Chapter 5
Chapter Five
Mason
T hud, thud, thud…
I grabbed my throbbing head, letting out a groan. I didn’t even attempt to open my eyes. Rolling over to my stomach, I buried my face in the pillow, the pressure of my downward force relieving the migraine. It wasn’t the few beers that I’d had the night before…
“Another migraine?” Jess’s voice sounded distant in the moment. I heard the pill bottle open, and my daughter’s footsteps across the hardwood floors of our cabin grow closer. “Here,” she nudged my shoulder. “You know that if you just take the medicine now, the headache will be gone in just a few minutes.”
I knew she was right, but ever since the accident, when these headaches came on, they were debilitating. However, I still had to get to work and get Jess to school.
Maybe stop by Emma’s café.
I grimaced at the idea that had popped up in my head unwanted. Well, I wanted to visit Emma—hell, I wanted a repeat of last night…
Except for the way she left.
I was always the one who left in a hurry like that—not that I had done anything close to it in years. I had a teenage daughter who took up all my time, and I didn’t have the energy to. A jolt of excitement hit me as I thought about the way her skin had felt against mine, but then the regret followed. She had made it very clear it was a mistake…
It’s probably for the better.
“ Dad, take this!” Jess bumped my shoulder again. “The faster you take it, the sooner your headache goes away, and I need to get to school.”
“Okay, okay,” I grumbled, keeping my eyes shut as I reached for the three pills on the nightstand. She always put them in the exact same place, and so I didn’t have to be tortured by the light in order to get them—I knew where to reach.
I shoved them in my mouth, swallowing them without any water and then waited, knowing that it never did me any good to get up until the throbbing ceased. “I’ll be up in a minute.”
“Okay,” Jess said with a sigh. “I’m gonna go get ready.”
“All right,” I muttered in response, not moving an inch in the bed. I let out my own sigh, grabbing the spare pillow and covering my head with it.
Jess was another reason that it was probably best to just let Emma go in peace. Having a teenage daughter made things… complicated. Jess noticed every single woman that I talked to, and she always asked a hundred questions. I wasn’t sure if that meant that she was supportive of me finding someone or not, but I didn’t wanna go there.
Jess’s mom had done enough damage when she left us .
My daughter couldn’t really remember what happened nearly fourteen years ago, but I did—and someone just up and leaving without any warning at all had never been a fear of mine until it happened.
And then there was the accident.
Before I let my mind go there, I realized the ache in my head had faded. It was perfect timing as my eyes fluttered open, the soft light in the room not causing any additional pain. I slowly made my way to a seated position, taking in my bare room. I had built the cabin on some land that Lucas had gifted me nearly ten years ago, and even after a decade, nothing was hanging on the white walls of the room.
Maybe it was because I was a man that there was nothing on the walls, and Jess had taken it upon herself to help me decorate the rest of the house over the years. There were plenty of photos of her and the two of us on the shelves and walls…
Just nothing in here.
I flipped the covers back and got ready in a matter of ten minutes, grabbing my cowboy hat off the hook on my way out of the bedroom and stepping out into the living room. Jess was sitting on the couch, her jet-black hair pulled up into a high ponytail on top of her head.
“Oh my god, Dad, you took forever. ”
“Don’t say the lord’s name in vain,” I grunted, walking past her to grab the bagel she had nicely made for me. “But thanks for breakfast.”
“You got it, Dad,” she chuckled, standing to her feet and swinging her bag around her shoulder. “You disappeared last night for a while, and Dara told me that she saw you go into the horse barn with some woman…”
Of course someone saw.
“Yeah, I was just showing Emma Fisher, the woman who owns that new bakery, the horses in the barn. She’s new to town, moved here from the city.”
“Ah,” Jess raised a perfectly groomed eyebrow at me. “So it has nothing to do with the fact that she’s like seriously gorgeous ? All the guys at school make jokes about going to the café after school just to gawk at her. They’re hoping she’s a cougar.”
“Well, that would actually make her a pedophile, but okay,” I grumbled, rolling my eyes. I mean, sure, kids could have all the crushes they wanted when it came to adults, but it was never reciprocated. And if it was…
Nah, I wasn’t going there.
I pushed away the anger in my chest. “Let’s go, kiddo. I don’t want you to be late.”
She nodded, heading for the front door. Pulling it open, I grimaced at the bright morning sun. Yeah, the pills lessened the headache, but some of the sensitivities remained…
Or maybe I just wasn’t feeling the morning sun.
We headed to the Bronco in silence, the only noise from the shoes crunching on the gravel of the driveway. My place was secluded, tucked away at the end of a gravel road, and then a long, narrow driveway through thick woods. I set it up that way—and there were cameras through the quarter mile drive, so I was never taken by surprise.
“Do you think she’s pretty?” Jess’s voice cut in over the sound of the radio as I turned out of the driveway, hitting the gate close button attached to the visor.
“What?” I tilted my head, looking over at my daughter.
“Do you think Emma Fisher is pretty?”
I blew out a sharp sigh—why the hell did she even ask me that? “I… Uh… Yeah, I mean, she’s a pretty woman.” I wasn’t going to lie to my daughter, but damn, discussing a woma n was such an awkward thing to do with your daughter.
“So…” She eyed me, a sly smile growing across her face. “Are you gonna talk to her more?”
“I don’t know what you mean by that…” I said, playing the dumb card.
“Oh come on,” she groaned, plopping her head back against the headrest. “You weren’t born yesterday. You know what I’m talking about. Like, everyone knows that you’re single. You can die old and alone.”
I shrugged. “I won’t. I have you .” I reached over and poked her shoulder, shooting her a grin.
She shook her head at me but giggled. “I can’t take care of you forever, Dad.”
“Aw, come on,” I joked with her. “You can live in the cabin with me until you’re like ninety.”
Her eyes went wide. “No way!”
I couldn’t help but burst into laughter. “You know I’d never make you do that… Maybe only until you’re like forty.”
“Gross,” she mumbled, rolling her eyes.
I chuckled the rest of the short drive to the high school before dropping her off and telling her I loved her. She would be going to Lily and Drew’s after school with Dara, so I wouldn’t see her until later in the evening. I headed to the office, slowing down a little as I passed Sweets and Eats… But I didn’t stop.
I don’t have time, anyway.
The tires of the Bronco squealed as I threw it into park abruptly in front of the office. I drove the thing too hard, but it was still running just fine.
For now.
“Well, look who decided to show up to work today,” Ron, my mentor and retired sheriff, greeted me as I stepped through the front doors.
“What’re you doing here?” I asked the white bearded cowboy.
“Meeting in the conference room.” He nodded his head in that direction and my stomach sank.
This is not gonna be good.