Page 65 of Spilling the Tea

After his talk with Mama Laverne, Chance remained at his granduncle Nolan’s house when his grandfather Lucas unexpectedly dropped by. After hearing that his brother Nolan was not attending church, Grampa Lucas decided to do the same. It wasn’t long before two other brothers, Milton and Lee, came knocking. It seemed they’d decided to play hooky from church as well.

Chance had stayed for breakfast, knowing the four hoped he would enlighten them about why their mother had summoned him that morning. However, he decided it would be best not to tell them anything since they tended to talk just as much as their wives.

When he was headed back to his ranch and had driven a few miles, his phone rang. It was Zoey. Last night, he’d given her a particular ringtone. “Good morning, Zoey.”

“Hello, Chance. I’m calling to cancel dinner.”

“Cancel dinner?”

“Yes.”

He hadn’t talked to her since last night and hoped that noneof his cousins had put the same idea into her head that Mama Laverne had in hers. Specifically, that he’d used her last night to prove a point with Ravena. He doubted they would have, but still… “Would you mind telling me why?”

She didn’t say anything, but he could hear her sniffling. Was she crying? “Zoey, what’s wrong?”

“I don’t want to talk about it now, Chance. I can’t.”

He pulled to the side of the road. “Tell me what’s wrong. Why are you crying? Is it about last night and Ravena?”

“I don’t know anything about a Ravena, and it has nothing to do with last night. It’s about a call I got this morning from a woman who was my mother’s best friend. And she told me that…”

He strained to hear, but she stopped talking and started crying again. “What did she tell you?”

“I—I can’t talk about it now,” she said between sobs. “I just can’t. It makes my heart hurt. I just wanted you to know I won’t be coming to dinner. I wouldn’t be much company. Bye, Chance.” She then hung up.

Chance sat there, knowing that whatever was wrong with her didn’t concern him; it was her problem to deal with. But then another part of him knew that wasn’t true. Not when the sound of her crying had torn deep into him. He rubbed a frustrated hand down his face. After Ravena, he’d established a rule not to make any woman a central component of his life again. Then why was he breaking that rule for Zoey? Why was he making her problems his? Was it because she’d unloaded her issues on him and, in doing so, had broken through a barrier he’d so firmly erected? Or was it because like he’d told Mama Laverne, he considered her a friend?

Hell, he wasn’t sure of the reason. However, he did know he wanted to get to her and find out what was wrong. He recalled her telling Corbin the name of her hotel. The Houston Riverfront. He had no idea of her room number but would worry about that when he got there.

Chapter Twenty

Zoey heard her phone ringing and refused to answer it. She regretted calling Lucky before pulling herself together because now her best friend was as upset as she was. The phone stopped ringing, and when it started again, she knew that Lucky would be on the next plane to Houston if she didn’t answer.

Swiping tears from her eyes, she picked up the phone. “I’m fine, Lucky.”

“No, you’re not. You sound terrible, and I’m going to start packing. I don’t want you in Texas alone.”

“Please don’t start packing. I’ll be fine. What Sharon revealed just came as a shock. Why wouldn’t Aunt Paulina tell me about my baby brother? Did she hate my mom that much just because she wasn’t the woman Aunt Paulina had wanted my dad to marry? That doesn’t make sense.”

“None of what your aunt did ever made sense, Zoe. Your heart is hurting, and I can feel it.”

“I’ll be fine. I just need time to pull myself together. Honest.”

At that moment, she heard a knock on her hotel door. “I’ll call you back. Someone is at the door,” Zoey said, gettingup off the sofa with her box of tissues in hand. “It’s probably housekeeping.”

“Okay. Call me back.”

“I will. Promise.”

Tightening her robe around her, she walked to the door to look out the peephole and almost dropped her tissue box. It was Chance. She had talked to him less than thirty minutes ago. Driving from his ranch into town would have taken him an hour. How did he get here so fast, and why had he come? She’d only canceled a dinner he probably didn’t want to have with her anyway.

She opened the door, not surprised he stared at her since she surely looked a mess. No doubt it was apparent she’d been crying. “Chance, what are you doing—”

Before she could finish, he swooped her into his arms and slammed the door shut with the heel of his boot. “What do you think you’re doing? Put me down.”

He walked to the sofa in the sitting area and sat down with her in his lap. When she tried scrambling away, he tightened his hold on her and twisted her around to face him. She couldn’t hold back the tears still falling from her eyes.

“What’s wrong, Zoey? What did your mother’s friend tell you that has your heart breaking?”

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