Hometown Hope: A Small Town Romance Anthology
Page 293
Okay, so it was possible that she’d given up completely on the idea of keeping sarcasm out of her voice. Paul’s eyes bugged out. “I did not think you’d cheat on me every time I left the room!” he huffed. “Hyperbole does not suit you.”
“And hypocrisy doesn’t suit you,” Jennifer said blandly. “They always say that whatever you’re worried about in a partner is what you’re actually doing yourself. Hmmm…is that why you spent three years thinking that I was cheating on you, and always making me re-confirm to you again and again that I hadn’t? How many women, exactly, did you give mouth-to-mouth lessons to while we were engaged?”
“Well, I never—” Paul sputtered, his face growing red with rage. “I am here,” he drew himself up imperiously, bringing his height to the full 3/4’s of an inch that he had on her, “to tell you that if you promise to behave yourself, I am willing to take you back.”
Jennifer could practically feel the anger pulsating off Stetson in waves, but she didn’t dare retreat back into him. She was going to stand up for herself this time, dammit. She’d spent a whole year working through self-help books after she’d left this snake, trying to figure out why she’d put up with Paul, time after awful time when he’d denigrated her. Told her she was less than. And then the final insult – to find him in bed with a coworker, Lizzie, who had much larger boobs than Jennifer could ever hope to have, even if she paid for breast implants or something else equally as ridiculous.
But instead of laying into him when she’d found them together in bed, she’d run away, crying. She’d gotten her stuff out of his apartment while he was at work. She’d quit the hospital and had never gone back. The Old Jennifer hadn’t wanted to talk to him, ever again.
After a year of self-help books and digging in deep, though, she’d made a lot of realizations about herself, and New Jennifer had a backbone that made her willing to share those thoughts instead of just forcing herself to bury them deep inside.
Well, now was her chance to say all of the things that Old Jennifer wouldn’t say to him, and she was starting to realize that it felt good.
Damn good.
“That’s funny,” she drawled in her best thick Idaho accent, “’cause I don’t recall wanting to come back.”
“Now, Pumpkin,” he said, instantly changing tactics. He was as transparent as plastic wrap, and about as personable. What had she seen in him all those years ago? As her eyes flicked up and down his body, she realized she had a hard time remembering now. “You don’t know what you’re saying. It must’ve been quite the shock to see me show up here, but that doesn’t mean you should be hast—”
“How many nurses?” she asked bluntly.
“What?” Paul was staring at her. Stetson was shifting from foot to foot behind her, probably just waiting for the signal to pound the guy into the ground.
Jennifer ignored it all. She was in control here.
“How many nurses have you slept with since I left you?”
“I don’t know what that has to do wi—”
“Because I heard one time from another nurse back at the hospital that you tend to cycle through relationships every six months or so. I was the only one dumb enough to last as long as I did. So I’m just wanting to do the math. Did you find any other doormats to trample all over for years? Or did they all get out at the six-month mark?”
“This is what I’ve been trying to tell you!” he exclaimed triumphantly. “I know that you’re jealous of the other women in my life, but I have to be able to work with females, Pumpkin. You can’t keep throwing these little temper tantrums.”
“Huh. So faster than six months, eh? What did they average – three months? Four months? Did a nurse figure out what an ass you are and drop you at two months?”
The flush that spread across Paul’s face was the only indication that he heard her.
“How’d you get here?” she asked, abruptly changing subjects. He jerked, startled by the switch.
“I dr-drove,” he sputtered. “Of course. I’m not going to walk all the way from Boi—”
“How did you know to come here?” she asked, interrupting him again. She’d been raised to never interrupt others, but damn if she wasn’t finding a perverse pleasure in doing it to Paul.
Finally, all of the things she’d wanted to say and do, but had never thought she’d have the chance. This was her chance. Her legs felt shaky and her head felt like it was floating off her shoulders from the adrenaline rush pumping through her veins. Standing up to Paul was scary and thrilling and amazing and horrible, all at once.
Some part of her knew that Stetson was behind her 100%, both figuratively and literally, and would be willing to take a swing at the guy if need be. She also knew that Carmelita was hovering back there too, no doubt waiting for her chance to jump into the conversation and tell Paul to go eat McDonald’s food – the worst insult ever – but this was Jennifer’s show. She was running it. She was standing up for herself.
Even if it made her want to throw up a little bit, it was totally worth it.
“I asked down at the bank,” Paul sniffed in his best “duh” voice. “Yesterday afternoon. Then I had to put together a suitcase and an itinerary for our date that we’d have together once I picked you up. So I couldn’t actually leave until this morning.”
A small part of her – okay, a giant-ass part of her – was dying to know what was on this itinerary, but she didn’t want to get sidetracked. She had facts to gather, dammit.
Stetson started to speak, his anger at high tide at this point, but Jennifer held up her hand, not even looking back over her shoulder.
This was her fight. She would take the worm down.
“Intermountain West Bank & Loan told you where I was,” she repeated softly, staring at Paul, her eyes boring into his.
“Well yes, of course,” he huffed. “I told your boss, Gregory, that it was of the utmost importance that I speak to you. Once he found out that I was a doctor, why, he gave me the information right away, as he should have.” He nodded once, as if agreeing with himself.
Of course he agreed with himself.
“Good to know. I wanted to make sure I implicated the right employee on Monday when I filed a complaint with the bank headquarters over this. I’ll be sure to state that you are my source of this information. I have your phone number, so the bank president can call you for more details if he’d like.”
He sputtered for a moment, his eyes growing wide as he looked at her, and finally, he spat out, “You’ve changed! You’re nothing like my old Jennifer.” It was the worst insult he could think of to dish out.
She sent him a huge smile. “I know!” she said with a laugh. “Isn’t it wonderful? When I think back to the Old Jennifer – the one willing to put up with all that I did – it makes my skin crawl. Every change that I’ve made in the last two years has been because I realized that I didn’t like you, but even more importantly, I didn’t like me when I was with you. Now, if you’ll excuse us, Stetson and I were about to go out on a tour of his farm, and you’re not welcome to join us.”
“So the overgrown ape is your boyfriend, eh?” he sneered. “Just wait until your boss hears that you’re dating a client!”
“Well now,” Stetson rumbled in his deep voice, his patience completely gone, “I suggest you walk back to your car, get in it, and drive on back to Boise. Right now. If you insist on making me escort you off my property, you’re not gonna like how I do it.”
“You wouldn’t dare touch me!” Paul said indignantly. “I am a doctor! No court in the land would side with a redneck over me.”
Stetson chuckled. “The sheriff of Long Valley hunts on my land every fall. We’re coming up on hunting season. Do you really think that he’d take the side of some city slicker who he’s never met, over his hunting buddy and his chance to hunt in the best elk territory in the county?”
So that’s why he decorates with elk horns…
She forced her mind back to the topic at hand.
“You go right on ahead,” Stetson said blandly. “And while you’re at it, remind him to put in for the elk tag draw for this fall. I’d hate to have him miss another elk season because he forgot to fill out some paperwork. He was damn busy last year, and I had to make do with hunting with the deputy sheriff instead.”
Paul’s eyes darted between Jennifer and Stetson, clearly trying to decide if Stetson was being serious. His fingers hovered over his phone, undecided.
So, Stetson being the kind soul that he was, helped him along in the decision-making process. Picking Jennifer up and setting her gently to the side, he was on the porch in just seconds. He grabbed the collar of Paul’s shirt and the waistband of his pants in one smooth motion, and then Paul was flying off the front porch, through the air, to land in the same puddle she’d stepped in the second morning she’d come out to the farm. It was smaller now, since the rain had stopped yesterday morning, but it still wasn’t small by any stretch of the imagination.
Paul rolled over, looking down at his ruined clothes and back up at Stetson. “You…you…” he spluttered, as Stetson leaned against one of the porch columns, looking on as if watching a fascinating play that was being put on in his front yard.
Jennifer moved up next to him and slipped her arm around his waist. “Hi, darlin’,” she said casually, and then grinned up at him. “Nice arm.”
“Thanks!” he said, grinning back. “My brothers used to do that move all the time on me. I guess it’s just fun to finally be able to pull it on someone else.”
They turned to watch Paul scramble to his feet, blustering like a bedraggled rooster about how he was going to call his lawyer as soon as he got back to civilization.
“You do that,” Stetson drawled. “And be sure to tell your lawyer that you gained my address illegally, and that you were asked to leave in a polite way before I helped you along. I’m sure your lawyer will want to hear all of the details.”
Face red, Paul slid into his Ferrari and tore off, wheels throwing up chunks of mud and gravel. They watched him go, Jennifer waving gaily as he did, her stomach practically floating with happiness. With the help of Stetson, she’d actually faced down and defeated a man who’d held way too much power over her for way too long. What a feeling it was.
“Ouch!” Stetson yelped, pulling away from Jennifer and rubbing the back of his head as he turned to glare down at Carmelita. Jennifer jerked too, completely startled. She’d been lost in her own little world. Had Carmelita just smacked Stetson on the back of the head?
Before she could ask what just happened, Carma smiled up at Stetson, a huge, jaw-cracking grin. “You did good, mi hijo. Your parents,” she crossed her ample chest, “are smiling down on you. Now! I must go wash bedding. It is time for me to do my job.” She hurried back into the house, dabbing at the corners of her eyes with her apron as she went.
As quickly as the surge of power and pride had filled Jennifer’s soul, they went rushing back out again, leaving the stench of shame in its wake. She was so embarrassed. How had this happened?
“I’m so sorry!” she gasped. “Oh God. It’s so unprofessional to have my ex show up here like this. You…argh!”
Tripping over her own tongue. It was a thing.
What she’d stopped herself from actually saying out loud was that it was way too early in their relationship – if you could call one night of heavenly sex to even be a relationship – to deal with this kind of drama. So. Not. Cool. He probably thought this happened every weekend.
Dammit!
This was the sort of thing that you confessed to your new boyfriend after a year of dating and two bottles of wine.
Not like this.
“Sometime, you’ll have to tell me what you saw in this Paul,” he said, looking down at her with a huge grin on his face. It took her brain a few seconds to realize that he was mimicking her comment that she’d made, right before Paul showed up.
She buried her face in her hands, feeling her face turn a pulsating red from the sly repartee. “Truce,” she mumbled. “Truce!” she said again, pulling her hands away and looking up, up, up into Stetson’s face. “I won’t make fun of Michelle if you don’t make fun of Paul.”
“Damn,” Stetson said, pulling her up against him to bury his face in her hair and draw in a deep breath. “But I had so many things to make fun of about my choice to date Michelle for so long. Why, we’d just barely gotten started!”
Jennifer laughed against his chest. “It does seem to defy logic, doesn’t it?” she asked rhetorically. “I never saw Paul again after I found him and Lizzie in bed together. I made damn sure of it. I’d often wondered – some small part of me – what it’d be like if I did see him again. I never thought I’d be astounded by the question, ‘What on earth did I see in you?’ I always thought I’d struggle with standing up to him or feeling hurt all over again by his betrayal. But astonishment? Yeah, totally didn’t guess that.” She shrugged, keeping her face firmly buried against Stetson. It was less embarrassing that way. “I also never thought I’d be able to stand up to him like I did. It was the best feeling in the world, honestly! No wonder guys like to get into fights and just duke things out.”
“You thought that was a fight?” Stetson asked. She could feel his chest vibrate with silent laughter against her cheek. “The next time Wyatt and I have a ‘discussion,’ remind me to invite you to watch. What just happened with Paul is practically a tea party in comparison.”
“I don’t like fighting. Or arguing,” she said, still firmly nestled against him. She wasn’t quite ready to pull away and meet his gaze yet. “Why do you think I worked so hard to avoid Paul after I found him cheating on me? I just wanted to walk away and pretend it never happened. It’s not healthy.”
“Hey, I’ve been tempted to avoid confrontation,” Stetson said, nestling her further against his body and swaying lightly as they talked. “The other day, when I saw Declan and Wyatt’s trucks were here, all I wanted to do was turn around and run back to town. I knew it wasn’t going to go well. Any time Wyatt and I breathe the same air, it doesn’t go well.”
“Yeah, but you didn’t actually run away,” she pointed out logically. “I always have. Before today, that is. And the only reason I didn’t today is because I couldn’t. I don’t have a car to drive away in, and I don’t have a house to hide in. I was stuck.”
“And the only reason I didn’t run away the other day is because I knew it would only make things worse between Wyatt and I. Harvest is coming. I can’t stop the change of the seasons. So I was forced to go in and talk to him, despite me wanting to do almost anything else but.”
He was running his fingers through her hair methodically, scalp to ends, as they swayed in the warm summer air. “Don’t be so tough on yourself,” he said, just above a whisper. “You have a lot more backbone than you give yourself credit for. Despite my lecture on which meals you can eat and what Carmelita can make for you, you didn’t drive back to Boise and tell your boss that he can foreclose on the property, even though I know now that’s what he wanted to hear. Why didn’t you?”
“Recommend foreclosure right off the bat and just walk away, you mean?”
“Yeah. Knowing what I know now…on one side, you had a jackass of a farmer who made you feel like shit for being here, and on the other side, you had a boss who was pushing you to just recommend foreclosure. In your shoes, I think it would be hard to still do your job, especially since you had no real incentive to do so.”
“Well, because it is my job.” She shrugged a little. Her eyes were closed and she was just enjoying the heartbeat of Stetson, steady and strong. “If I quit every time someone was rude to me, I would never do my job. I can’t say you exactly made me feel welcome, but I’ve had other irate clients before. In fact, they usually start out that way; it’s rare if they don’t. I’ve learned to just shrug it off for the most part. Somet
imes, if I’m lucky, I can change their mind. Sometimes, especially when I can’t find a way for the business to be saved, I can’t change their mind. That’s when my parentage gets called into question.”
He was silent for a moment, and then he began laughing. “No wonder Carmelita likes you,” he said around his laughter. “That was the classiest way I've ever heard of someone being referred to as a bastard.”
“Well, that and Carmelita just has good taste,” she told him. “Obviously.”
“Obviously,” Stetson repeated, still laughing. “So, are we gonna go upstairs and canoodle some more, or are we gonna go on a tour of the farm?”
“Canoodle?!” She let out a snort of laughter. “It is 2016, right? We didn’t jump back to 1816 without me knowing it?”
“If you grew up with Carmelita standing over you, willing to whack you on the back of the head for the most inconsequential swear word, you quickly find substitutes to use. That tendency spreads to other…delicate topics of discussion.”
It was her turn to have her shoulders shake with laughter. “Fair enough,” she allowed. That laughter quickly turned to quiet moans of lust when Stetson drew his hands up her sides and across to her chest, across her hardened nipples.
“If I remember right, I have some strawberry ice cream to lick,” he said softly in her ear.
It was the damnedest thing, to feel lust and shame battle each other inside of her. Lust, because what he was doing felt so damn good. But shame, because she’d spent years being told she wasn’t enough. The old fears and doubts were still there; one night of him saying nice things couldn’t erase years of programming and negativity.
She froze in his arms, still as a statue as she tried to reason through everything flashing through her mind.
“What? What’s wrong?” Stetson asked, pulling back so he could look her in the face.
“I just realized something,” she breathed, forcing herself to look up and into his bottomless brown eyes. She needed to stop hiding, even if it was just her hiding her face against his chest.