by Carly Bloom
* * *
Casey looked at Dr. Martin. “Happy now?”
The X-rays had shown nothing was broken. Casey’s back was in a damn spasm and his ribs were bruised, but that was it. And he’d been carried out of the arena on a stretcher while every cowboy within a ten-mile radius had laughed his ass off.
They’d never have laughed over a serious injury. During his bull riding days, Casey had seen guys get their necks broken. He’d seen ropers lose their thumbs. He’d seen a man tossed into the air by a bull who seemed to think he was a rag doll.
But he’d never seen a man just fall off his horse for no good reason.
Except there had been a reason. He’d seen his whole damn world watching him from the fence and the realization had momentarily tilted the universe.
“I’m happy that you’re not mortally wounded,” Dr. Martin said. “Unless you’re planning to die of embarrassment, that is.”
Casey gave him the side-eye. Partly because he deserved it, but mostly because he couldn’t turn his head.
“You’ll need to take it easy for the next few days. I’ll give you some muscle relaxants—”
Casey waved his hand dismissively, but the movement made him wince.
“And you should stick to the bed or recliner.”
Like that was gonna happen.
“And avoid reading. You might have a slight concussion.”
“Thanks, Doc.”
Casey got down from the exam table gingerly. He’d been through this before and knew what to do. Warm compresses. Cold compresses. He’d try to avoid the muscle relaxants, since they made him wonky and he needed his mind clear.
There was much thinking to be done.
Last night he’d been in a downright state of shock and panic when Hope had called him Daddy. She’d seemed pretty damn sure about it, after all. But he believed Jess when she said he wasn’t the child’s father.
Then who was?
Wondering made his jaw and head hurt even more than his back. Jessica had been gone for almost twelve years. If she hadn’t been pregnant when she and her mom had stolen out of Big Verde in the middle of the night without leaving so much as a note, then she’d become pregnant very shortly thereafter.
But somehow, he knew it was the reason they’d left. Jess had been pregnant. In high school. But it didn’t make sense, unless she’d slept with someone besides him. And while he knew folks made mistakes, particularly young folks, he just didn’t buy it. Not Jessica. She’d been levelheaded and practical, even at eighteen. The most foolish thing she’d ever done was him, and nothing in her behavior during their time together had indicated she was anything other than head over heels in love with him.
And he’d felt the same.
Jessica had come back to Big Verde for a reason, and he thought he’d figured out what it was. But he’d been way off.
He walked down the hospital’s short hallway and out the back door where the ambulance had deposited him earlier. The bright sunlight hurt his head, and Doc might be right about that slight concussion. He reached in his pocket for his keys and looked around for his truck.
Shit.
The truck was at the arena. How the holy hell was he supposed to get home?
A silver Lexus pulled up.
Jesus Christ, not now.
The tinted window rolled down slowly, and there sat Annabelle Vasquez. She wasn’t the only woman in Big Verde who regularly pursued him, but she was no doubt the most aggressive. And she was wearing a goddamn candy striper uniform.
Blue Jays. That’s what the hospital volunteer ladies called themselves.
Now would be a good time to make a dash for his truck, only he couldn’t dash if his life depended on it, and there was no truck.
“I heard about your little accident,” Anna said with a smirk. Her eyes roamed the full length of his body. “You didn’t hurt anything on your way down, did you?”
Why did everything she say sound so dirty?
“No, ma’am. It wasn’t until I hit the dirt that everything started to hurt.”
“Hmm. Well, I’m early for my shift. Do you need a ride home?”
“That’s mighty nice of you to offer but—” He looked around. It wasn’t like he had many options.
Anna raised an eyebrow, then leaned over and opened the door.
And Casey got an eyeful. He could see clear down to her belly button in that getup. Surely the old ladies like Mrs. Dunbar and Miss Mills didn’t wear the same outfit?
“Is that the official hospital volunteer uniform?”
“It’s the same general idea,” Anna said. “I had mine altered a bit.”
Casey got in the car, feeling like this was the beginning of a very bad slasher film where you just knew it wasn’t going to end well. Or, as Anna reached across him to help grab the seat belt, “accidentally” touching his arm, shoulder, thigh, chest, and lap, the beginning of a low-budget porno.
“Okay, Sheriff,” she purred. “Get ready to ride.”
He gulped and stared out the window.
As they pulled out of the parking lot she added, “Nice chaps.”
* * *
Jessica followed a winding road to the top of Lookout Hill and stopped in front of a private lane. The number on the fence post matched the address JD had given her.
They’d gone by the hospital only to discover that Casey had been released nearly as soon as he got there. The doctor had told them he had some bruised ribs and was perfectly fine—HIPAA laws apparently hadn’t reached Big Verde—but Jessica wanted to see for herself.
She peered down the lane at the white rock house. For some reason, her hands were sweaty. Casey was going to have some questions, and she wasn’t sure she was up to answering them. Hope was a Long, but Jessica had never intended on anyone knowing. Mavis had loved her only grandchild, but she had never suggested bringing Hope home to Big Verde.
Maybe Mavis was ashamed. Just like Jessica had been ashamed over her mom’s citizenship status. Jessica had felt like she’d done something wrong, even though she hadn’t. It didn’t make sense, but shame and embarrassment weren’t necessarily reasonable emotions.
But Mavis had started Hope House.
Surely that meant something.
Jessica bit her lip and slowly turned the steering wheel to start down the lane. She wasn’t sure how much she wanted to tell Casey, but she needed to see him. To know he really was okay. When he’d fallen, her heart had nearly stopped. She hadn’t been that terrified since the hospital had called to say her mom had had a heart attack. It was that same horrible, helpless feeling. The I might really lose someone feeling.
Movement caught her eye. Someone was getting out of a silver car on the driveway. And even from a distance, Jessica could see that it was Annabelle Vasquez, who hadn’t changed a bit. What the heck was she doing at Casey’s house?
Annabelle and Jessica had been cohead cheerleaders. Jessica had been chosen first, and then Anna had thrown such a fit that her parents had gone to the school board. Next thing Jessica knew, she was sharing the highly coveted position with Big Verde’s version of Nellie Oleson.
Not that she was still mad about such a trivial thing. Much.
Anna wore a super tight blue-striped pinafore. Was she actually in a costume? She carried a doughnut box in one hand and a Rite Aid bag in the other.
Maybe there were condoms in that bag, and she and Casey were about to play “nurse and patient.”
Casey had definitely picked up some skills in the sex department. Maybe Annabelle was a practice buddy. What did Jessica really know about Casey’s life here in Big Verde?
She must have been thinking too hard, because Anna suddenly turned around and looked at her. Jessica slunk down in the seat, which was stupid, and Anna stared through squinted eyes. Then she smiled.
Dang it!
But she didn’t wave at Jessica or indicate she should come on up. She just turned on her heel, flipped her hair, and then sashayed her way to the front door, where she went insid
e without knocking.
Jessica put the car in reverse and backed down the lane to the road.
Casey had a life. And she’d done nothing but make it more difficult since the moment she’d got here. First, she’d made him late for his great-aunt’s funeral. Then they nearly got caught behind the pool pump, which would have been embarrassing for her but could have been career-ending for Casey. And finally, he’d been thoroughly traumatized by Hope calling him Daddy, before finally being sweetly disappointed to learn that he wasn’t.
And there was the falling-off-the-horse thing. She couldn’t forget about that.
Casey seemed to be doing really well in Big Verde. He was happy, content, successful…and maybe he had a thing going with Anna. Who was she to waltz in and ruin it?
Tomorrow, after the reading of the will at the lawyer’s office, she and Hope and Carmen would go back to Houston. Casey would remain in Big Verde. They were meant to be high school sweethearts and nothing more.
Maybe you really couldn’t go home again.
Chapter Twelve
Casey drifted to the surface of consciousness and then promptly sank back into the warm, fluffy depths of dreamland. He’d been prancing around the arena on his horse while a nice set of pom-poms pressed into his back…
Pom-poms.
Jessica!
His eyes flew open. He kicked off the covers and grimaced, remembering his back.
Gingerly, he shifted his hips. Not too bad. He tried rolling over on his side, and that went okay too. He swung his legs over the side of the bed and sat up, keeping his back straight.
Hot damn. The muscle relaxant Anna had forced down his throat had done the trick. But just how long had he been out?
The lighting in the room indicated it was early evening. Only the hue didn’t look quite right. Surely he hadn’t slept all night.
He looked at the clock on the nightstand: 8:30 a.m.
Shit! He absolutely had slept all night.
He’d wanted to get to the Village Château at the crack of dawn. Had Jessica already left? No matter. If she had, he’d call into the office and tell them he wasn’t coming in. He was driving to Houston. He’d storm into that fancy spaghetti place she worked at and, well, he didn’t know what would come after that. But he wasn’t sitting around here wondering why the love of his life walked out. He’d done that once. He wasn’t going to do it again.
He stood up, grabbed a clean shirt, looked at his dirty jeans—he’d slept in them to avoid having Anna take his pants off—and decided to just brush them off. Bending over to step into a clean pair might be pushing his luck. He was stiff as hell.
Ten minutes later he headed for the door. He looked out the window and saw his truck parked in the driveway. JD must have driven it over.
With relief, Casey reached for the doorknob. There was a sticky note staring him in the face, just below the peephole.
Gabriel Castro called. Said for you to be at his office at 9:00. Very important. He says he has something of yours. Don’t be late. XOXOXO Anna
Casey sighed in frustration. It’s like the entire world was conspiring to keep him and Jessica apart. He yanked the door open and walked to his truck. What the hell did Gabriel want? He was a lawyer, so nothing good.
There was barely enough time to make it to Gabriel’s office, but Casey wanted to swing by the Château first. The damn lawyer could wait.
His mood improved as he drove down the hill toward town. It was a gorgeous day, and he had a good feeling. He and Jessica had both felt the connection; he just knew it. She wouldn’t leave Big Verde for Houston without at least saying good-bye, especially since he’d fallen off his horse yesterday.
His face heated up over that.
But what could he say? That was the effect she had on him.
She’d looked pretty worried.
Casey grinned. A little.
The Château was just on the outskirts of town. He looked around as he pulled into the parking lot. There was no red Porsche. His heart sank. Well, it was more like it took a dive straight to the pit of his stomach.
He swung around the back of the hotel, drove around to the side.
No Porsche.
He pulled into a spot and parked. Then he just sat there.
The weekend seemed like a dream. In the course of forty-eight hours, he’d rediscovered and fanned an old flame, thought he was a father, learned he wasn’t, decided he was in love, and then…
Well, hell.
She’d left him without so much as a good-bye.
Again.
* * *
Jessica sat nervously in Gabriel Castro’s office, flanked by Carmen and Hope. As hard as she tried, she didn’t recognize the name. There was a large Castro family in Big Verde, but she didn’t remember a Gabriel.
“I just can’t place him,” she said out loud, chewing her lip.
Carmen snorted. “Would you stop? It’s so funny to watch you go all small town on me. I’m absolutely positive there were people in Big Verde who floated under your radar.”
“But there weren’t,” Jessica said. “You don’t understand Big Verde.”
“I understand it has cowboys. Real ones. Like those twins. So, it’s all good in my book.”
The Montgomery twins had come by the Château last night, and Carmen had joined them for a couple of drinks before they’d dragged her to Tony’s, a local honky-tonk. It was Carmen’s first time in a honky-tonk, and she’d had all kinds of fun. The kind of fun that involved twin cowboys.
“The bar food at Tony’s was surprisingly good,” Carmen said. “Nothing fancy, but really good. Tony gave me his mom’s recipe for buttermilk-battered mushrooms. Did you know she still works in the kitchen? She’s ninety-one!”
Jessica tried not to be irritated by Carmen’s enthusiasm for All Things Big Verde. She’d been a great help this weekend, looking after Hope and providing emotional support. She was entitled to a little fun.
“I wonder how much money Mavis left Hope,” Carmen said in a loud stage whisper.
“How much what?” Hope asked.
“Nothing,” Jessica and Carmen answered together. Because there was no point in explaining wills and inheritances to an eleven-year-old.
Hope was Mavis’s only grandchild, and Jessica knew she’d be taken care of. If Jessica ever became ill, or too old to care for Hope…Well, it was an overwhelming relief to know Hope would have a nest egg.
She looked at her watch. Lawyers. Why did they always keep you waiting?
The door opened and a tall, handsome man in a crisp gray suit walked in.
“Good morning, ladies,” he said. His smile radiated a warmth that lit up his eyes. He had a full head of thick, luscious hair, sparkling white teeth, and dimples that took the edge off of his nearly overwhelming sex appeal. “I’m Gabriel Castro.”
He went straight for Hope. “I presume you are Ms. Hope Acosta?”
Hope grinned.
He looked at Carmen next. “Ms. Foraccio, I’m a huge fan. It is a pleasure to meet you. I hope you’re enjoying your time in Big Verde.”
Carmen pumped his hand with enthusiasm. “I’m enjoying it very much.”
Finally, he turned his brown eyes on Jessica. “And you must be Jessica, the most enthusiastic cheerleader the Big Verde Giants have ever had. At least that’s what I hear.”
“I’m sorry. I know you’re a Castro, but I just can’t place you—”
Gabriel laughed. “No relation. I married into the Big Verde community. I’m originally from Austin.”
That explained it. “Oh? Who did you—”
The door opened and Jessica turned. Casey!
He looked just as surprised to see her.
“I thought you’d left,” he said.
Jessica stood, and Casey crossed the room in three quick steps. The next thing Jessica knew, she was in his arms. The world shrank to just the two of them, Casey’s heart beating frantically beneath her cheek while her own pulse pounded in her head. Hope gigg
led. Carmen sighed. Gabriel cleared his throat.
It was quite possibly a full minute before Casey loosened his grip and took a small step back.
“I wasn’t going to leave without saying good-bye,” she said. “I came by your house yesterday, but you were busy.”
“Busy? I was probably asleep,” he said. “Anna made me take a muscle relaxant. It knocked me out.”
“Yeah, I saw her.”
Casey laughed. “Really? How did that go? Did y’all try to out high-kick each other?”
Jessica couldn’t help it. The idea of that made her snort.
Whatever there was between Casey and Anna—if there was anything at all—it was obviously not romantic. And every cell in her body breathed a sigh of relief. Even though she was leaving for Houston today, and Casey was staying here.
“We didn’t speak,” Jessica said. “I saw her and I just, you know, left. I didn’t want to disturb you.”
“You could never disturb me.”
They sat down, and Casey leaned over with a slight wince. His breath tickled her ear as he whispered, “Never with Anna. You know me better than that, Jess.”
Anna had been her rival. And Casey was loyal beyond a fault.
She shivered from the feel of his breath against her ear.
Gabriel sat in his chair. “I hear you took a tumble yesterday, Sheriff Long.”
Casey rolled his eyes. “I’ll never live it down.”
Hope sat up straight in her seat. “Sheriff Long is my daddy!”
Oh God. They were back to that.
* * *
Casey broke out in a light sweat. Why did Hope keep saying he was her daddy? It was jarring, to say the least. He looked at Jessica, and she merely rolled her eyes. She was irritated, but not surprised, so Casey relaxed.
A little.
“I know Sheriff Long is your daddy,” Gabriel said to Hope.
What?
Now Jess’s face went white.
“Uh, Jess…”
“And we’re here because your grandma Mavis asked us to come together,” Gabriel said.
“Her grandma?” Casey blurted. Then he looked at Jess.
“Yes, Casey. That’s what I tried to tell you at the arena—”
