One to Keep

by Sophie Oak

  the diner after he talked to Gene.

  Yes, he decided, it couldn’t hurt. Getting to know these people

  wouldn’t change anything.

  One to Keep

  75

  Chapter Seven

  Jen pushed through the glass door of Stella’s diner and was

  welcomed by a nice blast of heat. She shook off the cold, dragging the parka over her shoulders and hanging it up on one of the hooks on the

  wall. A sense of nostalgia nearly overwhelmed her. She’d worked in

  this little diner for a year and a half. Though she’d had a ton of jobs before she’d waitressed at Stella’s, this was where she had been the

  happiest. Jen was shocked at the way tears filled her eyes.

  Why the hell had she left?

  Two arms wrapped around her, enfolding her in a sympathetic

  embrace. Callie was always quick with a hug, always seemed to know

  when she needed one and never held back. “Oh, sweetie, it’s all

  right.”

  “I left her.” Jen’s heart clenched. She bit back a sob. She was in

  the middle of the diner. It was after the lunch rush, but the place was still packed. And she didn’t care. “She gave me a job and took care of me, and I didn’t even say good-bye.”

  A throaty voice broke through Jen’s misery. “Well, I figured Stef

  did something to make you run, baby girl. I just wish you would have

  written to let me know you were okay.”

  Jen turned to see Stella Benoit standing at the counter. She was a

  forty-something bottle blonde who wore far too much makeup. She

  was entirely beautiful to Jen’s mind. Stella had given her so much

  more than a job. She’d given her a home and a place where she could

  be who she wanted to be.

  “I’m sorry.” It was the only thing Jen could think to say.

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  Stella’s eternal helmet of blonde hair nodded. “All right then,

  sweetie. You come and sit down. I’ll get you a nice cup of coffee.

  You want some food?”

  “I would love a burger. I haven’t had a decent burger since I left,”

  Jen said, a huge weight off her shoulders. Stella wasn’t tossing her

  out. She had Callie at her side. She might be able to come home after

  all.

  Suddenly Dallas seemed so far away, and the fight she’d had with

  Stef seemed a silly reason to have left her home. She’d done what

  she’d been taught to do. She left when the going got a little rough. It was what her mother had done. Every time her artist mother had

  broken up with a boyfriend or gotten into financial trouble, she would move on to the next city. It would be better in Denver or Cleveland or Miami, she would say.

  Life would never be better than she’d had it in Bliss, Jen knew.

  She could run as far as she liked, but this was her home.

  “You have to stop, or you’re going to make me cry,” Callie said,

  her hands brushing along Jen’s cheeks as she slid into the booth

  across from her.

  “I’m just happy to be back.” A great sense of calm came over her.

  She took a deep breath, enjoying the familiar smells of frying burgers, the piney scent of the cleaner Stella used on the floor, and slightly

  mangy dog. Jen felt a smile cross her face as she looked down at an

  old friend. “Hey, Quigley.”

  The enormous dog shoved his head under her hand, his not-so-

  subtle request for attention. Jen obliged and looked around for his

  owner.

  Rachel Harper stood by the dog she’d taken on when she’d

  married the Harper twins. Rachel was a lovely woman in her early

  thirties with strawberry blonde hair, pretty green eyes, and a wry

  smile that let the world know she didn’t take it too seriously. Jen’s

  eyes caught on the biggest change since the last time she’d seen

  Rachel. She appeared to have swallowed a beach ball.

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  “Don’t even say it,” Rachel said with a shake of her head. “Damn,

  you’re just what I need, another skinny thing in town. Scoot, Callie.”

  Callie snorted sweetly as she made room for Rachel and her soon-

  to-be-born kiddo. “Yeah, ’cause you’re not glowing and gorgeous.”

  “It’s hard to feel that way when I waddle like a penguin,” Rachel

  said. She snapped her fingers gently at the dog. “Q, take a load off.”

  The big mutt lay down on the floor by her feet, his head settling

  onto his enormous paws, and an audible sigh came from his chest.

  “Is there a reason Q is following you around?” Callie asked.

  Rachel’s head shook. “Max. He’s making me and Rye crazy,

  Callie. He’s got Dr. Burke on speed dial, and he watches me like a

  hawk. You would think I was the first woman to ever give birth.”

  “He loves you,” Jen said with a little sigh of her own. Max had

  been the baddest man around until the day he’d met Rachel.

  “Rye loves me, too, but he doesn’t feel the need to know where I

  am and what my blood pressure is twenty-four hours a day, seven

  days a week. I swear Max wouldn’t let me drive until Rye had it out

  with him.”

  Callie had gone a little white in the face, and suddenly she was

  staring out at the street.

  “Rye is the reasonable one. If I didn’t have him, I don’t know

  what I’d do.”

  Jen shook her head and pointed to Callie. “I don’t think so. She

  knows something.”

  Now Callie’s face flushed, and Jen had to stifle a laugh because

  her glasses went just the slightest bit foggy. Rachel swung her head

  around like a predator sensing an easy kill.

  “What do you know, Callie Hollister-Wright? You tell me right

  now.”

  Callie’s fingers drummed nervously, and she shot Jen a stare.

  “Thanks a lot. Now I’m going to get in trouble. Fine. Rye’s not as

  reasonable as you think, but he is way sneakier than Max. The reason

  he’s okay with you driving is that he had a GPS installed on your

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  vehicle. It tracks you, and Nate and Rye both have the codes so they

  know where you are all the time. That’s why Max backed off.”

  “That son of a bitch. I swear if I could get my foot more than three

  inches off the ground I would shove it up his ass. Reasonable?

  He’s…” Rachel’s eyes got watery. “He’s so sweet.” Tears began to

  fall. “And Max. I love them so much.”

  Rachel buried her head in Callie’s shoulder and started to cry.

  Quigley got off the ground, and suddenly his head was in Rachel’s

  lap. He whined a little as though he couldn’t stand his mistress’s tears.

  “Hormones,” Callie mouthed as she patted Rachel’s hair. “She’ll

  be fine.”

  “Max says I can’t go anywhere without Q. He’s trained the dog to

  come find him if my water breaks. I spilled a glass of water on the

  floor the other day, and ten minutes later Max was trying to take me

  to the hospital. Do you know how crazy you have to be to train your

  dog like that?”

  “Crazy in love,” Callie said soothingly.

  Max was crazy in love with his wife. There was no question about

  that. For Max and Rye, Rachel was the sun in the sky. It didn’t come

  as a surprise that they felt the ne
ed to watch over her every minute of the day. They wanted to know what happened to her. They wanted to

  be there if she came to harm, to love and protect her. If Rachel had

  been arrested like Jen had been, they would have been right on the

  case. Like Stef.

  “How did Stef know?” Jen asked. It suddenly struck her that Rye

  wasn’t the only sneaky bastard. “Nate said something about a PI. I

  thought someone called because they found his number in my phone.

  I didn’t know who to use as next of kin.”

  Callie continued to soothe Rachel, but her eyes flared briefly

  before she answered. “I believe he set an army of private investigators on your ass the minute he found out you had left town. He knew you

  were going to Dallas before the bus stopped in Tulsa.”

  Damn him. He was so confusing. “Why?”

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  Rachel’s head came off Callie’s shoulder, and both of them turned

  to her before glancing back at each other.

  “Is she really that stupid?” Rachel asked, her voice going husky.

  She picked up a napkin and wiped at her eyes. Q settled back down.

  “Yes,” Callie replied, “but I have hope for her. At least she’s

  finally asking the question.”

  Jen shook her head. “He was a jerk to me. He told me he couldn’t

  do it. He couldn’t have a relationship with me.”

  “Yeah, and he probably chose to tell you this after he slept with

  you.” Rachel’s face was still blotchy from her crying, but a

  sympathetic look took over. “Men are dumb. So dumb. Not that Max

  and Rye were. I mean, they’re dumb in other ways, but they knew

  their hearts. Stef is just dumb.”

  Jen looked to Callie. Callie was Stef’s best friend. She had stood

  by him for years. She was as close to him as a sister. Surely she would defend him.

  “He’s also a bit of an ass at times, and Rachel’s right, he’s just

  dumb as a post when it comes to this.”

  “Are we talking about my boy?” Stella asked as she set down

  three mugs of what looked like hot chocolate. “He’s always behaved

  like an idiot when it comes to Jennifer. He’s so smooth around those

  other women he brings into town, but he practically falls all over

  himself over one of my waitresses. I always knew he had good taste.”

  “How can you say that?” Jen asked, completely at a loss. Her

  world was spinning on its axis and stopping in a completely foreign

  place. “He ignored me for eighteen months. I begged. I pleaded. And

  he just said no.”

  “And the minute you turned your back he stared at you like a

  lovesick puppy dog,” Stella explained. “I know that boy. Hell, after

  his father left I practically raised him. Love him like he was my own.

  You are the only woman he’s ever really fallen for, and it scares the

  crap out of him.”

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  “Why? It wasn’t like I was playing hard to get. I walked in and

  practically fell at his feet. I found out about all the pervy things he liked and said, hey, I can do pervy things, too. I bought BDSM books.

  I learned the lingo. I was the easiest lay he was ever going to get, and he turned me down. So one of you has to explain how all this

  rejection equals true love.”

  “Do you know Lana O’Malley?” Callie asked.

  Jen felt her heart drop. Sure she knew her. Lana O’Malley was

  gorgeous and loaded. She was a stunning, curvy blonde bombshell.

  She was everything a man could want. She never had a hair out of

  place. She would never be caught dead with oil paint under her

  fingernails. She was Stef’s sub. God, how could she have forgotten

  about Lana? Was she still around? Was she the reason he didn’t want

  his dad in the guesthouse?

  “I can see you do,” Callie said with a nod. “He had a training date

  with her twice a month for the last three years. He hasn’t seen her

  since the day you walked out.”

  Jen felt her mouth drop. Stef took his Dom role seriously. “Why?”

  Callie’s shoulders came up in a little shrug. “He won’t talk to me

  about it, but if you ask me, it’s because he was committed elsewhere.”

  “Damn it, I’ve never told that man no. Why would he push me

  away? I slept with him. I gave him everything I had. I told him I loved him. Why did he dump me?”

  “His mom,” three voices said in perfect harmony.

  “Thanks, that clears up everything.” Jen wanted to pull her hair

  out. “One of you explain, now.”

  Stella scooted in beside Jen, her hand running soothingly across

  Jen’s as she urged her to take a sip of the cocoa. “Stefan’s mama was

  very young when she married Sebastian. She was twenty-four, and

  she wasn’t ready to be a wife or a mother.”

  “She was older than me,” Jen said, more to herself than anyone

  else.

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  “Yes,” Callie agreed. “I never met her, but I saw a picture of her.

  She was really beautiful, a pageant queen. She was Miss Oklahoma or

  something. She met Stef’s dad and married him within six weeks.”

  “And had Stef a year later,” Stella explained, her voice even,

  though Jen could see her eyes tightening. “I have all of this

  secondhand, but she didn’t like living in Dallas. She wanted to go to

  LA and become a movie star. Sebastian wanted a wife. She wanted a

  sugar daddy. When Stef was five, she left. Sebastian was devastated.

  He left Dallas and ended up here for a couple of years. When he went

  back, Stef stayed. But I think his parents’ divorce wrecked him. It’s not you he’s scared of. It’s the fact that you’re twenty-three, hon. He doesn’t think you know your mind yet.”

  A whole bunch of things fell into place. Every fight and argument

  she’d ever had with Stef suddenly had a sheen of clarity. He’d spent

  time claiming she needed to work on her art rather than chasing

  around a man. He’d claimed he didn’t have time for her. He’d pushed

  her away and then pulled her back when there was the slightest hint of danger.

  God, he was a dumbass.

  And yet she couldn’t be too intelligent since her heart, her

  stomped-on and busted-up heart, was already softening. It had been

  burst and broken, and at the slightest sign of hope, it perked up and held out its stupid hands and wanted a hug from the same man who’d

  damaged it in the first place.

  She hadn’t learned anything from her mother, and she never

  would. Not ever. She’d just keep trying, like her mom had.

  “He missed his mom?” Jen couldn’t stand the thought of it. In her

  mind’s eye she could see him as a child, alone and abandoned. She

  knew the story. Sebastian had left, and he’d been raised in Bliss. It had turned out fine, but the vision of a lonely boy caused her eyes to water and her mind to race. She remembered all the times she’d told

  him she just wanted a fling. She’d been lying. She’d thought that once she had him in bed, she could convince him that she was girlfriend

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  material. When he’d turned her down, she’d pouted and ranted and

  made an ass of herself.

  “He would never admit it, but yes, he missed her terribly,” Stella
>
  said softly. There was a gleam of moisture in her eyes, but she sniffed it away. “His father made a mess of things because he couldn’t

  commit after she left. Stef had made friends and wouldn’t go back to

  Dallas. Sebastian let him stay. He fell for you. You walked out at the first sign of trouble.”

  Jen turned quickly. “I left after he told me it would never work. I

  left after he told me how much he regretted what was the best night of my life.”

  Stella nodded. “Yes, you left rather than fight for him or for your

  life here. You left because you were mad.”

  “I left because I was embarrassed.” The truth hit her like a ton of

  bricks. She hadn’t left to spare him. She hadn’t run out because there was nothing for her in Bliss. Everything she cared about was in this

  little mountain town, and she’d left it behind to spare herself some

  momentary embarrassment.

  “What were you embarrassed about?” Stella asked, her tone grave,

  as though the next answer really meant something to her.

  Jen felt the tears begin to roll down her cheeks. “I was

  embarrassed that he couldn’t love me back. I was embarrassed

  because I knew I would never stop loving him, but I couldn’t make

  him love me.”

  “Oh, baby girl, that is nothing to be embarrassed about.” Stella

  pulled her close. “Every woman in the world has loved some man

  who didn’t deserve her. That’s no reason to give up your home and

  your friends.”

  “And it’s not true,” Callie said. “I don’t care what he said. He

  missed you. Look, Jen, I don’t know what happened that night. He

  won’t talk about it. I do know that he bought a dozen red roses from

  Marie and Teeny the next day, and he tossed them in the garbage

  outside your place when he realized you had left.”

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  Rachel had tears streaming down her cheeks, too. “Max said Stef

  has been very enthusiastic in their fistfights since Jen left. It’s a sign that he misses you. So much.” Rachel sobbed into her napkin. “Sorry.

  I can’t help it. I don’t care what the doctor says. I think I’m having a litter. There has to be more than one baby. I’m a whale.”

  Jen couldn’t help it. She laughed through the watery mess of her