Letting Go (Triple Eight Ranch) - By Mary Beth Lee Page 0,33
a good aunt to my daughter, but I guarantee you that if you go around casting aspersions on the woman who has given selflessly to this community and who has become an extension of the Dillon family, Momma won’t take kindly to it. And I won’t tolerate it. Clarissa Dye is a godsend to this town. You owe everyone here an apology for disturbing their Sunday lunch like this.”
With that, the problem of Joan Anderson was done. She’d told him to let her solve it, but she couldn’t fault Jed for his actions. He’d stepped in like a hero. And she wanted to hug him for it.
Oh, be honest, her brain screamed. She wanted to do a lot more than hug him.
Clarissa grabbed the fried pickles and rushed to get them to table eight just so she could try to get her mind wrapped around what had just happened.
Her hands were shaking, her nerves scattered like the bits of paper Jed had thrown in the wind. She needed to sit down.
Instead she grabbed two pieces of German chocolate pecan pie and delivered them to the Rains’ table.
She turned to leave, but Tess Rains stopped her.
“That right there is a mighty good man,” she said.
Her husband laughed. “I would’ve paid to see that, and here I got the show for free.”
Trevor knocked over his water and harumphed “I always do that” at the same time his parents scrambled to get napkins.
She hurried over to grab towels and reached the drawer at the same time Jed did. His hand covered hers and she felt herself flush hot, but she didn’t step away.
“You didn’t have to do that,” she said.
Jed pressed his hand over hers and a tingle leaped up her arm. “Yes, I did.”
She turned her body to face him. He was everything good and right in the world. He deserved the truth. “She was right, Jed.”
He opened the drawer took out the towels and made sure she knew they weren’t done with this discussion.
“We all have pasts, Clarissa. It’s the present and the future we control.”
And then he was gone, helping the Rains clean up the mess leaving her to embrace or reject his words. In the end she decided it didn’t matter if she accepted his words or not. He might be right, but if she was entertaining thoughts of sticking around Stearns she had to tell him about her past.
The ride back to the Triple Eight was unnaturally quiet at first. Clarissa wasn’t sure why Jed wasn’t talking, but she knew her thoughts were flying a thousand miles a minute. Once she told him her truths, he’d probably be ready to shed himself of her and Tammy Jo and thank the good Lord he hadn’t gotten involved with either of them.
That should be a good thing. She didn’t need or want a knight in shining armor, and he kept trying to make himself one where she was concerned.
“Joan wasn’t always bitter,” he said, and her thoughts careened to a stop. Once again she was ready to tell the truth, but he had something to say first. She wouldn’t let tonight end without him knowing the truth.
“When Mack’s mother left, it changed her.”
Clarissa quit thinking of herself with his words.
“Bethany, that’s Mack’s mother, used to stay every summer with her aunt. That’s Joan. When she left, she broke Joan’s heart as much as mine. I came to terms with my grief, moved on. I don’t know that Joan can.”
Clarissa never imagined she’d feel sorry for Joan Anderson, but at his words, she did.
“That’s so sad,” she said.
He nodded. “She won’t give you trouble again. Not when I threatened to take Mack from her. She loved Bethany and she loves Mack. She tolerates me. You don’t have to worry about her anymore.”
He finished as they took the final left to the ranch, and she knew what she had to do. Even as she was reeling from the idea that Joan wasn’t aunt as in good family friend, she couldn’t put this off any longer.
She reached out and turned the radio off. “Pull the truck over, Jed. I’ve got to tell you.”
“Clarissa…”
Something in her eyes must’ve made clear she wasn’t going to lose this battle. Once the truck stopped she started.
“I appreciate you jumping in to save me tonight, Jed, but Joan was right.” She stopped for a second because it felt like her heart was going to burst from her chest. She didn’t want to tell this story, but she had