Sweet and Wild - Carmen Jenner Page 0,9
pastry on the counter. “I’m fine. I’m fine. You know he wouldn’t want me to lie about, cryin’ over things I can’t change. This family ain’t gonna feed itself.”
“This family knows how to fix themselves a sandwich.”
She makes a tsking sound. “So, when are we getting to meet this handsome fiancé of yours? Is he flying in for the funeral?”
“Um … we broke up.” I take a bite of a potato chip and chew, thinking about how I stormed out. “Well, it wasn’t so much a breakup as it was me kicking him in the unmentionables after I found him cheating on me with my best friend.”
“Brooklyn? Oh, Lemonade. I am so sorry.”
“It’s okay.”
“It’s only okay if you castrated him.”
I laugh. “I’m pretty sure that’s still illegal in New York, Mama.”
She shakes her head. “Well, it shouldn’t be. You want me to send your brothers after him?”
“No. He isn’t worth it.”
“No, he isn’t. There’s never been anyone worthy of my little girl but—”
“Please don’t say Colt. Things are different now. We can’t go back to who we were.”
Mama raises her hands in a warding gesture. “Okay. No more talk of Colton.”
I sigh and try to figure out why I fell apart the second my high-school boyfriend touched my hand, but I haven’t shed a tear over walking out on the man I was going to marry. Why am I not more upset about my engagement ending? Why haven’t I cried about it? I’m not even that mad. What does that say about our relationship?
She nods and whispers, “Well, you know what your daddy always said—it’s no good cryin’ over spilt milk now, Lemonade. You just gotta do your best to clean it up.”
“I wish I knew where to begin.” I climb off the stool and walk around the counter to help Mama. I learned how to be a strong, independent woman from her, and Colt and my brothers may not want me here, but it’s clear that this family needs me now more than ever. Maybe even just as much as I need them.
CHAPTER SIX
Colton
I finish mucking out Bye Bye Belle’s stable. She’s close to foaling and irritable as all hell, so I reach into my pocket and pull out a sugar cube before offering it to her in the flat of my hand. She takes it and I rub her nose and give her a little loving because God knows she needs it right now. We both do.
Fuck.
Lemon Goddamn Winchester. I never thought I’d see her again. Especially not when her mama said she was engaged to be married. When she first left, I didn’t think it was gonna stick, but as the days passed and not having her in my life anymore got worse and worse, I gave up hope of her ever coming back to me. Now I wish I hadn’t prayed so hard for her return because those old wounds that I tried to stitch up just burst open, and I feel as though my entrails and internal organs are in plain view for everyone to see. Especially her.
Footsteps echo down the stable corridor and I yell at Wade to get a wriggle on. When there’s no answer, I swallow hard because I know it ain’t Wade who’s just walked in.
“Not Wade,” she says.
“No, I guess you’re not.”
“I could never be that annoying.”
“Well …” I pick up a brush and comb Belle’s coat.
She whinnies and Lemon enters the stable and pets her nose. “You poor darlin’. Not long to go now, huh?”
“She’s ready to drop any day.”
“She’s a little old to be foaling, isn’t she?”
“Yeah. A young colt got out through a broken fence and found his way into her pasture.” I duck under her neck and brush her other side. “We were worried for a while she was going to lose it.”
I glance at Lemon. She ain’t looking at me. She’s staring at the stable across the row, two doors down from this one. “Where the hell is Sleep’n Pete?”
Shit. Lemon walks over to the stable and my eyes follow her every move. She turns back to me, her jaw set and her forehead all pinched. I swallow hard and sigh. “He was gettin’ on and he—”
“No!”
“He changed after you left, Lemon. We all did. No one could ride him. No one could even get near enough to him, and then one of the ranch hands was dumb enough to try. He got maybe three yards before Pete threw him from the saddle, but Pete