Page 39 of Dependable Cowboy

“Then you’ll have to decide whether waiting for her and her daughter is worth it or not,” His mom wrapped up everythingas if in a neat little bow. As if there was anything about this situation that was neat or wrapped up.

“Should I?” he asked her, despite her just having declared that the decision was up to him. “Should I risk it?”

“We can’t answer that,” his dad said. “But you’re not a kid like you were originally with Joy. You have more wisdom, more understanding. What I suggest is that you measure all the pros and all the cons. Then, after sitting with that for a good long while, go with your gut.”

“But my gut has done nothing but churn ever since she told me we had to part ways.”

His dad stood and patted his back. “Just give time, Aaron. Sometimes, the only thing you can do in circumstances like these, is give it time.”

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

Watchingthe light die in Aaron’s amber eyes had nearly killed Joy, and she kept reliving the sight of it over and over throughout the remainder of that evening. As she went through the motions of helping her mom make dinner. As she assisted in the cleanup and made sure Kara quit drawing in time to go to bed at a decent hour.

Up until the instant Wayne Randall had appeared at her door, she had felt a lot of mixed-up feelings toward her husband. Everything from confusion and worry about him going missing to frustration and annoyance with how he’d chosen to live his life. The excitement of being with him in those early days had long since devolved into trying to get through the day-to-day drama of living with a drug addict.

But his reappearance and especially his reaction to her divorcing him had topped all of that. Now Joy had to work to not actively hate the man for how he’d ruined things for her and Kara. She’d just started to get her life back on an even keel whenbam, Wayne had to detonate it like some hidden bit of explosive.

The last thing she ever could’ve anticipated that night had been for a Wayne-shaped grenade to blow up her entire existence.

Why now of all times had he chosen to show up? Why when she was just beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel?

Why now when she’d only just figured out that she was in love with Aaron Hunter?

In spite of staying with her parents and feeling safer for the decision, she couldn’t rest. All she could do was picture Aaron’s agonized expression. It was like a movie clip playing over and over without relief. How she’d disappointed and maybe even devastated him.

The man who least deserved it.

The day after it had happened she’d followed her attorney office’s advice and gone to the police and filed an incident report so she would have a paper trail. This also enabled her to file a restraining order against Wayne. It might not do much good since he would likely go back to California, but again, this was about creating a paper trail. Now she’d have proof that she didn’t want anything to do with him in person.

Not after what he’d done.

What was strange was how differently she perceived him now. Before his fit throwing, she’d never felt afraid of him. Not even during his drug addict days. She’d thought of him as tortured, as struggling, as battling his inner demons. But she’d never once thought that he’d extend that battle to include her or Kara. Especially not Kara. He’d loved their daughter too much to do that.

Or that was what she’d believed. Now, she knew better.

Now, she was unwilling to take any chances.

Things felt totally different between her and her parents at this point, and she’d never felt so glad that they’d managed to patch up their relationship when they had. Being able to depend on them during such a trying time helped ease at least a tiny amount of her concerns.

After filing the police report and updating her lawyers, she’d thought about returning to the apartment, but facing that hole in the door—even with Aaron having patched it—felt too daunting. That was why a week after that horrible night and six days after she’d ended things with Aaron, she and Kara remained at her childhood home. Joy just couldn’t cope with staying in that place alone with her daughter anymore.

She did feel forever grateful that Kara had school. Had this occurred over the summer break, her daughter wouldn’t have had anything to distract her from this terrible and disruptive event. Joy was also thankful for Christine and the ladies down at her salon. They’d been so understanding through all this and lenient when it came to Joy missing some of her shifts.

And that was despite how vague Joy had been in describing everything.

Then, there was how nice it was to concentrate on her customers and her work when she could be at work. If Joy hadn’t had that to preoccupy her, she was pretty certain she would’ve spent way too many of her minutes pondering her new less than stellar situation.

“Joy…” Someone touched her elbow, and Joy glanced up, absorbing only then that it was her mother. “You were a million miles away, I think.”

“Sorry. Did you ask me something?”

Her mom pursed her lips as if hesitant to mention anything, but then went ahead. “Your father and I were wondering when you were going to talk about all this?”

She hadn’t. Not once. Not fully.

Her parents knew generally what had transpired but not any of the details. Joy hadn’t had it in her to discuss all those terrifying events when they first happened, but she hadn’t since then, either. So, with Kara in bed, she did. Every nasty word spoken by Wayne. Everything that had made Kara cry. Every piece of advice her lawyers had given her. And even how Aaron had looked so miserable as he’d strode away.

By the end of it, Joy had started to weep. “And you sh-should’ve seen him, th-those eyes of his were so s-sad.” Her dad hugged her as her mom took her hand. She’d never felt so glad to have their support. “G-guess you can say I t-told you so now.”

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