by Joanna Sims
Logan pulled out a black bottle and held it up for her to see. “Hendricks okay?”
Josephine gave a slight nod, a small smile. “Have you ever made a martini?”
“Before I was a cop? Bartender...” Logan found two martini glasses, vermouth, and olives.
“Um, I usually like just a hint of vermouth and two olives.” Josephine leaned forward a bit. “Please.”
“Why don’t you let me make you a martini my way? I don’t want to brag, but I was pretty well-known for my martini.”
Josephine wasn’t really adventurous with her food or her drinks. She knew what she liked, she liked what she liked, and she stuck to what she liked. If she didn’t like Logan’s martini, she wouldn’t be able to grin and bear it quietly.
“Okay, give this a try. I hope you don’t mind your martinis dirty.” Logan carefully handed her the martini glass and then sat down across from her.
“To Ian and Jordan.” Logan held his glass out to her.
“Jordan and Ian.” Josephine touched her glass to his with a tired smile.
Josephine knew Logan was watching her as she took a small sip of the martini. She never drank her martinis dirty and she typically preferred the taste of Tanqueray. Logan’s martini was different, the tangy taste unusual, but it was surprisingly...
“Mmm.” Josephine’s eyes widened with pleasure. “This is really good...”
“I have a 100 percent satisfaction-guaranteed record with my martini...” Logan slid the two olives off the toothpick into his mouth.
“But, you don’t want to brag,” Josephine teased him before she took a slightly bigger sip. “I have to be honest. I wasn’t expecting to like it. Normally, I only like the way my boyfriend makes a martini.”
Logan stopped chewing the olives for a second when he heard the word “boyfriend.” Up until now, Josephine hadn’t mentioned a significant other, so Logan was starting to believe that he might have a shot of taking her out on a date while they were in Montana together. From the moment he looked into Josephine’s eyes, he’d wanted to ask her out. He was really attracted to Jordan’s beautiful sister, more so than he had been to any woman for a really long time, and it was just his rotten luck that she was taken. Of course, she was taken...why wouldn’t she be?
Disappointed, Logan raised his glass up in the air a little. “I respect any man who can make a decent martini.”
Josephine laughed. “I think Brice was probably weaned on martinis.”
“Is that right?” he asked out of politeness, but he really didn’t want to hear about the guy who was currently seeing the woman he wanted to date.
“I’m going to have another.” Logan finished his drink, stood up. “Are you still good with that one?”
Josephine nodded and showed him that she still had some left in her glass. She wasn’t much of a drinker and the last thing she wanted to do was arrive home for the first time in years tipsy.
“Come to think of it,” she added, half thinking aloud, “I never drank martinis until I met Brice. We met in college and then we ended up deciding to go to law school together. He’s a couple of years ahead of me, so he’s already graduated, passed the California Bar, and taken a job with a firm in Van Nuys.” She paused to take another small sip of her drink. “He practices environmental law, which is why he can’t come join me in Montana until right before the wedding... He was just given a really big case.”
Wanting to bring the conversation back to his point of interest, which was her, he asked, “What kind of law do you want to practice?”
“Oh!” Josephine’s face lit up. “Well, my dream ever since I was in high school has been to work for the Southern Poverty Law Center. Have you ever heard of them?”
Logan shook his head “no.”
“They’ve been fighting for the civil rights of marginalized and poor communities for years. And I know I would love to do that work.”
“But?” He heard a definite but at the end of her sentence.
Josephine sighed and shrugged, thought for a second or two before she answered him. “But I don’t think that it’s practical to think that I’ll work for them one day.”
“Why not?”
“Because, for one thing, they need experienced litigators for the types of cases that they handle, so I’d have to get that experience first.”
“That shouldn’t be a problem for someone like you, and we have plenty of people in our state who need defending.” He smiled at her. “I arrest ’em, you defend ’em.”
That made her laugh, before she said, “But they really only operate out of the South, so...”
“That’s what moving vans are for.”
Josephine finished off her drink, and placed the empty glass carefully on the table. “Brice will never move down South. He grew up in California. He’s never wanted to live anywhere else.”
Logan wanted to ask her the question: Not even for you? But he drank from his glass instead.
“And...” Josephine felt bad for making Brice seem like her dream-killer. “I can certainly practice civil rights law in California...immigration law.”
Josephine looked out the window at the clouds for a minute and then nodded as if she had just convinced herself.
“Why don’t you talk for a while?” She smiled at Logan. “I’ve been just babbling away over here.”
“Well, I think you know by now that I’m a cop,” Logan said with a deadpan expression.
“Yes.” She frowned playfully at him. “That much I do know.”
“Hey.” Logan leaned his forearms on the table between them. “All kidding aside, you aren’t going to hold a grudge against me for giving you those tickets, are you?”
“No, I’ve never been much of a grudge holder.”
“That’s good...because as maid of honor and best man, I think we’re going to be spending a lot of time together.”
“I’m sure we will,” she agreed. The thought of spending time with Logan made her want to turn on her phone and check to see if Brice had called.
No messages, no missed calls.
She couldn’t believe it. He still hadn’t called or so much as sent a text. But she kept her phone turned on this time, just in case he tried.
Logan didn’t want Josephine’s attention to be distracted from him or their conversation. After she checked her phone, the expression on her pretty face changed. The muscles along her jawline tightened; her lips became tense. Perhaps a less casual observer wouldn’t notice these almost imperceptible changes, but he did. He noticed.
“Well, I’m glad you’re a forgiving woman, or this trip could’ve been a real bust.”
Josephine looked up from her phone. “I could really say the same about you.”
“I’m not sure I follow.”
“I was kind of rude to you after you gave me the tickets. You were trying to tell me who you were and probably that you were heading to the same place I was, but I cut you off.”
“Trust me, I’m used to it. Nobody’s happy when I hand them a ticket.”
“I’m still sorry. I was just...”
“Mad at me.”
“Mad at you...mad at me...mad at...” Brice. “...the stupid clock that said I was late!” She laughed at herself, and then asked him, “But did you really have to give me three tickets? I mean, come on! I really think that someone with my driving record deserved a warning.”
“Your driving record is the reason I dropped the charge down from reckless driving.”
Josephine frowned. “Would you have still given me all of those tickets if you knew I was Jordan’s sister right away?”
“Of course.”
“Seriously?”
“Enforcing the law isn’t personal for me. It’s my job. Most people just don’t get that.”
Josephine’s phone rang and interrupted their conversation. “It’s Brice!”
“Hi, honey. Hold on, okay?” Josephine stood up, moved out of Logan’s earshot, and sat down in the last seat at the very back of the jet.
“Okay, are you there?” she asked in a lowered voice. “I’m so glad that you called...”
Head down, Josephine listened carefully to what her boyfriend called to say. After a couple of minutes, she asked in a harsh whisper, “What do you mean you aren’t coming to the wedding?”
Chapter Three
Josephine didn’t really think that Brice had deliberately tried to spoil her first homecoming in years. But that’s what it felt like on her end. He had called specifically to tell her that he thought it was best if they took a break from their relationship. He had basically broken up with her, and left her dateless for her own twin’s wedding in the span of five minutes. Brice had said what he called to say and then got off the phone. He had been between appointments when he called.
After they’d hung up, she had stared at the phone for a while, wondering what to do next. Pretty quickly, she decided it would be best if she pretended, for a while at least, that the phone call had never happened. What if this whole thing blew over in the next couple of days and she had been bemoaning their breakup to her family the entire time? Her family didn’t need one extra piece of ammo against Brice. So, pretend she did...
She smiled all the way through their mini family reunion at the Helena airport. She smiled her way through the long ride home to Bent Tree, the family ranch. And she smiled and laughed her way to the end of dinner and clearing the table and loading the dishwasher. And she didn’t stop smiling and pretending until she could retreat to her third-floor bedroom. This was the bedroom of her adolescence, the bedroom that she had shared with Jordan. She switched on the antique Tiffany lamp next to the door and gently pushed the door shut. The room smelled of cedar and cinnamon, and the nostalgia for her uncomplicated youth made her start to tear up.
She wiped the tears out of her eyes and said sternly to herself, “Stop that!”
Josephine worked very hard not to cry while she unpacked her suitcase and carefully hung up her clothing in the small closet. Undergarments and jeans were neatly folded into a dresser drawer, a nice variety of shoe options was neatly lined up in the closet, and toiletries were put away in the small en-suite bathroom. Josephine had stowed her empty suitcase beneath the bed and began to unpack her books.
A quick, loud knock on the door startled her. Before she could react, the door swung open, and Jordan barreled into the bedroom with the family cat, Ranger, flung over her shoulder.
“Okay if we come in?” Jordan asked.
“I think you’re already in, aren’t you?”
“Good point.” Barefoot, her sister sat cross-legged on the bed and gently put Ranger down on the mattress. Ranger, a big coal-black cat with bright golden eyes, immediately flopped onto his side and began to wash his long, black whiskers.
“So...what’s wrong, Jo?”
Josephine looked over at her sister, gave her a weak smile. She knew she had to tell her twin about Brice now; lying to Jordan was a waste of time. They had never been able to keep secrets from each other.
“Brice and I are...going through a rough patch.”
Jordan moved over to one side of the bed and patted the spot next to her. “That’s what I figured.”
Josephine kicked off her shoes and joined her sister and Ranger on the bed. She sat cross-legged, facing her sister with Ranger sprawled out between them, belly up.
“This is just like old times, isn’t it?” she asked Jordan. “Except we had two single beds in here instead of this queen-size bed.”
“I had a picture of Ian from his modeling days hanging up right there.” Jordan pointed to the spot just above the rolltop desk.
“And now you’re marrying him, Jordy...the man of your dreams.” Josephine smiled right before she felt new rash of tears starting to form.
Jordan saw the tears swimming in her eyes. “Tell me what’s going on, Jo.”
Josephine pressed her lips together tightly, looked away for a moment to gather her emotions before she said, “Brice called and told me that he isn’t coming to the wedding. He thinks we should use our time apart this summer to reflect on our relationship in order to make a prudent decision about our future”
“Wait a minute...he dumped you?” Jordan’s eyebrows collapsed together. “The knuckle dragger dumped you?”
“He didn’t dump me exactly. He just wants us to reflect...”
“Oh, my God, Jo! Don’t defend him!” Jordan nearly yelled those words.
Josephine jumped off the bed and shut the door. “Could you keep your voice down, please? I don’t want anyone else to know! This whole thing could just blow over tomorrow.”
“Why would you even want it to blow over?”
Josephine sat back down on the bed. “Because I love him, that’s why. We’ve been together for over five years. I’m not just going to throw that all away just because there’s a little bump in the road.”
“This isn’t a tiny little bump, Jo, this is a ginormous frickin’ crater!”
Josephine scratched Ranger beneath his chin and on the top of his silky head. “I know you’ve never liked Brice, Jordy.”
“I never once said that I didn’t like him.”
Josephine looked up at her sister. “You call him ‘the knuckle dragger’ more than you call him Brice.”
“Fine, so I don’t like him. But that’s just because he thinks he’s better than us, Jo. He thinks he’s better than you, with his family money and country club and connections to Beverly Hills, like any of us could give a rat’s behind.”
“I know that’s how he seems to you, to all of you, but do you really think that I’d be with him for five years if he wasn’t a good guy?” Josephine said pointedly. “There’s a lot more to Brice than any of you really know because none of you have given him an honest chance. Dad’s always so stiff around him and Mom has refused to warm up to him just because I decided...” She put her hand on her heart. “I decided to spend the Christmas after Daniel died with his family instead of coming home.”
“Well, Brice knew your brother had just died. It was stupid of him to even invite you to his parents’ La Jolla beach house in the first place.”
Josephine sighed from frustration. “Just promise you won’t tell anyone. Okay? If they need to know, I’ll tell everyone myself.”
Jordan pretended to lock her lips and toss the key over her shoulder. Her sister stood up, wrapped her arms around her shoulders, and gave her a tight squeeze.
“Now, come on, let’s go downstairs. There’s no sense in you sitting up here by yourself moping, especially if you don’t want anyone to pick up on the fact that something’s wrong,” Jordan said. “Besides, nothing’s better for heartbreak than family.”
* * *
As it turned out, Jordan was right. Spending time with her family had helped get her mind off Brice’s sudden, and unexpected, desire to end their relationship. And the plans for Jordan’s wedding were the best kind of distraction for her. Her mom had turned the family library into “Wedding Central,” and once she went back downstairs, she spent hours in the library with Jordan and her mom looking through all of the wedding regalia. She was blissfully surrounded by cake toppers and invitations, seating charts and stacks of RSVPs that needed to be answered. There were scrapbooks filled with all of the selections that had been made for the wedding and Josephine immersed herself in looking through each and every one. She spent hours, laughing and talking with her sister and her mother, and she was stunned when she realized that Brice had barely crossed her mind.
But afterward, when she was alone in bed, in the dark, all she could think of was Brice. Her mind just kept on going o
ver the last several months of her relationship over and over again. Had there been signs that she hadn’t seen? Red flags that she had willfully ignored? Yes, he had been distant and unavailable, but he had just been handed the biggest case of his young career. This case could make or break his career in the field of environmental law. He needed to be focused and she had understood. But now that he had suggested that they take a “break” from their relationship and left her without a wedding date, the idea that his withdrawal from their relationship was only work-related was no longer a plausible explanation. So, what was it?
“Another woman?” Josephine queried quietly aloud.
It feels like another woman.
That’s what her head was saying. That was what her gut was saying. But her heart just couldn’t accept it just yet. Another woman meant that everything that they had been working toward together for years was over. Done. A horrible waste of time for the both of them.
Knowing that she wasn’t going to be able to go to sleep with all of these questions buzzing around in her brain, Josephine got out of bed and quickly pulled on some sweatpants and matching sweatshirt. Josephine tiptoed down the wooden stairs and she was careful to avoid the creaky boards. Life on the ranch started before dawn, so bedtime was early. Chances were, she’d have the downstairs to herself, which was exactly what she wanted. At the bottom of the stairwell, by the dim light streaming in from the library lamp that was always left on, Josephine stopped to straighten the picture of her brother, Daniel, in his Army uniform. She had three older brothers, but everyone knew that Daniel had been her favorite. After he was killed in Iraq, it was hard for her to imagine the ranch without him. It still was.
After one last look at her brother’s portrait, Josephine continued her quiet route to the front door. The front door was always unlocked, so she slowly turned the knob, and pulled the door free from the frame. Once that was accomplished, she carefully pushed the squeaky screen door open a crack, slipped through, and stepped out onto the front porch. She’d started suffering from insomnia when she was in high school, and when she couldn’t sleep, she had always found her way to the giant rocking chairs on the front porch. Still holding the screen door open, she closed her eyes and breathed in the cool, fresh Montana air. She had missed that smell; it was clean and crisp.