Chapter 16
Chapter Sixteen
Emma
“ T his pizza is so good,” Dara groaned, shoving more of the alfredo pizza into her mouth. “Like oh my gosh .”
Lily and I exchanged glances, laughing with each other. I had promised Lily and Dara that I would join them for a girls’ night out, and it was a welcome relief given that I had just been bombarded with low carb recipes from Brittany and found out in the worst way that she was Mason’s ex-girlfriend. Speaking of the sheriff…
“Where’s Jess tonight?” I asked, eyeing Dara as her smile faded.
“She’s with Cody ,” Dara answered me, acting as though it pained her to say the name. “I swear she’s been ditching me every chance she gets.”
“Are they dating now?” Lily chimed in, much less concerned than Dara appeared.
“I don’t know,” Dara snapped, shaking her head and setting her pizza down. I had definitely made a mistake bringing this up. “All I know is that those guys are so annoying, and now Cody works at the Lowe Ranch and it’s just ugh. ”
“Wait, what?” Lily’s brow furrowed. “I thought Lucas was going to give you the job of cleaning stalls.”
“Yeah, well, Cody is some cowboy kid—and you know what’s crazy? He’s not even actually a cowboy. He just has some rich parents that pay for everything, including some super expensive horse that costs more than our house.”
Curiosity caught me, and I couldn’t help myself. “Well, who’s his parents? If they were that rich, I feel like we’d all know who they were.”
Lily grimaced. “Oh, you know who his dad is. I have no idea about the mom.”
“Okay, so then tell me,” I quipped, nudging her as I reached for another slice of pizza. “I’m dying to know.”
“Graham Hudson,” Dara said before her mom could. “And I think he’s a real ass?—”
“ Language ,” Lily warned her daughter, and then turned to me. “But yeah, we both know she’s right.”
“Wait a minute…” I thought back to Brittany. There was no way that she was Cody’s mom if she had dated Mason… She must be a stepparent. “Graham’s wife isn’t Cody’s mom, right?” I looked at Dara for the answer, since Lily appeared to be almost as clueless as me.
“No, that rude woman is his stepmom.” Dara rolled her eyes. “And she used to be a teacher at the high school a long time ago, but she moved away… And then came back with Cody and Graham.”
“Are you talking about Brittany Williams?” Lily’s eyes widened, before she looked over to me. “She is bad news.”
“She’s the one that said you gushed about me,” I pointed out, reminding her of the conversation we’d had a few days before.
Lily facepalmed herself. “Oh well… If it’s that woman, then yeah, I probably did at one point. She and I were never very close, but I did grow up with her and…”
“And she dated Mason for a long time,” I finished the thought for her, giving her a look. “I found out the hard way.”
“Ooh,” Dara gave me a sly smile. “This sounds like the kind of drama I do like to hear about. I swear you adults have way more interesting stuff happen than I do.”
I rolled my eyes and bopped her on the nose. “Drama is not any fun when it involves you, but… honestly, there isn’t much drama.”
Unless carrying his baby without him knowing counts.
“Okay, but what happened?” Lily echoed Dara’s interest, and in the moment, I realized just how similar the two of them were. It was adorable, and I let that distract me from the sick feeling in my stomach.
“I was closing up the café when Brittany stopped by with some massive stack of recipes that were low carb, ” I groaned, fighting the urge to roll my eyes again. “I mean, it’s nearly impossible to have anything low carb in my place, and honestly, I don’t even think anyone would go for it. I have low calorie and no sugar options—I figured that would be good enough.”
“I agree,” Lily said with a nod. “She’s like that though. She inserts herself into your life by whatever means necessary if that’s what she wants to do.”
Yikes.
“Anyway, so then, in the middle of that fiasco, Mason walks in with this beautiful bouquet of flowers.”
The look on both Lily and Dara’s face told me everything I needed to know. They were both more than aware of Mason’s history with Brittany.
“I bet she was a real… witch ,” Lily muttered, shaking her head before taking a drink out of the red plastic cup. “She was so hung up on Mason, and I swear the woman was a borderline psycho.”
“Yeah, but everyone said that he hadn’t been with anyone else in years…” my voice trailed off as the confusion set in. “So I don’t really get how it all fits together.”
“I was just a little kid when Brittany was with Mason,” Dara answered me, like she wasn’t a kid right now.
“Yeah, it’s been well over a decade, I think.” Lily seemed to ponder it a little longer. “In fact, I think it was right after his wife left that all that happened. Brittany had always had a crush on Mason, and she saw the opportunity…”
“And pounced like a tiger,” Dara added with a giggle. “But Jess always told me that she was crazy. Mason wouldn’t let her around her and kept trying to get rid of her but she just wouldn’t leave.”
“There are rumors of a restraining order,” Lily added with a shrug. “I don’t know the details though. That was a long time ago, and I was too busy trying to start the interior design business with Drew—and raising Dara. Things were crazy.”
I nodded, the new information making me feel somewhat better—but also a little worse. “So, you don’t think she’s going to bombard me over the low carb thing, right?” Lily and Dara exchanged glances that made my stomach drop. “Just tell me the truth.”
“I have no idea,” Lily said with a sigh. “Like I seriously don’t know. Hopefully, she’s so wrapped up in her rich husband and developer’s wife’s life that she’ll just leave you alone. That being said…”
“She’s crazy, so there’s no guarantee,” Dara finished for her mom. “I think that you should just throat punch her if she tries anything.”
“I don’t think I’ll be doing that,” I laughed, hardly being able to imagine acting out anything of the sort. “But maybe I should just add a couple of them to the menu to appease her? I don’t know. I don’t want to start any kind of drama.”
“Good luck with that,” Dara mumbled, her eyes wide as saucers. “If she saw you get flowers from Mason, she’s probably going to be as jealous as ever.”
“She’s married now though,” I countered, looking back to Lily for reassurance.
But she didn’t give me any.
“Look, I don’t know who Brittany is anymore. Like, all that happened over a decade ago—or something like that. I would assume that Brittany is over it, but if she inserted herself into the middle of a conversation with you and Mason… I don’t know. She might be crazy enough to be jealous, husband or not.”
“Great,” I said with a sigh. “Just what I need. Things were finally starting to feel like I might be able to—” I stopped myself before I finished, almost forgetting that Dara had no idea I was pregnant.
“You should still give him a chance. I mean, he brought you flowers today and is taking you out on a date Friday. I think you should just give him a chance before you let some crazy ex mess it all up. And she is married,” Lily said, as if she was trying to convince me it was fine—though part of me wondered if it was really her convincing herself.
“She is crazy,” Dara giggled, somehow finding humor in the entire scenario. That was the way teenagers were, though, and I didn’t hold it against her. Any kind of drama was exciting at sixteen, especially when it involved parents and parents’ friends.
“Yeah, well, I guess maybe I should just work on my throat punching skills,” I joked, shaking my head.
“Ooh, then maybe you’ll get to be cuffed and stuffed by Sheriff Hewitt,” Dara wiggled her eyebrows. “I bet that’s some kind of roleplay fantasy of his.”
“Dara!” Lily scolded her. “Oh my gosh, where the heck do you hear this stuff?”
“I’m sixteen, Mom,” she shot back. “Almost everyone has had sex by now.”
“No! Stop that,” Lily snapped, shaking her head. “I do not want to hear about that. You all are still babies.”
“Well, I’m not a baby,” Dara laughed. “But I haven’t even had a boyfriend yet, so you don’t have to worry about that. No guy looks twice at a girl like me.”
“Oh, I bet they gawk at you all the time,” I said, giving her a reassuring smile. “You’re beautiful, but if it makes you feel better, I didn’t have my first boyfriend until I went to college.”
“That doesn’t make me feel better,” Dara sighed. “Cody is all over Jess, and like all the guys are. She’s super tough and hot. She’s got that dark hair with those stunning blue eyes.”
Just like her dad.
“Yeah, well, you’re blonde with stunning blue eyes, and you’re tough, too,” Lily said, her brow furrowing with concern. “And honestly, who likes guys like Cody, anyway? He sounds like he’s a real douche bag.”
A smile tugged at Dara’s lips. “Well, to be honest, he is a big douche bag. Their parents let them throw parties at their houses, though, and so all the kids put up with their crappy attitudes.” She paused, her eyes bouncing between the two of us. “Don’t worry, I never get invited. I’m a good kid.”
I almost laughed at the way she said the word, but I held back. Someday, she would realize that being the good kid wasn’t such a bad thing to be. Dara was a smart girl, setting herself up for a successful future. However, from everything I knew, Jess was, too… And it was concerning that she was hanging out with a crowd that might cause her to make heavy mistakes.
Lily must’ve been thinking along the same lines as me. “So, is Jess going to these parties?”
Dara bit her lip in response, like she had messed up by telling us what she knew. “Um…”
“ Dara ,” Lily warned. “If Jess is putting herself in unsafe situations, we need to know.”
“Mason would kill her if he found out she was going to Cody’s parties.” Dara’s voice was weak, and my heart went out to her. We’ve all covered for our friends before—and probably had them cover for us as well.
“Ugh,” Lily said with a sigh. “I can’t believe she’s getting dragged into all that. I swear, Mason works so much that he can’t keep up. She needs someone to be around for her.”
“Yeah, so just marry him, Emma,” Dara turned to me, not an ounce of humor in her voice. “You would be a great mom, and Jess already wants Mason to get with you, anyway.”
Well, that’s news to me.
“You can’t force someone to marry someone,” Lily snorted, shaking her head. “Though I do agree, you will make a phenomenal mom—one of the best.”
“Thanks,” I smiled, enjoying the warmth of the moment with my best friend. However, suddenly, I thought of something. “You know, Graham and some guy named Jerry were talking in the café awhile back—like well over a month ago…”
“Jerry Houser?” Lily tilted her head. “That’s the only Jerry I know.”
“I have no idea what his last name is,” I admitted with a shrug, not having paid any attention to who paid the bill. “But they were talking about buying some land that butted up to the town limits… Do you know whose land that is?” It was a question mostly out of curiosity, but also… I didn’t want to see some massive shopping center built in the town.
“I do…” Lily’s voice trailed off in a way that made my heart sink. “Graham has been working really hard on Drew. He’s had his eye on a portion of the Lowe Ranch for a while now, and he’s been pressuring Drew to convince Lucas to sell.”
I nodded, connecting the dots in my head. “And Lucas won’t?”
“No way,” Lily laughed. “I think that man would give up every material item he owned in order not to part with his family’s land. Drew said that Lucas was absolutely insulted that Graham even thought to approach him.”
“But then why is Graham still talking about it? I mean, I guess it was a month ago. Maybe it didn’t go anywhere. It’s just interesting because he said something about bad debts?”
Lily furrowed her brow. “I don’t think there’re any bad debts when it comes to the ranch. I don’t know for sure, but that doesn’t seem to line up with anything that I know.”
I nodded, taking the answer for what it was. “This town is so complicated.”
Lily laughed, grabbing up her third slice of cheese pizza. “All small towns are. You just have to get used to it.”