Lone Star Longing (Hearts of Broken Wheel, #1)

by Fredrick, MJ

  “Are we okay on gas?” She craned her neck to look at the gauges.

  “Yeah, we’re good. Don't worry. I’m not going to put us in any danger.”

  “I’m sorry to be such a drama queen. I honestly don't think about that all that much. But this storm seems a lot stronger than we usually get.”

  “I don't think there’s anything wrong about worrying. But have some faith in me, okay? I’ll take care of us.”

  She sat back with a sigh. “Jesse would have pressed on no matter what, because the plan was to be home this evening, and he was going to follow the plan.”

  “How did the two of you meet?”

  “Oh, you know. Friend of a friend. Ginny was dating a guy from the base, and he had a friend who wanted to meet someone, and Ginny and her guy broke up, but Jesse and I hit it off, I guess. I mean, he was cute, and he knew his mind, and he was different than the guys in town, so I was a little swept away. And then he was deployed and wanted to have someone to write to, you know, someone to come home to, and so we kept in contact, and he came to visit me when he was home, and then I turned up pregnant.”

  “Doesn't sound like the world’s greatest love story.”

  “You know, even when we were together, I couldn't convince myself we were in love. We didn't have all that much in common, except, well, sex.” She started coughing as she made the admission. “Sorry. But I’m not really a romantic, you know, after watching my parents split up. I’m a lot more practical than to want the fairy tale. But there was something about having a boyfriend overseas, and being a good girlfriend and waiting for him, and sending him things to make his life better. I don't know. I don't know what I thought was going to happen, me going to surprise him. Maybe I did want him to propose, and to take that step. But then I think about his personality, and if we would have gotten along if we were together all the time. I don't think we would have.”

  That was sad, that she had been content to settle for a man she didn't love, all in the name of, what? Security?

  “I probably shouldn’t have said all that,” she said, wiping her hands on her shorts. “I sound pretty pathetic, I guess. Or heartless. I mean, I had good intentions. I mean, I think I did. And I’ve been sitting here trying to figure out why I’m not more upset about him not showing up, and I realized all the things I was looking forward to, when I surprised him, was not really seeing him so much as seeing the city, doing something different. Man, the more I talk, the worse I sound.”

  “You don’t. I mean, I get it. And to be honest, he doesn't seem like he was too much of a prize. So I admit I was kind of wondering how you two got together, and you know, stayed together. I think you’re way too good for him.”

  “You clearly didn't hear what I just said about myself.”

  “What, about you feeling bad that you didn't love him?”

  “Well, yeah. I’m going to have his baby and I didn't love him.”

  “You wouldn't be the first. I mean, how do you think my parents got together?”

  She blinked at him.

  “Don’t you dare tell her I told you.”

  “I would never. But wow. I can’t imagine your mom.”

  “Yeah, well, let’s not go there. But I’m just saying, she didn't feel like she had any other options. You at least do. You have your dad to help you. You have, well, you have your friends. Me.”

  Shit. Why did he go and say that? Because now she was looking at him, her brow creased. He wasn't going to be here for long, just until he got his mom settled. So why was he offering himself to her?

  He picked up his phone and tapped through to the weather app. He hadn’t been paying attention, so he couldn't tell if the storm’s intensity had lessened, but he needed to change the subject, and quick.

  The radar still showed a lot of red between them and Broken Wheel, and he wasn't enough of a dick to scare her like that. He sighed and stared ahead into the pouring rain.

  “I’m...lucky. To have support. To have friends. You’re right. I need to look at my blessings and stop trying to anticipate all the things that can go wrong. I’d mostly be a single mom if I was with Jesse, anyway, you know, him being in the service, and I wouldn’t be able to be with him. So I’d best be looking on the bright side, for my sake, and for my child’s.”

  Damn, every time he thought he was able to talk himself out of falling for her, she had to go and say something like that.

  Chapter Fifteen

  HER DAD WAS WAITING at the door when Beck pulled the truck up in front of the house. He parked the truck but left it running so he could get out and help her with the bags—the two grocery bags and her suitcase. The yard was mud—puddles stood in the lower areas, and water still dripped from the trees, but the worst of the storm had moved on.

  “Mr. Davila,” he greeted the older man as he passed the bags off to him, when it was clear the man wouldn't let him pass into the house.

  “Beck. Thank you for bringing her home safely.”

  “Yes, sir. Good night.” Beck turned to Lacey, met her gaze, and repeated the farewell.

  The words and eye contact seemed insufficient after the time they’d spent together, but she wasn't going to hug him under her father’s watchful eyes. She just nodded and watched him walk back to his truck and drive off.

  “What the hell happened in San Antonio?” her father demanded as they walked into the house. “Why are you home two days early?”

  “Jesse didn't show up at the airport.” She followed him into the kitchen, where he set the grocery bags on the table.

  That’s when she noticed the flowers. And the wine glasses. Two of them. Used.

  One with lipstick on the glass.

  “Um, Dad? Did I interrupt something?”

  Her father’s face was dark red when she turned to look at him.

  “It’s...no big deal.”

  But it was. In the years that her father had been alone, he’d never dated anyone.

  That she knew of.

  But now?

  “Dad? Who is it?”

  “It’s, ah, Marianne Skyler. We’ve been...seeing each other for a while.”

  Marianne Skyler, who was on the council with him. Marianne Skyler, who he’d told about her pregnancy. So this had been going on for months, and he hadn’t said anything to her.

  She hated the wash of resentment that flowed through her. And then the realization that they’d had romantic time planned because she was out of town, and she’d come back unexpectedly.

  Her emotions ping-ponged all over the place, and since they were so close to the surface, tears burned her eyes. Damn, now he was going to think she was upset. Which she was, but not the way he’d think. “You didn't want me to know?”

  “Just when I was ready to tell you, you told me you were pregnant, and I just didn't know when a good time was.”

  “Any time after that?” Her voice was sharper than she wanted, mostly because she was mad at herself about the tears.

  “Yes. I should have. But you had so much going on, and I didn't want to upset you, like I’m doing now.”

  “I’m not—I’m not upset about that. About you having a girlfriend, someone in your life. I’m upset that you thought you needed to hide it from me, Dad. I mean, I’ve been open and honest with you about everything, no matter how painful it’s been, and you’ve been keeping this from me?” She picked up the wine glasses from the table and carried them to the sink, then swung on him. “Do you think I don’t want you to have someone in your life?”

  “It’s always been the two of us.”

  “That’s ridiculous. I’m twenty eight. If things had worked out with Jesse, then I might be leaving, and you think I want you to be alone? I don’t. And it hurts that you think I’d want that for you.”

  She had planned to unpack the bags of groceries she’d brought, but now she was just exhausted. The past two days had been a roller coaster of emotions, and she just needed to go rest. She started past her dad toward her room, and he caught
her arm.

  “I’m sorry, Lace. I really am.”

  “We’ll talk about it tomorrow, Dad. I just can’t right now.” But his distressed expression had her stretching up on her toes to kiss his cheek. “I love you. I’ll see you in the morning.”

  SHE DIDN'T SEE MUCH of Beck over the next few days. He wasn't at his mother’s house, though she could see he had been there, working on the house. But he wasn't there, and she would not ask about him, wouldn't ask if he’d found a job, or if he was avoiding her.

  She wasn't going to overthink it. She wasn't going to give into that.

  She had bigger worries.

  “Your blood sugar and blood pressure have been really steady since Beck came home,” she said to his mother. She’d been more energetic, too. Lacey didn't have to clean as much, because Mrs. Conover was doing more around the house, not sitting in the chair watching TV. The basket of crochet projects was not as stagnant as it used to be. The woman was finding, if not joy, then a purpose in her life. Lacey wondered if Beck saw it, how the two were getting along.

  Mrs. Conover made a sound. “He’s worse than you about keeping me on a schedule and making sure everything is healthy.”

  “Oh, yeah, I’m terrible.”

  Mrs. Conover gave her the side-eye. “You’ve gotten a lot saucier since you started carrying that baby.”

  “Maybe it’s the baby’s personality coming out.”

  “Oh, you had better hope not. You’ll have your hands full as it is.” The woman shifted as Lacey removed the blood pressure cuff.

  “Oh, I know, but now that I’m starting to show, I’m starting to get excited. Looking at nurseries on the internet for ideas, looking for little outfits. Maybe next time I go to San Angelo, I’ll buy a couple of things.”

  “You should wait until you know if you’re having a boy or girl. And you think those friends of yours might throw you a shower? So maybe hold off on wasting your money.”

  “I was just thinking that having something concrete might, you know, be fun.”

  “It will be concrete sooner rather than later. Be careful what you wish for.”

  Chapter Sixteen

  LACEY HOPPED DOWN OFF the washer box and returned to her team, high-fiving them. She hadn’t scored so high in weeks. She felt looser, more relaxed than she’d felt in weeks. Maybe the aroma of the beer her teammates were drinking affected her. Maybe it was the freedom of knowing her life was her own.

  She admitted she was a little disappointed Beck hadn’t shown up today. She didn't know where he was, or why he hadn’t been around. She missed him, because he was always so easygoing and fun to be around, but he must have something else going on. Too bad, because she’d heard about a job he might be interested in. In Midland, so far away, but something he might be interested in.

  “That’s our little good luck charm,” Poppy laughed, rubbing Lacey’s tummy.

  “Lowers her center of gravity,” joked Con, taking his spot on the opposite box.

  But before Con could toss, Hailey came out with their order of wings, so they took a break to gather around the table. Lacey was craving spicy foods, so she dived into the pile of wings, dragging her bottle of water closer before her hands got all greasy.

  As a rule, she avoided wings because they were messy and not a lot of food. But since last night, she hadn’t been able to stop thinking of them, and she closed her eyes in pleasure as she bit into the first wing.

  When she opened her eyes, Beck was standing across from her, hands on his hips, grinning. Her heart skipped a beat, which surprised her

  “Good?” he asked.

  “So good.” She put the wing down on a brown paper towel and took a sip of water to cool her tongue before she gestured toward the basket. “Help yourself.”

  “Con’s eyes are watering, so maybe I’ll go order something else,” he said with a crooked smile.

  She had to admit that the inside of her nose was burning, and her throat, but her tummy was happy, and her taste buds, so she smiled anyway. “Suit yourself. They’re good.”

  He disappeared for a little while, and by the time he showed up to sit beside her, she had quite a pile of bones in front of her. Maybe more than her fair share, to be honest. Then again, her friends had drifted away, many toward the bar for another drink.

  She reached for another wing. “What did you order?” she asked Beck when he returned.

  “Ribs.”

  Her tastebuds, burned and battered, sprang to new life as she thought about the sweet taste of barbecue sauce coating the grilled meat. She didn’t eat ribs, either, for the same reason she avoided wings, but now that was what she wanted.

  Man, was she going to go through four and a half more months of this?

  “Hey, y’all,” Beck said when everyone was back at the table. “Lacey and I were talking about us all taking a day trip up to Fort Clark Springs this summer. We could take a picnic and play in the water, and just hang out.”

  “We’d have to go early,” Poppy said. “We went up there last month and the park was full, so they wouldn't let anyone else in. So we’d have to aim to be there before it opens. Or we could try to go on a week day.”

  “We can do that. Come on, it will be a blast.”

  “Not everyone can just take a day off to go swimming,” Con said, his tone a little bitter.

  “Just one day. We can come and help you do whatever it is that needs to be done so you can come with us. Come on. It’ll be like old times.”

  “I’m not sure,” Javi said. “Not much of a swimmer. I heard it gets pretty deep.”

  Lacey gave him a smile of commiseration. He had been pretty traumatized by the bus accident. She could imagine he avoided water at all cost. But at the same time, she didn't want him to feel excluded from their trip.

  “So just hang out on the side. I’ll probably just float around on a tube. You should have seen me on that lazy river in San Antonio. Beck thought he’d never get me out of the water.”

  “So what happened in San Antonio last week anyway?” Javi jumped on the chance to change the subject. “I thought you were going to leave her up there, and the next thing I hear, you’re both back in town a day later.”

  Lacey lowered her head. “Yeah, well, Jesse and I broke up.”

  “I should never have pushed you together,” Ginny said. “Never. You didn’t have anything in common, and I just wanted to be with Josh. And you see how well that worked out.”

  “Yeah, yeah, Jesse was an asshole, we all knew that,” Con said. “I want to know what happened in San Antonio.”

  “Well.” Lacey looked at Beck. “I called Beck when Jesse didn't show, he picked me up, we checked into a hotel room, we went swimming, we ate, we shopped the next day, we came back.”

  “A hotel room.” Javi lifted both eyebrows. “Are y’all together now?”

  “Yeah, I went right from Jesse to Beck. Because that’s who I am.”

  Javi lifted his hands in surrender. “I’m just asking. Because you act like you’re together.”

  “We’re just friends,” Beck and Lacey said together.

  Okay, maybe that synchronization didn't help their argument, so Lacey turned back to Fort Clark Springs. “We can pack a picnic, and caravan out there.” She would have to make sure she didn't ride with Beck, at least not alone, on the way.

  “Maybe.” He didn't sound convinced. “How deep is it?”

  “I’m not sure, but I think there are different depths. I wouldn’t want to go too deep, either. I like having my feet under me.” Even as she said it, she realized that that was really what she needed in her life. Her feet under her. Her path before her.

  “Britt is coming back.”

  All heads pivoted toward Con when he said the name of his ex.

  “What? When? How do you know?” Sofia asked.

  Con nodded toward Poppy. “Poppy talked to her cousin Meredith. She’s coming to town for her grandmother’s eightieth birthday.”

  “When is that?�
� Ginny asked.

  “Next weekend.”

  “You think you’ll—do you think you’ll see her? Do you want to see her?” Lacey asked.

  Con turned and met her gaze. “I’m not going to hide from her, if that’s what you’re thinking.”

  Well, what she wanted to know was if he was going to seek her out, but she didn't say so. Still, she wondered why he brought it up.

  “Do you want us to invite her?” Sofia asked.

  That whipped Con’s head in the other direction. “No. I mean, I don't know if I want to see her in a public place. Not at first, anyway.”

  Britt had destroyed Con’s heart. Not just broken it. Con had loved her, and she’d left him after the hardest year of his life, after his sister drowned. The thing was, she hadn’t just left. She’d gone to college, leaving him behind, sure. But she had completely ghosted him. Completely. If she’d come home to visit her family, she’d done so in a way that Con wouldn't know, and after a year or so, her family moved away, too. As far as any of them knew, Britt hadn’t been back to see her grandmother in all that time.

  “So what do you want us to do?” Beck asked. “You want us to run interference? Or set something up? What can we do?”

  Beck. Always looking for solutions.

  “I don't know yet. I’ve only known for a couple of days, and I go back and forth. And you know, I’m just a rancher who never made it out of town.”

  “That was always your plan, wasn't it?”

  He shook his head. “No. Claudia was going to take the ranch. I was going to go to school and be a vet.”

  “I didn't remember that. I just remembered that you were going to get married.”

  “Yeah, well, now I see that never would have worked out. We know what her priorities are now.”

  “What did she do with her life?” Lacey turned to Poppy. “I didn't know you were keeping in touch.”

  “Not with Britt, but with Meredith, her cousin. She said Britt is a party planner in Houston.”

  “As far away as she could get from Broken Wheel and still be in Texas,” Con muttered. “A party planner? Yeah, I guess I could see her doing that. She probably makes some good money.”