Page 38 of Wild As Her

"Well, aren't you two just cozy," she remarks as she glares at Jack and me.

I glare back at my mom. "You know, you should knock when you come over to someone's house. You know, a house you don't live in."

“Well, you don’t live here, either,” she says as she puts her hands on her hips and stares at me with a look of disappointment. Her usual look for me. I'm used to it by now. I could never do anything right in her eyes. My brother can do anything he wants, though. Me? I get a master's degree, work at the family's ranch while starting my own business, and yet she still finds things about me to pick apart. She's never supported me. And the fact that she's here uninvited starting shit this early in the morning is pissing me off. I haven’t had enough sleep or coffee yet for this.

"What?" I clip as I glare at her in frustration.

"What ishedoing here?" she huffs. “And why can’t you just walk away from this place like we did? No, you have to stay here and be the savior. Save it," she mimics in her mean voice.

"Do you have a reason for coming here?" I ask, my voice rising.

Jack sets the coffee down and reaches for my arm. I glance down at it and back at her.

"Actually, yes," she sighs. "Do you know anything about two men who were pepper-sprayed last night? They came into the hospital claiming that you assaulted them. I swear, Cami…" She shakes her head and sighs again for good measure.

I snort with laughter, "Oh, really? That’s what they said?"

"Really," she says dryly. "Why would you even do a thing like that?"

"You know, Mom, it’s funny you’ll take the word of two strangers over your own daughter."

Jack is tense next to me, but he says nothing, just watching all of this unfold. But somehow, oddly, I feel like he has my back. Weirdly, come to think of it, he’s always had my back. But I’ve learned that people have your back until they don’t. Then you’re left all alone again. This is why I trust no one.

"I wish you'd let this all go. I don't even know whatyou'redoing here," she says as she glares at Jack.

I can't wait for her to finally hear that he bought the ranch.

She continues, not even bothering to read the room. "You need to find a place in town, start over. Stop squatting here at the ranch. Sometimes things just come to an end, Cami. When are you going to let this go?"

I glare at her, thinking what a disappointment she would be to my grandpa. I think about the memories I made with him at the ranch before he died. I remember his promise on the back porch not to sell the ranch. He'd told me that my momma would try the first chance she got, and he was almost right. Only she ran it into the ground, then let the bank take it. She really screwed it up.

Jack clears his throat and glances at me and to the door. We have to get our sunrise ride in.

"You know what, Mom," I say, steering her out the door and onto the porch as Jack pulls the door behind him, locking it. "We have to go."

"I'm not done talking to you," she sputters.

"It's time you know the truth, Mom. Jack bought the ranch."

"What?" she roars at Jack.

Jack stares at her and says firmly, "I think you need to go, Teresa."

She puts a finger in my face. "Your grandpa is turning in his grave for letting a Jessop in this house."

“Oh, yeah? Well, Grandpa is the one who welcomed Jack to this ranch in the first place. He loved Jack. And youruined that after he died by getting in stupid feuds with Jack Sr,” I say angrily. “Why do you even care? You wanted to sell it, now it’s sold. You don’t get to come back here and act like you’re the victim.”

"If you want to keep that finger, get it out of her face," Jack clips, coming between my mom and me.

She stands back. "You are trash! Just like your daddy! And you..." She shakes her head in disgust and turns and walks to her car, not finishing that sentence.

“Mom,” I yell towards her back. She turns, and I call out, “For the record, it was bear spray, not pepper spray, and they were vandalizing my business, not that you care!”

He puts an arm around my shoulders and steers me towards the barn. "Let's go."

One thing I’ve noticed about Jack is that he and I can spar. But if anyone gets near me, he goes practically feral. We may be enemies, but he protects me. So, what does that make us, exactly?

That’s the million-dollar question, isn’t it?

---