Trip froze. Would this be how he’d respond every time he heard her name, thought about her, saw her? How would he function this way? The anxiety was worse than dangling from a loose carabiner several hundred feet off the ground.
“There you go again, always with the silence. What’s so hard about answering a straight question? There’s no right answer, just an honest one.”
“Maybe,” Trip muttered. “Hell, Dad, I don’t know. Why do you think I’m asking you these questions? I’ve got no experience with all these emotions.”
“How do you feel today, now that Kelsey’s dumped you?”
“Like shit, thanks.” God, his dad was like an obnoxious member of the press corps.
“What’s that tell you?”
“Tells me I care about her a lot. She’s special, and I wasn’t ready for things to end. But that doesn’t mean I’m able to promise her a forever.”
“For what it’s worth, I remember watching you with her that first time I met with Wade. Then you beat the shit out of your brother over her. Before you knew about the baby, you’d stopped seeing other women. And you embraced the pregnancy like a man who was happy about his future. Now you’re feeling ‘shitty’ and asking for the majority of your trust funds just to make things better for her. All things considered, I think you love this girl.”
“Well,” Trip started, growing increasingly hot and itchy from being so exposed.
“Last piece of advice, then I’ll let you go. No one knows what forever looks like. We just do the best we can each day. And when people are in love, any mistakes can be resolved. You look at my marriage as a failure because I made a mistake. But I see it as a success, because we put my mistake behind us and are still together and happy.”
Trip scrubbed his face with his palm, unprepared to handle that perspective.
His dad filled the silence. “If you love Kelsey, tell her. Sooner or later, you’ve got to learn to commit to something bigger than the next ski slope.”
“Hey, I made a commitment to Backtrax, and I’m about to sink millions into this town.”
“True. There’s hope for you yet.” His dad chuckled.
“So does that mean you’ll release the funds?” Trip asked, happy to redirect the conversation away from him and his outlook on love.
“Yes. But when you build that house, make sure it has more than one bedroom.”
Trip chose not to respond to the less-than-subtle nudge toward marriage and family. Before he hung up, he asked, “Can one of your attorneys handle setting up an anonymous nonprofit entity to buy the parcel?”
“Why do you want it to be anonymous?”
“I think Kelsey’d be uncomfortable brokering the deal if she knew I was the buyer. Besides, I’m not doing this to win points with her, I just want to make sure she’s got something positive to focus on now. Something to help take her mind off the loss of the baby.”
Trip tried not to hear his dad smiling through the phone when he said, “That, my boy, is what love is all about.”
Kelsey typed the details of her newest listing into the MLS system. The cute in-town home had an updated kitchen, two-and-a-half baths, three bedrooms, and a fenced yard. Perfect starter home for a young family.
Of course, that thought made her nose tingle, but she’d been growing stronger every day. Three days post-miscarriage, everything she’d lost only crossed her mind about once every hour—a big improvement from being unable to think about anything else.
It took a lot of effort on her part. A complete commitment to repressing any thought of her baby or Trip the instant either popped into her mind. Maybe it wasn’t the healthiest approach, but if she gave in to temptation, the raw ache of missing them chafed like a blister inside a new shoe.
Her phone rang, jarring her from her thoughts. “Peak Properties, Kelsey speaking.”
“Ms. Callihan, my name is Amy Katz. I’m a real estate attorney representing a nonprofit that’s interested in the eight-acre parcel you’ve listed on Mountain View Road.”
Kelsey sat upright. Ms. Katz’s words burst like a ray of sunlight streaming through an otherwise gloomy week. “That’s wonderful. I’d be happy to meet with someone from the organization to walk the property and discuss the details.”
“The principal is unavailable at this time, but is familiar with the land. I’ve got a power of attorney to oversee the negotiation and closing. We’re prepared to make a no-contingency offer of six million, closing within thirty days.”