Rebuilding Valley View (Valley View Book #4)

Chapter 16

Disappointed is the only word to describe how this trip home has gone. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised, but I allowed myself to get caught up in a fantasy that my brothers would drop everything to see me. I know I’m the one that made the choice to go to North Dakota for a year and I’ve been busy working and with Tyler and maybe haven’t made as much of an effort to call and text as I should, but I was expected more from them. Dean was the one that pressured me in coming home for a visit but then doesn’t even remember that I’m going to be in town.

I guess maybe my limited time spent with the Brown family has given me rose-colored glasses when it comes to family. This isn’t the first time Dean and Les have forgotten about plans we’ve made. This is just the first time I was coming back home after being gone for a while. I had hoped that they had missed me or something, but now I’m not so sure.

Dean did make time to meet up with me on Sunday morning for brunch at a local cafe. He was happy to get out of the house, I guess the boys spending the night barely slept and then were up super early. I spent most of the time comparing the cafe to the diner back in Valley View, that just made me think of Tyler and miss him.

Quinn came home from his business trip on Monday, so tonight we’re meeting up for dinner at Dean and Les’s house before I leave to go back tomorrow. When I first took this job, I never imagined I’d be missing it so much. I’m ready to get back to Valley View, to my work, and of course, to Tyler.

Quinn pulls up in his Mustang just as my Uber pulls in, he greets me as I get out and gives me a big hug. “What’s up, little sis?”

“Hey Quinn! How was your trip? Where were you again?”

“Toronto. It was alright but nice to be home. I get to be home for three weeks this time around.”

“Three weeks? Is that a new record?”

“Something like that. What about you? Haven’t heard much from you since you left.”

“Things are going good. We’re still looking to be on schedule. At this point, I’m more concerned about the weather than the actual work.”

“Are they already talking snow?”

“Let’s just say that I have us finishing the last week of September and it has been known to snow there before that.”

“Well, crossing my fingers for you.”

“I appreciate it.”

We walk into Dean and Les’s house and are greeted by Les. She gives me a hug and tells me over and over again how sorry she is about the mix-up in dates. “I don’t know how we forgot. I had it on my calendar and everything, but my mind was thinking you came in on Sunday, not Saturday.”

“It’s fine, really,” I try to cover the disappointment in my voice. I don’t want this family dinner to be all about being the forgotten child once again.

“I feel like such a crappy sister in law, I just swore it was a Sunday.”

I wave her off, “I found a nice hotel to stay at, they even have room service which I’m sure Dean wouldn’t let me have here.”

Dean walks into the living room at that moment and shakes his head. He has a thing about food anywhere except the kitchen or dining room. He’s always been a huge clean freak. “It was bad enough that the boys had popcorn in the living room yesterday, don’t press your luck.”

“Wow, in the living room?” I gasp and clench my chest.

Les laughs, “I know, I had to make the biggest deal with him to allow it.”