Tears slipped down her face. Lily Mae angrily wiped them away, her grudge growing by the mile. It wasn’t her fault that she was drunk. It was his fault. If he’d not just tossed her aside after he got what he wanted, she might have had the confidence to get into a relationship. Her last one had ended like all the others, with her boyfriend—a handsome broker—telling her that she wasn’t ‘completely there.’ They all said the same thing; Lily Mae seemed preoccupied, distant, unsatisfied. “I feel like you’re waiting for me to give you something you need, the trouble is I don’t know what it is,” one had said before walking out the door.
She wiped away another tear as she turned off the road. The wooden sign above the gravel drive leading to Four Oaks Ranch was just as she remembered. The road was, too, and Lily Mae gritted her teeth as her shiny SUV bounced along the ruts, throwing muddy water up in its wake.
And then there it was—the ranch house. The sight of it sobered her a little, especially when she saw his truck. That sobered her even more. Jace was home. And what was she supposed to do now? Knock on the door? Cry like a baby about how he’d abandoned her and confirm that he’d been right when he treated her like a kid?
Suddenly the rash plan hatched in her drunken state seemed ridiculous. What the hell was she thinking, coming out here? She started to head to the right with plans to swing around the circular drive and head back out. But a piece of farm equipment had been parked there, so she pulled left, swung the nose of her SUV around, and started to back between another tractor and Jace’s truck so she could head back out the way she came. But no sooner had she shifted into reverse and hit the gas did she hear the sickening sound of crunching metal.
“Oh, shit…” Lily Mae looked back. She didn’t think she’d hit the gas that hard, but her rear quarter panel was all but molded around the right quarter panel of Jace’s pickup. Feeling panicked, she threw the SUV into forward gear and hit the gas, swerving as she did to head for the main gate. But the wheels slipped on the wet gravel, sending her into the yard.
“Goddamnit!” She looked back again, this time toward the house. The front door was opening and she could not mistake the silhouette she’d know anywhere. She punched the gas pedal, only to have the rear wheels spin helplessly in the saturated ground.
“Come on! Come on!” she yelled at the vehicle as she pressed the accelerator. She was about to throw it in reverse and try again when the door flew open and a hand reached over her, threw the gear in neutral, and jerked the key from the ignition.
“What the hell…?” Lily Mae began as her seatbelt was unsnapped and she was hauled out of the vehicle.
“What the hell is right.” His voice had the same drawl of authority that had been both the bane and comfort of her youth. “What the hell are you doing driving drunk, Lily Mae?”
“Who says I’m drunk?” she asked, trying to jerk herself away.
“My eyes,” he said. “I knew you were drunk when I saw you pull in here, even before you hit my truck.” He leaned in and sniffed. “And you smell like the inside of a whiskey bottle.” He gave her a shake. “What were you thinking, coming out here drunk in this weather? You could have been killed!”
“Like you’d care,” she said, jerking hard enough to finally pull away. Now that the adrenaline had subsided, the effects of the liquor were back with full force, causing her to sway in heels two inches deep in mud. She crossed her arms and took an unsteady step back. The rain had started to fall softly again, the cool drops wetting her face along with hot teardrops that had started to fall unbidden.
“I do care!” he said. “I never stopped caring. And if you wanted to talk to me, you could have called. You knew where I was, but you left me not knowing where you went.”
“Yeah, like you couldn’t have tracked me down. After you got what you wanted, you just let me go!” she yelled over the rain, her fists clenched at her sides. “I made sure I told enough people that word would get back to you. But you never came.”
Jace pointed to the west. “You told me you were leaving! You told me not to contact you!”
She was sobbing heavily now, her pride dissolved by tears and alcohol. “Oh, Jace… since when did you ever listen to a goddamn thing I had to say?”
They stood there facing each other, Jace looking hurt and stunned as Lily Mae felt herself overwhelmed by the grief and sadness she’d been holding at bay since her mother had gotten ill, since years before.
“Damn it, Lily Mae…” Jace’s voice was soft as he put his arms around her. “Let’s get you out of this rain.”
Chapter Three
It had only taken Jace five minutes to fetch a glass of water, two aspirins, and a towel for Lily Mae, but that had been all the time she’d needed to pass out on his sofa. When he walked back in the room she was slumped against the cushion, one arm thrown over her eyes, one leg hanging off the couch.
He felt a strong sense of déjà vu as he looked at her lying there. He could still remember how she’d fallen asleep beside him their last night together. He’d awakened to find her gone. But that wasn’t going to happen this time around, at least not until they’d straightened this mess out.