by Dawn McClure
Misty sighed and got to her feet, a little unsteady herself. She slowly made her way toward the familiar truck, with the familiar guy sitting on the tailgate with her brother. Anger hit her so hard at the familiar scene she nearly lost the alcohol that sloshed in her stomach.
She and David could have been happy. Could have been a couple. Instead, he must have found her lacking—or repulsive enough to hightail it out of town. Hell, out of the state and eventually out of the country. Maybe she hadn’t stacked up to Caroline. Abby might not believe that David and Caroline had had sex, but Misty still did.
The fact that Misty jumped in the back of his pickup even while believing that made her cheeks burn even now. Humiliating. And she’d done it to herself. And why? Because she’d been drunk? Because it had been David? A little of both?
Well, he could have Caroline. But why was he hitting on her now? She should take out that pro and con list and wave it under his nose to show him just how much he didn't stack up. How much he wasn’t her type.
How many beers had she had in the last hour? Lord, she was drunk. And she was getting to that point of being angry drunk. A text-your-ex-and-regret-it-the-next-day drunk.
They could have had it all. Gone to college together as planned. Got married. Had kids. But no. There would be no fairy tale ending for them. Not after what he'd pulled. Brandon was more like Prince Charming than David could ever be.
“What do you want?” she snapped, stopping a safe distance away from them. At some point, David had kicked off his boots, and Lord did he look like the old David, sitting there next to her brother on the tailgate of his truck, swinging his bare feet as though they were ten again.
An empty bottle of tequila was toppled over between them.
“You have to settle a score here,” Matt said too loud, taking off his hat and pointing at David with it. His dirty blond hair was flattened on the top from his ball cap but curled at the ends. “He's got shit all screwed up in his head. He says... He says he's the one who broke in Diamond when Dad brought her home,” Matt slurred. “Now, we both know I broke her in. Tell him.”
When they were about fourteen, their dad brought home the prettiest black mare she'd ever seen, and she'd instantly fallen in love. The mare had been glossy black with a funny looking white spot on her forehead. It looked like a diamond so that's what Misty named her. And she'd wanted to ride her so badly, but her dad told her the ornery mare needed to be broken in before she could, and he never really had the time to do it himself. But David knew she'd wanted to ride the mare.
Her eyes misted.
David would sneak over to ride her, specifically when her dad told them all to stay off. All to break the horse in. For her. That didn't even compare to the time David bought her a barrel racing horse when she was fifteen from the money he'd earned on the farm.
David was looking at her expectantly, because she'd been the one to sit on the fence and watch him on Diamond late in the afternoon when he knew her dad was out in the fields. Sometimes he'd thrown rocks at her second-story bedroom window to get her out of bed, just to watch him at night. She'd sat and watched him for hours getting bucked off, until finally one day that irritable mare let him ride.
Her brother tried to break her in but he'd never had any luck. He'd never known how many times David had come over to ride Diamond. Only she had.
She wanted to rile David. He deserved so much more than that. “Matt broke her.”
Just as she'd expected, David came off the tailgate at the same time her brother did.
“That's bullshit and you know it!” David yelled at her, half serious and half full of tequila. He looked as though she'd just told the most outrageous lie. Because she had.
She almost smiled, forgetting for a spell that she wasn't just teasing him. She was deliberately trying to hurt him. Just for one moment, she wanted to forget everything that happened in the past and just enjoy this. The three of them hollering and bickering back and forth felt like home.
How many desperate prayers had she said when she'd heard that David had been deployed to Afghanistan? Even after what he'd done, she'd prayed for his safe return every single day.
She'd told Matt the other day that she'd never prayed harder than when she prayed to get the teaching job in Rapid. The lie had fallen easily from her lips because she wasn't about to admit how scared she'd been during David's deployment. Just thinking about it tightened her chest.
“I knew it!” Her brother slapped his ball cap against his thigh. “Now pay up.”
“The hell I will,” David said, grabbing her arm. “You tell him, Misty. You sat there and watched me get every damn bruise that horse dished out. Don't you remember?” He looked genuinely confused as he looked down at her.
How could she not remember every day with David? They'd played with each other as toddlers, for Christ’s sake. She remembered how nervous she was the first day of kindergarten, and how her brother hadn't listened to a word their mother said and left her sitting alone on the school bus that picked them up at the edge of their dirt driveway. When the bus stopped at David's ranch, David ignored Matt's calls to sit with him in the back, had taken one look at her, and sat beside the scared little girl without hesitation.
How could she not remember when Gerald Nelson called her a bony-legged Amazon in the fourth grade, because she was a head taller than all the other girls, and David had punched him in the nose?
Or the time she'd fallen through the ice when they were playing hockey on the lake when they were thirteen, and David lunged to grab hold of her before she went completely under? He'd laid on top of that ice with both his hands on her upper arms until he, Matt, and Shane managed to pull her frozen-ass up.
No, she remembered everything about David. It was David who'd forgotten.
“I do. I distinctly remember Matt breaking in Diamond, not you.” She turned and left them before she embarrassed herself by crying. Wishing she'd never grown up with him. Wishing everything had been different.
Wishing she'd never known him at all.
Chapter 4
David hadn't planned on going to the rodeo, but when Matt mentioned that he and Misty were taking a day off from the ranch to go and invited him along, he'd said yes. He knew Misty had taken great pains to stay away from him all week. Every time they’d crossed paths, she’d made it crystal clear how she felt about him.
Case in point, when he'd waved at her as they passed on a dirt road the afternoon after the bonfire, she'd given him the one-finger salute in return, her truck kicking up dust as it sped past his.
The next day his mother asked him to drop off some Kuchen to Alice, Misty's mother. Knowing Misty was staying with her parents over the summer—and thank God, not at Brandon’s—he'd arrived at the house right around the time he knew they'd be having breakfast. Misty had answered the door. Before he could say a word as to why he was bringing over a dessert, she'd snatched the Kuchen out of his hands and slammed the door in his face.
Yesterday, he'd run into her in the grocery store—literally. Two people obviously in a hurry, they'd plowed into each other coming around the corner near the freezer section. He'd held out a hand to steady her, she'd smacked it away, and Becky Mae Sorenson, a sixty-something with a need-to-know and spread gossip accordingly, had gasped at Misty's colorful verbal counterattack. In response to her choice of words, he'd only said, “Not sure that's even possible unless you want to give me a hand. I’m sure we can figure something out.”
Becky Mae had dropped the sausage she'd had in her hand, which had been insanely appropriate, considering what he'd been referring to.
But today was a new day. A fresh start.
He'd been all smiles that morning as he showered, dressed, and then toasted a bagel. He'd finally have a chance to apologize to Misty without Brandon being glued to her side. David needed a one-on-one with her something fierce. He'd been blindsided when she'd tossed out the lie that Matt broke Diamond. She was spittin' mad at him, and that knowledge
ate him up.
Of course, Matt never mentioned that Brandon would be going to the rodeo as well, and hadn't that been an eye-opener this morning when Matt picked him up. Brandon and Misty, snug as a couple of bugs in the backseat of Matt's car.
David's mood had been shit ever since. He cast a glance at Brandon and Misty as they walked down the line of food vendors next to him. Holding hands, blond and blonder, they looked like the perfect couple.
David secretly hoped those building clouds that threatened in the west would hurry up and dump on them. If they did, they'd be forced to leave, and he wouldn't have to walk side by side with Brandon, who was holding on to Misty's hand like a lifeline and shooting him uppity looks every five minutes.
Point taken, asshole.
David really didn't know what Matt was up to, because clearly, he'd invited David to tag along knowing damn well Brandon and Misty didn't want him there. If Matt was playing matchmaker, he was doing a shit job of it. Or maybe he hadn’t wanted to go the rodeo with the two lovebirds alone.
“I don't know if I'd trust Thai food at a rodeo,” Misty said, her ponytail swinging as she walked.
She'd managed not to direct a word toward him even though they'd been in the same car for more than an hour, and at the fairgrounds for at least half that. He decided to answer her just out of spite.
“Thai food is fried to shit and back. You'll be fine.”
Just as he'd thought, she ignored him. At this point, he wasn't even sure why he was torturing himself. Even if Brandon hadn't come to the rodeo, what exactly was his endgame? She was in a long-term relationship. From what Matt said, she and Brandon had been going out for a solid year, and they'd been close throughout their junior year in college.
Still, David had several years on Brandon. Maybe not in dating Misty, but they'd been close friends since they’d been toddlers. He also had several inches on Brandon height-wise, and at least looking down on his nemesis made David feel a little better. Petty, but there it was.
“I want a burger, fries, and a beer,” Matt said. “In that order.” He tipped his ball cap at a hot brunette walking toward them. The girl giggled and looked away even as Matt did a full rotation and walked backward like a goofball as she walked away in the opposite direction.
“Same,” David agreed. He would have ribbed Matt on the snub, but he wasn't exactly in the mood.
“I think I want to go to the stand that makes subs. They have salads too.”
David wanted to slap his palm against his forehead. Leave it to Brandon to be the odd one out. He just didn't get those two. Misty grew up on a working ranch. Other than when they were at school, he, Matt and Misty had been covered in dirt and only God knew what else. They were rednecks. Country folk. They thrived when they were outside in the sun and knee-deep in cattle and muck. They were made for the farm.
Brandon wasn't.
“Okay. I'll go with you and they can get some burgers. Just the smell of this greasy food is making my stomach churn.” Misty slid David a dirty look, and off she and Brandon went, hand in hand.
He and Matt came to a stop as they watched Misty and Brandon leave. Misty and those damn denim shorts, much too short, and that tank top... Damn. She managed to make short-shorts look sweet while the other girls running around in tiny shorts just looked trashy. Misty looked like a tank top wearing angel. And if he could blot out the image of Brandon always next to her, he'd think her just as innocent as one.
“She's giving you the cold shoulder from hell. She loves greasy shit.”
“Yeah.”
Misty was still a touchy subject between him and Matt, even though he had the suspicion that his friend was trying to play matchmaker. David doubted he was doing a very good job of keeping his emotions off his face as he watched her leave. He wanted to follow her just as she'd followed him around all those years growing up, Brandon be damned. Part of him believed he and Misty were just supposed to be.
David was having a hard time getting over his anger at his old man. If Big Mike hadn't kicked him out of the house, then David wouldn't have left Garner. Actually, Matt clocking him at the gas station was what finally made his decision to go to the recruiting office and sign over the next four years of his life. Something about coming to blows with the guy that always had his back had put everything into perspective. He'd not only lost his way, but he'd brought Misty down with him.
“Can't say I blame her,” Matt said.
And wasn't that the crux of the situation? “There's no way in hell they'll last.”
“Oh, I wouldn't be so sure. You taught her a damn good lesson when you up and left. Good guys might finish last, but they don't bail. I'm on your side, though, because she's not the same person since she started dating Brandon. I think she tries to be what she thinks Brandon wants. Golfing and skiing.” Matt shook his head as though those two sports were absolutely absurd to him. “She doesn't even fish anymore.”
He'd heard, and quite frankly, he didn't want to think about it. He finally tore his gaze from her. “Come on. Let's go get a beer.”
After they'd gotten their food, pushed through the crowd, and landed the last paint-peeled, rickety picnic table, David felt shittier than he had when Matt had picked him up. Probably because he was acting shitty. He needed to back off. Misty was taken, and that was that. He'd had his chance, and he'd blown it. Man had he blown it. Straight to hell and back.
Matt didn't seem like he was opposed to talking about his sister, so David figured he'd let fly a few of the questions he'd been holding back the past few weeks. “You think Brandon's going to come back to Garner to practice law?”
“I think he might,” Matt said, popping a few fries into his mouth. “He'll probably take over his dad's business when the time comes, but that's years away. He and Misty want to live in Rapid. I don’t think she's going to stay away forever. She might try to be what Brandon wants now, but she's too headstrong to stay that way for long. You know how she is. At one point something's gonna snap her ass back in place. Question is, will Brandon heel?”
That's exactly what he needed. Misty marrying Mr. Polo, popping out a few kids, and him running into her and their happy little family when he went into town. All blonde and blue-eyed. Jesus. He wasn't even hungry anymore.
“Well, more power to them I guess.” He might not want his burger anymore, but the beer, hell yes.
They sat there, David picking at his food, downing his beer, and Matt attacking his burger and nursing his beer.
Finally, Matt said, “What the hell got into you, anyway? Why did you leave without saying a word to anyone?”
He'd known this conversation was a long time in coming. He owed it to Matt to tell him the truth, something he’d been unable to do all those years ago. “I don't want you goin' and tellin' her.”
Matt wadded up his burger wrapper and nodded. Around a mouthful of burger he said, “Done.”
“My old man kicked me out. I didn't have much money, especially after buying her that barrel racing horse. There was no way I was paying for college with what I had in my bank account. Ran into you at the gas station when I went to get a burrito and you clocked me.” He paused to finish his beer. He wanted another. “Didn't know what to do, so I went and signed up with the Corps to get outta Dodge. My mom cried. I told her everything would be okay and left. I never really told you, but my dad and I hadn't gotten along for years. It wore on me until I let loose in high school. I just couldn't take it anymore, and I started acting out.”
Matt cursed. “Why didn't you tell me? Damn, how much was that horse anyway?”
David barked out a cold laugh. “Are you kidding me? I'd never seen you so mad in all our lives.” He shrugged. “I was young. Scared. I just...left. I didn't have a choice. No one I knew had a place I could really crash at for more than a weekend. And you don't want to know how much that horse cost me.”
“You could have at least talked to her before you left. She'd just about given up on you until that night you drove
her home. I don't think it needs to be said that she loved you most of her life.”
“And say what?” Like he hadn't thought about it. Hell, he'd driven to her house before he’d left, but only managed to pass by her driveway. He'd been a chickenshit, plain and simple. He’d known he couldn't face her. He’d had to leave.
He'd left her to face the entire town by herself.
“Maybe even a goodbye?”
He shook his head. “I'd never have left.” He blew out a breath and scanned the crowds walking by. The young couples that pushed strollers, the older men in their decorated veteran hats, and the teenagers who wore next to nothing and giggled into their cells, all at various stages of life. He’d lost those college years with Misty, even after they’d talked about what they’d do in Brookings for years. They’d never get that time back. An ache settled against his ribcage. “What could I have given her? She was heading to college in the fall. Nothing I could do.”
He'd run things through his mind countless times back then. He couldn’t afford college, and his dad sure as hell wasn’t going to pay for it. What kind of life could he have given her when she graduated college and he was working some shit job?
Hell, maybe Brandon was better for her than he was. David’s job security rested on his dad, a man who barely tolerated him. Brandon was going to school to be a lawyer.
“Did you tell her any of this? About your dad? It's not exactly a stretch. I mean, he is an asshole.”
“Hell no. She loves my dad. Probably the reason why he lost his shit on me. He might have treated us like crap on the ranch, but you know damn well he coddled her like she was his own. Hell, he was more of a father to her than he was to me.”
Another man he'd never seen so mad before. Thankfully David had dodged that punch because Big Mike had been swinging to knock his ass flat out. When his dad all but roared at him to pack his shit and get the hell out of his house, David hadn't needed him to repeat himself. Didn't help that David had reeked of alcohol. Didn't help that he'd plowed the truck into a telephone pole on the way from dropping Misty off at home. His father had yelled at him about driving drunk with Misty in the truck and what could have happened.