Chapter 1 #2
When he got to the bunkhouse, Timber wasn’t far behind him.
Jaxon didn’t say anything or mention that he’d overheard part of the earlier conversation.
Jaxon just got to work. A couple of the other men looked over at him.
They didn’t say anything, but a few questioning glances were exchanged between them and Timber.
Thankfully nobody brought up Keisha, and Jaxon got to work on his own.
When his phone rang off the hook, he looked down to see a number he hadn’t seen in a very long time.
He picked up the call. “Hey, Rose. How are you doing?”
“I’m doing okay,” she responded in that same bright cheerful voice. “How are you doing?”
“I’m fine,” he murmured, “but I’m at work right now.”
After a moment of hesitation, she asked, “But are you actually working?”
“What do you mean by that?” he asked, with a silent groan. “You know I’m working.”
“I know you’re working, or at least you’re keeping busy, but I don’t know that you’re actually working.”
“Which shouldn’t make any difference to you. What’s the matter?”
“It’s just … we haven’t done the signatures on that divorce of yours yet.”
“Right, yeah, well, … she’s here right now, so I don’t know what to tell you.”
“What do you mean, she’s there?”
“Just what I said. She’s here, at the Haven. She came in to see about a load of animals.”
“That’s an interesting twist.”
“Not really. I don’t think anything about it is interesting,” he snapped.
Rose sighed. “We don’t have to go through with this right now.”
“What do you mean, we don’t have to?” he asked, with a snort. “Nothing is left of my marriage, and she’s the one who filed for divorce.”
“I know, but you could talk to her.”
“What good will that do?” he asked, with yet another snort. “It’s not as if talking to her has ever done any good so far.”
“I don’t know what to say about that because it seemed to me that you two were really good at communicating, … right up until you weren’t.”
“Yeah, well, things were great until they weren’t,” he declared.
“Now either send me the damn paperwork, and I’ll go over it, or don’t.
” When an odd silence came from the other end, he knew what a jerk he had been.
“Look. I’m sorry. I’m not trying to snap at you, but it was a bit of a shock when she just showed up here, out of the blue. ”
“Yeah, it’s weird that she did that.”
“Why?” he asked.
“I just had a phone call with her lawyer this morning, and he wanted to know why you hadn’t signed the papers.”
“That might explain why she showed up then,” he muttered, pushing his hair off his face.
“Maybe.”
Jaxon heard the odd note in her tone and asked, “What?”
“It could be that, or else she’s looking to see if this is still what you guys want.”
“I don’t know what she’s up to,” he snapped.
“I didn’t start this process, so if she’s here because she’s pushing for signed paperwork, that’s on her.
” He took a deep breath. “Just send the damn stuff, and I’ll take a look at it.
” When he disconnected, he stood here, glaring out at the paddocks around him.
None of the men behind him said anything, but he felt their gazes boring into the back of his head and knew that they had overheard his part of the discussion.
Bad call on his part. He should have been more careful about having personal phone calls around here when others were nearby. Too late for that now.
He shrugged irritably and returned to the work at hand. He wasn’t sure what he was supposed to do. He wasn’t sure about anything right now. So, the only thing he could do was focus on the work right in front of him now. When his phone rang again, he looked down at the screen and refused the call.
Timber laughed nearby. “I should try that with my lawyers.”
“This one wasn’t the lawyer,” he snapped and then groaned. “Sorry, that’s a completely different … issue.” He dragged out the word, making a lisping sound.
“Wow, … you’ve got a couple of those chasing you.”
“I do and wish I didn’t, but I wouldn’t categorize it as chasing exactly,” he clarified, with a shrug. “What can I say? Life got complicated very quickly.”
“Anything that’s really ugly?”
“Not that I know of,” he muttered, turning to face him.
“I just don’t want anyone to get blindsided,” Timber replied, his gaze piercing as he studied Jaxon.
“You’re thinking about Burke?”
“Like I said …”
“Nope, nothing to be blindsided over here. I don’t think it’s anything like what Shirley was going through—or Burke or even you and Tiffany,” Jaxon noted. “I don’t know who the hell this person is, but they keep calling me.”
“Maybe that’s something you should check out,” Timber suggested.
“I would, but that means acknowledging them,” Jaxon pointed out, “and I’m not prepared to do that. They just keep calling, and I keep disconnecting and not letting them through. It’s just spam, as far as I’m concerned.”
“They might be spam.”
Jaxon faced Timber, his facial expression hard.
Timber smiled and shrugged. “Fine, I’ll leave it be.”
“Yeah, right,” Jaxon muttered, with a snort. “You’ll leave it for five minutes, and then you’ll be hounding me again.”
“Maybe,” Timber conceded, “but I’m not trying to hound you though.”
Jaxon sighed. “Look, … it’s been a tough day.”
“Got it.” Timber nodded. “I get that, but, if you still care that much for Keisha, and it’s sending you all over the place, it might be something that’s worth fighting for.”
“How do you fight for something you didn’t even know you’d lost?” he asked, staring at him. “I lost it way before I ever got home, so what do I do with that?” he exclaimed, followed by a sigh.
“You could always talk to her, see what’s going on, see if anything is still there anymore. Until you talk to her, you don’t know the full story.”
“There isn’t any need. She made that very clear when she had me served with divorce papers,” he declared, “and, if I thought anything was left, I would have fought, but the divorce papers mean something completely different, and I am not going back to where I was.”