Beckett didn’t mind; it got the attention off him and onto the scenery. Granted, his face wasn’t actually going to be in the commercial, but they were always right there with him. Literally right over his shoulder. He was afraid to even pee. He was ready to eat some of Jordyn’s cookies and curl up on the couch with her in his arms. He just wanted peace and quiet. No TV, no radio, nothing. Just silence and his girl. Yep, that sounded pretty freaking good right about now.
As a beautiful pink-and-purple-hued Nebraska sunset began to set later that evening, the camera crews were getting some shots of the snow from the front yard, so he snuck up on Jordyn. She was off the side of the deck, past the remnants of her first snowman. She was hanging back from the cameras but walking slow so she could look at the snow around her. He caught her trying to catch a snowflake in her mouth and grinned. He loved how playful she could be. She was hardcore career woman one minute and then playful the next.
He quietly followed her until he was close enough to scoop her into his arms like he was going to tackle her. He didn’t actually bring her down—but just made it seem like he was to scare her.
And he succeeded.
She let out a yelp as he lifted her. “Beckett William Harper, put me down.”
He put her feet back on the ground as requested but kept her close, glad for a moment alone with her. They were content to just look at each other, eyes to eyes. And seeing her gaze at him like she adored him—with big, fluffy snowflakes in her hair—made him want to live every day like this. With her.
She was breathtaking.
He finally cleared his throat and found his voice. “The last time you whipped out my middle name, I do believe we were making snow angels and snowmen.”
She smiled and turned to walk toward some of the AgGroSo people heading to the barn. “I hope it snows at Christmas. I could use a repeat trial run at a snowman. Unfortunately, we are just too busy today. And it’s getting dark on us.”
He remembered the way her poor creature looked after her first snowman attempt. His eyes darted over to what was left of it, and he lifted his head back to laugh. “You do need the practice.”
She playfully squinted at him. “Does that statement come with some sort of double meaning?”
“What?” What was she getting at?
She laughed and turned to say over her shoulder, “Because I’m not as experienced or practiced as, oh, say, Ms. Supermodel?”
Oh hell no. Oh. Hell. No.
He did the only rational thing he could think of; he grabbed her by the hand to spin her back into him, picked her up to get eye level, and kissed her. Which apparently shocked her because she let out a surprised gasp as he did it. But when their lips met, they knew what to do. And in a kiss, in the snow, he communicated exactly how much he cared. And exactly how glad he was that she wasn’t that other woman whose name he couldn’t even remember right now.
As he put her feet back on the ground, she was out of breath. Good.
“You do realize there are cameras, right?” she asked with a grin.
He nodded. “My face can’t be used, remember? So who cares?”
And with that, they turned and walked hand in hand over to the people she needed to speak to, snow crunching under their boots as they went. He felt glad for a few minutes alone with her. He had thought of sneaking off to the barn with her, but for now, flirting in the snow and that kiss was all that was going to happen. Maybe tomorrow he could whisk her away to the barn and make sure she wouldn’t forget him. Because tomorrow he’d also have to tell her goodbye.
Unfortunately, this bout of snow wasn’t going to turn into a blizzard and force her to stay. This time she’d have to come to that conclusion on her own.
Goodbye
CHAPTER 23
Wednesday. This was it. Her last day. Tomorrow she left for Houston. Walt was even nice enough to buy her a plane ticket home and send the AgGroSo truck with someone else. Either he was being nice, or he was smart enough to know that if he made her drive, she’d never make all sixteen hours before she turned around and drove right back to Beckett.
Her last day. And then goodbye. At least for a while, until Christmas. Which really wasn’t that far away, but a lot could happen in two weeks, right?
Yeah. A flipping lot could happen in two weeks. How she even got to this point, she had no idea. She wanted to mope. She wanted to wear Beckett’s college hoodie and bake cookies and eat so many of them that she felt as miserable physically as she felt emotionally. But she didn’t have time for that. She had to kick butt with this commercial for one last day.
She and Beckett were up at 5:00 a.m. again. The camera crews followed him around all morning, and by noon they were content with everything they had. She’d had Aunt Rose cater all their meals, and his aunt, being the saint she was, brought a feast out for lunch since it was everyone’s last day in Picketts. They used the shop for laying out the food, but luckily, it wasn’t nearly as cold as the day before; some of the snow from yesterday had already melted, so people were standing around in the yard between the shop and the house.
She was standing with Walt when the she-devil Ariana arrived. She had told her she could, so she wasn’t surprised. But really, who had the audacity to do that? To schmooze a filming team that was there for a man she had rudely brushed off? It took guts. Or stupidity. Stupidity disguised by guts perhaps.
And just as planned, shortly after Ariana arrived, the Pink Ladies did too. Jordyn had explained to Aunt Rose that the woman was up to no good at church on Sunday. Before she had even said a word more, the Pink Ladies approached her and were asking for a time and a place to speak with this imposer. For as much as they pretended to dislike Beckett, they were also protective of him. The whole town was. He was their hometown hero.
And all be darned if every time Ariana tried to approach someone with the filming team, one of the Pink Ladies was asking her a question or interrupting the conversation. It was so comical Jordyn had to keep her back to Ariana or she would giggle the entire time. Ariana deserved it though. She was so dang insolent.
She took Walt, who arrived that morning happy as a lark, to speak with Beckett about finalizing everything for the commercial. As they headed the direction of the house from the shop, Ariana brushed past her shoulder and into the house to “use the ladies’ room” or something like that. She probably just needed a break from the Pink Ladies. Ha, ha, ha. Jordyn felt zero remorse. Zero.
“That woman is no good,” Walt stated casually. He had only briefly met Ariana and already didn’t like her. That was Walt for you. A solid judge of character.
“She’s a royal pain in the arse but at least only for today. I kept her out of the way the rest of the days by telling her she could only come here today—or else I would blacklist her with the filming company,” Jordyn admitted.
Walt let out a loud chuckle. “That’s my girl.”
Without voicing what they were doing, they slowed their pace so hurricane Ariana would be out of the house by the time they got there. The last thing Beckett needed was more of Ariana’s meddling into his endorsements.
“Remind me to never make you mad,” Beckett whispered loudly in her ear, scaring her. They were almost to the front porch, and he had found them, wrapping an arm around Jordyn.
“Why?” she asked with a slow smile.
He moved to pierce her with his blue eyes. “You sicced the Pink Ladies on Ariana?” He busted out laughing. “That woman will rue the day she ever thought she could intimidate you.”
She shrugged innocently. “They offered.”
He looked at her, grinning ear to ear. “And?”
She gestured and batted her eyelashes. “And so I told them the time and the place. I can’t turn down my elders!”
Both Walt and Beckett laughed hard at that. Fortunately for them, Ariana had just exited the house, hurrying back over to woo one of the camera guys. Jordyn didn’t have to wait and watch for the Pink Ladies; she knew one of them was going to in
tercept.
She maybe loved small towns. Or maybe just this one.
Beckett and Walt finished up in short order and were talking so long about random topics that Jordyn went for a walk. She wanted everyone to leave. Now. She just wanted time with Beckett. Time to decompress after the last three insanely busy days. But a walk would clear her head and give her a chance to say goodbye to the farm at least.
It ended up being a wasted effort. She got maybe ten minutes of time to herself before Ariana came storming up to her, grabbed her by the arm a little rougher than necessary, and said, “I need to speak with you in the barn.” Then she took off.
Ariana in a barn? Maybe hell really did freeze over.
She tried to tell her she wasn’t going anywhere with her, but Ariana had already headed that way. The last thing she wanted was to have Ariana not shut a gate or let out Bess, who was still barn-ridden until her round of antibiotics was up.
She could be an adult. She could deal with whatever Ariana was going to spew at her, which she was sure was something about the Pink Ladies messing up her chances. Jordyn was the one dating Beckett. Not Ariana. So Ariana could just get used to this. She wasn’t on their team. She was the opposing team.
As she opened the barn door, she saw Beckett too. He was tossing some hay over Bess’s stall with a pitchfork, so he didn’t turn their way. Ariana was heading right for him too, on a mission. She wondered if Ariana was going to tackle him or something, and she almost wanted to laugh. She’d probably bounce right off Beckett and land in a pile of long limbs, boobs, and hay. Hopefully on some cow crap too. That would just be the cherry on top.
But then as Ariana got close, Beckett’s arm moved to grab her. Ariana turned toward him, letting him bring her into his body; at the same time, she looked right at Jordyn and smiled the evilest smile she had ever seen, and then she leaned in and kissed Beckett.
It all happened in three seconds or less. Beckett still had his back to her and didn’t know she was there. The way he put an arm around Ariana and pulled her into him though. It was something he had done to Jordyn at least a dozen times. Which made this a thousand times worse because it meant he had wanted her there. He had wanted her. It wasn’t that he didn’t stop Ariana’s advances quickly enough; it was him reaching for her.
This had to be some sort of twisted joke, right? Except that it wasn’t. Her own two eyes had just seen it all transpire. And the immediate heartache she felt told her this was real. It wasn’t some nightmare. The shockwaves of watching that moment were cutting too sharp to have been made up; like a shard of glass straight into her heart, they sliced deeper with each beat after. She had watched the moment Beckett’s heart broke. Now she was living the moment hers did.
One moment. So much potential shot to hell. The loss of the love of your life.
She backed away, eyes stinging. Of course Ariana wasn’t going to tackle him. Her weapon was much worse. She found a way to finally introduce Jordyn to none other than Heartbreak Harper.
“Go, dear,” a woman said gently. One of the Pink Ladies. The ring leader. Glenda.
Another one said, “We came for backup. We’ll handle this.”
And without another thought, Jordyn ran.
Misery
CHAPTER 24
“ARIANA?!” He pulled away immediately. He could have sworn it was Jordyn. Sworn. Ariana was wearing her perfume or lotion or something. He had zero doubt it was Jordyn when he grabbed her by the waist. And then when he realized it was Ariana instead of Jordyn, it was too late.
Ariana kissed him in his surprised stupor. Then she laughed, that pompous glint in her eyes. “Hi.”
“What the hell, Ariana?!” What was she doing in here? In a barn of all places. And why in the hell did she smell like Jordyn?
She shrugged. “Good luck getting your little girlfriend to forgive that.” She pointed out the open barn door, where three Pink Ladies stood mad as hornets. Jordyn was already booking it toward the house. Almost there by the looks of it.
Dammit.
He was set up. He had to go tell Jordyn. Right this second. He moved for the door, but Ariana grabbed him by the shoulder and pulled him back around.
He wasn’t in the mood for her games. “Woman, what do you want? You already ruined the best damn thing that ever happened to me so what more can I do for you today, Ariana?” He was breathing heavily, ticked the hell off. “Seriously, why are you such a life-suckingly cruel person? Find someone else to irritate to death.”
Ariana had the audacity to look surprised with his level of anger.
“What?!” he snapped, stepping toward the door.
She shrugged and looked a little confused. “I thought I was doing you a favor. I thought you’d probably want to dump her as soon as you got the commercial done.”
If he could kill her with a look, he would. “You thought wrong. And why the hell do you smell like her anyway?!”
Ariana tilted her face to the side a little. “Oh, hun. Didn’t realize you’d fallen into the love pit. You poor thing.” She paused a moment, thoughtful. “Her lotion was on the counter in the bathroom, and my hands are all dried out because of this God-forsaken cold. It’s just cheap lotion, so I didn’t think she’d mind if I borrowed some.”
And he wouldn’t have put it past Ariana to purposefully use Jordyn’s lotion as part of her plan. “Ariana. Get off my property before I press charges and get a restraining order against you. I never want to see your face again. Got it?”
Ariana looked hurt—so hurt for a moment he almost felt bad for his harsh words. But then, as she reassumed her model poise and mask, she headed for the door. Right before she exited, she turned, whipping back her long black hair in the process. “Well, if I can’t have you, at least she can’t either now.”
He let out a frustrated sigh that turned into a yell, which scared Bess, making him feel even worse.
He had to make this right. He had to fix this. Had to.
As he slid the barn door shut, he came face to face with the Pink Ladies. He didn’t have time for this crap. Jordyn was probably leaving right this minute, and he needed to find her. Did no one understand what the hell had just happened back there? Ariana was trying to ruin his relationship with Jordyn.
When he moved to leave, he got cut off by one of the little old ladies. So he started explaining in short sentences. “Ladies. I assume you heard all that. I thought Ariana was Jordyn. She had Jordyn’s lotion on, so I thought it was her.”
“You sure about that, sonny?” Letty asked.
“You weren’t just trying to have a side piece, were ya?” the vicious one, Glenda, said as she actually poked him in the arm. “You are Heartbreak Harper after all.”
A side piece? “No. God no. Now please, let me go after her.” He was about to just run away. Who gave a damn about respecting your elders when Jordyn thought he had disrespected her? He could carry all three of these women on his back if he had to, so why again was he still standing here getting bossed around by little old ladies?
“But how serious are you about this girl?” the third Pink Lady, Beth, asked.
“Pretty serious,” he said. There. Could he go now?
“How serious?” Glenda asked loudly. She wasn’t here to play games evidently. “I don’t want you to kiss and make up with her unless you are in it for the long haul. You may not have a side piece, but I don’t see you making any serious commitments either. Don’t go crawling back to her if you are just going to break up with her later. No more random hook ups, sonny. No more Netflix and chill.”
Frustrated was not an accurate enough word for how Beckett felt right now. And if Jordyn wasn’t about to flee from his farm, he may have even thought how much the Pink Ladies loved Jordyn was endearing. Right now, it was annoying. He was soooo frustrated. He grabbed at his hair and pulled. “I want to marry that girl, okay? Is that what you are looking for? It’s been three weeks and I know that sounds ridiculous, but I was doing it right this time, okay?” By t
he end he was almost yelling, and then felt bad about yelling at little old women whose only real offense was loving Jordyn.
Man, when he messed up, he just committed to it. Mess-up piled on top of mess-up.
“Well, what are you waiting for, then? Go get her!” Glenda gave him a clap on the back as he shot toward the house.
Finally. He was free to go after Jordyn.
But by the time he reached the house, everyone was already gone. Everyone had cleared out in five minutes or less. And though he once thought having the house back to himself would be freeing, he felt nothing but misery instead.
Misery. Misery, he’d soon find, was his friend. His good friend. His good friend that was never going to leave. And he wasn’t sure he wanted him to.
For the next two days, Beckett was hopeless. She wasn’t answering his phone calls. Or texts. Or emails. He had tried to call Walt even, but he got an earful there. Walt wanted to cancel the entire commercial for how he had treated Jordyn.
Beckett was going to hop the earliest plane to Houston and go pound on Jordyn’s door, but Walt had warned the commercial would be off if he stepped a foot in Houston before the meeting for the final commercial viewing. Jordyn didn’t want to see him, and Walt was only trying to protect her.
And he couldn’t say he blamed Walt for that. He knew what it looked like.
But by the afternoon of the second day, he had calmed down enough to let a plan form. He was due in Houston for the final-commercial choosing and showing on Friday of next week, in exactly one week. Walt had wanted him there and he eagerly agreed. He hadn’t told Jordyn because he wanted to surprise her. He was still planning on doing just that. He would make her understand somehow. He had to. He just hoped she would start talking to him before then. Start to figure out what had really happened.
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