Her Texas Ex

by Katherine Garbera

  Red Aldean walked up to her. “I heard you were back in town. My cousin is thinking about signing her daughter up to take lessons at your studio. She wants to be a model,” he said.

  “I’m glad to hear that.”

  “It’s great to see all the Corbyn girls back together again,” Red added. He’d been at school with her and for as long as Amelia could remember, he’d been happier outdoors than inside.

  She nodded and turned away from her parents. This was why she’d stayed away. She wasn’t a Corbyn girl. Not really. Biologically, she had a different father, but no one knew that outside of those involved in the whole sordid thing. When she’d learned the truth at sixteen, it had rocked her world and for the life of her, Amelia had never figured out how to right it again.

  Chapter Three

  “I got your text about a business loan for TJ,” Braden said coming over to him. His brother might be the youngest of the three of them, but he had always been the most serious. He was a lot like Cal remembered his mom being. She’d been the one to hold things together and Braden did the same now.

  “What do you think?” Cal asked, glad to be discussing something he actually understood rather than thinking about Amelia. Two conversations in as many days and he couldn’t get her out of his mind. He wanted to believe it was simply the way she’d left when they had been teenagers. They’d never had any closure. Closure was a big deal, right? According to all of his exes, he sucked at it.

  “I think…I’m not sure, honestly. I can see where this might be a good idea because he needs focus and Rose is determined to have him as her man, but on the other hand, he does tend to run through money really quickly.”

  “Yeah, I’m on the same page,” Cal admitted. “I’m glad Jasper stopped and mentioned it because it gives us some time to discuss it. But TJ should have come to us first.”

  “You punched him the last time he was at the ranch,” Braden reminded him.

  “You’re point being?” Cal asked. He knew he had a short temper where TJ was concerned. Part of it was just the way the kid was. He wouldn’t look Cal in the eye, he mumbled when he spoke to him and he’d knocked Cal’s sister up… That was hard to forgive. He’d never even acted like he needed to get his shit together. So instead, Rose was working two jobs, taking care of her baby and going to college. Cal wanted a better man for Rose.

  But as Braden had said, Rose wanted TJ.

  “What a damn mess,” Cal said.

  “Yeah. Let me run the numbers and see if we can find someone to run the shop for him. Supposedly, he’s good with a tattoo needle.”

  “Actually, I know a guy in Houston… We might be able to convince him to come up here,” Cal said, thinking of the guy who did a lot of the team’s ink when he’d been playing pro ball.

  “Perfect, let me know what you find out,” Braden said, tossing back the last swallow of his tequila. “We also need to discuss the Bluebonnet Festival. I was thinking we could use the branding and booth setup we used at Texas Motor Speedway last November. The Outlaw poster photo booth was pretty successful on the day and on social media. Rina is running the numbers—”

  “Dude, we’re at a party. Stop working for like twenty minutes,” Cal said as he clapped his hand on his brother’s shoulder. If there was ever a guy who needed to get laid, it was his workaholic brother.

  “You mentioned the loan,” he said as if that meant they should talk shop.

  “Fair enough. I just want you to relax sometimes,” Cal said. “Just thinking about your workload stresses me out.”

  “Unca!”

  Cal turned to see his nephew Delaney toddling toward them. He wore a pair of jeans, hand-tooled custom-made Kelly Boots with the Delaney crest and a PAW Patrol T-shirt. He had a tiny black Stetson perched on his head. Cal stooped down with his arms outstretched as his nephew ran to them. He scooped him up and stood looking for Mrs. Hanson who had been watching Lane until the party.

  “Sorry, Cal. I swear I didn’t even look away. He squirmed to get down and then took off,” Mrs. Hanson said. “He’s got Rose’s mischievousness.”

  “He definitely does,” Cal said. Lane put his arm around Cal’s neck and held him loosely. He’d been torn when Rose had first told them she was pregnant. He’d just suffered his injury and he’d been trying to figure out what to do next. Coming home…well that seemed like a dead end. Not because of the place, but because of what it represented. Braden had been running Outlaw Tequila and honestly didn’t need Cal around.

  He’d never felt more useless until Delaney had been born. And he’d realized how young nineteen was when he looked at Rose. At nineteen, Cal thought he’d known it all, thought he’d been mature. In hindsight, he’d had a hell of a lot of growing to do.

  “Where Mama?” Delaney asked.

  “At school,” Cal said. “She’ll be here soon.”

  “You think so?” Braden asked. “She texted me to say you were being an overbearing jerk.”

  “Yeah, well, she and I don’t agree on everything,” Cal said, handing Lane to Braden who tossed him up in the air and caught him before turning toward the snack table to get their nephew something to eat.

  “She wants to marry TJ,” Cal said to Braden when Mrs. Hanson was out of earshot.

  “The hell she does. I thought we decided she’d finish college first,” Braden said.

  “Yeah, we did. She’s ticked at me, now, but TJ might be getting his act together,” Cal said. He didn’t want to get too excited about TJ’s prospects because the kid had bailed before. He’d freaked once Rose had given birth and ran off for three months. Cal admitted that he’d never forgiven TJ for that. The kid had come back though and seemed to be trying.

  “God, I hope he sticks with the tattoo thing,” Braden said. “I don’t know what Rose will do if he ghosts again.”

  “Oh, if he ghosts her again, I’m going to make sure he stays gone,” Cal said, every bit of his outlaw Delaney blood and big brother instincts coming to the fore.

  “You need to make sure he knows that,” Braden said.

  “I think that’s why he put me down as the cosigner on the loan. He’s gutsy. Almost makes me like him.”

  *

  Amelia’s grandmother laughed in that way some women did, loud and full of joy, making anyone who heard it smile. Amelia noticed Mr. Timmons smiled every time her grandmother laughed but he didn’t approach the group where Priscilla held court with a group from the local animal shelter, including Lea Dunwoody, who had been a few years behind Amelia in school. Amelia really needed to get out a bit more. Every memory she had with the people in Last Stand was tied to school and they’d all been out for a while.

  Her grandmother noticed her watching and waved her over. Memaw Corbyn had made a point to visit her four times a year while she was in New York. The first time she’d shown up, Amelia had only been there for a month and was a little…short with her. But Memaw had just told her to settle down; she was still her grandmother and always would be.

  Memaw had also told her there was more to the story that had sent her running to NY, but Amelia had been too young and too stubborn to listen to her. So instead, they both agreed to let it lie.

  She and Priscilla had always been close. In fact, Memaw doted on her and her sisters like they were special angels—her words. When she’d learned that Jax Williams, the legendary country music singer, was her biological father she’d run to her grandmother’s house. And her grandmother had listened and just loved her. She didn’t try to explain or justify the lies that Amelia had been told. Memaw had just hugged her and said that life sucked sometimes.

  She joined her grandmother and her memaw took her hand and squeezed it. “I was just telling Lea about Christy and how she’s getting on in age.”

  She arched one eyebrow at Lea who just smiled. She wasn’t sure how many people in town had realized that her grandmother had owned a dog named Christy for the last…well for at least thirty years. She just kept naming them all Christy. She loved
that name and thought it was perfect for a dog.

  “I have some new senior dog treats in my bakery. Priscilla wasn’t sure if they would be okay for Christy, so I was telling her about the ingredients.”

  “I don’t know much about your business, Lea. I mean Delilah mentioned it was a dog bakery…”

  “Yes. It’s called Good Boy! When Mom and Dad retired to Florida, I took over their storefront on Main Street—only I’m not really good enough to compete with Kolaches or the pie shop. But I am good with pet treats, so I figured I’d give it a try. It’s been going well so far.”

  “I love that. I’m in the market for a pet,” Amelia said. “Someone to keep me company.” Even though she didn’t plan on staying in Last Stand for long, she thought it would be nice to have a pet while she was there. And she could give it to one of her sisters when she left.

  Lea laughed and nodded at her. “Man’s best friend has always been better company than man.”

  “Depends on the man,” Priscilla said. “But I have to agree. Christy is sweet company and doesn’t make comments about my obsession with old Sean Connery movies.”

  “We all need more of that in our lives,” Lea said. “I’ll have a booth at the Bluebonnet Festival next weekend, next to the pet rescue, so be sure to stop by. Maybe you’ll find someone to take home with you.”

  “I will,” Amelia said.

  “What are you two up to?” her mother asked, coming over to them. Her mom looped her arm through Amelia’s. She knew better than to pull away, and besides, she liked this.

  She heard her grandmother answer, but she was busy trying to make sense of the chaos inside of her. She loved her mom more than she’d be able to say and there were times when she’d reached out to her in New York, when she’d needed her mom, and she’d always come, no questions asked. They hadn’t talked about Jax or any of that, but her mom had supported her in whatever she needed, and then Lilly Corbyn had gone back to Last Stand.

  Damn.

  Why couldn’t she just let it go?

  She’d always wanted to go to New York and have a fabulous life away from this small town. In one moment—and with one secret—she had gotten everything she wanted, everything that her sixteen-year-old heart could have wanted. But the price had been too high. She’d never wanted to give up being a Corbyn to get it.

  “Right, Amelia?” her mom said, turning to look at her.

  “I wasn’t listening.”

  “That’s all right,” her mom said. “Lea was mentioning that the downtown tourist season seems to be expanding. We’d noticed the same thing at my shop.”

  Her mom had a memorabilia shop on Main called Texas Memories. Her parents had been encouraging her to work there until her modeling agency got off the ground, but she’d resisted and come up with every excuse not to do it. But her mom’s health issues made it hard for her to keep the store open, and her two assistants had lives outside work too. The doctors were still puzzled by Lilly’s symptoms. She was having occasional memory loss issues and problems with the strength in her legs. But still, she had refused to use a cane to walk.

  “I’m going to start helping Mom out and work some of her shifts,” Amelia said.

  Her mom tipped her head back and looked over at her, surprise clear in those crystal blue-green eyes of hers as she blinked. She could see how much that meant and Amelia felt mean and petty that she’d held out so long, but her mom just leaned her forehead against Amelia’s arm as if there was nothing to forgive.

  “You Corbyns always stick together, don’t you?”

  “We do,” her grandmother said. “Lea, would you like to come to Sunday dinner next week? With your folks living in Florida I know you must miss them.”

  “Thanks, Mrs. Corbyn, I’d like that,” Lea said.

  Before they could make any further plans, there was the sound of screeching tires, and then the sickening sound of a crash. Everyone scrambled at the party. The doctors, police and emergency first responders all took off running toward the sound. Amelia wasn’t sure what to do but her mom started following the crowd to see if she could help.

  *

  The scream of tires and then a loud crash broke the party atmosphere and Cal saw Police Chief Highwater and Doctor Graham McBride go running, along with a few other guests. He followed suit. While he had no official medical training, he’d been in enough fights over the course of his life to have more than a working knowledge of general first aid. He stepped off the patio and onto Main Street, noticing the tourist bus that had crashed into Verflucht, the wine-tasting room that August Wolf hadn’t had a chance to get opened yet.

  He ran toward the van looking for what had caused the crash and as his gaze moved to the other vehicle, his heart started racing, and he heard a scream ripped from somewhere deep inside of him.

  Rose’s truck.

  Oh, dear God. He had tunnel vision as he ran toward her. He had to get to his baby sister.

  He was running before he was aware of what he was doing. He got to the flaming upside-down vehicle as Shane Highwater pulled a body from the back seat. He spared a glance for Jake, the kid who worked on the ranch with Rose and took classes at the college over in Austin with her. He moved closer to the truck, trying to get to his sister. But Highwater held him back.

  “Don’t. The driver and the other passenger are deceased,” Shane said. “There’s nothing for you to do.”

  His heart felt like it was being ripped from his chest. He was breathing as if he’d run a marathon, and his mind really didn’t want to believe what his eyes were showing him. “It’s my sister,” Cal said. “I can’t—”

  “The fire department will put the flames out,” Shane said, drawing him back. “Then we will get her out.”

  Get her out? What did that even mean? Rose was lost and he threw his head back and screamed with the pain of not being able to protect her.

  *

  Cal punched at Shane until he was free, stepping away from the police officer as his brothers ran over to the burning truck. Braden looked like he was going to hurl, tears silently streaming down his face while holding Lane in his arms.

  His nephew started crying as he looked at his mama’s truck. Cal went over to his brother and nephew and pulled them into his arms. They were all shaking and crying. He was the eldest. This fell on him. He was the head of the family and needed to make this right. But Cal was at a loss. At a total loss. Nothing in his life had prepared him for this moment. He felt a hand on the small of his back. Amelia stood there, shock on her face, and he couldn’t speak to her.

  “Cal, are you going to be okay?” Amelia said, stepping closer to him. Her face was pale as she reached out a shaking arm to him.

  “That’s my sister’s truck,” he said, the words guttural, torn from somewhere deep inside of him.

  She put her arms around him and held him. He hugged her back, buried his face in the crook of her neck, the strawberry scent of her hair almost hiding the acrid smell of the burning truck.

  She rubbed her hands up and down his back, giving him comfort.

  He stepped back, wiping his eyes with his fingers, trying not to look at the truck.

  “Oh, Cal. What can I do?” she asked.

  He shook his head. Make this all go away? But he was a realist and knew that wasn’t possible.

  “Let me take care of Lane,” she said, moving over to Braden and taking the little boy. Amelia tucked him closer to her chest and rubbed his back. “You want to come with me?” she asked the little boy.

  He was aware of Jasper moving around behind him and Delilah and Emma were there as well. The Corbyns had come to help them. He was grateful but he couldn’t even talk. Jasper just squeezed his shoulder.

  “You do what you need to for Rose. We’ve got Lane,” Jasper said.

  “Thank you,” he said.

  Behind the older man, he saw the tour bus that had crashed into the wine shop and the organized chaos as all the emergency personnel took care of the injured. He shoul
d help, but he was stuck there. Staring at the vehicle that he’d bought for his sister. Thinking about the last time he’d seen her and how he’d yelled out the door after her to get her shit together.

  Damn.

  What the hell was wrong with him?

  Hadn’t he learned anything growing up with a bitter, angry man?

  He was becoming his father and there was no way that was a compliment.

  “Cal?”

  With each inhalation, the smell of the burning truck filled him, and he stood there, helplessly, watching the flames. The fire department arrived, but honestly it was as if he was viewing everything from a great distance.

  Amelia, Lane in her arms, came over and hugged him again. The child looked up at him and he felt like crying again. He knew nothing about raising a kid. What if he screwed up with Lane the way he had with Rose?

  “Don’t worry,” Amelia said, touching his jaw. “I’m here and I’ll help you. I’m going to take Lane back to the Carriage House, and then to our house after. You do what you need to do,” Amelia said. She hugged him and then she walked away with his nephew, but he was barely aware of it.

  Braden came over to stand next to him. Shoulder to shoulder, they watched over Rose as her body was removed from the wreckage. He was aware of ambulances coming and going, taking the injured away, but it was as if it was happening to someone else.

  “There were two deceased in the truck,” Shane said coming over. “One male severely injured.”

  “Do you know who the other person in the truck is?” he asked.

  “We can’t identify him yet. We’d be waiting on the girl if you hadn’t identified your sister,” Shane said.

  “Damn. The boys in the truck with her were probably TJ Maverick and Jake Fry.”

  “Thanks for that. Y’all go now. I’ll come find you when this is over,” Shane said.

  Cal shook his head. “We’ll stay here until it’s done.”

  Shane just nodded and then walked away, and Cal turned to his brothers.