Page 155 of The Last Second Chance
“No problem,” Beckett said, holding the door for her. “I’m finishing up some invoices here and then I can take over. Evan said he’ll help out Saturday.”
Joey heard the door behind her open and she limped into the tack room. Carter hauled in a fresh bale of straw and put it next to Gia’s wheelbarrow before ducking into the office with them.
She heard voices and the soft trod of horses in the indoor ring. It sounded like someone was teaching her group lesson. She tiptoed out of the tack room and toward the ring. Her five o’clock students were all on their appropriate mounts working on a figure eight led by Jax and…her father?
Jax and Forrest stood shoulder to shoulder in the center of the ring. They took turns calling out instructions, some that were spot on and others that were a little more questionable.
Jax said something to her dad and Forrest laughed and clapped him on the shoulder. Joey felt a lump build in her throat.
They were doing this for her. All of them. Because they loved her. And whether she understood or even appreciated what they were doing, she realized that they were doing their absolute best for her. And that’s all anyone ever had done. Maybe they hadn’t known better before. Maybe they knew better now. But what mattered is that they were putting their best efforts forward for her.
And she loved every single one of them for it.
She’d eat their damn stew and smile at the ridiculous pattern someone had raked in the ring. She’d praise the weird goat milk fabric softener Phoebe brought her. And she’d sure as hell tell each and everyone one of them how much she appreciated them. In her own way, of course. Baked goods most likely. Maybe a funny card. Not with actual words and hugs and stuff.
She snuck another peek at Jax and her father standing side by side and shook her head. Damned if she didn’t love them both, with a fierceness that scared her. Was this what forgiveness felt like? She felt lighter, happier. Jax had been so calm during “the incident” as her mother had taken to calling it. And the tenderness he showed her after, well that just choked her up with emotion. Despite her obvious durability and her impatience to get back to normal, he handled her as if she were something precious.
He’d stuck this time. And she knew now that he would always stick, always stay. They were tied up in each other and there would be no untangling these knots ever again.
With her heart coming to life in her chest, she snuck back out of the stables and headed home to think.
That night, she waited until it was just she and Jax, relaxing on the couch. The fire was low, the dishes were done, and Waffles was curled up in a furry ball at her feet. Her head rested on his shoulder, his fingers stroking her bare arm. She watched the story unfold, carefully crafted and beautifully written.
“Jax?” she said.
His lips brushed the top of her head in a lazy kiss. “Yeah?”
“Seeing as how we’re fake engaged and all, I think you should move in.”
“Is this the head wound talking?” he asked lightly.
She shook her head and smiled. “No. It’s the ‘I think you should move in before we get married so we can make sure we won’t murder each other living together’ talking.”
“Are you sure you didn’t hit your head again?” He turned her chin this way and that to check her pupil dilation.
“Pretty sure.”
“Marriage is a big deal,” he told her.
“So I’ve heard. But now that I know what a big deal you are in Hollywood I want to lock you down while I still can.”
He pinched her and she yelped. “Also, I get why you did what you did.”
Jax stilled his hands on her. “You do?”
“And while I don’t agree with some of the things you’ve done,” she said pointedly. “Everything you’ve ever done where I’m concerned came from a place of love. Sometimes stupidity and love. But the love part is what’s important. And I’d be the biggest asshole in Blue Moon if I ignored that.”
Jax tipped her chin up, brought his mouth within a whisper of hers. “I’m so glad you’re not the biggest asshole in Blue Moon. I love you, Jojo.”
“I love you back.”
--------
Jax movedin the next day. With all the troops at Joey’s beck and call, it was easy work forming a vehicle convoy filled with Jax’s limited possessions and distributing them all over Joey’s house.
The first few days were a little rocky with Joey ceding so much of her own territory, but they soon found their rhythm. And just to make sure they both had enough elbow room, Jax put a call into Calvin to see if the man’s crew could handle yet another Pierce Acres project with an office, sunroom, and bedroom add-on to Joey’s house. Calvin told him thanks to all the Pierce projects he was thinking about retiring…or at least taking his wife on that Hawaiian vacation she’d always wanted.
Spring finally sprung chasing the last vestiges of winter north. Everyone’s workloads on the farm doubled—those with twins found their workloads quadrupled—but the acres were never lonely. Grandparents, kids, neighbors, and friends were constant visitors. The dogs, enjoying the warm weather and muddy fields, spent their days romping between stables and barns giving chase to lazy barn cats and each other.
