Page 14 of Reckless and Rooted
Why the fuck would she come back here?
“I’m just here to give Graham and his crew something.” Her hands come out of the car, and in it is a pink bakery box I recognize as Belle’s Bakery goodies.
“Well, I’m part of the crew. You got something in that box for me?” I don’t know why I ask. I don’t know why I’m pushing for us to continue talking. But I was still leaning against her car, still staring at the woman who got away, and still fucking pining after all these years.
It was hard to let her go.
She walks toward me, her hands opening the box and picking out something before holding it up for me to see.
A bear claw.
Something I loved when I was in high school.
I look at her with a curious expression, and a light shade of pink covers her cheeks, making her look much younger than thirty.
“Anytime I see a bear claw, I have to grab one.” A little shrug to her shoulders. “Old habit, I guess.”
Gently, I take the treat from her hand and take a big bite out of it, groaning when the flavor hits my tongue. Her eyes widen slightly, and that blush deepens as she looks away toward the house.
I wait until her gaze hits mine again, and when it does, I wink and say, “Delicious.”
Felicity closes the lid to the box, clearing her throat, though I see a hint of a smile curving on her lips.
I remember that smile. It was the same one that I caught every day when I picked her up from school, when I’d see her in the hallways, when we would have dinners or dates together, when I was in the high school rodeo club, and she would come to my exhibitions.
The bear claw’s sweet taste dissipates on my tongue as the memories flood me, and I take a step back, nodding toward mytruck. She watches me warily, as if she already knows that I’m pulling away.
Maybe she does.
There was a time when Felicity knew me better than anyone in the world.
That time has long passed now.
“I gotta get back to the ranch.”
She smiles, and I can tell just by the way it doesn’t bring that spark to her eye that it’s her fake one. It was perfected now, probably from years of practice in the spotlight.
“Got it. Good seeing you, Jax.”
Her soft voice pulls at me, and I war with myself. Part of me wants to step into her space, to press her body against the car and feel her lips against my own again. The other part, the one that is currently in charge of my feet, tells me it isn’t worth the inevitable heartache when she leaves again.
Because that was what she did. She left.
This time would be no different.
8
felicity
The ringingof the line has anxiety gripping my whole chest. I wait with bated breath to see if he picks up, and when it clicks over to voicemail, I finally end the call and let out the air that was squeezing my lungs.
Why was this so damn complicated? I’ve tried to reach out to Zack many times, all to no avail. He was thoroughly ignoring my calls, and if it wasn’t something that was absolutely necessary, I wouldn’t be calling him at all. I know I looked like a desperate ex-girlfriend, and I was sure he was eating that up.
But we had a real situation to deal with. One I was desperate to tie all my loose ends on and be able to settle down a little.
My phone vibrates in my hand, and I look at it quickly, relaxing when I see Erin’s name on the caller ID.
“Well, how goes life in the tiniest place on earth?”
