“Baby what’s wrong?” Jessica turned to see what Mitchell was seeing. The second she saw me, she flew up. “Oh my God. Walker? What…I mean…how did you get in here? I mean…why are you here?”
I raised an eyebrow, remaining silent.
“It’s not what you think,” she said.
I chuckled. “Really, Jessica? ’Cause I’m thinking my girlfriend is fucking another man. How long has it been going on?”
Mitchell looked to Jess, waiting for her to lead him in the lies they were about to tell.
“Walker, baby, can we just talk in private? I swear to you, Mitchell doesn’t mean anything to me. He’s just a fuck. That’s it.”
I glanced at Mitchell. “The night we saw each other at Lunckenbach, you’d been with her that day, hadn’t you?”
Jessica spun around and looked at Mitchell. “What? What day? What night are you talking about?”
Mitchell looked away as he barely said, “Yes.”
I turned back to Jessica. “How long have you been cheating on me?”
She swallowed hard. Then I saw the tears sliding down her face. “I don’t love him. I love you. But, being with him feels right. I’ve been so freaked out about moving to the country and starting this whole new life and…”
I closed my eyes and said, “How. Long. Have. You. Cheated. On. Me?”
“About ten months,” she said.
My heart dropped. I shook my head. “Okay.”
She cocked her head and let out a nervous giggle. “Okay?”
I looked at Mitchell and then back to her. “Yeah. Okay.”
She smiled. “So you…you forgive me?”
I laughed. “Fuck, no! But it just makes my decision so much easier. I was so worried I was about to hurt you. And here you’ve been cheating on me for ten months.”
Her lower lip jutted out and she stumbled on her words. “Wh…what decision?”
“I came here to break it off with you.”
Her eyes widened. “What? Why?” It must have all clicked in that brief moment our eyes locked. “It’s because of her isn’t it? You’ve never stopped loving her have you?”
I shook my head. “No, I never did. In a way, I guess that doesn’t make me any better than you.”
I turned and began walking out into the hallway. I felt her grab my arm.
“Wait, Walker. We can work this out. Maybe you could move to Austin and work for Daddy. I know we can work this out.”
I pushed her off of me. “No. I don’t love you, Jessica. I thought I did, but I realize now that I never loved you. I settled for you.”
Her jaw dropped and she went to slap me but I stepped back. Mitchell was standing in the doorway, watching. I turned to him and said, “Good luck dude, you’re gonna need it.”
As I made my way out of the house, I tossed the spare key on the tabl
e by the front door. It felt like the weight of a hundred elephants had been lifted from my shoulders.
On my drive back to Llano, I tried to figure out what to do next. I wasn’t sure if I should tell Liza I loved her or not. I wasn’t sure what she’d do about Keith. I knew she didn’t love him enough to leave her family. I knew that, deep in her heart, there were so many reasons she wanted to stay in Llano. I prayed to God I was one of those reasons.
A MONTH HAD passed since I’d talked to Walker. I’d seen him plenty of times, but he didn’t know I was there. It was a bit pathetic on my part, really—sneaking around to get a glimpse of him. My father kept asking me if I’d talked to Walker about my true feelings. But I couldn’t bring myself to do it. I knew he was with Jessica. And I had Keith.