She’d been strong for her mom when her dad moved out, had put on a brave face as Kyle prepared to move away for college. She’d even slapped on a smile when Coop blathered on about some new girl he was dating who was apparently his “favorite.”
But this—Hayden totally ignoring her and not even having the decency to say “Hey, it’s been real and it’s been fun, but it ain’t been real fun, so peace out”—stung like nothing she’d ever felt.
After she practically threw the last armful of hedge clippers, sprinkler heads, and shovels into the shed, she whirled around and slammed right into the object of her frustration.
“Whoa. Sorry,” Hayden said, gripping her by her upper arms to steady her.
“My bad,” she said, jerking out of his grasp. “I’ll try to stay out of your way from now on.”
“Hey,” he called out as she marched away from him. “Ella Jane, hang on a damn second.”
She heard him coming up behind her but she kept walking. She wasn’t going to beg him to give her some big goodbye. All that crap about weekends and real dates had obviously been just that. Crap. She didn’t need to hear any more of it.
Somehow in just a few short months, the city boy who drove her crazy had become precious to her. He’d carved out a spot on her heart and now he was leaving it empty. Vacating it without any explanation as to why. Well she wasn’t going to hand him a knife to carve any more holes. Her dad had already done enough damage.
“Stop,” Hayden commanded, grabbing her and yanking her back toward him. “Talk to me. What’s going on with you?”
She looked everywhere but at him. Heart pounding against her ribs and chest heaving with every breath, she willed herself not to cry. “Me,” she snorted out. “What’s going on with me? I’m not the one blowing you off like it’s my job.”
“What are you talking about? I’m not blowing you off.” His eyes were dark and stormy, a swirl of green and gray that reminded her of the sky just before a massive downpour.
“Sure feels like it,” she said softly, hating how weak she sounded.
He sighed and tilted his head to the side. “I’m sorry, angel face. It wasn’t intentional. Promise.” He used the pad of his thumb to brush the side of her face. The wind kicked up and he tucked the swirling strands of her hair behind her ear.
Still tingling from his touch, she searched his face for any trace of evidence that he was lying, playing her. “Tell me then. Tell me what’s really going on. I’m not stupid, Hayden. I can tell something’s up with you.”
The sound of a truck pulling into the driveway distracted them both. Reluctantly, Ella Jane pulled her eyes from Hayden. His grandfather looked exhausted behind the wheel of the truck.
“I guess I need to go.”
“He looks tired. Maybe you should drive home.”
“Yeah, maybe. Not that his stubborn old ass would let me.” A flash of something dark and sad flickered in Hayden’s gaze.
“Hayden? Tell me. Tell me what’s going on,” Ella Jane prompted.
“Nothing you need to worry about.” He shook his head and released her as they turned to walk toward the truck. With each step he seemed to get farther away, even though she was keeping pace with him.
“After the movies, can I call you? Will you meet me at The Ridge so we can talk?”
“Can’t,” was all Hayden said as they reached the old pickup. “I’ll try and text you later though.” He kissed her lightly on the forehead and climbed in the cab beside Pops.
She called out a goodbye but the old man put the truck in reverse and soon all she could see were fading taillights.
“UGH. I think I liked you better when you were lusting after Coop,” Lynlee said with an eye roll. “I mean, not to be a bitch, but there were like half a dozen other people I could have hung out with tonight.”
“Sorry,” Ella Jane mumbled. They entered the theater and the scent of stale popcorn hit her in the face. She knew she was sucky company. All she’d really done for the past hour was wonder out loud what was up with Hayden.
“Sounds to me like your brother was right. It was a summer fling. Just take it for what it was and move on.” Lynlee stepped into the ticket line and fingered a strand of her strawberry-blonde hair before letting it drop. “What’s that saying? Don’t cry because it’s over, smile because it happened? Or some crap. Jesus. Just stop moping like a wounded puppy. It’s not attractive.” Winking at two guys ahead of them in the ticket line, she practically trampled EJ to get a better view.
“Well hello there, ladies,” the taller of the two guys said as both boys turned. EJ looked up and saw him ogling Lynlee’s overexposed chest. “What are you two doing later tonight?”
Ella Jane almost asked him if he meant the two of them as in her and Lynlee or if he was talking to her friend’s double Ds.
“You tell us,” Lynlee teased, giving them a coy smile, at the same time Ella Jane answered, “Washing our hair.”
“Ow,” she grunted when her friend elbowed her in the ribs. Hard.
“What are you boys getting into tonight?”
“Hopefully you, Red,” Tall, Dark, and Swarthy answered.
“Oh. Ew,” EJ groaned. “Please turn back around before I vomit.”
“Excuse my friend. He’s a disgusting pig,” the shorter, stockier guy said, glancing up from his phone to smile at Ella Jane.
“Only if you excuse mine,” Lynlee piped up. “She’s a boring prude.”
“How about we skip the movie and go hang out somewhere a little more private?” Swarthy asked.
“Pass. Hard pass,” Ella Jane answered dryly.
“She’s moping because her non-boyfriend dumped her ass. Maybe you could cheer her up, handsome,” Lynlee said to the shorter guy.
Just as they reached the ticket counter, the boys stepped out of line and Swarthy gestured for the girls to do the same.
“No, Lynlee. Hell no,” EJ said, tugging at her friend’s arm. “They’re Summit Bluffs guys and they’re probably dicks.” The taller one had on a green SBHS lacrosse shirt.
“Like your precious Summit Bluffs guy turned out to be? Let it go, EJ. He’s done with you. The best way to get over someone is to get under someone else.”
Ella Jane gaped at her friend as the girl ducked under the velvet rope and stepped out of line.
“Come on. Live a little.”
Ella Jane glared at the girl and moved to the side so the people behind her could get their tickets. “No,” she hissed at her friend. “You don’t even know them.”
Lynlee made a big show of rolling her eyes. “God, I don’t even know why we’re friends. This is why Coop calls you Ellie May. Because you’re so freaking naïve and vanilla.”
Vanilla? “I don’t even know what that means.”
“Of course you don’t. That’s the point.” Lynlee smirked at the boys flanking her. “Sorry, guys. Guess you’re stuck with just me.”
“Oh, we don’t mind,” Swarthy said.
“Hey, I promise I’m not a dick like my friend. Come hang out with us. I’ll be a perfect gentleman, and if at any time you want to leave, you’re free to go.” The shorter guy did have kinder eyes. And adorable dimples. Ella Jane smiled back at him. But she just wasn’t up for a random night of risking being date-raped.
“As much as I enjoy being roofied and waking up wondering where my pants and my dignity are, I think I’m just going to call it a night.”
“Lame,” Lynlee called out after her.
“I’m Jarrod, by the way. Jarrod Kent,” the shorter guy said as the four of them walked out of the theater. “And I promise I’d help you find your pants.”
“Nice to meet you, Jarrod.” Ella Jane smirked at him and glared at her friend one last time before heading in the opposite direction where her truck was parked. “Hey, do me a favor? Make sure your friend doesn’t slip my friend any illegal substances and take advantage of her stupid ass, please.”
“I’ll do my best. Scout’s honor,” he promis
ed, holding up a salute.
“Thanks,” EJ said as she dug for her keys in her purse.
“He’s a lucky guy,” Jarrod said as she turned to leave.
“Um, who?”
“Whatever guy you’re ditching us to go hang out with.”
EJ couldn’t help but smile. She was ditching them to go see Hayden. Even though Hayden didn’t know it yet. “Maybe someone should tell him that,” she mumbled more to herself than anyone.
HAYDEN watched as his grandpa carried the full bedpan gingerly to the bathroom. He’d never seen anyone so devoted to another human being as Pops was to Gran.
“I’m going to try and get her to eat some soup,” he said, stepping aside to let the older man pass him in the hall.
They’d moved his grandma to the couch downstairs so she’d be closer to everything and not cooped up in her room. So far it didn’t seem to have helped much. He forced a smile at his grandma as he lowered himself into the chair beside her.
“Can you try a little? Please, Gran?” he pleaded, holding a spoon full of broth to her mouth.
“I’m not hungry, Kevin,” she said, waving a hand so close it almost knocked the spoon from his hand.
“I’m Hayden, Gran. Kevin is my dad.”
She glared at him for a second, her eyes milky and moist. “I know that. Where’s Edwin? He was supposed to pick me up an hour ago.”
Hayden sighed. If anything, his gran was just getting worse. A part of him wished he could go back—back to the blissful ignorance of not knowing.
Guilt tightened the muscles in his stomach. This is where he should’ve been every summer instead of off screwing around with meaningless bullshit.
“He’s on his way, Gran. Here, eat a little bit of soup, and by the time you finish, he’ll be here.” He’d learned quickly that when she was in one of her moods it was best to go along with whatever her version of reality was.
“I don’t want any damn soup,” the old woman hollered, knocking the bowl from his hands. Hot liquid splashed in Hayden’s lap. It burned like hell but he didn’t want to upset her by crying out in pain or jumping up. Sucking in a breath through his teeth as the hot liquid scorched his flesh, he stood slowly.
“Okay, no soup. Got it.” He turned toward the kitchen to get a rag to clean up the mess and flinched when he saw Ella Jane standing behind him.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” she asked softly. Her voice reflected the wounded expression in her eyes. “Is she okay?”
“How’d you get in here?”
“Front door was unlocked. I’m sorry, I just wanted to…”
“Well you came. You saw. Now go,” Hayden ordered. He couldn’t stand anyone seeing his gran like this. She deserved to be remembered as the strong spitfire of a woman she was. Not some delusional nutcase.
He was barely holding his shit together as it was. Ella Jane Mason would be his undoing. If he let himself break down in front of her, let himself give in to the overwhelming need to kiss her, to touch her, to bury himself inside of her until he forgot every screwed up thing in his life, then there’d be no going back. And she deserved better than some jackass who’d put himself first at every turn. He was done doing that.
“I’m not leaving.” They faced off, him sighing and her squaring her shoulders and wearing that same determined expression she had on the first day he’d met her. Well, the time he remembered. According to Pops, they’d met before.
“You don’t breathe a word of this to anyone, Ella Jane Mason,” Pops said from the doorway. “Not even to your mama, you hear? My Netta is going to go with dignity. Ain’t nobody’s business what’s going on with her mind.”
“Yes, sir. I’m Fort Knox. Not a word.”
Hayden watched Ella Jane meet his granddad’s stare and nod as they reached a silent agreement.
Hayden shook his head and stepped around the only girl tough enough to take on Edwin Prescott. She followed him to the kitchen and glared at him with a hand on her hip as he wiped the soup from his athletic shorts and legs.
“Just say it, angel face. Get it all out.”
She huffed out a breath. “You’re kind of a terrible boyfriend. I thought you were trying to dump me because summer was over.”
Hayden raised a brow. He hadn’t meant to make her feel like that. And he hadn’t really labeled himself her boyfriend. Though he did like the sound of it.
“But you’re a wonderful grandson.” She bit her lip and her eyes began to water. “So I forgive you.”
“Hey now. Don’t cry.” Hayden stopped his cleanup effort and stepped over to her. “It’s okay. We’re doing okay. She has good days and bad days. Today just happened to be a bad day.”
“How did I not know? How does the whole town not know?” She shook her head. “It’s impossible to keep secrets like this in Hope’s Grove.”
“Pops runs all the errands. Gran only goes to church. Which doesn’t require much. Hell, I lived here in this house and just now caught on to how bad it was.”
“Look at them,” Ella Jane said, nodding toward the living room. Hayden turned and saw his grandparents leaning together, their foreheads touching as they held each other. “They love each other so much. That kind of love can handle anything I guess. Protect you from the prying eyes of a small town even.”
Her voice was thick with an emotion Hayden couldn’t name. He wondered if she was thinking about her mom and dad. Or maybe about him and her. He wasn’t sure. So he changed the subject. “How was the movie?”
Ella Jane turned to him and frowned. “No idea. Lynlee bailed with some guys you probably know from school. So I came here.”
Hayden tried to ignore the strange twinge of panic Ella Jane mentioning guys from his school caused. Talk about worlds colliding. “Oh yeah? Who were they?”
“Jarrod Kent and some tall, dark-haired guy,” she answered, still keeping her gaze on his grandparents in the other room.
“Devon Keshner?”
“He didn’t give his name,” Ella Jane responded with a shrug.
Hayden took a deep breath so his jealous dickhead side didn’t rear its ugly head. Doing everything he could to keep his facial expression calm, he said, “Jarrod and Devon are not good guys. They have this little habit of getting girls drunk and filming them doing things they wouldn’t normally do. They have a YouTube channel where they post the videos, but no one has been able to prove it’s them.”
Surprisingly, she didn’t freak out. She did pull out her phone and send a quick text, which he assumed was to her friend. For a moment, the kitchen was silent until her phone chimed.
“That’s what I thought,” Ella Jane said under her breath.
“Your friend okay?”
“She said she’s going to a party in Summit Bluffs with some other guy she met. Guess she already ditched the other two. Lynlee’s…different.”
“Different how?” He wasn’t sure why he’d asked since he could pretty much guess the answer. Different as in the kind of girl he used to think he wanted. Easy. No strings attached.
“Different as in, if there’s a video of her, she’ll be the first one to tweet the link to everyone she knows.”
“Ah.” Hayden started to ask her if she minded if he took a quick shower, since he probably smelled like chicken soup, but a ruckus from the living room interrupted him.
“Get that girl out of here. That girl’s no good for him. She’ll ruin him,” his grandmother was shouting.
Ella Jane’s eyes widened. Recoiling like she’d been slapped, she gaped at him. “Is she…is she talking about me?”
Hayden stepped into the living room and watched as Pops wrapped his arms around her. “Shh, that’s not her, Netta. Penny and Kevin broke up years ago. That’s Millie Mason’s daughter, EJ. Remember little EJ? Hayden used to chase her around and—”
“Get that cheating whore out of my house! Get her ass out now!”
Holy hell. Hayden was starting to suspect his gran might need an exorcism. She never cussed.
Ever. Much less called anyone a whore—and certainly not Ella Jane. “Gran, calm down. Remember Ella Jane helped you make pie?”
His grandfather flinched as the woman in his arms stuck him hard on the chest.
“She’ll break his heart and run off with that Cooper boy.”
Now Hayden was really confused. What did his grandma know about Ella Jane and Cooper?
“What is she talk—”
“You kids get out of here. Hayden, take EJ somewhere and calm her down. Give me an hour or so,” Pops ordered.
Calm her down? Glancing over, he saw that Ella Jane was trembling, frozen where she stood. Hayden placed his hand on her lower back and guided her gently out the front door to the soundtrack of his gran screaming about hussies and harlots, whatever the hell those were.
“What in the world was that all about?” Ella Jane’s voice shook. Once they were all the way out of the house and standing next to her truck in the driveway, Hayden wrapped his arms around her, resting his chin on top of her head.
“She’s sick. She has dementia. It’s getting worse.” He sighed, enjoying the way her arms felt around his waist. Despite the bleak situation with his gran, Ella Jane’s touch affected him. Being wrapped up in her both comforted and unsettled him all at once.
A screeching cry from inside the house caused them both to flinch. As they clung to each other tightly for support, their gazes collided and the tension between them sparked in the darkness.
“Let’s go to The Ridge,” Ella Jane whispered up at him. “Please.”
Hayden hated to leave Pops alone to deal with his gran, but he’d been ordered to do so. And when Pops gave orders, people listened. And when Ella Jane Mason looked up at him with those blue pools of pain and need and said please? Yeah. There was no saying no to that either.
ELLA Jane had no idea what had gotten into Grandma Prescott. She’d known the woman her entire life. Gran had treated EJ like one of her own grandkids. Always.
Seeing one of the strongest women she knew breaking down like that, seeing that look in her eyes… Lost. Confused. Angry. And the worst one of all—helpless. It was more than she could handle.
Storm Warning (Broken Heartland) Page 16