The Heartbreaker of Echo Pass - Maisey Yates Page 0,121
drove around. I just drove around. And then I turned back around and came here. And then... I came right here. Because it was the only place I knew... There’s nowhere else I can go. I don’t have anyone else. I just alienated everyone who has ever loved me.”
He chuckled. “Okay.”
“Except you. I... I’m not going to be able to sleep. This is when I can’t sleep anyway.”
She picked at a scarred part of the bar top.
“Let’s get out of here,” he said.
Her head shot up. “And go to where?”
“My house.”
“Your house.” She frowned.
In fairness, he had never had her out to his house before. She was his best friend, and he would claim that in pretty much any circle, but they had only ever really seen each other here. But then, that was pretty normal for him.
“What am I going to do at your house?”
“You’re going to sleep, Jordan. You are not staying up for more than twenty-four hours. You are not marinating in your own misery to the point that you can no longer stand on your own two feet.”
“Am I not?”
“No,” he said.
A new purpose turned over inside of him. And he realized... Well, he realized that he should have done a little telling her what to do a while ago. Because she wasn’t taking care of herself. And she hadn’t been.
“Let’s go.”
“Right now? I didn’t even get a drink.”
“You shouldn’t have a drink. Not in your current state. Don’t go using it like medicine.”
She frowned. “Oh please don’t be my Jiminy Cricket. I’m in my own head enough about all this stuff.”
“I am not a damned bug. But I am going to tell you what’s good for you. You’re already milkshakefaced. Let’s leave it at that.” He rounded the bar, and walked over to where she was sitting. She just looked up at him, with big blue doe eyes. Jordan was never doe-eyed. He put his hand low on her back, which made his stomach feel hollow.
He walked her out the front of the bar and closed the door behind them, locking it. “You have any clothes other than the wedding dress?”
“No,” she said. “And all of my clothes are at Dylan’s.”
“Right. Let’s just go to my place.” He sighed. “I’ll get you one of my T-shirts.”
That didn’t do anything to improve his disposition.
They walked down the sidewalk, a healthy distance between them. He shoved his hands in his jacket pockets. And then when they got to the truck he went to the passenger side and opened the door for her. “Get in.”
She obeyed. And he helped her tuck the wedding dress up into the car.
And as he lifted the mountain of tulle up into the truck, their eyes met. And his stomach hollowed out.
“You’re coming to my wedding, aren’t you?”
“I thought we were situational friends.”
She looked hurt by that. Angry. Well, he was hurt and angry about the whole thing.
“We’re friends,” she said. “The best friend I have and I thought that you would come to my...”
“Yeah,” he said. And even then he knew he was lying. “I’ll come to your wedding. I’ll sit there and stare at you as you walk down the aisle. And I’ll behave myself.”
“Good. Not the behaving yourself. That you’ll be there. You know you’re important to me.”
“Yeah.”
But he couldn’t say what he wanted to. And there was no point to it anyway. So he said nothing. Because he’d been over this with her repeatedly. And there was no point arguing. She had doubts, but she was going to do it.
It was best if she did.
He released his hold on her. Closed the truck door decisively. Then he got in and started the engine. Neither of them spoke.
They drove up the winding road that led to the little ranch that had been in his family since the 1960s. The house itself was still much as it had been back in those early years. He’d updated it, fixed it up with his own hands mostly.
The barn had been expanded. Because his true passion was horses, and while he didn’t much care about having every modern convenience in his house, in his barn was another matter.
“This is it,” he said.
“It’s nice,” she responded.
He pulled up to the front and she sat rooted to the seat.
“You can get out, Jordan.”
She started to unbuckle her seat belt, and before she could make a move to get out, he was exiting the truck, rounding to the other side and opening the door for her.