Letting Go (Triple Eight Ranch) - By Mary Beth Lee Page 0,41
fallen hard. Chances were she was leaving, and nothing he could do would stop her.
God, why her? Undoubtedly, God had led Clarissa into their lives.
Fight for her. Whether it was God answering or his own subconscious didn’t really matter. The answer was the same.
He’d tried fighting before. It had ended in disaster.
Fight for her.
Jed didn’t know if he’d heed that advice or if he’d ignore it. For now, he decided, he’d do what his daddy suggested and be a friend.
Clarissa jumped at the knock on her door and then she laughed at her silliness.
When she opened it, Jed stood there looking rock steady, just like always. Her heart melted a little at his smile, at the dimple just above his left lip, and the hard edges of his face and the eyes that showed so much concern.
“Daddy,” Mackenzie flew into her father’s arm. He lifted her in a one armed hug while balancing a plate of something. So freaking perfect the move belonged in a Hallmark movie.
Clarissa grabbed the plate at the same time he said, “Momma made you some biscuits and sent you some jelly, too.”
“Thank her for me,” Clarissa’s stomach grumbled as she said the words.
Jed dropped Mackenzie to the floor and they stood there looking at each other in one of those horrible awkward pauses she hated.
Searching for anything she spied his phone, grabbed it, handed it to him. “Thanks for letting me use this last night. I…” she stopped not sure what to say.
He wrapped his hand around hers and held it. “You needed it. And you needed your time last night.”
She wanted him to hold her hand forever. To never let her go. To…
“Daddy, you should’ve brought Clarissa’s flowers,” Mackenzie said, and Clarissa pulled her hand from his.
Jed looked at her, and Clarissa could see the worry there in his eyes. “Pete sent you flowers. And he said take as long as you need. He tried calling you, but...”
“Oh my goodness, my phone.” Clarissa rushed to the table and took the phone out of her bag. Completely dead.
The thought brought tears to her eyes, which was totally stupid. Was the word dead going to cause problems forever? The two had nothing to do with each other.
She plugged it in and regrouped. Cleared her throat and tuned back to Jed and Mackenzie and now Kitty. Ties. Too many ties.
Mackenzie was explaining how kitty didn’t have a name yet and showing him how the cat liked to play with the twine they’d found in a cabinet. He’d squatted down to be closer to her, and the two looked like they belonged on the pages of a storybook.
“Come play, Clarissa. Kitty likes it better when you do it.”
Later. She’d think about leaving later.
Chapter Eleven
The sound of light rain woke Clarissa the morning of Tammy Jo’s memorial service. Clarissa groaned, covered her head with a pillow and said a quick thanks to the fates that at least it wasn’t another tornado. A storm like that would’ve been more appropriate to who Tammy Jo had been.
The tornado that hit Stearns had done a lot of damage and hurt a lot of people. But now people were rebuilding, moving on. And they’d learned lessons about what was really important. Family, love. Not possessions, that was for sure.
Her mother’s bible and journal lay beside her in the bed, and Clarissa grabbed them, read what appeared to be another favorite verse. Psalm 23. She might not be a God fearing christian, but Clarissa knew the Psalm without looking at it. She only looked on the pages to see where Tammy Jo had underlined the words he refreshes my soul so many times. Out beside the verse she’d written the words he restoreth my soul with the word restoreth underlined.
She hoped her mother made peace with the demons of her past. She’d certainly been trying to.
Wincing she got out of the bed she thought of as her mother’s and walked barefoot down the stairs to the kitchen. She ate one of Susie’s homemade biscuits and watched the rain fall. Jed’s family’s house looked grand in the rain just like it did in the sun. The family had their fair shares of troubles, but God had certainly smiled on them.
She brushed away thoughts of the Dillon’s troubles, guilt at how when she left town it would hurt Mackenzie and Jed. At least she and Jed didn’t have the kind of relationship he’d had with his wife. That would be a catastrophe for all of them.
Over