“Excellent. There’s a binder in the kitchen with some information you might find useful, including the restaurants near us that deliver. If you want to use the woodstove, you can go to Valley Landscaping and get some wood, or you can call them; they’ll deliver it to you. Both their address and phone number are in the binder as well.”
She’d done a lot of things in her life, but starting a fire wasn’t one of them. While she doubted it was difficult, she didn’t see herself giving it a try anytime soon.
“If you need anything or have any issues, please just call.”
Chapter 3
After sleeping in his sister’s spare bedroom for a few days and then in a hotel room for several more, Aaron was looking forward to a night in his own bed. While the hotel he’d stayed at had been great and offered guests some excellent amenities, including one of the nicest indoor pools he’d ever used, at the end of the day, he’d still returned to a hotel room. The same was true of his stay at his sister’s house. Although Nick and Elise had insisted he treat the place as his own and even gave him a key, it wasn’t the same as being in your own home.
Perhaps even more than his bed, he was looking forward to a meal that didn’t come from a restaurant. The last homecooked meal he’d eaten had been breakfast on Sunday before leaving his sister’s house for the conference in Charleston. He enjoyed eating out as much as the next person, but it got old fast when you did it for every meal.
Rubbing the persistent ache over his left eye, he stopped at the four-way intersection. While he did a fair amount of air travel each year, he hated it. Between the long lines at security, cramped seats onboard the plane, and frequent delays thanks to the weather, it often gave him something bordering on a migraine and put him in a foul mood. Today’s travel experience hadn’t been any different. After making his way through security this morning, he’d sat around the airport for an additional two hours, thanks to a weather delay. Then he’d hung around the airport in Nashville for another hour and a half. He never understood who planned the flight routes. To him, it made very little sense to fly west and then north, but that particular flight had been one of the cheapest available. Even when his plane landed, his traveling wasn’t done, thanks to the almost three-hour drive from Boston to Avon. Actually, the only time he missed living in the city was when he flew in and out of Logan Airport.
Thankfully, his day of travel was just about behind him, and he didn’t need to head back to Boston for at least two weeks.
The guitar solo pumping through the car’s speakers stopped, replaced by the ringtone he’d programmed for when his younger sister called. When he answered, though, it wasn’t Candace that greeted him. Instead, it was his niece, Tiegan.
“Hi, Uncle Aaron. Mom wants to know if you’ll be home for dinner.”
For the past seven months, his sister and niece had been living with him. On the nights Candace didn’t have class, she prepared dinner. Unlike their older sister, she cooked as well as, if not better, than their mom.
“Yep. Tell her I’m less than five minutes from home.”
Growing up, he’d looked forward to calling somewhere other than Avon home—not that he didn’t love the town, but he’d been eager to leave and experience somewhere different. As soon as he graduated college, he’d gotten his first apartment in Watertown. He’d lived there until he could afford a condo in Boston just minutes from his office. Three years ago, though, he’d bought his parents’ house and moved back to town. He didn’t regret his decision in the least. Well, except for days like today when he traveled. If he still lived in Boston, he would’ve been home hours ago and already relaxing in front of the television with a beer.
“Okay. I’ll tell Mom. We made lasagna and meatballs.” His niece loved to help in the kitchen, and it didn’t matter who was doing the cooking or what they were making.
Even after three years of owning the home, sometimes when he drove up, he thought of it as his parents’ house—the place where he and his sisters had grown up rather than a place that belonged to him. Especially when he’d been away for any length of time. His dad had never mentioned it, but Aaron wondered if he’d felt the same way after inheriting the house, the land, and everything on it.
No lights appeared in the windows of the apartment over the campground office. More than likely, it meant Mom was joining them for dinner—something she often did. He still had mixed feelings about her living there. The house was big enough for her to live with him. And when his dad died and Aaron purchased the home, he’d insisted she stay. But she’d been adamant about him having his own place and had the space over the campground office converted into a one-bedroom apartment.
It wasn’t the only thing she’d been adamant about. When he’d first mentioned he planned to move back to Avon so he’d be close by in case she needed him, she’d insisted it wasn’t necessary, that she didn’t want him disrupting his life because of her. He’d ignored her because the idea of her being alone with so many strangers coming and going from the property bothered him. Once he’d convinced her nothing she said would change his mind, he’d started looking for something in town. She’d balked at the idea and proposed he simply move back in and stay with her as long as he wanted. As much as he appreciated the offer, he was far too old to be living in his mother’s house. That eventually led to her suggestion that he buy the house he’d grown up in. She argued it was more house than she needed anyway, and it would be the perfect size for when he got married and started a family—something she’d been after him to do on and off for a little while now.
Garlic, oregano, and cheese greeted him when he stepped into the kitchen, and he realized just how starving he was. He’d grabbed a burger and fries while waiting around the airport in Nashville but hadn’t eaten anything since.
“You’ve got perfect timing,” his sister said as she closed the refrigerator door, two bottles of salad dressing in her hand. “As soon as Tiegan’s done with the salad, we can eat.”
His niece stood at the counter cutting up mushrooms, and he paused to ruffle her hair. Not surprisingly, his dog, Clifford, sat right by her feet hoping she’d drop some food. The dog ate everything from potato peels and mushrooms to hot dogs and steak. “I’m going to drop my bag off upstairs, and I’ll be right back. Is Mom joining us?”
Candace set the lasagna pan on the table and snagged a mushroom off the cutting board when she returned to the counter for the bowl of meatballs. “She’s in the basement looking for an old photo album. I have no idea why.”
Since his mom had limited space in her apartment, she’d left a lot of sentimental stuff behind in the basement. Considering the amount of stuff she had down there, she might be searching for a long time.
When he’d first moved in, he’d considered using the bedroom he’d grown up in rather than the master bedroom. After all, for as long as he could remember, the room had been his parents’. In the end, he’d decided to make it his own, because it was not only the largest room in the house, but it also had its own bathroom. For the first month or so, he’d slept in his old room while he remodeled the other bedroom and bath. The first thing to go had been the wall-to-wall carpeting, followed by the pea-green paint on the walls. His mom had a thing for the color green. It didn’t matter the shade. The master bedroom wasn’t the only room painted green; however, the shade in there had been by far the worst. Once done in there, he’d systematically gone through the rest of the house, making changes in every room. Now the place reflected his tastes throughout.