In a way, it was a relief. She was glad she was finally coming to terms with the fact that Coop would always be just a friend. The constant unrequited pining thing was getting to be kind of hard to handle. She didn’t miss the pain of rejection one bit.
“Joe doesn’t have brotherly feelings for you, angel face. I wish he did. But it’s more than that. Dude is pretty much plotting to steal you away first chance he gets.”
The sunlight caused both of them to squint as they exited the shed.
She scoffed out loud. “Um, no he’s not. Trust me.”
“What if he is? What if the minute summer’s over and I’m gone he tells you he wants you and asks you to ditch me? What then?”
“Geez. As much as the super-full-of-yourself version of you bugs me, this insecure version is pretty annoying too. Hayden, I’m with you. Period. What about you? You going to just forget about me when summer’s over?”
He sighed and kissed her on top of the head before they headed off in different directions. “Ella Jane, I couldn’t forget about you if I tried.”
A few hours and a few more stolen kisses later, Hayden’s granddad pulled up to pick him up from work. Hand in hand, Ella Jane walked with him to the truck.
“Hi, Pops,” she called through the open window. “Mama made sweet potato casserole for you and Gran if you want to come in and get some. Or I can run in and get it.”
“Hey, pretty girl,” Edwin Prescott called back with a wink. “Save me some. I’ve gotta get to the tractor supply store before they close.”
“Yes, sir.”
Gravel and dust flew around them as Coop and Kyle pulled up in the driveway behind Hayden’s grandpa. Ella Jane’s shoulders stiffened. Well…it was now or never. She stepped in between where Hayden stood and where Coop’s truck was parked.
Testosterone surged among the three of them as the two boys got out of the truck. Kyle nodded and stepped around to speak with Mr. Prescott. EJ half-listened as they chatted about football. Cooper glared at Hayden and Hayden glared right back.
Well this was awkward.
“Come on, boy. Let’s go. I gotta get movin’,” Hayden’s grandpa called out, his tone completely different than the one he’d used when speaking to EJ.
“I’ll call you later,” Hayden said quietly. “If you want me to.”
Ella Jane turned her back on Cooper and Kyle and frowned up at him. “Of course I want you to.”
“Okay. See ya.” He started to get into the truck but she wasn’t having it. He’d asked what she would’ve done in front of Kyle and Coop. He was nervous that she’d trade him in for Coop or something. And much to her own surprise, she realized that she wouldn’t.
So she pulled at Hayden’s arm and kissed him square on the mouth in front of God and everybody.
“I bet Mom would be thrilled to know you’re sucking face with the new lawn boy every chance you get. Pretty sure she’s not paying him to stick his tongue down your throat.” Kyle Mason crossed his arms and glared at both his sister and the memory of what he’d just seen.
“You shut your mouth, Kyle Mason. You don’t go rattin’ me out for kissin’ when you know good and well I could hear you and Mindy Christensen in your bedroom all those times. That headboard was slammin’ like a screen door in a thunderstorm. Neighbors probably heard it.”
“Jesus. Fine. My lips are sealed. But from now on, you keep yours sealed too. And don’t ever bring that up again.” He turned and started to walk toward the barn. Coop had already bolted out there the second he saw EJ’s lips land on Hayden Prescott’s. “Hey, EJ?” He stopped and turned back to his sister. “Promise me you’ll use your head. Some guys—”
“I’ve already had the birth control talk with Mama. I don’t need a refresher course from you.”
“Omigod. No.” He shook his head in disgust. “We are not talking about that. And for the record, you are way too young to even be thinking about that.”
“Says the guy who lost it to a senior girl his freshman year,” she replied.
“What? How do you…Who told you?” He stumbled through a slew of barely coherent words.
“Small town, remember?” She crossed her arms over her chest and waited for her brother to collect himself.
“Anyway,” he continued on an exasperated sigh. “What I was going to say is be careful. Don’t go falling in love with the first guy that shows you a little bit of attention. There’s plenty of fish in the sea.” He looked at the barn and saw Coop leaning up against the door waiting for him.
“I’m a big girl, Kyle,” she began, glaring at him with everything she was worth. “I can handle it. For your information, I’m basically running this business. Dad’s gone and you’re never here and Mama is more depressed than she lets on. I make sure the work orders get put in and finished. I’m the one here handling inventory and payroll and—”
“Okay, I get it. You can handle it. I know you can,” he said, raising his arms in surrender before wrapping them around her. “I just worry about you ending up with some asshole. Some guys only want one thing, and I don’t want you to get taken advantage of. Because spending my life in jail for murder would suck.”
His little sister rolled her eyes up at him. “I know that. I’m not stupid. I would never just give it up to some asshole.” She pulled back to look at her brother. “And for the record, Hayden is not an asshole.”
“I’m not saying he is.” He sighed deeply. “I just want you to really think before you jump into something serious.”
“I will,” she slapped him lightly on the chest as they broke their hug. “It’s not like it matters anyways.” She paused to smile up at him. “In your eyes, no guy is ever going to be good enough.”
“Oh, I don’t know about that.” He snickered as he walked away. “There might be one or two out there that I wouldn’t punch in the face for looking at you.” He gave her a wink and headed off.
“Thanks, big brother,” she called out. Shaking his head, he smiled to himself. His little sister was growing up. Soon she wouldn’t need her big brother around. But he would still be there. No matter what, he’d promised himself he would always be there for EJ. Always.
“You know he’s just using her, right? Passing the time until he goes back to Bitch Boy Land,” Coop threw at him as soon as he entered the barn.
Kyle took a deep breath as he sat down on a stack of fertilizer bags still bound by shrink wrap. “I just had a talk with her. I mean, I told her to be careful, you know? Not a whole lot else I can do about it.”
Coop frowned at him. “Uh, yeah, the hell there is a lot else you can do about it. You’re her big brother. Scare the shit out of him. Tell her to stay away from him.”
He shook his head. “Come on, man. We were both sixteen not that long ago. You know good and damn well what happens when someone tells a sixteen-year-old not to do something. The minute I pull something like that, she’ll be sneaking off with him every chance she gets.” He smirked at his friend, whose jealousy was showing plain as day. “He might not be so bad. He’s a hard enough worker. Other than that, what do we know about this guy?”
Coop huffed out a breath. “Exactly. That’s exactly the point. We don’t know shit about him. But I don’t like him. And I sure as hell don’t trust him.”
“Yeah, I’m picking up what you’re putting down. I am. But you’re not the one dating him, right?”
Coop’s face was a deep shade of crimson by the time he responded. “What the hell, man? You freak out about any guy so much as glancing in her direction. But this guy, this shady dick from the Bluffs, sticks his freaking tongue down her throat and you’re just cool with it?” Something crossed his face that looked an awful lot like hurt—or maybe betrayal.
“I wouldn’t say I’m cool with it. More like I’ve just realized that sometimes there’s more to it than what’s on the surface.”
Kyle couldn’t help but think of Cami. If he and Cami could have something real, despite being from two different worlds
, maybe Ella Jane and her Bluffs boy could, too. Didn’t seem so unreasonable. At least the guy had the guts to be upfront about his feelings. Kyle had given him a few intimidating stares, just to see if he backed down. He hadn’t. Obviously, whatever he had going with EJ was the real deal if he could stand his ground with her big brother. It was more than he could say for Coop.
“You got something you want to tell me, man?”
“I don’t know, Mase. Maybe. You tell me about your mystery girl and maybe I’ll tell you why I hate Bitch Boy so much. What do you say?”
The grin that lit up Kyle’s face at the mention of his mystery girl should have answered any question Coop could possibly have. But he was worried his friend was going to have an aneurysm if they kept talking about EJ and what’s-his-ass. So he threw the guy a bone.
“She’s…special. Open and guarded all at the same time. It’s her family’s account I do work for on Sunday afternoons.”
“In the Bluffs?” Coop asked while leaning up against the interior wall of the barn.
“Yeah, so?”
“So you got a sugar mama now. No wonder you’re all soft and shit.”
“I’m not soft, it’s just…I don’t know, man. She makes me think about things differently. Everything isn’t black and white, rich and rural, us and them. Her life isn’t as easy as it looks from the outside.”
“Oh yeah, I bet life in the Bluffs is real tough.” Coop paused to snort out a noise of sarcasm. “So you get to play Prince Charming and she has a fling with the help. Sounds like a porno I saw once.”
“Just once?” Kyle clenched his teeth, glaring hard to let his friend know he wouldn’t tolerate any shit-talking about his Belle. “Watch yourself, Coop. Best friends or not, I’ll still kick your ass. Her parents ditched her this summer. We talk a lot, and…” For a moment, all Kyle Mason could see was her face. The wariness in her eyes, the fear of opening up only to be hurt. Let down. Like that’s all she knew. Expected. His voice thickened as he recalled her words. “They never tell her they love her. Like, ever. I get the impression they’re dicks.”
“Well…that does suck.”
“Yeah. So that’s all I’m sharing today, doctor. So what about you? You ready to tell me what your real problem with EJ’s little friend is?”
“Call it a gut feeling. As in, every time I see him, I want to punch him in the gut. Or the face. Or maybe both.”
Kyle folded his arms and watched his friend fidget. “Yeah? You ever think about why that might be? Specifically, I mean.”
Coop shook his head. “Forget it. You’re her brother and you’re not worried. Guess I shouldn’t be either.”
“Man, I worry about her all the time. Just like I worry about my mom, baking night and day so she doesn’t have to stop and face the fact that my sorry-ass dad left us hanging in the wind.” Kyle paused to swallow the emotion his words had drudged up into his throat. “It kills me that EJ has to pick up the slack with the business instead of just getting to enjoy her summer. But I’m leaving soon. I can’t very well tell both of them what to do and how to live their lives and then leave just like he did, now can I?”
“Guess not.”
After that, Coop dropped it, but Kyle could see the warning signs, the storm brewing in his friend’s eyes. The clenched fists and the ticking jaw told him Coop was definitely still worried about it—and still holding a serious grudge. No matter what he said.
But if he’d learned anything growing up in Oklahoma, it was that sometimes it didn’t matter how many warnings you had. Sometimes you still couldn’t see the storm coming until it was too late.
“HEY, Pops, can I ask you something?”
“Better ask quick. I ain’t gettin’ any younger.”
Hayden watched out the window as the Oklahoma plains blurred past. Hope’s Grove had grown on him. He felt more at home here than he ever had in his actual house. “How old were you and grandma when you got married?”
The old man whistled under his breath. “That musta been some kiss little EJ laid on you.”
Chuckling, he clarified. “No, I mean, weren’t you in the war and stuff?”
“The war and stuff.” He snorted. “What the hell are they teaching you kids in school these days?”
Not much, Hayden wanted to tell him. But that was beside the point. “I thought I heard Dad say you got married and then you deployed right after.”
The old man cleared his throat and readjusted his grip on the steering wheel. “I shipped out the day after our wedding. Why?”
“I just wondered…I mean, how did you know grandma wouldn’t just find someone else while you were away?”
“I didn’t. No way I could’ve known what would happen. I look like a damned fortune teller to you?”
“No, sir.” Hayden fought the urge to roll his eyes. “So if you didn’t know for sure, why get married when you were leaving anyways?”
Surprisingly, the old man’s eyes began to look a little watery. Hayden gaped at him.
“We got married because we were in love. If she’d have found someone who made her happier than I did while I was away, well, so be it. That’s what love is. You put the other person’s happiness before your own. Even if it hurts like hell.”
He considered this for a minute. If Ella Jane decided she’d be happier with Cooper, Hayden didn’t know if he could handle it. Not like that anyways.
“I would’ve shot the bastard’s balls off when I got home, of course. But then I would’ve shook his hand and wished them the best.”
Hayden grinned. Yeah. That was more like it. “You know, you’re not so bad sometimes.”
“You either, kid. In fact, I might not trade you for anyone else after all.” His granddad’s expression hazed over as he scratched his chin. “But if you knock up the Mason girl, you’re as good as dead to me.”
Hayden shook his head as they pulled into the parking lot of the tractor supply store. “It’s not…it’s not like that.”
“Son, I was seventeen once. Granted, it was a long time ago. But seventeen is seventeen. And if I remember correctly, it’s always like that.”
AFTER running errands with his granddad for most of the evening, Hayden was starving by the time they got home. He knew his grandma was already in bed, so he only heated up two of the chicken pot pies Ella Jane’s mom had brought.
As the minutes ticked down on the microwave’s timer, he tried not to think about how much time his grandma was spending in bed this summer.
Though his memories weren’t crystal clear, he could still remember that she’d been the one to get up and cook breakfast when he was a kid. And she’d been the one to tuck him in every night. He’d held on to those memories for as long as he could because his parents weren’t like that. And their housekeeper Marisol wasn’t either. The only real love and affection he’d ever received was from his grandma. He smiled at the memory of her being his wingman a few weeks ago. He probably had her to thank for giving him the courage to make a move with Ella Jane.
But his grandma wasn’t the same fiery woman she’d been. Now she was still resting when he left for work and already in bed when he got home. Glancing around the untouched kitchen, he wondered if she’d actually gotten out of bed much since getting out of the hospital.
“None for me,” Pops said, interrupting Hayden’s thoughts as he stepped into the kitchen. “I’m heading on up to check on your grandma then I’m sacking out myself.”
“You sure, Old Timer?” Hayden pulled the pie out of the microwave and set it aside. “A man’s gotta eat, you know.”
His grandfather nodded and forced a smile. “I’m good. I ate earlier. Night, kiddo.”
“Pops?” Hayden called out.
“Yeah?” The old man turned and raised a weary brow.
“Gran’s okay, right? If something was really wrong, you’d tell me—wouldn’t you?”
His granddad paused for a beat but then nodded. “Yeah. It’s nothing to worry about. She just gets tuckered o
ut more easily than us men do.” His weathered mouth attempted a grin but wasn’t successful.
Hayden froze just as he was about to put the extra pie back in the fridge.
A memory that had been lost in the years since surfaced and pulled him back in time.
It’s not anything to worry about, his granddad had told his seven-year-old self. She just gets tuckered out more easily than us men do.
He gripped the counter in an attempt to stay upright. This had happened before. His very last summer in Hope’s Grove.
The pie he’d meant to slide onto the shelf fell to the floor. “No,” he said, his voice barely above a whisper as he remembered. “You lied. You lied back then and you’re lying now.”
Shoving past the old man, Hayden bounded up the stairs, taking them two at a time. He didn’t so much as take a breath until he reached her door.
“Dammit, Hayden,” his granddad called up after him.
Pressing the door open, Hayden nearly lost his power of speech when he saw her. She looked so small and frail in the big bed, surrounded by pink, flowery pillows. She looked peaceful. Too peaceful. More like she was on death’s doorstep than just resting.
A lump rose in his throat as his grandpa appeared behind him. “Let her rest. She needs her rest.”
Whirling around, Hayden glared at his grandpa. “I’m seventeen, not seven,” he hissed out. “How about you tell me the truth now?”
Crooking his finger and gesturing back at the doorway, his grandpa left the room. Hayden followed. Once they were safely in the hallway, his grandfather spoke, keeping his voice even despite the anguish rolling off of him. “Your grandmother has a rare form of dementia, kind of like Alzheimer’s. She gets confused, gets tired easily, and sometimes has no idea who any of us are. Herself included.”
“What? No.” Hayden shook his head. She was the sharpest woman he knew. Always had been. Except…slowly, as if a movie was playing backwards in his head, he started to recall strange things from his childhood. Jumbled pieces of memories that made no sense.
Storm Warning (Broken Heartland) Page 14