And Then You Fly Page 18

  When Jace came back in the other room, Blythe was studying him.

  “I’ve never seen her like this,” she sighed.

  “Losing someone is hard. I can’t imagine how hard when it’s someone you expected to spend your life with.”

  “I think this is more you than Zack.”

  “Please don’t say that.”

  “She doesn’t know how to handle your relationship.”

  “What relationship? From where I sit, your sister doesn’t want much to do with me. It’s been true since the day we met. Every so often the ice melts enough that she leans on me. And then she comes to her senses again.”

  “You make it sound as though she’s using you. She isn’t like that.”

  “You’ve watched it Blythe. You even warned me. I’m a warm body when she needs one next to her. Otherwise, I don’t measure up to Bree’s standards.”

  “Oh Jace, why do you let yourself get into these situations?”

  “So you agree?”

  “Not completely, but watching what’s going on with the two of you breaks my heart.”

  Jace turned so he could look in Blythe’s eyes. “Who does your heart break for? Her or me?”

  “For both of you.”

  Jace nodded his head, stood, and walked out the front door. He didn’t know where he was going, he just knew he didn’t want to spend the night in the same house as Bree Fox.

  Chapter 16

  She must have lost her mind. Here she was at another Rice family night out. This time her mom and dad forced her to go along. Since she missed Thanksgiving dinner, they insisted she join the family gathering at the ski area.

  The weather was unseasonably warm and Liv was taking advantage of it. She made arrangements to close off Mountaineer Square at the base of the mountain for a private party. Like most of the businesses in town, those on the square were closed until the first of December. She talked the owners of one of the restaurants into catering a dinner on Friday night.

  The tables were set around the open fire pit, and surrounded by heat lamps so they’d be warm when the sun set and it got chillier.

  The party wasn’t limited to family, Ben and Liv invited friends from town to come too. Bree was surprised to see Kaleb and his sister walk up and say hello to Ben. She hadn’t known they were invited.

  “How are you doing?” her dad asked.

  “Better. Not that I plan to drink anything other than water tonight.”

  “Good plan.” He put his arm around her shoulder. “I’m glad your mom talked you into coming.”

  “That’s one way to put it. Some of the credit swings your way too.”

  “Haven’t seen the cowboy tonight. In fact, I haven’t seen him all day.”

  “The cowboy? As if there is only one? We’re surrounded by cowboys.” Bree surveyed the crowd in front of her. Most of the men, her father included, wore cowboy hats and boots. It wasn’t just their attire either. They were cowboys by profession. Her father didn’t fit in that category, but most of the others did.

  “Jace.”

  “I know who you meant Dad. I haven’t seen him either.” She hoped he wouldn’t be here tonight. It might be selfish of her, but the last time she and Jace were at the same place at the same time, it hadn’t ended well for her.

  So far she’d managed to avoid Kaleb. She didn’t plan to all night, she just didn’t want him to get the impression he was her date. Every so often their eyes would meet, and she’d smile, or wave, and then walk in the other direction, join another conversation.

  As long as Jace Rice didn’t show up tonight, she might be able to get through the evening without embarrassing herself for the third time that weekend. She crossed her fingers, and then said a silent prayer. It wouldn’t hurt to cover both bases tonight—superstitious and otherwise—if it meant Jace stayed away.

  Minutes later, her worst fear was realized. She saw Jace’s truck pull up, and he wasn’t alone. There, in the front seat of his truck, was the blonde. Maybe she should rethink her earlier plan to avoid alcohol.

  It was too soon for this scene to be playing out again. She found herself looking for another escape route. Maybe if she walked into the lodge, she’d be able to find the front desk and ask them to call her a cab.

  When she turned back around, Jace was standing behind her.

  “Hi Jace.” She tried to walk around him.

  “Hey wait,” he said, and grabbed her arm. “Where are you runnin’ off to so quick?”

  “I can’t do this Jace. I can’t believe you brought a date.”

  “Date? Who do you think I’m here with?”

  “I don’t know. Who are you here with?”

  Jace looked out at the crowd on the square. “I’m here with my family, and your family. And you.”

  “What about—” Bree stopped herself. She didn’t want to ask who was in the truck with him when he pulled up. She’d find out soon enough, and not give him the satisfaction of knowing she cared as much as she did.

  “What about who darlin’?”

  “Never mind.” She looked down at his hand, which still held her arm. “Would you mind letting go?”

  Rather than letting go, he pulled her closer. His lips were so close to hers. If he kissed her, Bree doubted she’d be able to resist him.

  Just then she saw the blonde, walking toward the fire pit. “Her,” she said, pointing.

  “Who?” he looked in the direction she was pointing. “I don’t know who you’re talking about.”

  “The blonde.” Bree could hear the pout in her own voice and cringed. “Listen, this isn’t any of my business, at least I don’t want it to be.”

  “That blonde? The one with the black leather jacket on?”

  Bree looked again. “Yes, that blonde.”

  “Do you see the guy sitting in the chair beside her?”

  As much as Bree didn’t want to, she looked again. “What about him?”

  “That’s her husband, Ty Rinaldo. Didn’t you meet them at Patterson Ranch the night we all had dinner there?”

  The man did look familiar. That’s where she knew him from. But she didn’t remember ever meeting the woman.

  “Oh wait, she wasn’t there. She was at dinner the next night. The night you wouldn’t join us.”

  “You mean she’s…”

  “Ty’s wife? Yep. Come on, I’ll introduce you to her.” Jace took Bree’s hand and started walking toward the fire pit.

  “No, wait.” She pulled her hand back. “I don’t really want to go over there.”

  Jace looked and saw Kaleb the cop was sitting on the other side of the fire pit. “Yeah, me either.” He looked into her eyes, “what do you say we get out of here?”

  It took her a minute, but she nodded her head, “okay.”

  He led her to the parking area.

  “Where are we going?” she asked him when he drove into town and parked on a side street just off Elk Avenue.

  “You’ll see.” He opened the door, Bree jumped out, and he took her hand. “It won’t be too crowded in here yet,” he said. “And we can talk.”

  “What is this place?”

  “It’s called the Dogwood Cocktail Cabin.” Jace led her inside and to a table in the corner.

  They hadn’t yet sat down when a pretty woman approached them. “Is that Jace Rice?”

  He felt Bree stiffen.

  “How the hell are you cowboy?” When the woman threw her arms around Jace’s neck, Bree tried to pull away, but he wouldn’t let go of her hand.

  “Ayla,” he said, “have you met Bree Fox?”

  The woman extended her hand. “I don’t think so, but you look familiar.”

  “Bree’s sister is married to Tucker.”

  The woman’s eyes wandered to where Jace had a firm grip on her hand. She looked back up at Jace and smiled, then turned and winked at Bree.

  “Oh my God,” Bree cringed and tried again to pull away.

  “Huh uh.” He leaned closer and whispere
d in her ear. “Ayla and her husband areboth good friends of mine.”

  Bree rolled her eyes as Jace moved so she could slide into the booth first, effectively letting him trap her there.

  Jace spoke to Ayla, and pointed at the menu. “She’ll have this, and how ’bout you bring me one of these.”

  “What if I didn’t want a drink?” she asked when Ayla was out of earshot.

  “You do.”

  “You’re such an arrogant asshole sometimes—”

  Jace covered her lips with his. It stopped her from whatever she was going to say yes, but more, he couldn’t help himself. Every inch of his body yearned to be close to hers.

  “I missed you Bree,” he said as his lips trailed downward.

  She pushed against him. “I thought you wanted to talk.”

  Now that he had her this close, talking was the last thing he wanted to do, but he had to. He had an awful lot he needed to say to her.

  “I’m mad at you,” he began. Probably not the best approach, but the only place he could think to start.

  “You’re mad at me? Really? I find that fascinating.”

  He looked into her eyes and instead of seeing the anger he anticipated, he saw hurt.

  He softened his voice. “Do you want to know why I’m mad at you?”

  “You’re not giving me much choice, are you?”

  “I’m mad at you because you wouldn’t go to dinner that night.”

  “I did go.”

  “What do you mean? I was there, and you, were not.”

  “Yeah, actually I was. I felt bad about saying no, so I walked over to the Villa. When I walked in you were at the bar, talking to someone. So I left.”

  He didn’t remember talking to anyone that night other than Ty’s wife.Oh. Things were suddenly becoming clear to him. “You saw me talking to Nancy.”

  “I don’t know who Nancy is.”

  “Ty’s wife.” He stroked her cheek with his finger. “God I wish I’d known you were there.”

  “Here you go,” Ayla interrupted, setting their drinks on the table in front of them.

  “I really don’t want to drink tonight Jace. I—”

  “No alcohol.”

  “Huh?”

  “There isn’t any alcohol in these drinks, is there Ayla?”

  “Nope. No alcohol buddy.” Ayla winked at Bree again before she walked back in the direction of the bar.

  “Are you hungry?” He started to get up from the table to order food, but stopped when Bree put her hand on his arm.

  “You know I don’t like it when you do that,” she told him, but in her eyes he saw the beginning of a smile. She was softening up more and more, letting go.

  “Sorry,” he smiled back at her. “We’ll wait until Ayla comes back and ask for a menu.”

  Bree took a sip of her drink. “What is this?”

  “It’s a chai apple cider.”

  “And what are you having?” she eyed his glass.

  “Hot chocolate, with habanero whipped cream.”

  “You don’t feel like drinking tonight either?”

  “Nope, I don’t.” He wanted a clear head tonight. He couldn’t afford to make any more mistakes where Bree was concerned.

  She took a sip of her cider and waited for him to continue. “This is good,” she said softly. “And you’re right, I’m famished. I guess it would be okay if you ordered for us.”

  He smiled. He knew that wasn’t easy for her, but she said it anyway. He wanted to wrap her in his arms as tightly as he could and let it be at that. But he couldn’t.

  “Can I ask you something Jace?”

  “Of course.”

  “Do people talk to you about me?”

  “People?”

  “Yeah, people. You know what I mean. Liv, Ben, Lyric…”

  “Yeah, they do. But it isn’t only them. Billy can’t seem to stop himself from giving me advice. I call him the relationship whisperer.”

  That made her giggle. “Billy?”

  “Right? I started callin’ him that thinkin’ it would shut him up. No such luck.”

  “Do you think this is real Jace? Or just convenient?”

  She’d gotten right to the point, and pushed his most sensitive button, the root of his insecurity in pursuing her. But he didn’t have a choice. Drunk or sober, busy or idle, even sleeping, his mind drifted back to her, without fail.

  “You are anything but convenient. Half the time I can’t figure out how we’d be able to spend more time together, even if it was somethin’ I could talk you into tryin’. All I know for sure, is I can’t get you off my mind. Can’t. And I don’t want to.”

  Bree felt the same way. As hard as she tried not to think about him, he was often all she thought about.

  “It worries me,” she admitted.

  “That I can’t stop thinkin’ about you?”

  “No, that I can’t stop thinking about you either.”

  He smiled, leaned over and kissed her. “I can’t tell you how happy it makes me to hear you say it.”

  “But Jace—”

  He put his finger on her lips. “Shh now, what do you say we set aside our doubts, just for now, and pretend we’re back in Idaho, just you and me? And all the months in between then and now don’t matter. Let’s go back to who we were then, and have a nice, quiet, simple conversation over some appetizers.”

  “But—”

  He tried to stop her again, by kissing her, but she turned her head away from him. “Stop, I need to say this.”

  “Okay, go ahead.”

  “It isn’t the same. We can’t go back. I can’t go back.”

  “Why not?”

  “Because we hadn’t made love then Jace. Everything is different now.”

  “You have a point. So we don’t have to go all the way back to Idaho. Instead, we can just be here. Now. And instead of talkin’ aboutus, let’s justtalk. Tell me how you’ve been. How’s the academy?”

  They spent the next two hours talking. She didn’t hold back. It was as though she hadn’t told anyone how hard being at the academy was for her. As he listened to her, it sounded more and more as though she hadn’t talked to anyone about anything.

  “I love being with Cochran. And now with another baby on the way—”

  “Wait. What? Tucker and Blythe are having another baby? Jesus, Tuck didn’t tell me.”

  “Oh, I probably shouldn’t have said anything either. Blythe told me before we left Monument. She just found out. I’m sorry.”

  “Nah, don’t be sorry. I’m sure Tucker will say somethin’ when he thinks the time is right. He and I haven’t had much time to connect on this trip.”

  “I’m sorry about that too.”

  Jace put his hands on either side of her face. “Listen. Are you listening?”

  She nodded her head.

  “There isn’t anybody here this weekend that I wanted to see more than you. Do you understand what I’m saying?”

  Bree nodded again, and then yawned.

  “Are you ready to go back to the Flying R?”

  “Do you mind? I’m so tired.”

  The house was quiet when they got back. Jace lit the fire and sat down on the sofa in front of it.

  “Everyone asleep?” he asked when she came back upstairs. She had changed into the same oversized sweatshirt and pajama bottoms she had on the night before.

  “I don’t think everyone is back yet. Blythe is, she was getting Cochran to sleep.”

  She sat down on the hearth of the fireplace, pulled her knees up in front of her, and rested her head on her arms. “We haven’t talked about the other night. I probably owe you an apology,” she closed her eyes. “Just the fact that I’m not sure whether I do or not, must mean I do.”

  “No, you don’t.”

  She didn’t open her eyes.

  “Bree, please come sit with me.”

  She raised her head and looked at him.

  “Please.”

  It took her a minute, bu
t eventually she unfolded her legs. Her feet were bare. When she sat down and drew her feet up on the sofa in front of her, Jace rested his hand on them. They were like ice. He stood and pulled a blanket off a nearby chair. He covered her with it, and then tucked it under her feet.

  “There,” he murmured.

  “You’re too nice to me.”

  “No one in this house would agree.”

  “It wasn’t your fault Jace. I didn’t mean to get drunk. I just hadn’t eaten all day.” She shrugged her shoulders. “I know better, and that’s a lousy excuse. I drank too much. It’s that simple.”

  “Why did you?”

  “It isn’t what you’re thinking. It wasn’t because of you.”

  He studied her face. “You sure about that?”

  Bree rested her head against the pillowed back of the sofa. Part of her wanted to call him out on his arrogance, tell him that everything that happened in life, hers or anyone else’s, wasn’t in direct correlation to him, but the conversation they had earlier, was a nice one. She didn’t want to start an argument with him. The truth was, most of her actions were in reaction to him. She’d be lying if she said otherwise.

  “Bree?”

  “I was upset. I didn’t like seeing you with another woman. Not that I was right about that.”

  “I didn’t like seeing you with another man either. Especially not seeing you kiss him.”

  She put her hand on her forehead, and groaned.

  “Can I get you anything?”

  “Water would be good.” She kept her eyes closed, but felt him get up from the sofa. The air in the room cooled without him next to her. She drew the blanket closer, willing him to hurry back.

  “Here, drink this.” Jace unscrewed the cap and handed Bree the bottle of water.

  “Thanks.”

  He sat back down and pulled her closer to him.

  “How much longer will you be in Crested Butte?” she asked.

  “At least until Tuesday. Billy has meetings scheduled most of the day Monday.” Jace shook his head and laughed.

  “What’s funny?”

  “Just Billy.”

  “How are things going with the rough stock business?”

  Better than they ever imagined. Word was out that their bulls and broncs were rank. That’s what mattered most. He and Billy were the front men of the business. As a former saddle bronc national champion, Billy Patterson had a foot in the door most rough stock contractors would never have.