Bitter Hearts (A Southern Loving Book 3)

by Thorn, Ava

  “I’m not going to argue with you,” she said, sitting the cup down on the counter.

  “Because you know everything that I say is true.” Natalie raised her voice and took a menacing step towards Kari. “Leave my husband alone!”

  Kari stood eye to eye with her. She pointed her finger in Natalie’s face. “Lister here. I don’t know who the hell you think you are, but you will not, and I repeat, you will not tell me-”

  The door to the house opened and familiar cowboy boots sounded on the hardwood floor.

  “Bullshit,” Natalie interrupted, moving inches in front of Kari, they were toe to toe and eye to eye with each other.

  Kari didn’t blink an eye as she gazed at Natalie, who rode in on her broom like the wicked witch from the west. She wasn’t about to back down even when she could hear Hank calling her name. “And if I don’t stay away?” she challenged, raising her perfectly arched eye brow. Natalie shoved Kari into the counter causing her to stumble back.

  “Don’t fuck with me,” Natalie warned.

  “No, I only do that with Hank,” Kari replied.

  Crack.

  Natalie slapped her so hard across the cheek. Kari could feel her cheek growing warm.

  “Kari! Natalie!” Hank said.

  With full force, Kari landed a punch squarely in Natalie face. A shriek escaped her mouth. Crimson color trickled down her nose. “Don’t ever lay your hands on me!”

  Natalie wiped her nose with the back of hand. “You bitch!” she screamed, charging Kari and pushing her into the wall and pulled her hair.

  Kari could hear commotion around them, but it didn’t stop her from defending herself. She punched Natalie repeatedly.

  “Grab her and I’ll grab Kari,” Hank shouted to someone.

  ***

  When Hank walked into the house with Shane, he didn’t expect to see Natalie, his wife who abandon him a few months ago, standing in the kitchen with his new woman. He could tell they were having a heated conversation by the way both woman were standing.

  “Oh shit,” Shane said, looking back and forth between Kari and Natalie.

  When Natalie delivered the first slap to Kari, he saw something change in Kari. Those sweet eyes that reminded him of warm whiskey became enraged. Damn, he thought when Kari landed a punch like she was one of Muhammad Ali’s daughters.

  Natalie pushed Kari into the wall, pulled her hair and tried to get a few punches in. “Grab her and I’ll get Kari,” Hank yelled trying to get a hold of Kari.

  Kari lifted her knee and kneed Natalie in the gut, causing Natalie to fall and bring Kari with her. Both women rolled around on the floor, like wild animals.

  “Enough,” Hank said. “Let go of her hair, Kari.”

  “You too,” Shane said.

  By the time they pulled the two women apart, Natalie was sporting a bloody nose, swollen eye, cuts and scratches on her face, her red hair was sticking straight up on her head. Kari had a cut above her eye brow, her hair was a mess, and shirt ripped.

  “Let go of me!” Kari panted.

  “Are you done?” Hank asked. When Kari didn’t respond, he asked her again.

  “Yeah,” she sneered, shrugging him off her. “I’m leaving.”

  “No, I want to press charges against her,” Natalie huffed, turning around looking at Shane.

  “You assaulted Ms. Hayes first,” Shane reminded her.

  “Get the hell off me McBride,” Natalie said pulling away from Shane, she glared over at Kari. “This is not over not by a long shot.”

  Shane had to restraint Natalie as she started to lunge at Kari.

  Hank tossed Kari on his shoulder; he stormed out the front door leaving a shock and stunned Natalie behind him. Kari wiggled and pounded his back with her small fists.

  “Put me down!” she screamed.

  “Fine,” he said, putting her down on her own two feet. “What the hell is going on?”

  “What?” she asked, looking at him like he grown two heads. “Did you or did you not file for divorce?”

  “Natalie filed for divorce, I didn’t.” When the words left his mouth, he could see the shock in Kari’s face.

  “I think it’s time for me to leave,” she said.

  “Just give me a second to talk to you.” Hank appeared to be agitated that Kari wasn’t giving him the time and day to explain himself. “You have to realize that my marriage of three years was over the day my wife left me for another man. It’s like she was a freaking twister that left my life in a mess.”

  “My god! I must have stupid written across my head!” she yelled, walking away from him. “What was this? You think I’m deprived of a male attention? Did you use me just to occupy your time?”

  “Kari, you’re being over the top.” Hank ran towards her, he reached for her arm only for Kari to pull her arm away from him. The glare she gave him, Hank wouldn’t work on.

  “Don’t touch me!” she screamed, her eyes filled with tears. “Tell me Hank, what you expect me to do here?”

  “Be rational and choose your words carefully.”

  “Choose my words carefully,” she mocked, throwing her hands up in the air. “I know you’re not dumb, blind or stupid. She’s been gone for two or three months and clearly you haven’t received not one damn divorce paper. Why didn’t you file?”

  Silence.

  “How long did you know she was back?” she asked.

  Hank should have listened to Shane and Austin when they said a woman can do better research than the FBI. Clearly Kari had done her homework. “What were you doing sneaking around,” his face became red with anger, “I’m a grown ass man I don’t need you checking up on me.”

  “When I called Corey to check on the work at Southern Hearts Ranch, he told me about the red hair vixen that arrived on the ranch barking orders and looking for her husband Hank Jackson.”

  “When?” he asked

  “At the cabin everything made sense, you acting funny at Graceland and at the cabin,” she pointed out.

  “What do you want me to say! That I was waiting for Natalie to come back and work on our marriage?”

  Kari shook her head and laughed hysterically. “She’ll come back with her heartfelt promises and tearful apologies. Repent her sins of infidelity, explain her affair in detail and you guys will go back to becoming the perfect couple that she claimed. Become the forgiving husband, because I don’t give a damn. I’m out of here.”

  Hank watched as Kari stormed off into the house. He stood there like an idiot, when she emerged from the house carrying her bag with Shane hot on her heels.

  “Kari, I’ll take you to the airport,” Hank offered, hoping that she would say yes. To give them time to talk. He didn’t care that Natalie was standing right there looking at him, he loved Kari.

  ***

  Kari heard him speak, but everything was like a total blur. She shielded the blazing Texas sun from her eyes, turning she look at him. “Go back to your wife,” she said.

  “I’m going to go get the truck,” Shane said to no one as he walked down the gravel road.

  Hurry back, she thought pretending to ignore Hank and his pitiful stare. She didn’t regret falling in love with him because Hank showed her that it was possible to love again. Before meeting him she promised herself a long time ago that there would be no way in hell she would never fall in love again.

  “She is my wife-”

  Kari held up her hand to silence him. “I get that…she is the lady who broke your heart and made you feel insignificant.”

  “We need to talk.”

  Kari rolled her eyes. “About what? I’m a big girl! I don’t need you to give me a fucking pacifier and tell me everything is going to be okay.” She looked him directly in the eyes. “No regrets.”

  “I will always live with regrets,” Hank said looking at her; his fingers itched to reach up and touch her. “I will regret not leaving the past in the past and seeking the person who makes me happy.”

  “What if
this is what is supposed to be…me and you?” Kari wasn’t one to beg, but this was for love, the man who could be the one. She had to stop him from making a decision that would cause them so much pain. “You promised me forever and now you’re changing your mind.”

  “Natalie is still my wife,” Hank said.

  Natalie gasped and smiled with satisfaction. “I’ll leave you guys to talk,” she said, retreating into the house.

  Kari opened her mouth to speak, unable to make a sound caused by the lump in her throat. The tears she tried to keep at bay, rolled down her cheeks. Hank slowly walk towards her, his hand hesitantly reached up to wipe the tears from her cheeks.

  “No,” Kari said. Backing up away from him.

  Yes she threw caution in the wind and fell in love with an unbelievable handsome man. Kari thought they were building an empire of love. No one made her happy in years or made her heart beat that happy rhythm until Hank came into her life.

  Yeah she didn’t want a commitment until a few weeks ago. Marriage wasn’t anywhere on her radar until he talked about spending his life with her. Thoughts of them lying in bed last week, with their fingers intertwining, promising the future to one another only for him to take it all back.

  “You are the grenade that just blew my world to bits,” she sniffled.

  “Don’t Kari,” he said, appearing more hurt than she was. “I love you.”

  Rapidly blinking back the tears she shook her head slowly. “When you realize the horrible choice you just made. When you look back and regret that you left me, change your mind. When you look back and regret how you did me-let go of that thought. There will be no chance to make it right.”

  Closing the distance between them he lifted her face up to meet his eyes. He leaned his forehead against her. “I don’t know if I can do this,” he said in anguish.

  Kari could hear the truck pulling up and car door slamming closed. Stepping away from him, she picked up her luggage and climbed into Shane’s truck.

  The ride to the airport was in silence. She recited words that Rita said to her after Sam broke up with her, “There is a lesson in this situation you will learn.”

  Closing her eyes, she brushed the tears that fell from her eyes. She wished there was a rewind button where she could go back and un-kiss those lips and un-fall in love with him.

  “Kari,” Shane said in a soothing voice. “Be patient.”

  Opening her eyes she gazed at the black highway that was carrying her away from the man she loved. “For what? I’m the one who’s losing,” she mumbled. Her mind was still plagued with thoughts of Hank back on the ranch.

  “I heard you said something about a lesson.” He smiled sheepishly, glancing at her quickly before darting his eyes back to the road. “Hank needs closure with Natalie before he can truly move on.”

  Kari was sure that she didn’t want him back in her life, but she didn’t want him to disappear either. Shit, she was so confused and didn’t have clear idea what she wanted or needed. She grimaced as she thought about the showdown between Natalie and her. Please God, please don’t have me thinking about the what-should-bes and the what-could-have-beens. “Honestly Shane, I just want him to be happy, maybe it’s not meant for us to be together.”

  “Sometimes we McBride and Jackson Family have a hard time following our hearts until the last moment. You heard about Austin and Farrah’s love story, Jasmine and mine and eventually you will hear about Hank and yours’ story too.”

  Kari brushed imaginary lint from her jeans, her gaze downcast as she spoke. “I just want to forget.”

  ***

  “What the hell are you doing here?” Hank yelled, storming into the house.

  Natalie sat on the sofa reading one of Kari’s interior design magazines. “Why sugar, I came home to my husband.”

  For months Hank tried to prepare himself for when his wife would come walking back into his life. Earlier when he walked into the house, his heart quickened for a second when he heard Natalie’s voice. When he walked into the house this morning and heard Natalie and Kari arguing his heart quicken for a split second with joy.

  “You didn’t answer my question,” he spat, looking directly in those green eyes he fell in love with. “Did your boy toy drop you like a sack of potatoes?”

  Natalie put down the magazine and stood, within a few steps she was standing directly in front of Hank. She lifted his arm up and kissed the palm of his hand. “I love you.”

  Hank pulled his hand away from her mouth roughly. “Why?” he asked again in a harsh tone.

  Natalie appeared hurt, fat crocodile tears rolled down her face. “I thought I was bored, I thought there was something better out there for me. I was wrong!” she cried, running towards him.

  Hank tried to pull her away from him; he could feel her tears wetting his shirt. “Get off me.”

  “Baby, I’m sorry,” she said, kissing his face. “I promise I won’t cheat on you again.”

  “Why?” he asked, looking her squarely in her eyes.

  “I didn’t realize how much I loved you until I lost you, please take me back…I promise I won’t let you down again. I was such a fool!” Natalie said as she dropped to the floor and wrapped her arms around his legs.

  The moment he wanted Natalie to see what she destroyed had come. Now she knew how it felt to be hurt. “You need to live with the consequences of you unmindful actions. You have broken my trust.”

  Natalie’s face was a mess, her hair was a mess, dried blood on her cheek and black mascara running down her face. “I can earn it back,” she sniffled.

  Hank ran his finger through his hair. “Natalie, didn’t you see that trust is a fragile thing and it takes a lot to regain.” He looked at the woman who his life used to revolve around, when she left him a few months ago, his life was still revolving around Natalie, it revolved around the pain and grief she left him with. Damn, every day when his feet hit the floor he had to deal with the memories they shared.

  “Kari was just a void to fulfill you while I was gone,” Natalie sighed. “I want us to go to counseling to work out our problems.”

  Detangling himself from Natalie, Hank moved away from her. Grabbing his hat from off the floor, he walked out the house. His mind was telling him to go back into the house and talk to Natalie, but his heart on the other hand told him to move on and follow Kari back to Nashville. He so desperately wanted to believe that you either love someone, in some way, forever, or you never really loved them at all.

  Chapter Ten

  One Week Later

  Kari laid in bed thinking about her plans for today; she was just about finish with the McBride’s Nashville nursery. Today was her first day setting foot on the McBride’s ranch since arriving back from Dallas. It would be a lie if she said, she hadn’t thought about Hank once or that she didn’t cry for him.

  Rita told her a few days ago to welcome the pain which kept her breathing. With her breakup with Hank she didn’t have time to have wet pillows, sleepless nights, bitterness or anger. Her work was her salvation. If he wanted to go back to woman, he broke his heart the first time. She loved herself and there was no way she was going to become bitter because of some man. Don’t get her wrong, it was hard thinking about Hank and Natalie kissing and hugging, the thought of them together made her want to vomit.

  She remembered the ride to Memphis from Nashville, Hank talked about learning lessons from the past and having no regrets. Her lesson from the past was she that allowed people actions to cause her misery and she wouldn’t allow that happen to her anymore. After her break-up with Sam, she turned into this person she hated because of her pained love for him.

  Rising up from the bed, she walked to the bathroom and took a long hot shower. For a week she managed to be happy in pain. “I’ll be happy for him,” she said to herself as she dried off her body. “I can be happy for someone even if his happiness doesn’t involve me.”

  Before heading to Southern Hearts Ranch, Kari went to a Salvation Ar
my Store to donate the clothes that Hank purchased for her. She sat in the car for what seem like an hour, until she got the courage to walk inside to drop off the location. But now as she stood outside the McBride’s house, Kari looked down at her feet at the brown leather riding boots she wasn’t able to part with. They held the memories of her morning and evening nighttime riding on Princess with Hank. She couldn’t just make herself forget that she loved him.

  “Kari, I said that I could have implement your designs,” Corey said standing next to her.

  Pushing her hair behind her ear, she turn and smiled weakly at Corey, “It’s okay today is our last day and we’re only in the staging part.” Kari reached into the trunk of her car and pulled out a few boxes and marched up the steps. Today was going to be a long day, she said to herself.

  The door swung open, and Austin McBride stood there awkwardly staring at her. “Good morning. Here, let me help you with the box.”

  “Thank you,” she said, walking into the foyer. Her body tensed up when she heard his laughter coming from the kitchen down the hall.

  “Hank just delivered the cribs. I must say your designs did no justice for the finished project,” Austin said, fumbling over his words as he carried the box up the stairs.

  “Thank you,” she said again as she looked back at her best friend who cleared his throat and nodded towards her head. “No,” her voice was low, enough for Corey.

  “Why don’t you go talk to him?” Corey asked when Austin disappeared downstairs.

  “And say what?” she mumbled.

  “That you love him. If you don’t tell him I will,” Corey said, sitting the box on the floor. Corey had a tendency to be slightly roguish.

  “If he loved me, he wouldn’t have left me,” she sneered. “I’m done, I just want to close this chapter in my life and move on.”

  “He brought out the best in you, a part of you that I never see. A love story between you guys that is designed for a motion picture.”

  Kari laughed. “Stop watching those teeny bop movies.” She climb onto of the 14 feet step ladder and started draping white satin curtains on the wall where the cribs would go. Her white and warm brown color choice for the walls made the room fill bigger than it was. All the furniture in the nursery was custom made, from the cribs, bedding, rugs, table and chairs.