Page 14 of The Last Second Chance
She crossed her arms and kicked at a keg. “Why do you want to be with me?”
Jax stopped and stared at her. “Why?” he laughed. “You seriously don’t know?”
Joey just stared at him.
“Joey, I love you. There hasn’t been a time in my life when I haven’t loved you.”
She was staring at him, her expression unreadable.
“Say something,” he said quietly.
“I don’t think we know what love is,” she said finally.
“How can you even say that?” He shoved his hands through his hair.
“You hurt me, Jax.”
He stared at the floor, shoved his hands in his pockets. The guilt clawed at him. “I know I did. I was reckless and careless and you got hurt. I can still see you in that car.”
“In the car?” I’m not talking about the accident, you idiot. I’m talking about you leaving.”
“I almost killed you!” His voice echoed off the metal of the kegs.
“Oh, sweet Jesus. A deer almost killed me.Youalmost destroyed me when you left without a word.”
“The accident—”
“Was an accident,” she said, enunciating each word like he was an annoying toddler. “You leaving was on purpose. And I don’t know how to forgive that.”
“You have to.” She did. There was no way around it. Joey had to forgive him so she might as well accept it.
“Maybe it would go a little better if you’d at least, oh I don’t know,apologize?”
Jax cringed. “I don’t know how,” he said the words quietly. “How do I say I’m sorry for something that big? You almost died because of me.”
“Are you not listening?” Joey threw her hands up as if she was appealing to a higher power. “You don’t owe me an apology for the accident. You owe me an apology for abandoning me. How am I supposed to move past that if you won’t tell me why you did it?”
“Because I hurt you!” he shouted.
“I’m about to hurt you,” she yelled back. “Get it through your thick, stupid skull. Until you can make me understand why you felt like you had to disappear without a word, or a call, or an email for eight years, there is no chance for us. Now, I’m going back upstairs to have a beer.”
She stormed out, the slim heels of her boots clicking on the concrete floor.
She was right and Jax knew it. But he also knew the answers would only push her further away.
4
“Ineedyou and your house,” Gia announced, hovering over Joey’s head as she lay in a puddle of her own sweat on a borrowed yoga mat. Joey’s head lolled to the side. A chipper Summer was sitting cross-legged and staring at her expectantly. The rest of the yoga studio was empty except for Gia’s sisters. Emma was frantically typing away on her smart phone while Eva lounged on her mat staring out the front window.
Summer had dragged her along to class again. Joey had to admit, it wasn’t awful. Especially not after spending the morning wrestling horses for vaccinations with the vet. Gia’s class had helped work the kinks out. Plus, it gave her the perfect excuse to avoid the two dozen red roses and apology card from Jax that arrived at the stables from Every Bloomin’ Thing.
They had tangled at the brewery the night before, but it felt good to finally say a few of the things that had been running laps in her mind for the past several years. She hadn’t actually expected him to apologize.
Joey could only imagine the Blue Moon gossip mill warming up with this little tidbit. Anthony Berkowicz, editor ofThe Monthly Moon,would be knocking at her door asking for a copy of their wedding announcement.
“Why do you need me and my house? You haven’t murdered your husband and need help with the body already, have you?”
“No, but if he pulls the whole ‘I took care of your cellphone bill because I thought you forgot’ thing again I may maim him,” Gia winked.
