could sneak away…
Owen pulled the truck into the circle before the house, and an older woman hurried down the steps as the long furred tail of a dog disappeared around the side of the house. Brett didn’t have any pets, at least not so far as she’d noticed. Maybe his guests brought their animals?