Chapter 37 Jovie
The next morning…
“Gotta admit, you’ve surprised me, Jovie.”
“How's that?” I asked Rig, who had just picked me up for our day of work in the city.
Rig had graciously agreed to take me to San Angelo to show me how sales for the ranch worked. San Angelo was known for its stock shows and rodeos and was a hot spot for ranchers to make large purchases.
Rig tossed a bag he’d retrieved from my grandfather’s garage into the back of his pickup truck as he walked around to open my door. I hopped up into the oversized truck, and he closed the door, sliding in across from me on the driver’s side and firing it up.
“I wasn’t expecting you to last this long."
“I'm not sure if I should be flattered or offended,” I said, smiling.
“It’s a compliment. You’ve actually put forth an effort into learning the responsibilities of working on a ranch. The boys have said you stay up late studying your grandfather’s crazy notes he always kept in his office. I told him he needed to put those damn things in a computer program, but he’d always wave me off. Guess he’s lucky he had a granddaughter who was smart, too.”
I smiled. I’d known from the start that Rig had doubted me, but it felt good receiving some recognition and credit for the effort I’d put in over the last three months on the ranch, even from him.
As we continued our drive, I realized quickly that Rig was a man of few words; most of our two-hour drive consisted of the sounds of old-school country music coming through the stereo. I alternated between looking out the window at the rural landscape of Texas and flipping through my grandfather’s old binder I’d packed. With 30 minutes left to go, Rig pulled over to a worn-down rest stop to grab a drink.
“The damn vendors at the stock show will charge you $5.00 for a bottle of water. If you want me to grab you one here, we'll only pay 99 cents, instead.”
I agreed and thanked him. When he came back, he had a bottle for me and two for himself as we continued our drive.
“You don’t drink?” I asked, surprised he hadn’t stopped to get a beer like his sons would have.
“Quit after Louisa died.”
“I’m sorry for your loss.”
“Thank you, but it’s alright. It’ll be 10 years this year. We had a beautiful 23 years together before she passed.”
I nodded, “My dad passed away 20 years ago. It was a difficult loss for me to process. I can’t imagine losing a spouse.”
His eyes shifted to me with an understanding look, then back to the road.
After another minute of silence, I was back engrossed in my grandfather’s notes, thinking our talking time was done when he threw me for a curveball.
“So, which one of my sons gave you the most trouble?”
I chuckled softly, “none of them. They were all great.”
“Now I know that’s a lie,” he said, as he took a gulp of water.
I shook my head, “they are all very different but fun and helpful in their own ways.”
His eyes shifted off the road to mine as he nodded and watched me carefully. Then he let out a low sigh.
“Shit, Jovie, you’re not going to make this easy on me, are you?”
My eyebrows furrowed as I looked up at him, confusion etched on my forehead.
He sighed, rapping his fingers on the steering wheel as if he was struggling with the words.
“I was never good with women. Probably why God gave me three sons.”
“I’m sorry?”
“I know Nash has been staying over there every night and you guys have some sort of relationship you've started. I can tell just the way he talks about you that he cares for you.”
I swallowed; was Rig mad about our arrangement?
“I don’t care; you’re grownups, can do what grownups do, but I feel like I gotta say something.” He let out a low sigh and raked a hand through his hair, grasping at words and the right way to say them.
“You know your mom grew up on Ashwood ranch.”
“Yes?”
“And I grew up on the Cameron ranch.”
“Yes? Did you know my mom well?”
He cast me another side glance and then looked back at the road, and I knew. I just fucking knew.
“She was my high school sweetheart, and I thought, the love of my life before I met Louisa. When we graduated high school, I wanted to marry her. I proposed to her. But Clarence wouldn’t have it. Said she needed to go make something of herself, go off to the city to study and not just be someone’s wife on a ranch in the middle of nowhere.”
I sucked in a breath as he continued.
“I told Marianne I’d wait for her; she told me not to. I didn’t listen.” He paused as he took another gulp of his water.
“She came home four months after the start of college at Christmas. She cried one night when we were hanging out, and said she wanted to quit school and move back home and be with me. I wanted that too, but I knew she’d regret it. She was loving her degree program, being back in Lonestar Junction wouldn’t have been the right move. So, I encouraged her to go back. Told her we’d have the whole summer together when she came home in five months.
“When May rolled around, I was excited to see her. I came running over to Clarence’s house like a dog who found his old shiny bone, but what I hadn’t expected was Marianne didn't come back alone. She'd came back for the summer with a new boyfriend, your father, and was talking about a ring and babies.”
Shit .
“I asked her if she loved him, and she said she did, and I believe it. Hell, Jovie, I don’t want you to think she didn’t. She loved the shit out of your father. Even at 19 years old, she was in love, and your father took diligent care of her too, but I was crushed.
"I realized then that she was always made for the city, made for more than living on a ranch and being a housewife. Two years later, I met Louisa. Instead of feeling like she was my second chance, I knew she was the one. Louisa healed my heart and showed me nothing but unwavering support and devotion.”
I sat silently, shock coursing through my body at the words Rig had shared while I stared straight ahead.
“Jovie, I'm sharing this not to open new wounds but to explain. Nash has always been a lot like me. Thoughtful, good with his hands, he wears his heart on his sleeve. But wearing his heart on his sleeve and trying to protect his heart, he’s not as tough as he seems. He’s fallen for you, and when you leave to go back to the city…” He sighed again, as if it was difficult for him to even say the words. As if I was my mother, hurting him when she'd left for college. “I just want you two to be careful.”
I nodded my head, taking in the words he said, but my heart felt like it was having trouble keeping up. The past few weeks of goodness Nash and I had shared, the vulnerability of our shared feelings, and the understanding of what was ahead, had been dashed now.
I had fallen for Nash, and Nash had fallen for me, and though I didn’t want things to end, sadly, I felt like we had no choice.