Chapter 26 Hestia
HESTIA
A few more days of brutal graft later, Jesse was due home from the hospital in less than forty-eight hours. Lil, now back and firmly roped into our plans, had come down to help us prep everything for the auction at Shelby’s bar.
‘Okay, what’s with all the looks?’ I said, nudging Lottie as she glanced at Cole yet again. ‘I mean, I get it, Cole’s hot, but c’mon – you see the guy every day.’
Lottie actually giggled. Even Bailey paused as she laid out the printed auction catalogues on each table. ‘Spit it out, girl,’ she urged, winking at me from under her hat. ‘It stays between us.’
‘Oh, nothing, it’s just . . . this is where I first met Cole,’ Lottie shrugged, the tops of her cheeks turning pink.
‘You did?’ I questioned, confused. ‘I thought – didn’t you tell me he was chopping wood or some shit, woke you up?’
‘That a euphemism?’ Bailey asked as I cackled. Lottie was blushing fully.
‘Oh, fuck off,’ she replied, grinning. ‘I mean, that was officially when it happened, when I found out who he actually was.’
‘Sooo, what happened here, then?’ I asked, following her gaze over to the door that led out to the corridor, the bathrooms beyond that. ‘Hang on – wait – oh God, Lottie! You horny motherfucker – did you guys get busy in the bathrooms?’
It was Bailey’s turn to laugh, almost dropping the box of catalogues.
‘No, not quite,’ Lottie said, unable to help herself giggling again as Bailey’s eyes lit up, waiting for her response. ‘Almost. It was in the corridor – we didn’t make it to the bathrooms.’
‘That’s my girl,’ I laughed, shaking my head at her. ‘That’s one way to deal with jet lag.’
‘Want some of this?’ Lil said as she sidled over, carrying a small tower of glasses and a massive jug filled with something iced and bright orange.
‘It’s some kinda cocktail – enough alcohol in there to get all of us ready for this whole thing, I think.
’ She looked up, noticing the amusement all round. ‘Hold up, what did I miss?’
‘Oh, only that Lottie defiled the corridor out there with Cole on her first night in Jackson,’ I chuckled, enjoying Lottie’s resignation, knowing there was no way out of the merciless teasing now.
‘Ahh, that where it happened, huh?’ Lil replied, raising an eyebrow as she poured from the jug into the glasses, passing them round.
‘You knew?’ Bailey questioned, looking between Lil and Lottie as they shared a look.
‘Oh, I knew, honey,’ Lil confirmed, knocking her glass back and pouring another. ‘There’s not much that happens in this town without me hearing about it. I knew right then that either my cousin was staying, or my ranch manager was leaving.’
I knocked back my own glass, taken aback.
‘Jesus,’ I rasped, ‘the fuck is this?’
‘The ticket to survival,’ she answered, refilling it. ‘Now, I’ve heard about you and Jesse,’ she said, the faintest hint of a smile on her lips. ‘And from what I hear, you guys make Lottie and Cole sound like Joseph and the blessed Virgin Mary.’
It was Lottie’s turn to laugh, half choking on her own drink.
I shrugged, grinning.
‘Y’all okay here, ladies? It’s getting mighty rowdy this early,’ Cole interrupted, sidling round to Lottie and enveloping her with his vast frame.
Bailey snorted.
‘I’m just doing my job,’ she said, holding up a catalogue and carrying on round the tables.
‘I was just getting the lowdown on Hestia’s adventures,’ Lil chuckled. ‘Sounds like I missed a hell of a summer.’
Cole caught my eye for a moment, a glint in his eye.
‘I tried to keep them busy,’ he replied, ‘but you know Jesse. When he’s decided on something, there ain’t a damn thing anyone can do to change his mind.’
Lil nodded, smiling as she looked back to me. ‘And he has no idea about this, right? All a total surprise?’
I nodded, thinking back to the range of calls we’d had on the phone this week: from short and sweet when his meds had kicked in, to the one call that would be branded in my head for ever.
The surgery had gone well – even if he was pissed at the thought of a huge hospital bill, he was still somewhat consoled at likely having enough to help his mum.
But, frustratingly, he wouldn’t tell me what the other plans were, and no amount of trying to pry it out of the others was working either.
‘Clara’s bringing him home tomorrow,’ I said, not quite able to hide my smile.
‘You know how he’s gonna have to be real careful with that arm for a while,’ Cole added, tilting his head as he looked down towards Lottie.
‘Don’t worry, it’s not his arm I’ve been missing,’ I replied, taking another drink and watching Lil and Lottie dissolve.
Cole laughed with them and shook his head.
‘Cocktails, huh? You building up the courage, Lil?’
She grimaced between laughs.
‘Something like that,’ she said, glancing back to me. ‘You know I’m not technically single any more?’
‘People are bidding for a date with you, Lil, not a wedding,’ I shrugged. ‘Besides, Jamie understands. You said he thought it was a great idea, right? It’ll be a couple of hours, a bit of conversation, a nice meal, maybe even . . . dessert – fuck it, breakfast, if things go really well?’
Even she cracked at that, looking over to the door, noticing the guy walking through it. ‘That’s John, the auctioneer guy. I’ll go get him set up, distract myself.’
I looked around the quiet bar, hoping . . . no, knowing that in a couple of hours it would be rammed with people here to support Jesse.
Every one of my requests for help to the Jackson community, although I’d been hesitant and apologetic at first, had been met with a yes.
From displaying flyers and posters in local hotels and bars, to announcements at the Jackson rodeo.
Prize donations from local stores and venues had all but flooded in, leading us to need professional help to conduct the auction, given its growing size.
Shelby’s had offered to host it, even at this short notice, totally free of charge.
Even the Cowboy Bar had lent their mechanical bull, which I’d been eyeing with a mix of suspicion and curiosity ever since.
‘You want a go?’ Lottie said, walking over as Cole disappeared to help get the small stage for the auction ready. She’d followed my gaze, nudging me with her elbow.
‘After those cocktails?’ I replied, only to be met with narrowed eyes.
‘Chickenshit,’ she hissed, walking over there, glancing back at me over her shoulder, waiting for me to follow.
Within another minute Lottie was on board, right arm up just like the real thing. I could see Cole from the corner of my eye, trying desperately to stay focused on building the stage, and failing miserably.
Rolling my eyes at her request to time her, she was eventually unseated twenty-eight seconds later as it changed direction erratically. Sliding off with a squeal into the mats below, she stayed down as she laughed, Cole chuckling to himself in the background.
‘Your turn,’ she said, breathing heavily. ‘Left hand to hold on, right arm up. Lean back and hold on tight.’
‘The fuck am I doing?’ I murmured, wondering how it was that lying down to get ink injected into my skin for hours on end was utterly fine, but twenty seconds on a plastic bull seemed unreasonable.
Bailey wolf-whistled as I climbed on board, chucking my hat over to Lottie as she pressed the button. Thankfully I’d gone with my corset top, and while it definitely emphasized my sizeable rack, it held them in tight too.
‘C’mon, Hes, just twenty-nine seconds to beat me,’ she called, holding up the timer on her phone.
‘What’s the forfeit?’ I yelled, hyper-aware that everyone in the bar was now watching.
‘You don’t want to know,’ she laughed, spinning out of focus as the bull twisted round.
I gripped on, leaning back like Lottie had said, imagining, for half a second, that this might be a fraction of what Jesse would feel.
People had started cheering as seconds ticked by, my knuckles on the rope going white with the effort of staying on, my head and body whipped around in every direction.
Eventually, barely able to make Lottie out any more, but catching her looking back towards the entrance, I fell to the side, managing to roll off and spring back up with ease.
‘Did I win?’ I said, shaking my hair back as I finally looked up. ‘What was my time?’
Only then did I realize that the rowdy cheering had stopped, and a different kind of sound – full of exclamation and surprise – had taken over. Right there, walking into the bar, was Jesse, staring straight ahead at me as Clara grinned.
‘Sorry, honey,’ she shouted over to me. ‘Your girl Lottie made me promise not to say a word.’
I just gaped for a moment as he took his hat off, looking me up and down from my now wild and tangled hair to the corset – the same one he’d instructed me to leave on in the truck all that time ago. His eyes lingered there before coming up to meet mine.
Running over the mats, I vaulted over the low fence in front without a thought and launched myself in his direction, only slowing very slightly as I reached him.
I buried myself into his body on the left side, careful to avoid his right arm; the cast was visible under his jacket. He closed himself around me.
‘Jessica,’ he murmured, breathing in my hair, kissing my head. I lifted my face to him.
‘Bull riding’s a piece of fucking cake,’ I murmured, watching his slow smile break out, feeling my whole heart lift at the sight of it. ‘No idea how you fucked it up. I’ll do it next time, okay?’
‘Never again,’ he whispered. And right in front of the whole bar, he kissed me, hard.
It was like the time at the rodeo, when I’d left – a thousand thoughts and words all channelled into one feeling – but this time, unlike the last, I knew that he loved me as much as I did him.
He slowed as a chorus of cheers and whistles broke out, chuckling as I tried to carry on, not giving a flying fuck who saw.