Chapter 6
CHAPTER SIX
Summer
The day after Jonah dropped me off, Tate drove me to Bozeman to grab some clothing that would work better for a Montana winter instead of a Bali honeymoon. He acted like a lookout until I was all packed into his pickup. Then he also interrogated me on who had the keys to my place.
I’d never been so grateful for Boyd’s elitist personality. Our break was fairly clean, and his need for maintaining a certain status would keep him away from me or I would be loud about how he’d hit me.
Tate parked by the back door of Mama’s house. “You call if you need anything.”
“Got it.” I went to open the door.
“No, Summer.”
I stopped with my hand on the handle. He was using his bossy-big-brother voice. “I know, Tate. I’m fine.”
“You’re the girl who bought me for Scarlett at a bachelor’s auction as a way to get us together.”
“Would you have asked her out otherwise?”
“Maybe, but that’s not what I mean.” He rested his elbow on the steering wheel and twisted his torso toward me. “You butt in. You interfere. You tell us what to do.”
I frowned and picked at my plaid pajama bottoms. I’d been tempted to keep Jonah’s snow pants on. Only a day had gone by and I wished I was at the quiet cabin, hiding from life. “You make me sound awful.”
“That’s not what I mean either,” he said, exasperated. “You care about us, but what makes you think you’re the only one of us who can help? You got snowed in with Dunn instead.”
“What do you mean? He hasn’t done anything bad.”
“I know that. How would you know that?”
“I’ve known him most of my life, Tate.”
He let out a sigh. “My point isn’t whether or not Jonah is a decent guy.
I wouldn’t have let you leave with him if I hadn’t thought you’d be safe.
I’m trying to point out that you avoided everyone who’s invested in your happiness and went with someone who’s been tucked into his mountain cabin since he left the hospital for the last time. ”
For the last time. The ache behind my sternum returned. Jonah had had such a rocky road to recovery and then he’d secluded himself. “He’s punishing himself.”
“No kidding.”
I rolled my eyes at his sarcasm, then dropped my gaze to my hands. “I was ashamed.”
“We weren’t ashamed of you.”
I gave him a small smile. “Thank you. I kind of needed to hear that.”
“I thought I was a failure when I got divorced.”
I tipped my head and considered him. Tate was the oldest of us all—of his brothers, of me and my sisters, of all the fosters who’d been through Mama’s house. He was infallible. I often forgot he was just a guy going through life wondering if he was making the right decisions.
Only he had. Maybe he and his ex hadn’t been meant to be, but they were amicable.
They co-parented around his ex’s heavy travel schedule.
His wife, Scarlett, glowed each time I saw her, and not just when she was pregnant.
My friend was happy in a way she never had been when she’d been single and would shyly drop her gaze when Autumn and I talked about Tate.
“You succeeded even in divorce,” I pointed out. He hadn’t broken her heart and she hadn’t lashed out and done something stupid.
“Divorce has a way of making everything feel like the opposite of success.” He scowled at me. “How did we end up talking about me again?”
I smiled. “Busted.”
“You’re the most stubborn of us all.”
“Take that back! I cannot out-stubborn Junie.”
He rocked his head from side to side. “You’re right. But we’re not talking about her. You can come to me if you need anything. I’m not my wife or Autumn, or Junie or Wynter, but you can talk to me. I won’t fly off the handle. I’d like to think I’ve matured in my old age.”
“I guess I just wanted an escape. I had to figure out how I felt first.”
He nodded. “I can see that. Jonah would definitely give you the space.”
A string tugged at my heart. Jonah had given me space, yet he’d been close when I’d needed someone to understand. We weren’t friends, but we also weren’t not friends. “He doesn’t go to town very much, does he?”
Tate’s lips pressed together, like he was deciding what to say. “Teller said he leaves more than we think. I mean, he has to get groceries and get supplies for his business.”
“Right, the business. I had no idea he built furniture.”
“Everyone knows. His pieces disappear as soon as there’s a sales tag on them. So he’s going to town for drop-offs, and, uh . . . Plus, I mean . . .” He cleared his throat.
“What?” I narrowed my eyes on my brother. Was he blushing?
“He’s a guy.” He glanced at me, but I had no idea what he was getting at. Jonah being a man was the first thing I’d noticed about him. Tate sighed. “He has, you know, needs.”
I gasped, my primordial brain registering what Tate meant before I could mull it over like an adult. “He goes to town to get laid?”
“I don’t know if he and Jackie Weller have a thing or—”
“Jackie Weller?”
“I don’t think it’s serious.”
I’d disliked her before, and when I crossed paths with her, I preferred to pretend she didn’t exist. She had been Jonah’s on-again, off-again high school girlfriend.
Then after school, she’d married a guy who’d come through town to work for the oil fields and Eli had said she’d left Jonah without a word. Made him feel like crap.
I’d known she’d gotten a divorce and taken her maiden name back, but that she was hooking up with Jonah? Or more? That was news.
He would’ve mentioned a girlfriend, right? I hadn’t fucked up a relationship, had I?
A relationship. “How serious are they?”
“Can’t be too serious since she’s at the bar every weekend. I’ve seen her hopping in other guys’ trucks.”
A booty call. My relief wasn’t acute. The tightness remained in my shoulders and the anger hadn’t subsided. Why would Jonah keep seeing Jackie? She treated him like dirt. “I don’t like her.”
Tate’s gaze intensified. “Not many people do.”
My skin itched from his scrutiny. “He deserves better.” I wasn’t jealous. I was surprised. That was all.
“Preaching to the choir, sis.”
Sis. Another nickname. Like Mama’s honey, sweet pea, and my precious girls, I had shared that nickname with others. Generic. Some would argue that sunshine was as generic of an endearment as you could get, but I held it to me as something Jonah had called only me.
Tate was still watching me. I had to get inside and sort my thoughts. Like why I glowed inside like sunshine when Jonah called me that. I needed to rest and process the last few days. “Thanks for the ride.”
“Remember what I said.”
I definitely would, but we likely weren’t thinking about the same statements. I got out and grabbed one of my suitcases. Tate retrieved the other.
Mama was already opening the door.
“Hey, Mama.” I entered and set my bag down.
Tate came in, toed his boots off, gave Mama a peck on the cheek, and took the luggage I’d carried in. He went into the house and downstairs to the bedroom I’d be staying in.
I hung my winter coat up next to the one I had to return to Jonah. I had been tempted to wear it, but the fit was way too large to justify it to Mama or Tate.
She gave me a hug, squeezing almost as hard as she had yesterday. Tears pricked the backs of my eyes, but that was where they stayed. Was it abnormal that I hadn’t cried over Boyd?
She stepped back. “Wynter and Autumn are coming over tonight. Is that okay?”
Yesterday, she’d been busy outside, taking care of the chickens and checking on the horses and cattle with Tenor and Myles’s brothers.
Mostly, I thought she’d been giving me space.
I didn’t deserve Mama. “I’m sorry I left so suddenly.
” I’d already said it, but it needed repeating.
She wouldn’t bring up the wedding until I did.
Did she worry I’d go hide in another mountain cabin?
“Don’t ever be sorry for taking care of yourself.”
If taking care of myself meant barely dressing, that was what I was doing. I wore an old pair of red flannel pajama pants and a fluffy Montana State sweater. My hair was limp and I was makeup-free. Boyd would be disgusted if he could see me. I was comfortable.
“I am surprised who you sought refuge with.” Mama could be nosy when she wanted, but she was the queen of leading sentences.
“You and me both.” I shuffled to the kitchen table. Two steaming mugs were on the table, and she had a bottle of french vanilla creamer sitting by one. Tate must’ve texted her before we left Bozeman to let her know when we’d arrive.
I sank into the chair. She took a seat while I was topping off my coffee with International Delight.
“Jonah was there when I needed him,” I said, needing to explain why I hadn’t turned to her.
She wouldn’t take it personally, but I had to let her know my choice wasn’t personal.
Leaving with Jonah of all people was most definitely a personal choice, but I was already mixed up enough. I let the thought go.
“I heard what Jonah did.” When I looked at her, I caught the smile playing over her lips.
She’d known the whole story when I’d called her from the cabin and she’d kept most of the knowledge to herself.
“Corinne Harrington wasn’t as quiet as she hoped when she cornered Boyd in his dressing room and chewed him out.
She yelled at him for not being able to overpower, I quote, ‘that horribly scarred man with the cane.’ ”
“I’m surprised that’s the worst of what she said.” I dug my teeth into my lower lip. “I should’ve seen it coming.”
“Aw, Summer. You take on too much responsibility. It’s his duty to be a good person, and hitting his fiancée ain’t it.”
“Jonah said the same thing.” Despite the curiosity in her eyes, I didn’t care to talk about my time with Jonah.
It had been cathartic, restful, and short, but long enough to bridge the gap that had formed between us since I’d last seen him in the hospital.
“Is it all right if I stay a few days before I return to work?”
She frowned. “I thought you were staying the whole time.”
Jonah had encouraged me to take all my time off, but I’d invited myself over to Mama’s without asking if she had room for me.
I knew she did. She’d make room even if she didn’t, but I didn’t want to assume.
I also didn’t care to dwell on how I wished I was in a quiet mountain cabin with unusually strong Wi-Fi and almost no fresh produce.
“If you don’t mind, I’d like to stay here, but I also want to work. ”
“Are you sure you’re ready?”
She meant, could I face everyone? My story was out there.
Boyd Harrington’s wedding getting canceled at the last minute might make a splash in Bozeman.
Summer Kerrigan running out on her fiancé to stay in a cabin with Jonah Dunn would burn through Bourbon Canyon like a brushfire.
My next trip to the grocery store or the coffee shop would likely stop conversation when I walked by.
Inevitable. I’d experienced it before, I could do it again.
“Everyone knows what happened. I might as well face the chatter, and really, I’d rather be busy.”
“I’m sure Teller and Tenor would arrange a way for you to work from Bourbon Canyon’s location if you want out of the house.”
So tempting. But also exposing. My family worked at Copper Summit, but everyone at Copper Summit was considered my inner circle. Out of everyone, they’d know the real details.
She patted my hand. “Think about it for a while. Do what you need to here. If you have to take over the kitchen table, do it.”
I stared at the wood grain of the table. A standard wood table. Jonah’s work was functional art.
I had to quit thinking about him. I could work at home until it was time for me to return to the office with no Balinese tan. I could help the guys and Mama with chores and soak up my daily dose of fresh air and sunshine.
But if I used Bourbon Canyon’s headquarters to get some work done, I’d be out and about. I could run to town and get some coffee. After my first trip, my stops would get less awkward and I would be less self-conscious. I would be out and about more. And maybe I would see Jonah again.