Chapter 16
sixteen
CHRISTY
What was I doing at Dupree Ranch?
A week ago, I’d had it all. Awesome job, great coaching gig, dream guy.
And now it was all gone. The school board put me on administrative leave while they investigated everything.
The only thing in my favor was that I was still getting a paycheck.
For now. But who knew if that would still be the case whenever they made their final decision.
Silas was acting principal. He’d covered both our butts when he’d disclosed our relationship. Holden was still coaching the girls because he wasn’t an employee of the Seddledowne School District. And there was no one else to do it.
But my behavior was “unbecoming” of someone in such a position of leadership. Though I suspected being an outsider had a great deal to do with it. I got a slap on the hand and a swift kick out the door. If things had been the slightest bit better in Laramie, I would’ve tucked my tail and gone home.
I sat in my truck, hands shaking, running through every breathing exercise I could think of as I stared at the farmhouse in front of me. I’d been here, parked in this very spot, once before, for a few minutes. The day I’d kissed Holden at Sophie’s. But I’d never been inside.
I looked at Holden’s last message. He’d sent it the night of the pep rally fiasco, a half hour after the school board had decided I was on leave. A freaking text message breakup.
Holden: Sorry, I’ve been MIA this evening. I needed time to think everything through, and now I know that this was a mistake. I never should’ve started this. If I don’t end things now, it will only get worse. I’m so sorry. I hope you can forgive me.
Of course, I’d hurled messages back, like,
Me: You said you weren’t going to break my heart. So much for keeping your promises.
Me: You suck.
Me: I hope you get herpes.
Me: I hate you.
Me: I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean that. I actually think I love you. Please, can we talk about this?
My head hung in shame. I’d told him I loved him after he’d dumped me, over a text. It doesn’t get any more pathetic than that. And even more pathetic was the fact that he never even responded. Just left me on read.
And here I was at his house like I was some kind of stalker.
What was wrong with me? And what was I doing here?
Holden’s white car was parked right in front of me.
All I had to do was let my foot slip off the brake and bam!
it would put a nice dent in his beloved Tessie.
The thought was satisfying. And also heartbreaking.
Because that was the opposite of what I wanted.
I didn’t hate Holden. I loved him. I wanted to hug him, not dent his car.
Silas and Lemon walked down the porch steps and across the lawn to my truck.
I shoved my phone into my purse and leaned down, pretending to fix the hem of my jeans.
They were both wearing a sad smile and I fought the urge to rev the engine, shove the truck in reverse, and high-tail it out of there.
Lemon waved through the window and I reluctantly turned the key. The engine died and I got out.
“Hey.” She leaned in and hugged me. “I’m so glad you came.” Her words were too eager. She was trying too hard. We weren’t friends. We weren’t at hugging level yet.
I hugged myself. “Of course.”
She’d called me the night before saying they needed extra hands to work cattle today.
But I knew better. They were panicked about Holden.
I was the first woman he’d tried to have a relationship with in years and they were afraid if I walked away completely that he might be alone for the rest of his life.
I knew because Jenny had called me, frantic, after she found out we had broken up and told me exactly that.
Silas nodded toward the house. “We’re still waiting on Ashton. He’s running a little behind. So we’re eating lunch first. Mom made a big roast for everybody.”
I nodded. “Cool.”
They led the way and I was happy to fall in step behind them.
I didn’t know how these people dressed for working cattle.
I mean, Silas was in Wranglers and his cowboy boots.
But Lemon was currently wearing a jade green sundress.
I felt kind of weird in my jeans, cowgirl boots, and a T-shirt that said “I’d rather be roping cows.
” This was what I wore in Wyoming when I helped at our ranch, but I’d never worn it here and it felt like I was trying to be something I wasn’t.
To make it even more awkward, I was pretty sure, from the nervous glances Silas and Lemon kept giving each other, that Holden didn’t know I was coming.
Jenny met us at the door and plowed through Silas and Lemon, arms shimmying them apart to get to me. You would’ve thought I was the queen of England and not the woman she’d called “a mess” at the beach this past summer.
She pulled me into her arms, not caring one bit that my hands were stiff-straight at my side. “Thank you for coming, Christy. Really. It means so much.” Then she cupped my cheeks in her hands. “You just have to give him some time. He’ll come around. You’ll see.”
“Oh my gosh, Mom. Stop. You’re freaking her out,” Silas said.
Still with my cheeks in her palms, she tsked. “She’s not freaked out. See, she looks fine.”
All three of them were staring at me, waiting for me to let them know that I indeed was not freaked out. I gave them a quick but stilted smile. That’s the best I could do with Jenny smashing my face like a panini press.
Jenny grabbed me by the hand and pulled me through the living room and into the kitchen.
Anna and Blue were already at the table, along with Tally.
Tally’s presence surprised me but also squeezed my heart.
Anna had taken the whole friend thing to the next level.
Tally’s eyes darted around the room as if she were taking everything in.
With her sitting at the table, her tummy tucked underneath, you couldn’t even tell she was expecting.
My gut tightened to see three of my students. Oh, what they must think of me.
Anna’s head snapped up. “Coach!” She jumped up, ran around the table, and smashed me in a hug. “Oh my gosh, I’ve missed you.” And for the first time since I put my truck in park I felt myself relax a little.
We weren’t at school. This was a family thing. So I wound my arms around her back and pulled her tighter. “Hey, I’ve missed you too.” She gave me the first sincere smile I’d seen in a week. No sadness, no pity. Just a good old-fashioned “I’m so happy you’re here” smile. “How’s volleyball?”
“Okay, but we all miss you. Uncle Holden is fine but he’s been a little intense with you gone, ifyouknowwhatImean.” She hooked her arm around mine and led me to my seat. Were they assigned?
I lowered into the wooden chair, across from Tally and Blue. Blue was grinning, but I think that was just because he was enamored with Anna. And Tally was still taking in the room.
Blue stood, leaned over the table, and offered me a fist bump. “What up, P. Thorn?”
I snorted and shook my head. “Really?” I’d heard a rumor that some of the students referred to me as P. Thorn. But no one had ever done it to my face.
In response, his grin widened.
Anna plopped onto the edge of the chair next to me.
“Listen, I know you probably think everyone at school is horrified”—she wiggled her fingers and wobbled her head—“at that picture of you and Uncle Holden, but they’re not.
” She leaned in closer, her eyes darting to Jenny who was mixing up a bowl of mashed potatoes on the counter, and said in a hush, “They think you’re fie-uh.
” She sang the word fire. “Ming said that she wishes she were enmeshed with Uncle Holden so he’d be all over her like that.
” She waved that thought away. “But she can’t because she’s jailbait.
And because he’s at full love-haze level with you. ”
My mouth was open and I didn’t know whether to laugh or gasp. Silas had walked in at just the right time to hear everything about Ming.
His lips pursed into a bloodless line. “Anna, are you kidding me right now?”
She gestured at me. “She should know we’re not freaked out about it.” She held her hands up. “I’m just sayin’.”
“Well, just say your way over to your side of the table. Kids over there. Adults over here.”
“Pfft. I’m not a kid,” she said as she hopped up. She walked around and plopped down in her chair between Tally and Blue. “I have a boyfriend,” she chirped and then leaned over and pecked Blue on the cheek. He beamed.
Silas glared at them. Lemon two seats down, snickering, reached out, grabbed Silas’s hand, and tugged him to his seat.
Bo, the family patriarch, walked in from the hallway and sat at the head of the table. “Hey, Christy. Good to see you.”
I hadn’t missed the fact that I was flanked by two empty chairs.
The foot of the table to my left and another chair to my right.
Was I in no man’s land? Or had they invited me over just to banish me during the meal as some weird form of punishment?
The thought was almost funny until I realized everyone had gone quiet.
I looked around trying to figure out why.
Oh.
Holden was standing there behind Bo, staring at me like someone had kidney-punched him. Hard.
I hated myself at that moment. Nobody who dumps his girlfriend over text deserves to make her heart flutter the way mine was right then. Once again, pathetic. But he was a sight for sore eyes.
He was straight out of the shower, which made no sense if we were working cattle.
Then again, maybe he’d just come in from a run.
He was training for a Spartan Race. He’d told me that a few weeks ago.
His hair was wild on his head, pointing in every direction like he’d shaken the water off and never combed it, not even with his fingers.
We locked eyes for a few seconds while everyone gawked back and forth.
Then irritation flashed across his face.
A muscle in his jaw ticked and his nostrils flared.
His eyes narrowed to slits, flicking from me to Silas and then to his parents.
When everyone pretended like this was totally normal, he stalked over, plopped down next to me, and crossed his arms as if to say fine, but I don’t have to like it.
“Let us say grace,” Bo said and then reached his hands to either side.
Jenny slipped hers into his. Blue, who looked momentarily confused and then quickly recovered, slid his into Bo’s other hand.
Like a chain, around the table, hands linked.
I laid mine palm up, waiting for Holden, but he was still slumped in his chair, his right hand in Lemon’s but his left balled in a fist on the table.
Everyone turned our way. From the blood rushing to my face, I must’ve been a nice display of sunset-vibrant pinks and reds.
“Holden,” Bo growled.
But even with everyone’s eyes on him, Holden still sat, fuming. And in that moment it hit me. I was done being the desperate woman who chased after men while they walked—no, sprinted—in the other direction. It was time to take my own advice and have some self-respect.
“No, it’s okay.” I pushed back and stood. “Hey, Tally, would you mind trading seats with me?” I hated to make a pregnant girl get up out of her chair but she was the only other person not part of a couple.
She blinked, silent, and I almost thought she hadn’t heard. But then she blurted, “Oh. Yeah. Sure.”
Once we were settled again, my hand in Anna’s, I dared to look at Holden. I shouldn’t have. His glare was burning, furious, and if I hadn’t known he was really a big teddy bear inside I might’ve been a tiny bit terrified. I rolled my eyes as if to say grow up and then looked at Bo.
Bo bowed his head and opened his mouth.
The front screen door shut with a bang, stopping the blessing dead in its tracks. Jenny flinched and exhaled.
“Where’s my Mamacita?” A male voice sang.
It must’ve been Ashton. I’d only met him once, but it sounded like him.
Every Dupree at the table broke into a smile.
Except for Grumpy Butt Holden. Sure enough, the tall blond, who I realized at that moment resembled Holden more than anyone else in the family, strutted into the room and I couldn’t stop from smiling too.
He was the sunshine of the Duprees, full of happiness, jokes, and easygoing charm.
When he noticed all the hand-holding he sunk down, a little chagrined. “Oh. Sorry.” But he still gave Jenny a quick hug before hurrying to his seat.
As he walked by Holden, he purposely bumped his chair and muttered, “What up, shorty?”
I bit the insides of my cheeks to keep from laughing. Ashton was tall to be sure. Like Silas tall. But Holden wasn’t anything to shake a stick at. Probably six foot two. And, yeah, a solid wall of muscle.
Holden shot back, “What up, weenie?”
Ashton sat and reached both hands out, one toward me and one toward Tally.
As I laid my palm in his, he offered me a dimpled smile and I couldn’t tell how much he knew.
Did he know Holden and I were now a thing?
News flash, my brain interrupted. You’re not a thing.
Not anymore. The bigger question: Did he know about the shirtless kissing and pep rally?
I don’t think Ashton even looked at Tally or realized he was holding a stranger’s hand until the prayer was done.
And if I’d happened to be looking anywhere else, I would’ve missed the best comedy of the whole day.
He glanced at her as he pulled away, and the look on his face was priceless.
His eyes flew open and his body jerked like someone had slapped him hard on the back, making him choke on a gobstopper.
It only lasted a split second but I knew what had happened.
Ashton had a love-at-first-sight moment.
And Tally had no clue. And Ashton, who was still goggling, eyes soft, cheeks flushed, didn’t know she was fifteen.
I took my gaze off him for a split second to see if anyone else was watching. Holden was. Sitting up in his seat now, the corners of his mouth quirked in a sly smirk. He’d seen exactly what just went down and he was here for it, just like me.
Oh, this was going to be so fun.