by Dawn McClure
Funny how all the things you'd like to have said during an argument all sprang to your mind afterward when you couldn’t use the shit to throw in their face.
He climbed up the ladder to the hayloft, right to the spot he and Misty had been just a few days before. Where she'd told him that she'd give him a solid second chance. Well, hadn't that been a huge crock of shit?
God his chest ached.
“Hey, what gives?” Matt asked at the door.
“Now's not the time, Matt. I'm in the mood to throw punches.” It was a saying they'd had since they were kids. It meant they were good and pissed, having bypassed simply being angry and headed straight into fighting territory.
“I'd rather you throw me a beer.”
David snatched one out of its slot and tossed it to him. Matt caught it easily and took his time opening it so it wouldn’t fizz out. “Shit, you and Misty are going to be the damned death of me, I swear.” Matt took a swig of his beer and hooked a thumb through a loop on his jeans, glancing up at him with a smile on his face.
Laugh it up, asshole. David popped his own beer open and drank it down like he meant it. He should be back at her place in that comfy bed of theirs, all tangled limbs and sweat, but here he sat, licking his wounds like an injured pup.
Thing was, he didn't give a shit about what most people thought of him. But what Misty thought of him mattered. And apparently, what she thought of him wasn't much.
“So when did she make this list you found? She didn't get that far when she was talking to me.”
“At the bonfire.”
“A lot has changed since then.”
Like sister like brother. He shrugged. “She's leaving anyway. She sure as hell makes sure to remind me about her leaving every ten minutes. Told me tonight that we were impossible. Overheard her talking to Abby about trusting Brandon, but not trusting me.”
“Damn, did she say anything good about you?”
“Said she loved me in a roundabout way.” After all those sucker punches to the gut, her admitting that she loved him is what really brought him to this. “I think she's stuck in the past. Why would she love me if I'm none of those things she wrote about Brandon? She says she doesn't trust me.”
Matt sat on a tree stump that had been put by one of the stalls as a seat. “Do you blame her? You're going to have to work harder for her 'cause you dumped her ass like yesterday's trash just four short years ago. Or have you forgotten?”
“I told her that would never happen again!”
Matt rolled his eyes. “Oh, so long as you told her. That makes everything better. I warned you both that you were taking this way too fast. I knew this was going to happen.”
He and Matt hadn't fought in years, but David was damned tempted at the moment. Smug-ass twin sticking up for his sister. “You know damn well why I left. Maybe I should tell her.”
“I already did.”
David stopped with his beer halfway to his mouth. “You told her about my dad?” He’d thought maybe Matt had, but hearing him confirm it stopped him short.
Matt shrugged. “Told her everything yesterday morning after she was through baling. Maybe that's why she don't trust you. If you don't trust her enough to tell her the specifics about something that changed her life, do you blame her?” He settled his back against a stall and kicked his long legs out in front of him, crossing his ankles. “What's really the craw in your ass?”
“She expects too much of me,” he snapped.
“Only expected you to stick around,” Matt drawled.
“She wants me to go with her to Rapid. You know I can't do that.”
“She's a woman. She's probably testing you.”
He didn't like being tested. “I can't go with her. Period. Hell, I'm already going to have to hire out when Misty leaves because the old man gave me the books too. Between the livestock and the farm, I'm going to be running around like a chicken with its head cut off.”
“She's fumbling for something solid. You're not giving that to her.”
Was Matt not listening to anything he was saying? “Brandon was going to Vermillion, for Christ's sake! She wasn't balking.”
“She never loved him.”
Silence. Same thing she said. David didn’t understand anything at this point. If she loved him why hadn't she ever said the words? How could you love somebody that you didn't trust? And why hadn't he ever told her how much he loved her? Had never stopped thinking about her throughout the last four years.
“That's the real craw, isn't it?” Matt asked. “Damn, the two of you are so transparent. You don't want her to go, but she has no choice. Just like you say you didn't all those years ago.”
“I didn't have a choice.”
“Neither does she.”
David finished off his first beer and tossed it in the hay. Grabbed another. “Did you even read the list? Did she tell you all the shit she put under Brandon's name?”
“That list is really tanning your hide, isn't it?”
“Damned right it is.” How would Misty feel if he'd made a list between her and another girl? If he'd just put down sweet ass under her name and listed a ton of attributes under another's name? How would she feel about that? Like warmed over shit, that's how she'd feel. Then she’d probably use the training on that .45 of his to shoot his balls off.
“You think she should have stayed with Brandon?” Matt asked.
Hell no. “Misty is mine. Always has been.”
“Then why are you still here and not with her?”
Good question.
“David, where there's a will, there's always a way. Didn't your last screw up teach you that?” Matt took another sip of beer, then said, “She took off about five minutes ago. I heard her old Ford fire up. She's probably headed back to the cabin. If you stop slamming those beers you might catch up with her.”
“She was here?” David asked.
“Yeah. She pulled up right before I walked in the barn. Was probably looking for you, but I didn’t ask. You know me. I just followed the beer. But before you go chasing after her, you might like to listen to me for once. Slow your roll, do you hear me? She's not the typical girl you can... Hell, I can't even say it. Damn it, David, she's my sister. I get the two of you, I really do, but you're not going to treat her like any old girl, you understand?”
“Trust me. I understand better than anyone.” Misty was the only person in the world that could get him this riled. The only girl he'd ever loved. “One day, Matt, a woman is going to crawl under your skin and you won’t be able to get her out of your mind. Then you’ll really know what batshit crazy feels like.”
Matt slowly shook his head. “That day will never come. Not happening.”
David knew better, but he didn't argue.
The last person Misty had wanted to run into was sitting on the couch blowing on her freshly painted fingernails. Misty breathed in, counted to five, and slowly released the air that had done her no good. She'd known Caroline was here when pulled up and saw Caroline’s red car parked out in front of the guesthouse, but she’d hoped their paths wouldn’t cross. Oh well, not much she could do about it now. Caroline glanced up at her, made a bitch face, and then turned back to watching the television.
Misty did the same. She breezed through the living room to look in the kitchen and then passed through the living room again to head into David's bedroom. He wasn't there either. Instead of running around and wasting her time, she headed back into the living room. “Was David here?” Misty asked.
Caroline didn't look away from the TV. “He was. Didn't seem like he was in a good mood. Of course if you were my girlfriend, I doubt I’d be in a good mood either.”
Misty ignored the barb. With her hands braced on the back of the love seat, Misty tried to think of where he'd go. She didn't like the way they'd parted. She seemed to be burning bridges with everyone, but she didn’t want this fight to sit between them. She could only imagine how David felt when he’d read that damned pro and c
on list. She’d have been just as angry and hurt if the tables had been turned.
Yeah, burning bridges had suddenly become her specialty. Matt was still throwing her dirty looks for dragging him into the middle of her love life, and he hadn't been too pleased to listen to her bitch on the phone twenty minutes ago. Brandon hated her guts. So did Caroline. Misty looked at Caroline sitting on the couch, avoiding making eye contact.
Guess there was no time like the present to start mending some of those bridges. Starting with Caroline would be a tough one. That bridge had been blown to hell and back way before punches were thrown. “Caroline, I apologize for hitting you. You weren't exactly making things easy for me.”
Caroline finally stopped watching the television and looked at her. “Why in the hell should I make your life easier than it already is?”
What the hell was that supposed to mean? “What?”
Caroline rolled her eyes, pursed her lips, and used her hands to awkwardly pull her messy bun tighter on the top of her head, since her nails were still drying. She made air quotes for each description she made of Misty’s life. “Perfect little cheerleader who was a rodeo star on the weekends. Perfect little family. Perfect boy at her side until he started hanging around trash like me. Yeah, I heard what you said about me behind my back.”
It was hard to take someone seriously when they had what looked to be a rabid animal sitting on the top of their head. Misty tried not to focus on her hair. Sure, Misty had talked behind her back. There'd been times she'd said the same straight to Caroline’s face. Caroline usually deserved every bit of it. “It's not like the two of you were heading to the library on school nights, so stop playing the saint.”
“Yeah, so we drank. Hell, we had reason to.” Caroline got up from the couch, hands in the air, and started heading toward the hallway, obviously through with the conversation.
Misty was going to wave Caroline off, because in reality, when in the hell would they ever be friends? But then Matt’s voice sprang up in her head like an unwanted leak. “She's not that bad considering where she came from.” In this instance, though she’d never admit it, he was right. “Wait. Seriously. I'm sorry for what I did. Back in high school and the other day.”
Caroline stopped and shrugged, but kept her back to Misty. “Guess I did tag your truck.”
She reminded Misty of an insolent child, and Misty’s heart cracked just a little. Caroline had been through hell in her life. Maybe she hadn’t fully grown up. Since she’d said sorry in a round-about way, Misty figured she also wanted to stop fighting. “Best not to bring that up. I'm not sure we're square on that yet.”
“Well, I know what will make us square, and you know what? After the little pep talk David gave me the other day, that's exactly what I'm looking for. Wait there.” Caroline left the room and disappeared down the hall.
Misty didn't have time for this. If David wasn't here, then he was either at the barn or on his four-wheeler tooling around the ranch since his truck was at her cabin. She’d known that damned pro and con list—
Her cell chimed, scattering her thoughts. She pulled it out of her back pocket quickly, thinking it might be David. It wasn’t. The notification was from her inbox. The school board had emailed her.
She swiped at the notification and brought up her email app while she was waiting for Caroline to get whatever it was she was getting. Hopefully it wasn't a gun. Misty wouldn't put it past her. If anyone was better at burning bridges than Misty, it was Caroline.
The email was probably in response to...when the email popped up, her mind completely blanked. She could only stand there staring at the email. What she saw from the school board nearly knocked her flat on her ass. She had to read it three times before the words finally sunk in.
We are sorry to inform you that we are retracting the job offer for the upcoming school year.
They went on to say they terminated her contract, only citing that they could terminate at any time for any reason, and that was the only reason they gave. She was beyond numb. Beyond angry. It was as though someone had taken her pinky and plugged her into a light socket.
“What's wrong?” Caroline asked.
Other than the room spinning?
Hadn’t she been waiting for this email? She’d had a gut feeling this was going to happen ever since she’d broken up with Brandon. Misty had caught that underlying threat Brandon had thrown her way the day she'd broken up with him, but he'd been the good guy...right? The stable one. The safe one. He wouldn't actually get her fired because she'd broken things off with him, would he? She thought back to the engagement ring he’d shown her. The tears in his eyes when they'd been sitting in the car the day of the tornado when he could already sense her backing away.
One of his last parting shots... “And what if that job falls through?”
Brandon had her canned.
Her body nearly vibrated with the need to throat-punch him. “I'm going to fucking kill him,” she said slowly through her teeth.
Caroline backed away. “Okay, from the look of you we might need an exorcist. I’m fresh out of holy water.” Caroline made a sign of the cross with her hand right in front of Misty’s face. “But you might want to read these letters before you kill him though.”
Misty looked up at Caroline, wondering what in the hell she was talking about now. She was holding a stack of envelopes. Misty really didn't have time for this. First, she had to stop over at Brandon's, because this deserved way more than a text or phone call, and then she had to play damage control and see what she could do to get her job back. Finding David would have to wait. “What the hell are those?”
“Letters David wrote you from Afghanistan. He never mailed them.” Caroline looked down at the letters and pursed her lips. “That day you sucker punched me, he told me to pack my shit, and I was mad as hell.” She looked back up at Misty and shrugged her shoulders. “Naturally I rifled through his stuff. Found these.”
He'd written her letters while deployed? Misty held out her hand.
Caroline suddenly jerked her arm back and held the letters out of her reach. “What are you two fighting about now?”
Maybe she should just leave this bridge to burn. Caroline was as nosy and annoying as some of the older women in town. “It's not David. Listen, I have to go. Give me the damned letters.”
“Are we square?”
Misty nodded. “We're square. You read the letters, didn't you?”
Caroline handed her the letters. “Of course I did. By the way, what he wrote in those letters would impress Nicholas Sparks.”
Already halfway to the door, Misty stopped and turned back to Caroline. “Really?”
Caroline nodded. “Do yourself a favor and read them only when you're by yourself. And don't tell him I gave them to you.”
“Now that you’ve read these, are you done trying to get in his pants?”
“I should have known back in high school I could never land him. Yeah, he bitched about his dad when we hung out, but most of the time he went on and on about you. Can't say I didn't throw up in my mouth a handful of times. But he was the only guy who talked to me like I was a person and not...Well, you know, a slore.” Caroline shrugged. “So, if not David, who are you going after now?”
Misty cringed at the word “slore” and felt guilty for calling her that. “Brandon got me fired.”
Caroline whistled. “You gonna clean his clock?”
Misty fisted the letters in her hand. “Oh, trust me, it'll never read the correct time again.”
Misty pulled into Brandon's driveway and parked her rusted Ford next to his sensible Honda Civic. She got out of the truck and slammed the door shut, her ponytail bouncing against her back. Did she have absolute proof that Brandon had asked his dad to pull this stunt? No. But she had a damned good idea. Why else would they fire her ass before she'd even started? And if Harry had pulled the string, then Brandon had pulled his.
She paused by his shiny little car with her keys in h
and, feeling her inner Carrie Underwood you-did-me-wrong-country-song surfacing. Maybe she'd rake his Civic on her way out. The thought had merit. It would be an immature thing for her to do, and yet she couldn’t bring herself to give a damn. Unfortunately right now she wanted to see his face more than anything. She wanted to light into him like fireworks on the Fourth of July.
When she got to Brandon's front door, she didn't even bother knocking. She barged right in with her filthy work boots on, practically seething. He was sitting on his brown leather couch, watching the news in a pair of plaid pajama bottoms and a white T-shirt. He didn't get up when she walked in. Only stared at her as though he knew she'd be coming. He almost looked...bored.
One of their glaring differences had been her explosive temperament and his knack at keeping his cool under the worst of circumstances. Just as Matt had said, she'd become timid when she’d been around Brandon because she’d tried to match his temperament, but those days were over. “You had your dad get me fired and don't you dare deny it.”
He slowly leaned over, picked up the remote off the coffee table, turned off the television, and settled back against the couch cushions. “I heard you and David moved in together.”
She was going to wring his damned neck. The news of her getting fired hadn't phased him at all. He knew. She had no doubt that he'd done it now. What did she want to accomplish by coming here and having it out with Brandon? Was she aiming to get her job back? Did she want to slap the shit out of him? What could she gain by barging in here like she had?
“That’s none of your business. I want to hear you say it. I want you to look me in the eye and tell me your dad called the superintendent because you asked him to.”
He narrowed his eyes and tilted his head. “Now why would I go and do something so stupid? David's back in Garner, and by the talk of the town, he's staying. Makes sense. His father can't run that ranch right now. So why wouldn't I want you to be nearly three hundred miles away?”