The paint was more faded, the shrubbery her dad had kept pristine a little wild, but it was home. Her heart thawed out a little, and she grabbed her purse and the manual off of the seat then exited the truck heading for the front porch.
At the door, Jenny wasn't sure if she should knock or just go inside. Her fist hung suspended over the screen door, when it opened and she and her slightly haggard mom stood there staring at each other.
Another thing she'd been unsure of was the reception she'd get from her mother when she came here. Four years ago, Jenny had basically disowned them. She wouldn't blame her mother if she slammed the door in her face, just like Chase had basically done, but she didn't. After the shock wore off, her mother gently smiled, then the screen squeaked familiarly when she opened it for Jenny to come inside. Her dad still hadn't oiled the hinges.
Jenny stepped through the door that was like a portal in a time warp and walked right into her mother's outstretched arms, as if she'd only been gone hours instead of years. Tears burned behind her eyes and she hung on for dear life, basking in the emotional support and unconditional acceptance that had been missing from her life since she'd left Amarillo.
"Welcome home, baby girl," Her mother said in a choked whisper near her ear.
A shudder passed through Jenny, as she tried to corral all the conflicting emotions pouring through her. "Hey, mama..." she said then her mother stepped back so she could walk inside.
Her dad, who was older now, had a few more wrinkles and grayer hair, but was still the tall handsome man he used to be, looked up at her from where he sat in his recliner flipping through channels. His eyes locked with hers and his grayish eyebrows raised, then dropped along with the hand that held his remote. If Jenny wasn't mistaken his beautiful aqua eyes misted, before he pushed down the foot rest on his recliner and stood.
"Jen..." his said, his voice a little choked.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Emotion pushed up into her throat, and Jenny dropped her purse and the manual on a chair, then walked across the scuffed wooden planks straight into his hug.
"Oh, Daddy...I've missed you," she said and there was no mistaking the tears in her eyes, in her voice, she was sure. Jenny had cried more in one day than she'd cried in ten years. Today had been a very enlightening and humbling day for sure.
"Nick said you were in town, but we hadn't heard from you, so...." her dad's deep voice rumbled into her hair. "We've missed you...why are you back in town? Did you leave the hospital in Henrietta?" he asked with concern and shoved her away from him.
"Is everything okay, honey?" His voice turned gruff and his eyes narrowed, "Did that Bowman bastard hurt you?"
Her lower lip trembled and she said, "Oh, daddy..." before she threw herself into his arms again and blubbered like there wouldn't be a sunrise tomorrow, spilling out the whole story into his chest.
Jenny explained about the breakup, and what she was doing back in Amarillo, and her family digested it without judgment. That was more than she'd given them, she now realized.
When she finished, she took a deep breath then let it out slowly and told her father, "I need your help, daddy...you know the business."
He snorted then said, "I used to know it, honey...it's been a long time and there have been a million improvements in rig safety since my time."
"I have a laptop computer and we can research it, but I don't know the terms, and processes, so that's where you can help me...if you will."
"Sure, I'll try to help you, darlin'," he told her. "Now stop that caterwauling and go blow your nose, then tell me what you need." His voice was gruff, but she saw the clouds that had been in his eyes for years had cleared some, and he almost looked excited.
"It's almost lunch time, I'll fix us some sandwiches and chips. Ya'll go sit at the table," her mother commanded then headed for the kitchen. Jenny headed for the bathroom, where she splashed her face and pulled herself together.
When she walked back through the living room to the kitchen, her dad wasn't in his chair, so she went into the kitchen and found him sitting at the round table by the backdoor.
"I'm going to run out to the truck and get my computer," Jenny announced then had a moment of pause. "Do ya'll have internet?" If not, she and her dad would have to go where there was wi-fi, because he had a learning curve too evidently.
Her mother looked back over her shoulder with a butter knife slathered in mayonnaise held mid-air, "Sure, honey...Nick had it installed."
Jenny wondered if her brother was paying for it, then shoved that thought out of her head. Her purpose here wasn't to judge anyone...she'd done enough of that.
"Okay, I'll be right back then," she told them then walked back to the truck.
By Thursday night, between she and her dad, they'd revised the manual to a point that Jenny felt like it was beyond a good start. At least now, she understood the pieces, parts and processes involved in oil well drilling. What she didn't understand was a lot of the terminology and slang. A worm was a new worker? A mud man was in charge of keeping the drilling fluid the right consistency? A fish was a foreign object dropped down the well bore?
Some of the terms were so outrageous and disassociated, there was no way she would remember them. That was something she was going to have to study. When she had time. When she didn't have one day to finish her report and have it on Chase's desk.
Although she felt better about the situation now, had more confidence in herself, she couldn't have done it without her father's help, so it was a false security at best. He wouldn't be around for the meetings when they discussed her recommended changes, and she was afraid she'd look like an idiot. A sudden thought hit Jenny like a brick between her eyes.
"Daddy, would you be interested in helping me on a more permanent basis?" She had no idea if Chase would agree to it or not, but she had to try. It would help her daddy out of his depression, and it would help her do her job.
He grunted, then folded his arms over his chest and leaned back in his chair to listen. Jenny continued, "If you're up for it, I'm going to see if Chase will hire you as a consultant, to help me with the safety part of my job. Or he could put you on the payroll, if you want, either way."
"I'm a roughneck, sugar...I've never been a company man. I'm not a paper pusher," he told her shaking his head.
"I'll do the paper work. You just help me put things in place to keep the rig workers safe...make the rigs safer. Between us, we can make sure that what happened to you doesn't happen to anyone else," she told him.
"I reckon, I'd be willing to talk about it," he said and shot a glance at her mother, who was standing at the sink seemingly holding her breath.
Her dad might have been a roughneck for economic reasons, but that didn't mean he wasn't smart. What she'd discovered working with him the last few days was her daddy was very intelligent, organized and thorough. If all those qualities were directly related to oil rigs, that didn't matter. It was what he knew, and his knowledge was valuable. She thought he must have realized that that too.
His mood was lighter, his voice more animated than she'd heard or seen it in years. Perhaps that is what was wrong with him all the years after his accident, he felt worthless. If that were true, he was so wrong, and she was going to make sure he knew that. Maybe that is what was wrong with her brother too. It looked like Jenny had judged them unfairly too.
Although he'd gotten most of the attention growing up, it wasn't because he was great at anything. He tried a lot of things, really tried, she admitted reluctantly, he just hadn't been good at them, like school. As hard as he tried though, he still failed. Eventually he quit trying and went for fast and easy, instead of things he had to work to achieve.
Jenny knew what facing failure felt like now, and she didn't like it. Maybe she and her brother had that in common, they just had different ways of dealing with it. It was something she'd have to think about a little more, and try to come up with an idea to help her brother find his self-worth too.
Seeing her mother's shoulders slump when she heard his words, Jenny got up and walked over to the sink. When she started shaking, Jenny put her arm around her and squeezed. "You okay, mama?"
She shook her head, but didn't speak. Jenny leaned close to her ear and whispered, "It's gonna be good, mama...you'll see."
Now all she had to do was convince Chase. He had to agree, because if he didn't her daddy would probably be in more of a depression than he'd been in before...and it would be all her fault. She'd come here, asked for his help, and now she was making desperate promises she wasn't sure she could keep.
She missed Chase. With every day he was gone, her heart shriveled a little more in her chest and her anxiety that she wouldn't be able to get him to listen to her grew. He hadn't called, and because basically he'd told her not to call him, she hadn't. He was due back from his trip tomorrow, but even then he would probably avoid her.
Jenny turned toward her dad who was flipping through the manual at the table.
"Mom...Dad?
He raised his eyes from the manual to regard her over his half-eye glasses.
"Yeah?" he replied.
"There's a party Saturday night at the Rhodes mansion. Would you two come?" she asked him hopefully, then added, "Nick's invited too...Mrs. Rhodes asked me to invite ya'll."
Having them there with her would make her feel better, if for nothing other than moral support. She couldn't ever remember her mother and father going out on a date. They deserved a night like this one promised to be. And she could introduce them to Chase...maybe talk to him about her idea.
He studied her for a minute then he asked, "You sure?"
"Yeah, daddy...I want you at the party, so I can introduce you to Chase, and show ya'll off," she told him with a grin.
"Pssht...your full of shit," he told her, but the corners of his lips lifted, but the fell quickly. "I don't have a suit," he said and tossed his pen down on top of the notepad beside the manual.
"Then, we're going shopping...I think we have enough here for now. We'll work on the rest tonight and in the morning. Let's go have some fun," she told both of them. "Call Nick and get him to meet us at the mall." Jenny had the money now, and they deserved this...it would also make her feel better about having unfairly judged them.
"Fun? You call shopping fun?" he hooted then stood. "I call that torture of the highest caliber."
"Aww, daddy it isn't that bad, we'll make it fun. I'll buy us lunch too," she promised then walked around the table and put her arm through his. He smiled down at her and a little ray of hope blossomed in her chest. Everything was going to be all right.
Jenny walked into Rhodes Drilling on Friday morning at nine a.m. sharp with her finished report in her hand. With a smile she stopped at Sarah's desk on the way to her office and asked, "Is Chase in yet?"
"Wow, you're looking like you feel better!" Sarah said brightly and her eyes moved over Jenny.
During their shopping trip, in addition to a killer cocktail dress, Jenny had bought a few power suits, and the one she wore today was her favorite. Red wouldn't have normally been her first choice, nor would the skirt that barely reached mid-thigh. She was usually more subdued in her choices, but the suit had screamed to her, and she knew it would scream to Chase too. When she put it on and looked in the mirror she knew she had to have it, along with the four-inch sling back leopard print stilettos that went so perfectly with it.
Ammunition, that's what she thought of the suit, so she didn't even flinched when she plopped down her credit card and shelled out two hundred dollars for it. When she met with Chase, she was going to be loaded for bear and slaying him was her goal.
She'd gone to the salon with her mother, and they both had their hair done. She had hers highlighted and trimmed, her mother got a color and cut. Jenny hadn't seen her mom smile like that in years, so it had been worth every penny. And Jenny needed the extra confidence boost to get her through her growing pains at Rhodes Drilling.
"Thanks," Jenny said with a grin, then repeated, "So, is Chase in?"
"No, he said he won't be in until later this afternoon," Sarah informed her with a shrug.
"Can you buzz me when he gets here? I need to see him...um, and don't tell him, please," she begged. At Sarah's curious look she added, "We have some things to work out...growing pains. I just want to surprise him with my report...maybe it'll put him in a better mood."
After a moment of hesitation Sarah smiled at her then agreed. "I'm with you sister, he was in a funk before he left. I hope he got an attitude adjustment while he was gone. I've worked here five years, and I've never seen him so grumpy..." the woman said with a shake of her head.
Jenny knew why he was in such a sour mood, her, but she wasn't telling Sarah that. "Maybe he's just busy," Jenny defended then told her, "Thanks for your help," before she turned away and walked down the hall to her office.
Trying to make the time pass faster, Jenny looked to find the company's health manual on the network and failed. When she asked Sarah where she could find it, she was told there wasn't one, that they'd just decided to have medics at the drilling sites. A thrill shot through Jenny when she heard that news.
The health program for Rhodes would evidently be her baby from the ground up.
She could set up the training and certification program manuals however she pleased. This was her specialty, right in her wheelhouse of knowledge, and it excited her. She'd done the safety manual update with her father's help, but for this she didn't need anyone's help. This side of her job she knew she'd excel at.
The manuals she created, the regulations she recommended, would set new standards in the industry. That would make Chase proud of her, make him not regret hiring her anymore. If she got the manual started and presented it to him with the safety manual, then explained her thoughts on setting up the programs, maybe he would realize she was the right choice for this job, after all.
At least maybe he'd talk to her then...about business, if nothing else.
God, she was pathetic...pining after a man who had all but told his friends he was over her and her attitude...looking to him for approval. Jenny heaved a sigh, then turned on her computer and started researching similar programs in other industries, furiously jotting notes, and printing pages. At least she had to try to get him to listen to her, forgive her, she wasn't a quitter.
When Jenny looked up from her keyboard, the clock on the wall said four o'clock and Chase had never showed up in the office...or at least Sarah had never called her. She picked up the phone and dialed his assistant's extension.
"Sarah, has Chase gotten here yet?" she asked hopefully.
"Um...no, he called a little while ago and said he was running late and was just stopping by for a few minutes around five thirty. He asked me to wait for him," she said.
He was avoiding her, that had to be what was going on, Jenny thought and her heart felt like a brick in her chest. "Okay, then...I'll just stay late too," she said then hung up the phone.
Jenny went back to writing the health manual, determined that she was going to confront Chase, before he left here today. It was six o'clock when she looked up again. Exhausted, she pushed back her chair and threw her reading glasses down on the desk to rub the bridge of her nose. She hit the print button on her keyboard and after a second a steady stream of paper shot from the printer at the corner of her desk. She'd managed to get three sections done, and she was proud of her first draft.
She glanced over when a red light flashed on the machine indicating it was out of paper. Quickly, she stood and moved to the printer stand in front of her desk then bent over to pull out another ream of paper to load the machine.
"Nice view..." a sexy rumbling voice said from behind her and she gasped, then stood up and clutched the paper to her chest.
"Chase..." she said trying to tamp down the excitement and relief in her voice. It poured through her and her heart squeezed then set a pace that made her want to pant to keep up. He leaned on her doorfr
ame with his tie loosened, the cuffs of his white shirt rolled up to his elbows, and his hands shoved into the pockets of his trousers. Sexily rumpled, that's how he looked and her mouth watered.
"Sarah said you wanted to see me?" he said without a smile then pushed up off of the doorframe and walked inside. His intense gaze quickly traveled from her eyes over her body and back up again, his jaw tightening was the only reaction he had to the suit and shoes she thought would set him on fire.
Disappointment flooded through her and she swallowed hard then said, "Um, yeah, I finished the report on the safety manual. I thought you said you wanted to see it today..."
Her voice was one octave higher than normal and she cringed hearing the neediness in it...she sounded pathetic. And that's how she felt too, because she wanted nothing more than to throw herself against him and beg him to forgive her.
He tipped his chin at her then told her, "Yeah, I thought I'd be back earlier, but something came up. We'll have to go over it on Monday, I have some other things to take care of before I leave."
"But, I thought--" you wanted it today, she didn't get to finish, because he held up a hand with his palm toward her.
"I thought I'd have time too, but I don't, so just put it on the shelf for Monday. Go home," he told her then turned and walked out of the door.
Stunned, Jenny just stood there for a second staring after him. When her brain started working again she got mad...and determined. She'd worked her fucking ass off on these reports, and he wasn't going to brush her off.
Grabbing hold of her determination and self-confidence with both hands, Jenny jerked the draft health manual off the printer, and the safety manual and report off of her desk, then with angry strides walked out of her office and headed down the hall.
When she made it to Sarah's desk, the woman wasn't there, so she strode to Chase's door and twisted the knob without knocking. He was leaned back in his chair on the phone and looked up to pin her with an angry glare. Mr. Big Wig, she thought bitterly, as she ignored his anger and plopped down in the chair in front of his desk and crossed her legs. His eyes dropped to her legs and skimmed upward, then paused for a second at her breasts, before finally settling back on her eyes. Heat flashed between them, then he looked away at the wall and turned his chair to the side.
Chasing Trouble (Texas Trouble) Page 18