“Because you don’t want it?”
“Whether I want it or not, it’s impossible.”
“Why?”
“I’m here, at least for the time being, and he’s God knows where. He’s everywhere. It isn’t as though he’s just going back to Montana. He’ll be on the road most of the time.”
“Uh huh.”
“What?”
“I’m challenging you, Bree. Spend some time imagining what your life might be like with Jace. What if there were no right or left margins? What might it be like?”
Bree heard someone pull in the driveway. Liv stood. “That’ll be my Ben.”
“I thought you were going to text him.”
“He’s amazing that way, knowing what I need, or that I need him, before I know myself.” Liv winked at Bree.
“Oh, and by the way, I’m throwing another challenge your way. Go to dinner tonight. They’re meeting at the Villa at seven. Join them. I think you’ll be surprised by what you learn if you do.”
A few hours later, Bree decided to accept Liv’s challenge. She walked over to the Villa. It wasn’t a long walk, and after dinner, she’d be better off not having her car. It would give her an excuse to invite Jace back to the house.
She pulled the heavy front door open and waited for her eyes to adjust. She looked into the bar area and saw Billy and Renie, but Jace wasn’t at the table with them. She looked around and saw him standing at the bar, but he hadn’t seen her. He was too distracted by the blonde cowgirl whose every word he seemed to hang on.
She’d seen that look on his face before, earlier that morning, right before he’d talked her back into bed. It hadn’t taken Jace Rice twenty-four hours before he moved on to his next conquest. It was just as Bree had expected it to be.
She slunk out before anyone saw her. At least she hoped no one had. How humiliating. Everything she’d thought about Jace Rice was true. Even the things she hadn’t said. Jace was a cowboy, all right. A cowboy who could easily have a different girl in his bed every night of the week. She’d been the Friday night girl. The blonde at the bar would be Saturday night’s.
She could no more hold Jace’s attention than she could muck out a stall. It wasn’t that she thought she was above it. Liv misunderstood, and Bree hadn’t tried to explain what she really meant. She couldn’t see herself doing it, because she didn’t know how.
If Blythe had been the one to walk into the bar, in her place, she would have sauntered up to Jace, insinuated herself between him and the blonde, and staked her claim on her man. Bree could never have done that.
Instead of going home, she walked over to the bar on the corner. They’d have live music tonight. Maybe she’d run into someone she knew. It wouldn’t be unusual in the small community they lived in. She just had to be sure she sat somewhere that she wouldn’t have a view of the front door of the Villa. The last thing she wanted to see tonight was Jace leaving with the blonde.
A few minutes after they ordered, Ty got a call on his cell phone. In addition to raising bulls, he was an EMT with the local fire department. He wasn’t on duty, but there’d been an accident, on the highway, severe enough that they were calling everyone in to help. He wouldn’t have time to stop at the fire house, he told them, he’d have to go straight to the scene. He looked over at his wife.
“Go,” she told him. “I’ll get home. Now go.”
He raced out of the restaurant. His wife got up and went to the bar. She didn’t cancel his order, but asked them to pack it to go, so he could eat it later, when he got home. Jace walked over to where she waited.
“We’ll get you home,” he told her when he joined her at the bar.
“Thanks,” she said. “Part of being the wife of a local hero,” she laughed.
“Oh yeah? A hero, huh?”
“Well, he’s my hero. Always has been, always will be.”
The look on her face made the boulder in Jace’s stomach double in size. Why couldn’t he find someone who thought of him that way?
Bree couldn’t help herself. She looked. The sun had set, but there was enough light left that she could see Jace hold out his hand to help the blonde onto the passenger seat of the truck. She also saw the sweet smile she gave him when he did. She felt sick to her stomach. She threw a twenty on the bar, waited for the truck to pull out of the parking lot across the street, and walked home.
13
Billy called another meeting. This time he wanted to map out their schedule. Jace could’ve saved them all a lot of time by telling Billy in advance to just put his name in any slot that needed to be filled.
He was the only one of them without any reason to want to stay home. Billy and Renie had each other and Willow, with another baby on the way. Tucker and Blythe had each other and Cochran. Ben and Liv had each other and Caden. Matt and Will didn’t have any kids, but they had wives. He didn’t have anyone.