Page 12 of When We Met

In the shop, the sounds of air tools and metal hitting metal fill the air. It’s a slow morning, and even slower afternoon, which leaves too much down time to think about all the shit I don’t want to. Like octopus and shrimp. And Morgan. If Tilly knows, and Serenity… I can imagine Morgan’s wife is going to find out soon too.

Jace finds me, the last few months wearing on him, hair all over the place and eyes tired. “Sev’s up there,” he says, nodding to the excavator.

“I saw. You get Virgil’s oil pump done?”

“Yeah, it’s ready for him to pick up.” His eyes land on mine, and then away.

I can tell by the look on his face, he’s tired and pissed off. “You get the invitation?”

He nods.

My heart beats a little faster, knowing the pain he’s probably in. “Shitty. You gonna do somethin’ ’bout it?”

He chews on his lip, his hands shoved in the pockets of his Carhart jeans. “Haven’t decided.”

Jace Vaughn, he’s another country boy who let the girl go thinking it was best for her, not him. Although I wouldn’t say Abbi had a mean bone in her body when she left. Poor timing on their part, maybe, but it doesn’t stop him from being in love with the girl. Now she’s getting married to another man.

Drawing in a weighted breath, he motions to the office. “Lil said Earl called. His backhoe’s stuck in his field again.”

Earl… he ignores every single warning sign that there’s something wrong with his equipment until it quits. “Okay, I’ll stop by after I pick Camdyn up from school. I’ll be back later.”

“Hey,” he mumbles, his attention on his phone in his hand. “You hear from Morgan yet?”

“Not you too,” I groan.

He eyes me carefully. “What?”

“I already know about him and Lil.”

“What about them? I was asking because he borrowed my Jeep last night.”

“Oh, well, you might not want it back.”

His brows scrunch together as he pockets his phone. His curiosity turning to annoyance. “Why?”

“I don’t know. Ask him.” We part ways, and he heads inside the office to microwave his own lunch. Or to ask Lillian where his Jeep is.

I climb up onto the excavator where Sev is and lean into the window with my burrito. “Where ya headin’, darlin’?”

“Kansas,” she says, intent on the shop doors, both hands on the controls. “Wanna go wit me?”

“I’d go anywhere with you, sweetheart.” Holding onto the machine with one hand, I balance the paper plate on my knee and kiss her cheek. “What’s in Kansas?”

“A secret spell I needs.”

I laugh. Last week she tried to tell me she needed a lock of my hair and my left eyeball so she could make me a wife. I kindly told her that’s not how they’re made. My kid is fucking bizarre, and I keep thinking she’s going to put a spell on me someday or turn her sister into a frog. “Ready to go pick up sissy?”

“I miss her.” Remember when I said they didn’t get along? They don’t. But they’re also inseparable at times. She drops her hands from the controls and reaches for the burrito, and knocks the plate away once she steals my lunch. “Yuck. It cold.”

“Well, then stop stealing my lunch.” I take it from her. “Get down from here. We gotta go get sissy and stop by the ranch.”

She’s down before I am and grabs her coat. “Can we get lunch?”

Shaking my head, I reach for my keys and finish my burrito. “You ate waffles, a donut, a sandwich, and half a bag of chips. How are you still hungry?”

Walking beside me, she slips her hand into mine. “I not know. I like to eat.”

Ain’t that the truth.

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