Chapter 12
Chapter Twelve
As Jewel and Hunter left the restaurant in Denton, she knew he was still thinking about Taylor. They'd run into the girl on a date, and Hunter hadn't been able to keep his eyes off her. He'd immediately gotten jealous, and Jewel was definitely still able to recognize that on his face.
"She's the reason you're so distracted all the time?" Jewel asked as they got into Hunter's Jeep.
He shrugged. "No more distracted than usual, but I'm trying, Jewel, for Destini's sake."
Her chest ached as she smiled wanly. "Your mom put you up to this date, didn't she?"
Jewel didn't really need to ask. She knew how Ava operated, and Hunter's wince confirmed it. She continued, "I don't want to date you because people might think it's better for Destini. We don't even know if she's yours."
How similar Chase and Destini were went through her mind, the time with him today revealing glimpses on how they acted alike.
"I know, and honestly, I don't even see you like that anymore. It's like it was when we were kids again."
"Agreed," Jewel said. "These past few weeks of seeing you at the ranch and helping with the foaling has been like a blast from the past. Comfortable, like wearing my favorite pair of jeans."
Hunter laughed and turned onto the highway that led out of Denton and back to Crimson Creek. "At least we're not fighting like cats and dogs anymore. You were my first best friend, and I'm glad you're home."
Jewel smiled and looked out the window as the darkness settled around them in the Texas fields. "That's sweet, Hunter. You always did have a way with words. Will you take me to our old spot? I'm not ready to go home yet."
She glanced at her watch. If she went home now, she'd get tired and fall asleep. She wanted to time this so she'd get home with just enough time to change, watch an episode of her favorite show, and then go get Chase.
They drove in silence past the Old Mill, Hunter filling her in on the now bed-and-breakfast that Parker owned. Hunter then bragged about his baby brother also owning the gym and coaching at the school.
"Destini might play, but she might be so obsessed with this NASA thing that she might not," she said. They drove to the public park next to the creek and got out, Hunter asking questions about Destini.
She admitted that Destini wanted to stay in Houston and aim for the internship, and he frowned. They talked about compromises, and he suggested something similar to Chase. She didn't tell him that Destini didn't even know she needed to take a DNA test, though.
They walked through the park to the bridge over the creek. When they reached their spot, she leaned her elbows on the bridge and sighed, staring down at the dark water flowing gently below.
"I wanted to explain why I moved home after all this time," she said, screwing up her courage.
"What do you mean?" His voice was like honey in the dark, comfortingly familiar.
She sighed. "I originally wasn't going to move home until after Destini graduated high school, if then. I was pretty comfortable down in Houston. Worked with a great practice, even if the guys were old school and didn't give me that much responsibility because I was just a woman ."
Hunter snorted. "Won't get that treatment here with your dad."
She chuckled. "Got that right."
"So, why did you move? Why now?"
The warm night surrounded them like a sweater, and she looked up at the stars above, easily picking out constellations that he'd taught her when they were kids. In that, he and Destini shared a similar interest. They both loved the stars and the stories and myths behind them.
He nudged her shoulder, and she sighed. "I'm sick," she admitted softly. He didn't press, but she somehow found the words to explain.
"The doctor's finally settled on Lyme disease, but we didn't catch it quick enough. Probably a tick bite picked up from some farm somewhere."
"What's that look like for you? How bad is it?"
She shrugged. "It was pretty bad for about a year and a half. Pain that didn't let up, fatigue, mental fog that led to stupid mistakes at work. Now that we have a diagnosis, I've made some lifestyle changes that are helping. Things are getting better, but I needed to be around Gemma and Dad."
She paused, but he didn't push for details or dig at her. "It made me think more long-term about Destini. If something happened to me, Destini would move in with Dad and Gemma. But that might not be the best place for her. If something happened, I was the only one who knew that you might not be her dad. I—I needed to get that truth figured out before it was too late."
"Didn't want that secret to die with you?"
She winced at the morbid thought but nodded. "Yeah, something like that."
"If she's mine and something were to happen to you, I'd want her to come live with us."
"Us? Hunter, you don't even have a place of your own. What are you talking about? You live in the bunkhouse now. Are you saying you'd both move in with your parents?"
Hunter shifted on his feet, and Jewel continued. "Your parents might not be the best place for her either, but I don't know that for sure. Trust me when I say—if you move into the house with your parents after all this time—well, personally, I hate living with Dad and Gemma."
She laughed and shook her head. "Ten out of ten, do not recommend living with your parents again."
He chuckled and explained how he'd always wanted to build a house on the ranch. "Landry can be the general contractor, and we can do a lot of it ourselves."
A peaceful silence settled between them as she thought of the houses she'd seen this week with her realtor cousin. "You're lucky in that regard. I've been searching for houses, but none of them are really fitting right with my budget." She paused and frowned. "I'm not fishing for you to buy or build a house or anything. It's not like I want to live with you at all ."
He barked a laugh. "I've always appreciated your bluntness."
"Thanks," she said with a grin, nudging his shoulder.
He nudged her shoulder right back. "Maybe a better question would be—do you want to live with Chase?"
Her cheeks heated as she gasped. "What? No, I can't do that. Why? Did he say something?" Her stomach twisted and her hands gripped the railing as she remembered their kiss from earlier. She'd be lying if she said she didn't want more.
Hunter laughed and leaned against the railing. "If it were light right now, I'd see you blushing, wouldn't I?"
She cupped her cheeks, feeling the heat. "No, absolutely not."
He chuckled. "Liar. What's going on with you two? I know you've been at the ranch practically every day this week, and we've had fun hanging out when Mom's thrown us together, but as soon as Chase shows up, BAM—you're all gaga eyes and secret, whispered conversations."
"I am not—I don't go gaga over anyone. Geez, grow up," she said, wrapping her arms around her waist.
"You grow up," he responded automatically.
She laughed softly. "Good to see not much has changed."
"Except for you and Chase…"
The silence was broken only by the cicadas before she sighed again. "I don't know what's there, to be honest. It's—it's a strange situation. I can't believe you even want to talk about this."
He looked up at the stars. "Me neither, but here we are. Maybe we just should've stayed friends all those years ago. It's so much easier than being your boyfriend ever was."
A pain in her chest left her wincing. "That's what they all say. All the guys I've dated since we actually broke up, anyway. I'm always better as the girl next door. Never the romantic lead."
"But you want to be that with Chase?" There was no judgment in his voice, just simple curiosity, which had her relaxing and actually thinking about his question.
"Yes. No. Maybe. He's younger than us, and we didn't really hang out with him growing up. He was always into the nerdy shit, and we were always outside. I don't really know him well enough to know if I want to be with him."
But she was definitely drawn to him. Her body gravitated to his like bees to flowers. She glanced at Hunter.
"What if there is something between us, though? Are you okay if I—I don't know—date Chase or something?"
"I'm fine. The only concern I have is how you and I broke up. I don't want Chase to get hurt or go through something like what we went through at the end."
Jewel nodded but didn't say anything, her chest aching for the pain she'd caused Hunter and the heartache she'd experienced back then.
"I'm so sorry, Hunter," she said softly.
"I know, and I am too. No one can predict the future. While Chase is tough to have survived prison, promise you won't hurt him, Jewel. Please." The raw emotion in Hunter's voice, the worry and love for his brother bright as day, made her angry.
"For fuck's sake, I won't hurt him," Jewel growled, clenching her fists. She regulated her breathing, pushing down the emotions that spiked from nowhere even as her knees and ankles ached.
She rubbed the back of her neck and glanced at her watch. "Sorry, I'm just tired. Can you take me home now?" She yawned, revealing the truth of her statement. She really was bone weary, and she still had to go rescue a dog and deal with Chase.
Hunter took her home and dropped her off on the curb. The crunch of Jewel's boots punctuated the still night as she walked up the sidewalk to the house, the soft glow from the living room window casting a welcoming light on her path. She twisted the key in the lock quietly and eased the front door open, stepping into the familiar scent of leather and pine.
Sprawled in the recliner, her dad's chest rose and fell with the rhythm of sleep, but as the door clicked shut, he jolted awake, his eyes darting around the room before settling on her with a mixture of confusion and irritation.
"Crystal?" His voice was gravelly, edged with the remnants of a dream.
Jewel's chest tightened at the mention of her mom's name, and she sighed. "No, Dad, it's just me." The tension in her shoulders eased at the sight of him, even if his furrowed brow promised disapproval.
Dad popped the recliner footrest down and rubbed his eyes. "Ah, Jewel. What're you doin' out and about? I thought you were asleep in your room."
"Had a date. Sorry to wake you," she said, kicking her boots off by the door.
"It's not the first time," Henry grumbled, standing to stretch.
She didn't want to get into it with him tonight, so she deflected. "What are you doing out here?"
"Gemma got called out to the Robsons'. Horse trouble," Henry grumbled, scrubbing a hand over his face. "Can't seem to get back to sleep after she left."
"Sorry to hear that," Jewel said, wondering if he'd have stayed up worrying about her if he'd known about the call to the McBrides.
"How's Hunter? And foaling season?" Henry asked, scratching his stomach as he walked to the kitchen and filled a glass of water.
"Going alright. Busy, but alright. They're up to nine healthy foals so far this season."
Henry whistled and shook his head, his expression souring. "I knew they were going to grow a bit more this year, with Hunter in charge. That boy's nothing but?—"
"Trouble? Fun? What is it this time?" Jewel interjected, feeling the old sting of never quite meeting his expectations. It seemed everything she did or chose sparked some kind of complaint from him. That's just the way it had been for years now.
"Doesn't matter," he muttered. "He's ambitious but not in the way you need."
"What do I need?" Jewel asked, confusion making her pause at the counter.
After drinking his water, Henry set the glass down and said, "Someone who'll wait on you hand and foot. You're just like your mama in that regard, and Hunter is too much like me. Busy with his own problems and running that ranch. Don't know what you ever saw in him."
Surprise made her mouth off without thinking. "Maybe because he's always seen the real me, instead of a shadow of Mom," she retorted, knowing full well her words would hit a nerve.
Their relationship had always been strained, tied too closely to the memory of a woman neither could bring back. She winced, but didn't look away or back down. This was long overdue too.
Henry's eyes shuttered as if the mention of her mother was a blow he couldn't deflect. "Don't. It's not about?—"
"Isn't it though?" Jewel's voice rose, frustration lacing her tone. "You look at me, and all you see is her. It hurts, I get it. But I'm just… me."
"I know who you are," he grumbled before taking another drink. "You're my baby girl."
Her chest ached for the days when he'd call her that, shelter and protect her with his arms, when nothing could touch her because he was there to take care of it all.
Her jaw clenched. "Then why did you abandon me? After she died, everything changed between us."
Tonight was the first time they were alone without Gemma in years. She wasn't surprised it had all bubbled to the surface, but her heart rate sped up with each moment. He stared at her, his face slack from sleep, confusion, and resentment. It was late, but sleep was far from her mind now.
Henry set the empty glass in the sink and went back to the recliner. Of course, he was going to wait up for Gemma. She was his precious first born, the apple of his eye. Whereas Jewel was always second best.
As a mom, though, she knew there had to be more to it than what he was saying. If she and Destini were in this situation, how would she feel? She could finally move forward with a mature relationship with Hunter because she'd laid all the cards on the table. Maybe she needed to do that with her dad too.
"Help me understand," she finally said, voice tight as she followed him. "Why was it so easy for you to pack up and leave me in College Station alone? When Destini was born, you were there, and then poof—gone. Back to Crimson Creek without a second thought."
Henry leaned forward, his hands clasped tightly together, elbows on his knees. The recliner squeaked faintly under his weight. "I did what I thought was best. We offered for you to come home, Jewel. Gemma and I, we wanted to help with the baby."
"Help?" Jewel scoffed, arms crossing over her chest defensively. "By making me feel like I had failed? By wanting me to drop everything and run back here like my dreams were nothing?"
"College Station was no place for a single mom," Henry shot back, his voice rising to match hers. "You could've gone to school in Denton, been close to home, but no. A&M was where you wanted to be. You were too good for us, too good for the help we wanted to give."
"Stop it," she seethed, shaking her head vehemently. "You don't get it."
Destini's words from earlier echoed in her head, and she took a deep breath to explain rationally. "It wasn't about being too good for anything. Your family was there, Dad. After she…" Her throat constricted around the words, but she pushed through. "After she was gone, you buried yourself in your work, in Gemma, in everything but me."
"Jewel, I?—"
"Down there, I wasn't just the girl who looked too much like the woman everyone missed. I was tired, Dad. Tired of being the ghost of someone else. Of being treated like shit here because I'm not her." Jewel's eyes glistened with unshed tears, her next breath shaky. "And they had stories of you as a kid, reminded me of when you'd hold me and loved me…"
Henry's expression faltered, his gruff exterior crumbling at the edges. "I—didn't know. I thought you just wanted to be stubborn, to prove something, to be away from me."
"Maybe I wanted to prove myself a bit," she admitted, her voice barely above a whisper. "But not to you. I needed to prove to myself that I was more than just an echo of a past I could barely remember and remind myself that you did, in fact, love me once upon a time."
The silence that followed was heavy, filled with years of misunderstandings and pain. She stood there while he sat forward on the recliner unable to look at her, father and daughter, both adrift in a sea of regret and what-ifs.
The ticking of the clock drove her batty as she waited for him to process what she'd said. She didn't mind because she struggled to calm down too, her hands shaking at her side. She was afraid if she tried to move, her legs would buckle.
Henry stood up and strode to her in his socks. Blue eyes met blue eyes, and she realized with a start that he had aged in the years she'd been gone. He'd visited twice a year, but they'd never been alone or been this close.
He reached out tentatively, as if unsure his touch would be welcomed. But when Jewel didn't pull away, he drew her into a stiff, awkward embrace. The scent of tobacco flooded her, and she buried her head in his shirt at the comforting smell of her childhood.
"Jewel, I—I've never stopped loving you." His voice broke, and he cleared his throat. "I'm sorry."
"Me too, Dad," she murmured against his shirt, clinging to the hope that maybe they could start to mend what had been broken for far too long.