“It would be very weird, but I don’t know, my mom and dad are so much older than your mom and Ben. Don’t get me wrong though, I hear what you’re saying. I get that it’s weird for you.” He smiled and kissed across her knuckles.
She saw what he was doing. She was watching him. Yet she had no desire to pull her hand away. She’d forgotten how easy he was to be with—and how much she liked him.
The rhythm they fell back into was an easy one. It was mid-afternoon before she knew it.
“Are you hungry?” Jace asked her.
“Starving. I didn’t realize how late it had gotten.” She looked at her phone and cringed. There were four texts from Billy and an equal number of voicemail messages.
“Did you forget about something?”
“What? No. It’s just later than I thought.”
“Somewhere you need to be?”
“No, not really.” She excused herself and went to the ladies room. She couldn’t very well call Billy, and if she texted him, what would she say? He was probably already furious with her; she might as well wait until later and deal with it all at once.
“You sure everything’s okay?” he asked when she came back to the table.
“Yes. There’s something we need to talk about though.”
“I figured there was.” He was frowning.
“It’s about Billy.”
“Figured that too.” He leaned back in his chair, further away from her.
“I’ve known Billy almost all my life…” she began the story.
“He’s coming for Thanksgiving.” It wasn’t a question. It was a statement.
“He is,” she answered.
Jace rubbed his hand over his face. “I’m not sure what to say. I guess I’m relieved you weren’t ‘with him’ during the summer. I’m not sure how I would’ve felt about that.”
“I wouldn’t have done that Jace.”
“I know you wouldn’t. But…”
“But what?”
“What about today?” He looked at his phone. “I’ve been here several hours now. And I haven’t been shy with my, uh, affection.”
She knew he was right, and she didn’t know how to answer him.
“I didn’t feel the way I thought I would when you got here,” she said.
“No? How did you feel? Or how didn’t you feel?”
“I’m happy you’re here.”
“Ouch woman! I guess you mean that in a good way, but wow, you didn’t expect to be happy to see me?”
“Honestly?”
“Please.”
“No. I didn’t. I didn’t expect to feel the way I’m feeling at all.”
He leaned forward and ran his finger down the side of her face. “How are you feeling Irene?”
“I want you to kiss me.”
“Not a problem.” He leaned closer and rubbed his lips over hers. “It’s my pleasure,” he added.
He kissed her thoroughly. Any ideas she’d had about the two of them having an innocent, friendly visit were long gone. And she had no desire to stop what they were doing.
It was a warm and sunny day, so they were sitting outside on the patio at the Brick Oven Pub. It shouldn’t have surprised her when someone stopped at the table to say hello.
“Hey Renie, how are you?”
“Good Will. How are you?”
“Will?” Jace asked. “Will Rice?”
“Yep, that’s me.”
“I’m Jace. Jace Rice.”
“Jace? No kidding, how the hell are you?”
Will pulled up a chair and sat down at the table with them. They spent a few minutes catching up before Will settled his gaze on Renie.
“How did you and Jace meet?”
Jace answered before she could. “We both worked at Black Mountain Ranch this summer.” He went on to tell Ben’s brother how he’d recently returned from Spain.
“How long will you be on this side of the hill?”
“I’d planned to stay a few hours, but then Aunt Ginny invited me for dinner.”
“That’s right, she called to tell me there was a family dinner, mentioned somebody was in town, but I didn’t quite catch what she was talking about. Great, then. Maeve, that’s my wife, and I will catch up with you later.”
Will was eyeing Renie and she knew what he was thinking. She hoped he didn’t want to talk about it. He got up from the table instead, but rested his hand on her shoulder.
“And you? I’ll see you later too, won’t I?”
“He know about Billy?”
“Yep.”
“Then you’re in for an awkward conversation. He couldn’t have missed the lip-lock we were in when he approached the table.”
It was Renie’s turn to put her hands in her face. More than Will, she was worried about Billy. She had to call him, but she had no idea what she would say.
“What’s happening with him?”
“I’m sure he’s furious.”
“Let’s go back to the house. You can call him from there. I’ll make myself scarce. Maybe I’ll visit Uncle Bud and Aunt Ginny for a while.”
“Why are you being so nice about this?”
“Oh, I’m not. Not at all. I fully expect you to be honest with him Irene. And I’m not leaving. I’m staying for dinner, and I plan to be sitting next to you when I do.”
Jace dropped her off at Ben’s, but didn’t come in. He drove away before she’d gotten inside.
“Oh dear, what’s happened?” her mother asked.
“He’s going to Bud and Ginny’s. I need to call Billy.”
Renie was downstairs with her door shut before Liv could ask her another question.
Chapter 18
Billy was nearly frantic. It was all he could do not to call Liv, but Renie was an adult and calling her mother because he was worried about her was not an appropriate thing to do. In fact, if anything had happened to Renie, he knew Liv would contact him.
No, Renie was out with this Jace guy, the one she’d spent the summer with. Who taught her more about herself.
Willow started to cry, and he realized he hadn’t been paying attention to her. This wasn’t good. He was so upset about Renie, he’d forgotten his baby girl. Shit. What kind of dad was he?
He picked her up, and snuggled her against him. Once she had his undivided attention, she calmed down. More warning flags shot up around him. Maybe Renie’s instincts were dead on, and it would be harder to juggle the two of them than he thought. It broke his heart to think she might be.
His cell vibrated in his pocket and he set Willow down on the floor to answer it. As soon as he did, she started to wail again.
“Hey,” he answered. “Can you hang on a minute?”
He didn’t wait for Renie’s answer; he set the phone down so he could pick Willow up again.
“Hi,” he said once he had his baby girl settled. “Where are you?”
“I’m home.”
“Yeah?”
He was pissed, and he didn’t care if she knew it. She would’ve been pissed to if the situations were in reverse.
“Billy, I—”
Willow started to cry again.
“Hey Renie. Willow’s fussy. I need to take care of her. I’ll call you later.”
He hung up. He hung up on her. Because Willow was fussy. She knew that wasn’t the only reason he had. But still. Wasn’t that the very thing she was most worried about? That Willow would always come first? Their entire lives would revolve around Willow, whether Renie was ready for that kind of life or not.
She wasn’t even twenty-four. Was that the life she wanted? She wasn’t sure it was.
She came back upstairs, boots on, ready to go for a ride. Boy was she glad Pooh was out in the barn and no longer at Billy’s.
“Where are you off to?” Liv asked.
“Riding over to Bud and Ginny’s.”
“Did you talk to Billy?”
“Yep, for about three seconds. He hung up on me because Willow was fussy.”
“Oh dear.”
“You got that right. Ya know, I don’t need this shit from him. He wants it all, and he doesn’t care how much he tramples on everyone around him to get it.”
Liv knew now wasn’t the time to say it, but at that moment, Renie could’ve been talking about herself as much as she was talking about Billy.
She vowed to stay out of it. Right after she called Dottie.
***
“Wow, that was quick,” Jace said when Renie walked into Bud and Ginny’s house.
“Yep.”
“Did you make your phone call?”
“Yep.”
“Okay, I guess you don’t want to talk about it.”
“Not now I don’t.”
Ginny walked into the kitchen. “Oh! Hi Renie. I didn’t know you were in here.”
“I just got here. Bud’s putting Pooh in the barn. I’m not intruding am I?”
“No, not at all. I was about to start dinner. We’ve got a crowd coming tonight to see Jace.”
Renie rolled up her sleeves. “Put me to work then.”
Jace watched her maneuver her way around the kitchen. It was clear she was pissed. He wanted to ask her about her conversation, but didn’t want to do it in front of Aunt Ginny.
She was here though, and that had to mean something. He walked over to where she was and kissed her cheek. She turned, smiled at him, and kissed him on the lips. Yeah, he didn’t care about how her conversation with Billy went. If she was kissing him, she was his, at least for the next few hours.
***
Billy knew he’d handled that the worst way possible with Renie. Everything she was worried about, that Willow would be his first priority, he’d thrown into her face. And he hung up on her. Way to drive her straight into someone else’s arms.
He heard the back door open and turned to see his mother standing in his kitchen.
“Should we change our plans for Thanksgiving?”
Shit. What had she heard and how had she heard it already?
“Billy, I love ya,” she said after listening to his side of the story. “No mama could love her son more, but I have to be honest with you. You are an idiot.”
“I’m an idiot? You’re siding with her? She’s been off doing who knows what with another man and you’re siding with her?”
“No, I’m not. I’m not siding with either one of you. I’m just saying that you’re an idiot. Don’t you think you should have at least let her talk? Tell you what’s going on?”
“Why? So she could tell me that she’d spent the day with another man? No, thank you.”
“How do you know that? What if you had spent the day with Liv?”
“That’s different. She’s Renie’s mom.”
“Yes, but she’s another woman. That would’ve been completely innocent on both your parts. Maybe this was innocent too.”
“Nope, not the same thing at all. I never had sex with Liv. Sorry to be blunt Mama, but that’s the difference.”
“Okay, well here’s a question for you then. Are you going to act like such a jackass that she has no choice but to pick the other man instead of you? ’Cause that’s the road you’re on Billy. You’re gonna drive her right into his arms instead of yours. Is that what you want?”
“No. It isn’t.”
“So what are you gonna do about it.”
“I don’t know.”
***
The place was a madhouse; there was no other word for it. Between Ben and his brothers, their wives, Jace, Ben’s two boys, Bud and Ginny, and her and her mother, Renie was completely overwhelmed. The only other time in her life that she was around this many people having dinner was Thanksgiving, at Patterson Ranch in their dining hall, when all the cowboys and families came together to celebrate.
What would she do about Thanksgiving? Billy was bringing Willow, and Dottie and Bill were coming too. She and Billy needed to talk about today, and resolve things before the two of them ruined the holiday for everyone else.
Blythe was coming with her parents too, and she had a lot of making up to do with her friend. In fact, she wouldn’t be all that surprised if Blythe decided not to come.
She couldn’t blame her; she knew she’d been a lousy friend to her for the last year. If you counted how long she had been dishonest with Blythe about how she felt about Billy, she’d been a lousy friend for years.
Renie needed some fresh air. She went out and stood on the porch. A few minutes later, Jace joined her.
“What’s going on in that pretty head of yours?”
“I messed things up today.”
“With Billy?”
“Yeah, with Billy.”
He put his arm around her, and she rested her head against his shoulder.
“I’m sorry Jace, but Billy has been…a significant part of my world for most of my life.”
“You love him.”
“More than anything.”
“This thing with us, what do you think that’s all about?”
“I like you Jace, very much. I love Billy, but I like you, and I’m attracted to you. I’m not sure what that says about me.”
He turned her in his arms, so he was facing her.
“You can’t ignore it. At the very least, you need to figure out why.”
“Why what?”
“There must be something that’s missing with Billy that you find with me. I’m not saying this because I’m crazy about you. Even if I walk away from you right now and never look back, you’ll still need to figure out this thing with Patterson.”
“You’re being awfully nice about this.”
“Yeah, I care about you…there, I admitted it,” he teased.
“It’s that thing, you know, the nothing ever bothers you thing.”
“As I’ve told you before, this bothers me, a lot. But, there isn’t much I can do about it. If he didn’t mean something to you, you wouldn’t be out here fretting about it.”
She turned so her back was to him, but he kept his arms around her waist.
She saw a truck coming down one of the ranch roads, but didn’t pay much attention to it. The Rice family employed a lot of ranch hands; it wasn’t unusual to see a truck or two out on the back roads.
As it got closer, she realized it was on the main road, and it was heading toward Ben’s place. Something about it didn’t seem right to her, and she stiffened.
“What’s up?”
“I don’t know. Something about that truck…”
“Maybe you should say something to Ben.”
“Yeah, maybe.”
She turned away from Jace and dug out her cell phone.
We need to talk, she texted Billy.
I know we do, he answered.
Where are you?
Here.
Here? As in Crested Butte? Had she just seen his truck?
“Jace, would you mind telling Ben I took his truck? I’m heading up to the house.” On the ranch, most everyone left their keys in the ignition, it was a habit.
“Wait, do you think you should go alone? I can go with you. Or maybe let Ben go if you’re worried about it.”
“It’s okay, I know who it is.” She was walking to Ben’s truck as she said it. She pulled away, and caught sight of Jace, still standing on the front porch. She hated to do this to him, but what she’d done today to Billy was worse.
It didn’t look as though anybody was home when he pulled up, but Renie texted him saying they needed to talk a minute ago. Maybe she was home alone. He knocked on the front door, but there was no answer. He turned around and saw the headlights of another truck coming toward the house. He leaned against the porch railing and waited.
“Hi,” she said as she jumped out of the truck and walked toward him.
“Hi.”
“You drove all the way here.”
“Yep.”
“How come?”
“’Cause my mama told me I was being a jackass.”
She stood in front of him now. S
he reached out and put her fingers through his belt loops, pulling herself closer to him.
“About what?”
“What you spent your day doin’.”
She let go of his belt loops, put her arms around his waist and her head against his chest.
“I’m sorry.”
“About what?”
“About today.”
“Do I even wanna know?”
“No. You don’t. But you need to.”
“Shit,” he said. “I was afraid of this.”
“Let’s go inside.”
Renie pulled her vibrating cell out of her pocket as she walked in the front door. “Hey Mom.”
“Renie, is everything okay?”
“Yeah. Billy’s here.”
“Oh.”
“Jace knows, or at least he knows I left.”
“He came in and told Ben.”
“I gotta go Mom, but everything’s okay.”
Billy was waiting for her on the sofa in the family room when she came in. Somehow he’d managed to light the fireplace during her brief conversation. She sat next to him, tucking her feet under her as she did.
“You hung up on me.”
“You spent the day with another man.” He ran his hand through his hair. “I don’t wanna do this. I don’t wanna go back and forth with you about who did what. Just tell me what the fuck is goin’ on.”
“I don’t know how to explain it.” Renie got up and started pacing in front of the fireplace. She stopped and held her hands out, as if to warm them, but then kept her back to Billy when she started to speak.
“I was happier to see him than I expected to be. I expected to have a quick cup of coffee and tell him goodbye.”
“But that didn’t happen.”
“He says there’s something I’m missing with you, that I find with him.”
Billy didn’t say anything. She turned around to look at him, and his eyes were closed.
“It isn’t just Willow. There are other things I’m worried about Billy.”
“What other things?”
“I wish I could explain how I’m feeling. But, I can’t. All I know is that I love you. Anything beyond that…”
“What are you afraid of? That’s what it comes down to. There’s something you’re afraid of.”
And Then You Dance (Crested Butte Cowboys Series Book 2) Page 19
