Lone Star Burn: Taken by Surprise (Kindle Worlds Novella) Page 6

  But, two hours later, he had to admit this had been a bad idea. Maybe he should get a T-shirt with Limp Dick written on it because that certainly described his. Beside him, Lynne was seething.

  “You know, Jack, no one has ever questioned my skills in bed, but I must be missing a step because we’ve got nothing here.”

  “Lynne, I’m sorry—”

  “Please.” She spat the word out. “Do not insult me by apologizing. We both know the problem here, and it isn’t me. But I don’t remember the last time I was naked in bed with a good-looking man and he just could not get it up.”

  Would it be bad form if he asked her not to share his secret with the world? Oh, not just bad form but a sure way to make it happen. With a sigh, he swung his legs over the side of the bed and pushed himself to his feet. Neither of them said a word while he dressed. Finally, he turned to her and tried again to say something.

  “Lynne, I really regret—”

  “Just shut up, Jack. I mean it. Stuff it. Get out of here before I forget myself and cut off your dick. Go on.” She raised her voice. “Beat it. But don’t think if you ever get that little cook out of your system I’ll be here waiting for you.”

  He wanted to say not only didn’t he expect her to but also he didn’t want her to. But he’d said enough already. He drove away from her house with the windows rolled down, hoping the cool night air would clear his head. But he was sure it would take a whole lot more than that to get it screwed back on straight. He knew the answer to his problem.

  Jessie!

  Plain and simple, Jessie Coford. He wasn’t sure at this moment which was stronger, his anger or his need for her. Because, even at the height of his pain and resentment, the need had never abated. Damn.

  Never in this world had he ever expected her to show up in Fort Mavis. He wasn’t even sure how she knew it existed. He hadn’t wanted to ask questions, but listening to the chatter at the office, he’d heard a great-aunt had left it to her. She had never mentioned any relatives to him, so he had no idea where this great-aunt had come from. And wasn’t it just his damn fucking luck that the woman was from Fort Mavis.

  And Jessie was apparently planning to stay, from what he’d heard. He didn’t want to pull up stakes and relocate again. but how could he find a way to live with this? His pride had been hurt as much as his heart.

  As if his car was on automatic pilot, he found himself cruising slowly down her street. Her house was in the middle of the block, with a nice front porch shaded by two huge ancient trees. Did she know how many nights he’d cruised by here, wondering if he’d catch a glimpse of her? Stupid, stupid, stupid. He was worse than a teenager.

  He wanted to gloat that, instead of the fancy-dancy place she’d expected in Houston, she was here in this little Texas town, running a diner. He imagined she saw this as quite a comedown. Yet, everyone who mentioned her spoke highly of her. In three short weeks, she’d managed to worm her way into the hearts of the town.

  Just like she did mine.

  He supposed he was being a real ass and should figure out how to get past this. He was an adult, right? But it sure would be a lot easier if he wasn’t still in love with her.

  At the end of her block, he turned and decided to make one last pass by her house. Then he’d go home and take a very cold shower. But as he approached her house, he saw a light had come on in one of the windows. He could see Jessie standing there, looking outside. Watching. No doubt seeing him. For one insane moment, he thought about stopping. Then, before he could give in to a stupid impulse, he sped up and drove away. He still had a lot of figuring out to do.

  *****

  “Now everyone knows what to do, right?” Jessie asked, standing in the kitchen of the diner.

  “Yes, Mom,” Alton teased. “We’ll be good boys and girls until you get back.”

  “And then we’ll be bad.” Rona laughed.

  “I know, I know.” She brushed a stand of hair away from her face. “You all were doing this just fine before I got here. I’m sorry. It’s just my obsessive nature.”

  “It’s okay,” Alton said. “We’re getting used to it.”

  He shocked the hell out of her by giving her a hug. Then, as if realizing what he’d done, he turned back to the grill.

  “You call us when you get there,” Rona ordered, “so we know you arrived safe and sound. And let us know when you start back.”

  “Yeah,” Alton added. “Because we’d hate to lose our new boss just when we’re breaking her in. Never know who we might get next.”

  “I’m bringing back all my recipes,” she warned.

  “Oh, you want a cooking contest? Bring it on, girl.”

  Jessie laughed. Every day she felt more and more at home here. She filled her thermos with Rona’s excellent coffee, gave each of them a last hug, and climbed into her SUV. One last stop for gas and she was on her way. She wished she felt more rested, but last night she’d tossed and turned, good sleep eluding her.

  She’d spotted Jack driving by her house, something she’d discovered he did almost every night. Of course, she wouldn’t have known if she hadn’t seen him that first time and then started watching for him. If she could just go back to that last night they’d been together, she would do everything differently.

  She thought again about Delfina’s letter, about the sadness and regret she felt in every word. The words rambled through her mind constantly. Her great-aunt had made a life for herself here in Fort Mavis, but she’d done it alone. The love she’d had for Jessie’s grandfather had never weakened, probably the reason why she’d never married.

  Jessie didn’t want that to happen to her. The problem was, she didn’t know how to fix it. It would take more than a few words to breach the high wall Jack had erected between them. But she would do it, somehow. As soon as she returned from Houston, she’d make a plan. A plan that would work because she wouldn’t give up until it did.

  She was so distracted by her thoughts, her reaction time slowed by lack of sleep, that she didn’t see the car swerving into her lane until the last minute. In a panic, she jerked the wheel to the right but not quite fast enough. The other car clipped her left front end and pushed her onto the shoulder and into a tree. The last thing she remembered was an explosion of some sort and a sharp pain in her head. Then she fell into blackness.

  *****

  Jack was sitting at his desk in the sheriff’s office, reviewing the security details for the upcoming rodeo, when the call came in. The dispatcher handed him the information.

  “Better get moving,” she told him. “Someone ran our new little restaurant owner off the road.”

  “What?” Cold panic seized him. “How do you know?”

  “Frank Mayfield was heading out of town and came across the wreck. I’m dispatching tow trucks and an ambulance.”

  “Ambulance?” He couldn’t seem to make his brain work.

  “Yes. Our girl is out cold, and Frank doesn’t know how bad she’s hurt. The other driver’s got a big bump on his head and maybe a broken arm.” She made a shooing motion with her hand. “Get moving. I’m paging Andy and Sam to get out there, too.”

  Jack hit the lights and siren even before he left the parking area. He swerved around two cars, cut in front of another, and finally hit the highway. His heart pounded like a jackhammer as fear raced through him. He forgot all about being angry with Jessie. About being hurt. About “getting back” at her. If she would only be okay, he would figure out how to get them back together.

  Fifteen minutes and eighty miles an hour later, he pulled up to the scene of the wreck. The ambulance was already there along with the tow truck from Tommy Mann’s garage. His heart nearly stopped beating when he saw Jessie’s SUV smashed against the tree, the other car still hooked into her left front end.

  He threw his car into park so hard it rocked. In seconds, he was next to her vehicle, dismayed to see that she was still inside.

  “What’s the deal?” he asked the driver of the ambul
ance. “Why is she still inside?”

  “Take it easy, Jack.” Andy Warfield, one of the other deputies, walked over to him. “The door is jammed, shut and we need to separate the other vehicle before we can get to it. Look.” He pointed. “Tommy’s working on it right now.”

  Jack looked where Andy pointed and saw Tommy hooking chains to the rear bumper of the other car.

  “I’m about ready,” he yelled. “Stand back.”

  “Her car could explode before we get them separated,” Jack protested. “What about getting her out the other side?”

  Andy shook his head. “If you’d take a minute to assess the scene, you’d see that side of the SUV is smashed against that big tree trunk. Take it easy, Jack. We don’t smell gasoline, and Tommy’s cranking up the winch right now.”

  Jack glanced over to the ambulance, standing with its rear doors open, a man sitting in the open space. He was heavyset, his open jacket exposing his bulging belly. Even at this distance, he could see the man’s face was flushed red and his chest heaved with his breathing. The other EMT, whose name Jack didn’t know, was still checking the man’s vitals.

  “He was drunk.” Jack made it a statement, not a question.

  “Yes.” Andy clipped out the word. “We gave him a Breathalyzer, and he blew the top off it.”

  Jack started toward him, but Andy grabbed his arm.

  “You won’t do yourself or Jessie any good if you get into a fight with this guy. As soon as we wrap up the scene, we’ll cart him off to jail.”

  “He could have killed her.” Jack barely got the words out through gritted teeth.

  “But she’s still alive.”

  “Are you sure?” Jack looked through the window on Jessie’s driver’s side. Fear choked him as he saw that she was unconscious, her head lolling to one side, the deployed airbag surrounding her and the steering wheel pressing her into the seat. “Is she breathing?” He was almost afraid to ask.

  The EMT—Jack thought his name was Casey—had come up next to him and nodded his head. “Yeah. I got a good look through the window. But she’s out cold, so the faster I can get to her the better.”

  “Any second,” Andy told them, his words immediately followed by the sound of clanking chains, a heavy motor and the screech of metal being separated from metal. The offending vehicle was jerked away from Jessie’s car and dragged out onto the highway.

  Immediately, the two deputies went to work opening Jessie’s driver’s side door and then stepped aside so the EMT could get her out of there. The airbag had deflated by now and the electrical system, still worked, so they could slide the seat back to remove her. But everyone was being careful not to jar her body in case of injuries they couldn’t see. Jack could barely keep himself still while he waited. It seemed to take forever for them to get her out of the car. One of her legs was injured and her left shoulder was at an unusual angle. He nearly decked the EMT who wouldn’t let him get close until he had Jessie on the stretcher and was checking her vitals.

  “She’ll be okay,” he told Jack. “But she’s got a head injury and her leg may be broken. Let us get her into the ambulance.”

  It took longer than Jack would have liked before they actually had Jessie loaded and the ambulance on its way.

  “I’m going to the hospital,” he told Andy. “You guys can make do without me.”

  “No sweat.” Andy clapped him on the shoulder. “I don’t think you’d be much use to me right now, anyway.”

  Even though he had the lights on and the siren wide open, it seemed to take forever until he got to the hospital. Then he had to fight his way through Emergency and their red tape to even find where they’d taken her. They finally told him which treatment room she was in after he threatened to arrest everyone.

  He had to stop and pull himself together when he saw her lying on the bed, whiter than the sheets, a doctor on one side of her and a nurse on the other. But he breathed a small sigh of relief when her eyes opened.

  “Give us a few minutes here, Deputy,” the doctor said when he tried to get next to her.

  “Is she all right?”

  The man smiled “I can tell you better if you let us check her over.”

  “I’ll need the details of her condition for my report.”

  “I’m aware of that, Jack. And I’ll get to it a lot quicker if you leave us to it.”

  “Fine. But I’m not going far.”

  Jack paced the waiting room after they shooed him out, ready to bite nails if someone didn’t tell him something soon. He’d been waiting about half an hour when Rona and Alton showed up from the diner.

  “Diane and Bob made us promise to call as soon as we got here.” Rona held up her cell phone. “And a bunch of the customers said they want to hang out there until we know something. We all decided just to keep the place open until whenever.”

  Jack could hardly swallow past the lump in his throat.

  “I know she’ll appreciate that.”

  “So, what’s the news?” Alton demanded.

  Jack was about to tell them he still didn’t know anything, but, at that moment, the doctor walked into the waiting area.

  “She’s damn lucky,” he told Jack. “Just hitting her head on the side window could have killed her.”

  “But she didn’t, right?”

  He smiled. “That’s right. She’s got a bad concussion, a wrenched shoulder, and a broken leg. Otherwise, she’ll be just fine.”

  Rona immediately began dialing the cell phone.

  Jack shook the doctor’s hand. “Can I see her? Please?”

  He nodded. “We need to cast the leg, and we’re making arrangements to admit her. We can’t give her anything too strong for the pain because of the concussion. I’m sure you’d be better medicine anyway.”

  She looks so small in that bed. He reached for her hand and enfolded it in his larger one. He was trying to figure out what to say to her when she opened her eyes.

  “Jack?”

  He managed a smile. “In the too, too awful flesh. How’s my girl?”

  “Am I?” she asked. “Your girl?”

  In answer, he leaned down and pressed his lips against hers. “Always and forever.”

  “I’m so sorry.” Tears flooded her eyes. “I treated you—us—so badly. Can you ever forgive me?”

  “Already forgotten.” He brushed the hair back from her forehead. “When I thought I’d lost you, I realized nothing was important except us finding a way to be together.”

  “Me, too!” She wiped her tears with her free hand. “I-I love you, Jack.”

  “I love you, too, sweet Jessie. Can you build a life here with me in Fort Mavis?”

  For the first time, her lips curved into a smile. “I wouldn’t do it anyplace else.”

  “We’re getting married just as quick as we can. And that’s an order.”

  “Yes, sir, Mister Deputy.” Then her forehead creased in pain, and she squeezed his hand. “Stay with me?”

  “Always,” he promised.

  Epilogue

  “I think it should be bigger,” Alton said, looking up at the outside of the restaurant.

  “I think it’s just the right size,” Diane told him. “Bigger isn’t always better.”

  “What do you think, Jessie?” He looked to where she stood on her crutches next to Jack who had his arm around her.

  Jessie couldn‘t take her eyes off it. This was an important day in her life, and the sign was the milestone marker. “I think it should go a little to the left. What about you, Bob?”

  Bob looked down from where he stood on a ladder. “I think it’s the right size and it looks damn fine right here.”

  The crowd gathered on the sidewalk burst out laughing. A number of people had gathered to watch Bob take down the Delfina’s Diner sign and now they were waiting for the new one to be hung. Jessie could feel the excitement and expectation, and it made her feel good. These people had become her friends as well as customers.

  “Then w
e’re good to go,” she told him, grinning. “Put it in place.”

  This new sign was her guidepost to the rest of her life, the culmination of a dream—although, the dream had taken a detour and metamorphosed into something a little different. But to her it was also a little better. No, much better. She leaned into Jack. She could not have done this without him. He’d been her rock since the accident.

  And the way the people in Fort Mavis had rallied around her, sending her cards and flowers, books to keep her occupied, even a bottle of wine or two. She still couldn’t get over how they had embraced her. She was positive Delfina’s spirit was hovering, guiding all this.

  They all watched as the brand new sign was settled in the spot they’d made for it when the old one came down. She waited as they made sure it was secure, then nudged Jack who lifted his cell phone and snapped some pictures.

  “Jessie’s Place.” She sighed. “I can’t believe it. My very own place.”

  Jack kissed her forehead. “Honey, it didn’t take a sign to make this your place. I think everyone in this town has fallen under your spell.”

  “They did that after the first week she was here,” Rona said. “A fancy chef from Houston who fits right into Fort Mavis. Go figure.”

  “I think I was always meant to be here.” She looked up at Jack. “Right?”

  “Right, honey.”

  She had shared Delfina’s letter with him—he was the only one she’d shown it to—and told him its effect on her. She’d cried again, and he’d held her, and they’d talked far into the night.

  The past few weeks had brought big changes in her life. The doctor would not release her from the hospital unless she had someone to stay with her. Ignoring her protests, Jack moved in with her and proceeded to care for her in his usual efficient manner. Dean had even been flexible with his schedule, despite the fact he’d had rodeo duty one of those weekends. Still, the sheriff worked around the hours that he needed to be with her. When he had to be away, Rona and Diane took turns with her. Her only complaint was that she’d missed the rodeo, but the day’s receipts Rona or Diane called in to her each time put a big smile on her face.