“Hey, Duane.” Roxie sailed into the cramped living room of the trailer in a flimsy robe and not much else. Star cringed on the couch beside Duane. Why she’d dared bring him home was beyond her. She should have known better. She did know better by the time Billy came along.
Duane’s eyes followed Roxie’s butt as she paraded to the end of the trailer where the fridge was. Star wanted to slap him, but figured it would only give her mother exactly the kind of feedback she was looking for right now.
“Be a peach, Duane? Could you help me reach something here?”
Duane popped up from the couch and went to her.
“I just need that blender up there on the top shelf. Think you can get that?”
He stretched to get it, and Roxie appraised his assets as he did so. “My goodness, you’re growing right into a man these days, aren’t you?” Without even batting a fake eyelash, Roxie stroked her salon tips down his chest. Star saw him jump, but noticed he didn’t much hurry getting that blender down.
The next Friday, she’d come straight home from school instead of staying at the library, and when she’d walked into the trailer park, Duane’s car had been parked in her yard, his favorite beer had been parked on the counter, and his jeans had been parked outside Roxie’s bedroom door.
—
Cole laughed, jarring her back to the present. “Wow. And here I pictured you sitting in the front row, the teacher’s pet. Who knew sweet Jess had a dark side?”
She stayed silent. If he only knew.
“Well, you’ve got me beat, in terms of detention. The teachers never assigned me detention, because they wanted me out of the building as soon as possible.”
“Right.”
“Truth. I was a complete pain in the ass. Madame Thibault told me I wasn’t going to amount to anything unless I got serious about school.”
“That’s horrible.”
“Yup. But she was right. She was as mean as a bull moose, but not altogether wrong. I got my act together junior year, thanks to her.”
“And now here you are, running a highly successful guest ranch. I guess you turned out okay.”
“Most days, yeah.” He grinned.
“So.” Might as well ask the question that’d been eating at her for twenty-four hours now. “Now that we’re alone, what’s the rest of the med school story? Are you really thinking about leaving, Cole?”
“No.”
No? Really? Her stomach leaped.
“Wow. You didn’t even have to think about it?”
“How could I ever want to leave?” Cole pointed out the window at the end of the loft. From their angle, the barnyard was outlined in the moonlight, and warm yellow light still poured out of all of the first-floor windows of the main lodge.
He sighed again. “At one point, I couldn’t wait to be anywhere but here, but that was just me being a dumbass and a teenager. And earlier this year, I just couldn’t shake the feeling that I’d given up on figuring out what else was out there.
“But you know what I’m figuring out? Whisper Creek might be all I know, but—that’s okay. I’m not here because I have to be anymore. I’m here because it’s in my blood. I can’t imagine ever living anywhere else.”
“Did you think Decker would stay? I mean, when he first came back?”
Cole scrubbed fingers through his hair as he sat back a little bit. “You know, I don’t really know. He came back here carrying such a boatload of guilt that I knew it’d take him a while to feel like he’d worked it off, even though it was all bullshit. I guess I figured maybe he’d put in a couple of years, and then head back west.”
“Guess not.”
“Nope. And I’m glad. I’m really glad. Glad he found Kyla, glad he found his way back to feeling like he belongs here again.”
“But?”
“We’ve just got some growing pains to figure out. We’re getting there, though. I think it’s going to get better. I don’t think Decker even knows how big a shadow he casts. It’s a little hard to feel like an equal most days, you know?” He shook his head. “Never mind. That sounded stupid.”
Jess took a sip of her drink, thoughtful. Even though Cole played the confident, funny guy on the outside, clearly there were some cracks under the surface. Decker coming back to Whisper Creek had started to expose them, but she had a feeling Cole was his own harshest critic.
“Cole, have you—have you ever really paid much attention