“It’s not any of that… Look, my reasons are my own. They have nothing to do with who owns what…”
He cut me off. “It’s because I kept piling things on you, isn’t it?”
“No, it’s not that either. I don’t mind the work. I never have.” I closed my eyes, wishing he’d drop it.
“Well, what is it then? Everything you want is right here—”
When he went quiet, my eyes popped open, fully expecting the doctor to be at the door.
I could see Lex staring at me from my peripheral. “You’re still in love with Gracen.”
I froze.
“Don’t even try denying it. It’s written all over your face. Why would you leave if you’re in love with her and she’s in love with you?”
“You have no idea what you’re talking about,” I said, ready to bolt out of the room.
“I’ve seen the way she looks at you. I know exactly what I’m talking about, and so do you. I always wondered when the two of you would get it together. You’ve been in love with each other for so long that y’all practically gravitate around each other like your own personal solar system.”
If only what he said was true. Last night had been the best night of my entire life, but it might have been a huge mistake as well. What if Gracen regretted it? It wasn’t as if we could take it back. And there was no way I’d be able to look at her and not remember. Unease worked its way through me. How could I have been so reckless? I’d asked her to come with me to Montana, but she’d never answered me.
“Are you the family of Joe Owens?”
Lex and I both stood.
Chapter 7
Gracen
I hadn’t ever thought we’d see Betty again after she’d left in a flurry of overly packed suitcases. But there I sat in the parking lot of Palacios Municipal Airport waiting for her flight to arrive.
What was more odd was the fact Uncle Joe had asked Lex to call her. To tell her about his heart attack. Which was also news to me since Lex didn’t tell us much of anything when he showed up at the cabin.
I couldn’t wrap my mind around it. After all the time she’d been gone, he wanted her to know? And even more surprising was that she’d booked the first flight available when she found out.
Life on the ranch had been gloomy after Betty left, and really, Uncle Joe hadn’t been the same since. He tried acting like it didn’t bother him. Like he was glad she was gone, but I knew better. Betty was the love of his life. And when she’d marched right out the front door and didn’t look back, it broke something inside Uncle Joe.
Beside the fact that it wasn’t any of our business, no one dared ask why she left.
After a while, the ranch moved on without Betty.
Uncle Joe didn’t. So it had surprised the hell out of me when Slade told me Betty was flying in and asked if I minded picking her up.
The searing heat of summer hadn’t given way in the late afternoon. I could see it beating back from the asphalt in the colorless waves of a mirage. The cab of the truck was ice cold in comparison.
Daddy used to say, “Thank the good Lord for country music and air conditioning.”
I thoroughly agreed. Texas in June was sometimes like living on the sun.
It felt as if I stepped into an oven as soon as I opened my door and got out, making my way across the parking lot. At least Betty was able to fly in to Palacios instead of one of the bigger airports. It made picking her up a whole lot easier. Not to mention the ride back to the ranch would be a little shorter.
It wasn’t like I disliked Betty. She’d never done anything wrong to me. I felt more awkward about it than anything. What was I supposed to talk about with her? Would she be upset that it was me picking her up and not Lex or Slade?
Worrying over it was pointless.
I had bigger issues to worry over. Like the fact that I’d slept with Slade.
“Oh, my lands! Gracen, is that you?”
I whipped around, and there she was. “Betty, what are you doing in the parking lot?”
She pulled a large suitcase behind her, meeting me halfway. “My flight got in a little early.”
I couldn’t help but return her infectious smile. “I’d say. Did you pay the pilot to go a little faster?”
“Nah, just threw him a little southern charm.” She winked, hauling me into tight hug and then pulling back, but she kept hold of my arms. “Look at you. All grown up. Please tell me one of my nephews has swept you off your feet.”
I fidgeted under her scrutiny, trying to keep my face blank as I waved what she said away and posed a question of my own. “How was your flight?”
Her eyebrow climbed as she let go of my arms and grabbed the handle of her suitcase. “They’re either blind, or secretly pining after you.”
She hooked her other arm through mine as I struggled to find something intelligent to say.
“Phew, this heat.”
Her conversation was as scattered as I felt. It made me wonder if that was her way of dealing with a serious bout of nerves. I looked over at her, smiling. Her face was the same, yet everything about her seemed different. Happier. She’d cut her long hair into a style that flattered the shape of her face and dyed it from the light brown I remembered. It was darker with chunks of highlights in it.
I couldn’t help but wonder what Uncle Joe would think when he saw her.
“How have you been, Betty?” I asked, trying my best to keep my end of the conversation light as I loaded her suitcase into the bed of the truck.
She didn’t answer me until we were seated in the truck, vents blowing on high. “I’ve never been more happy or miserable in my entire life. How’s that for an answer?”
Talking to Betty was the equivalent of being on a rollercoaster. The twist and turns she threw at me kept me so off balance I didn’t know if I could keep track of them all.
I couldn’t stay silent the entire ride back to Garwood, wondering when she’d ask about Uncle Joe, so I bit the bullet and plowed right into it. Might as well get the hard stuff out of the way before it ended up suffocating us. “When Slade called and asked me to pick you up, he said Uncle Joe’s surgery went well. He’s in recovery right now.”
She let out a long sigh. “Damn fool-headed man. If there’s one bit of advice I can give you about men, it’s this… they are the most stubborn animals on the planet. If you don’t take ‘em in hand right away, they’ll get even more ornery and pigheaded the older they get.”
I chuckled. “And how exactly do you take them in hand?”
Betty reached out, adjusting the vent in front of her. “Sex.
I almost choked on my own spit when I gasped. I wasn’t a prude by any means. But hearing the word sex from Betty, and the tone in which she said it, caught me completely off guard.
“Oh, don’t be so surprised. They’re animalistic by nature, so it’s easy enough to get what you want out of them. As long as they’re getting what they need from you.” She gave a sharp nod of her head as if it gave some sort of justified finality to what she said.
“What you want out of them?” What sort of crackpot advice was that?
“I don’t mean it in a ‘buy me this or get me that’ way. What I mean is that a man’s more apt to heed your concerns and listen to you when he’s fully satisfied. It took me a long time to figure that out. Years, in fact. Maybe if I would have figured it out sooner…” She trailed off, leaving me to wonder what she’d left unsaid.
“Figured what out sooner?” I found myself asking.
“Men. Joe,” she answered with a slight shrug of her shoulder. “What’s that saying about always hurting the ones we love the most? Joe and me? We’ve made a lifetime of it.”
My heart felt heavy with her admission. “It’s never too late to fix it.”
She worked a smile up as she clasped her hands in her lap. “That’s why I came back.”
“Why wait so long?”
“I needed him to need me as much as I needed him.” She laughed
, adding, “Say that three times fast.”
Slade was sound asleep in the waiting room when Betty and I arrived. I walked over and nudged his foot with my own to wake him. He jerked upright and then smiled at me as he reached for my hand, but I shoved it in my back pocket. After the odd conversation in the truck with Betty, the last thing I wanted was for her to pick up on whatever it was, or wasn’t, between us.
His eyebrows drew together in confusion as he stood.
“Look who’s here,” I said as Betty walked up and grabbed his hands in hers.
“Slade Owens. My, my, you’ve turned into a handsome devil.”
A hint of red swept along his cheeks. “It’s good to see you, Aunt Betty. How was your flight?”
She let go of his hands and smiled. “Fast, if you can believe that. I actually got in about ten minutes early and met Gracen in the parking lot.”
Slade’s eyes wandered over to me when she said my name, but flicked back to Betty. “Lex is in with Uncle Joe. Do you want me to take you to his room?”
She dipped her head. “Yes. Thank you.”
Her jovial mood over seeing Slade transformed into something that looked like a huge batch of nerves.
He turned to me. “Coming?”
I wasn’t sure what to expect when we entered Uncle Joe’s room.
Betty dropped Slade’s arm as soon as she cleared the door and went straight to Uncle Joe’s bed. Her hand found his and then she bent over the bed, kissing his cheek. “You old fool. You didn’t have to go and have a heart attack to bring me back to you, ya know.”
A sob broke past her lips. Uncle Joe let go of her hand and patted the bed. “Sit a spell and tell me how you’ve been.”
I backed up a step right into Slade. He put his hand on my shoulder and bent down, whispering in my ear, “We should probably head back to the ranch.”
My head bobbed once. Making our escape into the hallway, we waited for Lex.
Lex closed the door to Joe’s room and took a deep breath as he moved to lean against the wall. “I’ll wait here until the doctor comes back. Thanks for picking her up, Gracen,” he said.
“You’re welcome.” Lex looked tired. The last thing I wanted to tell him was I’d only done half of what he’d asked me to. Picking Betty up from the airport had been easy. Trying to track down Clint before I had to leave hadn’t been. I’d let Slade know as soon as we were alone. Lex had enough to deal with.
Slade put his arm around me, resting his hand on the curve of my hip. “We’ll head back to the ranch and check on things. Call if you need anything.”
“I will. We shouldn’t be much longer. Visiting hours will be up soon and they’ll kick us out,” Lex said, pushing himself from the wall. “I think I’ll go grab something to eat while they catch up.” He jerked his thumb at the closed door.
When we made it to the truck, Slade turned the engine over, letting it idle as he tipped his head back against the seat with a sigh.
“That man is one tough old bastard.”
I snorted. “I think it might run in the family.”
I dreaded the infamous morning-after talk. Dreaded it. It made me all squirmy and antsy feeling. It was one thing to give over and let go in the moment. It was entirely another to talk about it after it happened when I had to face the person I gave myself to so freely.
There had been no time for talking it out once Lex showed up, and I wasn’t sure if that was for better or worse. Maybe he didn’t want to talk about it. It wasn’t like he hadn’t ever put his arm around me before. In the same way. Before we slept together.
“…and check on the horses.” I only caught the tail end of what he’d said.
“Um…”
His eyes snapped open. “What?”
“Don’t get mad.” I slid ahead on the seat and turned to face him as I worried my lip between my teeth.
He squinted at me. “How am I supposed to not get mad when you tell me not to get mad? That’s like my first reaction when you say that.”
Well, damn.
I winced.
Slade turned as far as he could and took my hand in his. “Can’t you just kiss me hello and let me hold you for a minute? I’ve waited all day to do that.”
I moved along the seat, but apparently not quick enough for him. Before I knew it, he had me crossways on his lap. His thumbs pushed under my jaw, tipping my head back slightly as he planted a very warm and delicious kiss on my lips. I sighed, feeling myself melt into him.
When the kiss ended, he pulled me close. My head tucked into the curve of his shoulder as his arms wrapped around me. “Lex and I talked today.”
That got my attention. “About?”
“The ranch.”
“Mmm?” I squirmed in his lap as his hand moved from my hip down my leg and back up again before settling on my backside and firmly grasping it.
“I love these jeans on you. But I’d like them off you even more.”
A shot of lightning zipped through me from where his hand rested and forked out along every nerve ending. Even the roots of my hair tingled. But what made my skin feel hot and tight was when he followed his groping by saying, “I can’t wait to get you home and kiss all the places I missed last night.”
Reality struck as his words built a raging need in me. I wanted all of that, too, but by the time we got done with the chores that needed finished, the only action either of us would be up for would be cuddling with our pillow and sawing logs all night.
It was better to tell him and get it over with rather than try to explain it once we were home. It would at least give us time to cool off.
I moved off his lap. He groaned and tried to pull me back, but I wouldn’t let him distract me again.
He sighed heavily. “You’re gonna make me mad now, aren’t you?”
I laced my fingers together with a half shrug. “Afraid so.”
He watched me intently as I pulled in a deep breath before I blurted out, “I couldn’t find Clint before I left.”
His brows drew together. “Couldn’t find him?”
My fingers ached as I clutched them even tighter. “Lex asked me to get with Clint about what needed to be done. I did a few things before I left the ranch after I couldn’t find him, but there’s still a lot to do if he didn’t see they needed to be done.”
Slade put the truck in gear and wrapped his hands along the wheel, knuckles going white. “I doubt he did anything then, because he never called Lex.”
He muttered a few choice curse words under his breath as he pulled the truck out of the parking lot.
The sun had wandered down the sky by the time we made it back to the ranch. Its waning light was enough to see by, but not for very long. The horses greeted us happily with whickers and snorts as soon as the barn doors were thrown open.
I anxiously bit the inside of my cheek as we approached Ghost’s stall, hoping Clint had at least taken care of them.
Slade scratched Ghost between his ears, peering over the top rail. “Stall’s clean.”
“I cleaned them this morning. Figured something happened when you didn’t show up thirty minutes after the time Lex said you’d be here. And I fed ‘em just a bit a go,” Clint said, strolling into the barn. He tipped his hat and winked at me. “Gracen.”
Clint had what women called magnetic sex appeal. He was one of those head-turning, knee-weakening, heart-fluttering kind of cowboys. It was hard not to notice the way he looked at me as if he were drinking me in. It shouldn’t have made my pulse jump. But when I had a good-looking man staring me down with so much intensity, it was hard not to be affected.
I returned his hello before turning to Slade. “I’m gonna go check on Lucy.”
He dipped his head in response. “Be there in a few.”
Keeping my eyes trained on the floor, I skirted around Clint and made a beeline for home.
Lucy was happy to see me. At least with her, I could let my entire guard down. I could mumble my thoughts without judgment, or a need to
explain why I was thinking what I was. Dogs were one of the most loyal of companions, not expecting anything other than a good scratch, food, and water. In Lucy’s case, a hamburger patty or two.
Making a few circuits around me, she stopped and nosed my hand. “Well, hello to you, too. You hungry?”
She trotted over to her bowl in answer as I carried on my one-sided conversation with her. “Uncle Joe is doing better. And guess who’s back? Aunt Betty. Just picked her up from the airport, so you’ll see her when Lex brings her home. Would it be home for her, do you think?” I asked, dumping a cup of food in her bowl.
I waved off my own question. “Guess it doesn’t matter one way or the other. We’ll just have to see how it all plays out.”
Lucy crunched away as I dug through the refrigerator. Slade would be hungry. I’d lay odds he hadn’t eaten much all day. My stomach grumbled in response, reminding me I hadn’t either.
I was glad for a few minutes alone. Having snatches of downtime here and there kept me sane. It gave me time to work through my thoughts and recharge myself. I could never be one of those people who had to surround themselves with others in order to function. In fact, I didn’t do well in large groups at all. I liked people well enough, but only in small increments. Which was why I liked working at the boutique. Most days I didn’t get more than two people in the store at one time. I’d never make it in a big department store. I’d probably run for the hills before my first break. Who would have thought a born city girl could adapt so well to the country life?
Lucy’s head jerked up from her bowl, nose pointing at the door. A second later, her tail wagged so hard it shook her entire back end. The sound of Slade’s boots crossing my porch came a few seconds later.
There had been so many moments exactly like that. Her waiting for him. Me waiting for him. And after everything that happened, all the layers were stripped, leaving us open to one another.
I shouldn’t be nervous, but I was. I shouldn’t want to duck and hide in order to avoid the conversation coming. Was there a need to talk about what we did? It had been hard enough looking him in the eye, knowing he knew me just as intimately as I knew him.
What It Takes (A Dirt Road Love Story) Page 7
