Page 16 of Cookout Carnage
“Why?”
I’m twitchy. “It wasn’t right, and I never should have let it get this far.”
She exhales and says, “But you didn’t do it for me?”
I turn away from her and walk to where the gravel meets the grass. I tamp down a piece or two and turn back. “Nope. Did it for me. But now you’re here, I’ve got to convince you to go away so I can process where I am in life.”
Her face falls, but there’s nothing else to be done. I can’t possibly understand what is happening. My brain is hazy, like someone switched up the playbook, and I didn’t get the new copy. It’s 4thand 1, and I’m running the wrong route.
Everything I’ve ever wanted is standing in front of me, but I’m going to need a minute. I rush to her face and frame it with my hands for a second. I just need to touch her for a moment to prove I’m not insane. That’s she’s actually here, and it’s not one of the thousands of times I’ve talked to her when she’s not.
“Jules.”
She gasps. “Yes.”
I let go and step back. It’s more. “How do I know you’re not here to leave me again?”
“You don’t.”
I back away from the whisper of a moment, feeling lightheaded. Her eyes have gone hazy, and her smile is easy. Her wheat-colored hair blows in her face as a gentle breeze kicks up. Her perfect peaches and cream complexion just about kills me.
“I’ve thought enough for both of us. Dive in, Jonathan. I love you. Dive in.” The sun shines brighter now. Squeakers shrieks and snorts to emphasize the universe’s plans.
I grin as she leans against the truck, looking delicious and too perfect to be real. “You have to go, Jules. Visit with your sister. Thanks for bringing little bacon back.”
She smiles too brightly as I slip and call her Jules.
She nods, and even that’s sexy. I want to fuck her senseless when she smiles like that. I want to hold her, show her my greenhouses filled with her favorite flowers, and hide her away on Tucker Farm. But I was engaged not twenty-four hours ago. I can’t leap into this. Or maybe I’m confused about jumping in as if no time has passed.
I think. Who the hell knows? Despite the town’s reaction, it will hurt Tanya. I’d like to believe that she liked me a little more than $50,000.64. But do I care if it hurts her? My head isn’t on straight. It’s bungled up with a million memories and wishes. All the times I prayed or dreamed for her to be here like this, saying these things, and now I can’t reconcile those with reality.
She says, “Ok, but just so you know, I know what’s important in life. I’m here.” Her voice is as shaky as my hands.
My whole body smiles as she stares at me. She smirks. Her hair is so shiny and gorgeous in this light. And that simple white tank and cutoffs, it’s a country boy’s version of lingerie. There’s nothing sexier in the world. I try and tell my dick to settle down until we sort this out. But he’s not having any of my shit right now.
The gravel crunch switches to dry grass crackling as she moves to pet my pig. She says, “I heard you were going to be on the menu tomorrow. But that doesn’t matter anymore, right, Squeaks. I got your back.”
“What the hell are you talking about?” I move closer to her but not too close. I do not need that sweet baked-sugar sunshine scent messing with my head further.
“This morning, I was delivering Maybelline her third juice…” She raises her eyebrow a bit.
“Christ, it was a three-juice morning?” Why was Jules working at the café? I shake it off.
“Yup. And she said she had her deadbeat nephew drive her down to Princeville the other day. She met up with Gibby. You remember her, right?”
“The one who quilt bombed her town because she was out of yarn?”
She nods. “Well, they met up at the Chat and Chew, and she told her the caterer from Carbon County, hired for your wedding, was telling a funny story about how not just a pig was on the menu, but a pig with a red collar and a pig with a pink collar were going to be dinner.”
Fuck no. Cheating on me is one thing, but what kind of person puts a pet on a menu?
“Who’s the other pig?”
“Squeakers’ best friend, Gandalf. Good thing the whole thing is called off.”
My skin pebbles as Juliet gets too close to me. Then she smiles, and my entire body freezes a bit. She’s so damn beautiful.
She says, “You will forever be my favorite vegetarian farmer.”
