Free Leaving Bluestone by MJ Fredrick

alone, but it was probably a good idea to go, to get to know his sister again, maybe have an ally over the next few days. He nodded and followed her out to her minivan. She unlocked the passenger seat and spent several minutes clearing off the detritus on the seat—receipts, reusable grocery bags, half-used bottles of hand sanitizer. She tossed it into the back seat as her boys climbed in, and he saw more crap in the back. She smiled apologetically over her shoulder at him.
    “Boys, you know.”
    He made a noncommittal noise and climbed into the passenger seat and untangled the seatbelt before fastening it. Rose started the car on the third try and backed out of the driveway, narrowly missing his rental car. He took advantage of the “O.S.” handle above the window as they headed through town and out to McPherson.
    Behind him, the boys nudged and argued and kicked the back of his chair while his sister drove on, oblivious.
    “So you own a bar now? How do you like it? You doing well?”
    “Business is picking up again,” he said, trying to remember if he’d ever told her he owned a bar. “May slow now that winter’s coming.”
    “I don’t know how you can stand those winters up there. Didn’t you have snow in May or something?”
    “Not this year, but in years past, yes. It’s rough, but you learn. Nothing like Kansas winters, though we had some hellacious blizzards growing up.”
    “Still do, now and again, but very rarely past February.”
    They were talking about the weather after eleven years apart. How sad was that? He didn’t know how to make conversation.
    “And you’re liking living out on the farm? How’s that going?”
    “We had a pretty good year. Got some bills paid off, including this one.” She patted the steering wheel of the minivan that looked to be at least ten years old. Maybe that was just wear and tear.
    “That’s good. How’s Dad?”
    Okay, maybe he shouldn’t have just blurted it like that. Her nose pinched and she kept her gaze on the road in front of her, for a change. “He’s apparently been sick for a while and hasn’t told anyone. So it’s pretty bad.”
    “He’s too stubborn to die.”
    A ghost of a smile lifted the corners of her mouth, but she didn’t respond.
    “Are Liam and Jared at the hospital?”
    “Jared is at school. Liam is at work, but he’ll be by later.” She glanced into the rearview mirror at her sons. “Mom’s not handling this too well, so you know.”
    Big surprise. His mother never handled anything well.
    McPherson was closer than he remembered, or at least closer the way Rose drove. In no time, they were at the hospital.
    If any part of him had expected a warm greeting from his parents, that was put to rest as soon as he walked through the door after Rose and her kids. His mother popped out of her chair beside his father’s bed, her face cold, blank.
    “What are you doing here?”
    He planted his feet, hands folded in front of him. “Rose said Dad was in the hospital and that I should come.” He chanced a glance at the old man, who was lying in the bed, an oxygen cannula creasing his face, an IV and monitor wires strapping the big man down. Well, he wasn’t big anymore. He was wasted and thin, and how no one hadn’t figured out he was sick, he had no idea. His father’s eyes were barely open, and Quinn had no idea if the man knew he was there.
    Suddenly, his mother was in front of him, only coming up to the middle of his chest. “You haven’t been home in a dozen years, but you hear your father is under the weather and you come hurrying back? Are you looking to get back in the will?”
    “Under the weather?” he asked, incredulous. “And, no, I don’t want anything from you.” Except to find peace, maybe, in their relationship. To mend fences, but not so he could come back and be a part of their lives. To say good-bye to his father peacefully. By the looks of it, he’d come in the nick of time. Whether he’d be