Zach knew his life wasn’t on track. He woke up an hour before he was scheduled to and stared at the ceiling in his room. He’d lain there and contemplated life as if he were a f**king poet or something. At thirty-one, he had the routines of a much older man. He went to work every day, traveled the same roads, and took predictable vacations with the same people year after year. After he returned from California, he hadn’t been the same. The drive alone across the desert on the back of a bike was enough of a James Dean moment to remind him of the days when he’d been young and felt as if the entire world was in front of him.
Now he was taking his brother to his latest job site to show off his accomplishments as much as to relieve his brother of the confines of their childhood home.
“Dad went to bed early.” Mike answered his question. “Mom tried to help Karen understand him.”
Zach offered a joyless laugh. “We’ve known him our entire life and we barely understand the man. I wouldn’t expect Karen to understand the great and powerful Sawyer Gardner.”
Mike’s gaze traveled to Zach’s side of the truck. “I always thought you got him more than any of us.”
“Just because I worked with him more, doesn’t mean I get him.”
“Karen has his number. She has this way of figuring out what makes someone tick within an hour. And then if pushed, she has no qualms with pushing that person against the wall with whatever bugs them most to get them to have a light-bulb moment.”
Zach had noticed that about her. He’d felt a strangely proud moment when she told their father that she wasn’t sure if she liked him either. Rena had it right. Karen had balls. Zach heard the admiration in Mike’s voice when he spoke about his wife. His sexy, smart, and ballsy wife.
Zach hated the itch inside him that made him acknowledge the deep roots of envy when it came to his brother. Never once had Zach begrudged Mike any of his success or his fame. He knew Mike worked his ass off, and Karen was right…he did it because he was taught to. Both of them had learned a strong work ethic from their dad, not a bad trait to have, unless it kept you from enjoying life.
“Dad could have used a light-bulb moment long before now,” Zach said as he pulled onto the highway and headed toward the next town.
“Does he still insist on staying at the hardware store like he’s the only one who can run it?”
“Mom has him coming home for lunch most days, but yeah…he thinks he needs to open it up and close it down. Monroe has been expanding, bringing in more business. He can’t compete for the big jobs. The builders order from St. George and have their shit delivered.”
“The store has never been a cash cow.”
“More a means of survival,” Zach agreed.
Mike stared out the window as Zach pulled off the highway only a few off-ramps from where they’d gotten on.
“I’ve tried to give them money.” Mike blew out a sigh. “Dad won’t have it.”
Zach thought as much. “Dad has a hard time if I’m buying lunch. Best way around that is to give them gifts.”
“I don’t think Dad will drive the McLaren.”
They both laughed at the thought.
“You can always front Judy a little money. She’s always hitting them up for more at college. And Hannah will be out in a year. Putting all of us through college had to have taken a hit on their retirement.”
“Does Hannah know where she wants to go?”
“She’s aiming for Colorado. Judy wants her to go to Washington.”
“But Judy will be graduating next year.”
“Maybe.”
“Is she behind in her credits?”
“No. It’s not that. I think she’s considering a shift in her major.”
“To what?”
Zach shrugged. “I’m not sure. The last time we really talked, she said she wasn’t excited about going into business of any kind after college. The thought of moving back to Hilton to work with Dad was depressing her.”
Mike glanced at Zach. “What did you tell her?”
“I told her to use her next year of college to study what made her smile and screw what Dad thinks.”
“Seriously?”
It had pissed Zach off that Judy was afraid and lived her life as if she were still fifteen and in need of their parents’ approval to date a guy. If any of them understood what it felt like to be held down by family obligations, it was him.
“Why didn’t you follow your own advice?” Mike asked quietly.
The question stiffened Zach’s spine. “What makes you think I didn’t?” He couldn’t keep the defensive tone from his words. “Having a contractor’s license can take me anywhere.”
“Yet you’re still in Hilton.”
Instead of defending why he was still in Hilton, Zach decided to be honest with his brother. “I’m considering a move.” As the words escaped Zach’s mouth, he realized how much he liked them.
A warm smile spread over Mike’s face.
Hannah and Judy dragged Karen around town and introduced her to nearly everyone, or so Karen thought. Her mind fluttered with names and faces…none of which she remembered. Apparently, Sawyer Gardner had a sister who lived in Monroe, and she had a handful of children as well. Seemed everyone Karen met was someone’s cousin, aunt, or uncle.
They were on their way to Petra’s, one of only two hairdressers in town. The short walk down Main Street brought out many new faces.
Have you met Mike’s wife? This is Mike’s wife…Mike got married last year. This is his wife…
Karen was sure that no one in town would know her as Karen. No one here called Mike, Michael, and no one in Hollywood called Michael, Mike. Occasionally Hannah would use the pet name Mikey. The name had brought a smile to Michael’s face the night before.
After several sets of introductions, Karen leaned into Judy’s side and asked in a whisper, “What’s with the wedge haircuts?” Every other woman they’d approached had a short bob haircut with the dramatic wedge in the back. The style had been popular a decade or so before, but very few women had kept with it. To Karen, the cut looked like someone screwed up, and she for one was happy to see hairstyles take a different turn. Not that she ever paid attention to new hair fashions. She kept her shoulder-length hair simple so she could easily put it up into a French twist or ponytail.
“It’s awful, isn’t it?” Judy laughed and they both attempted not to giggle when yet one more woman with the awful cut walked by. “Brianna is the other hairstylist in town. She returned from some hair show in Salt Lake in March and told all her clients that this was the new look of the year.”