How West Was Won (Haven, Texas 7)

Flick burst into laughter at the thought of Alec Malone having a shit fit.

“What does Alec having a shit fit look like?”

Mia grinned. “You do not want to know.”

Flick slid her plate over to Mia. “Here, you have mine. It’s cool enough to eat by now. I’ll wait until Doris brings out yours. Although there is a chance she spat in it. She doesn’t seem to like me much.”

“Doris doesn’t like anyone,” Mia countered. She picked up one half of the sandwich without argument, which told Flick she really was feeling nauseous. The nausea hit Mia throughout the day and the only thing that seemed to calm her stomach was eating little bits of food often.

Mia nibbled on the grilled cheese and swallowed then waited for a minute.

“Okay?” Flick asked worriedly.

“Yeah,” Mia said with a sigh. “Don’t think it’s coming back up. Alec has been losing his mind with me being so sick. This is the first time I’ve been allowed off the ranch in two months, I’m not going to have that ruined by vomiting all over the diner floor.”

“You vomit, you clean it up,” Doris snapped. “Don’t care if it’s ’cause you’re pregnant or not.” She dropped another plate down on the table.

Flick winced, wondering how many plates she’d broken doing just that, not that it was her concern.

“So, no mushrooms on toast? You finally told Doris you hate mushrooms?” Mia asked her.

“No.” Flick shook her head, eyes wide. “Not me. West.”

“West? How did he know you hate mushrooms?”

“I told him. He told Doris and then ordered me a grilled cheese. It was really thoughtful.”

“Oh, honey.” Mia reached across the table and grabbed her hand. She’d seen that look on Mia’s face before. She’d had it aimed her way a lot over the years. Sympathy. Pity. “Honey, again, there’s nothing thoughtful about West.”

There was. It was just that his brand of kindness was different than other people’s. He hid it behind a gruff manner. But it was there. Most people wouldn’t have cared that she didn’t like mushrooms and wouldn’t have said anything. Most people wouldn’t care that their sister-in-law was pregnant and feeling nauseous.

“Flick, I know I’ve said this to you before. But West isn’t an easy man. He’s not a man who’s likely to ever be interested in you.”

Ouch.

“Right.” She slipped her hand free of Mia’s and reached for the iced tea Doris had also dropped at their table. Well, hearing that sucked. And it hurt.

Mia didn’t think she was good enough for West.

“It’s not because of you, Flick.”

“Uh-huh.” That’s what she had to say.

“It’s because of the woman he once loved.”

Okay, that wasn’t what she’d been expecting. Her head shot up, and she stared at Mia.

“What?”

Mia nodded sadly. “I can’t tell you what happened. But West was in love with a woman and he lost her.”

Lost her? West? She couldn’t imagine any woman walking away from West. Sure, he might have his, um, social shortfalls, but once you were his then you’d be wrapped up in the protective blanket of West Malone. No way anyone would willingly walk away from that.

Unless she was a moron. Or dead. Fuck, please let her be a moron. Because she knew there was no way she could compete with a dead woman.

“Did she die?” s

he whispered. She clasped hold of the locket around her neck. It had been the last gift her parents had ever bought her. It was silver and heavy and she never took it off, too scared she might lose it. When they’d died, she’d put photos of them inside it. So now she carried them everywhere.