Page 6 of Handling Skylar
I heard nothing else. I couldn’t stand another moment. Anna Kate looked up at me, and the alarm on her face only made me realize that I was losing control. If I didn’t get the hell out of here, I was going to cause yet another scene with my brother.
Then my gaze collided with Sky’s, and the understanding on her face made it all worse. It was clear that River had filled her in, and I wasn’t sure I liked that she knew all about me when I knew virtually nothing about her. I pushed away from that little voice inside me that said I wanted to know everything about her. Especially how she would respond to me, the warmth of her skin, the texture of that long mane of black hair, her compassion that was stamped in every line of her face. She wasn’t for me because she didn’t fit in my world. Didn’t stop me from wanting something I couldn’t have. That itch of dissatisfaction turned into a black, hungry mood.
I had to get out of here. I walked away, breathing around the agony, my jaw rigid as I reached blindly for my keys.
I cursed Chase, my circumstances, and fate. Chase was right about one thing. The layers were endless. Layers and more fucking layers.
Everyone had to make sacrifices.
I made it to my car before Anna Kate caught up to me.
“Jake, what do you think you’re doing? You can’t leave like that and cause a scene. There’s a reception and everyone will be there. This is unbecoming.”
I almost ripped the door off its hinges, wishing the top was down so I could just jump in. But Anna Kate was always complaining about the wind and the heat, I’d left it closed. She grabbed my arm, and I pulled away. “Leave me alone. I just need some time.”
“Jake, really. Sometimes I wonder at your breeding.”
I turned on her and snarled. “Don’t you ever say anything against my family again. Do you understand?”
She backed up, nodding, her skin going white. I rubbed my hand over my face to get some control back. “Just give me some time.” I didn’t wait for an answer. I got inside and drove away. I went home, changed into something more casual, and was back in my car, heading for our groves. I needed manual labor.
We grew our crop not far from the main house, an eight-hundred-acre grove nestled between our big, white house and the Vermilion River, surrounded by lush, grassy expanses. This grove had been in our family long after the Colonel had stumbled onto this spot. Sutton generations had cultivated it into a profitable cash crop. The main grove was a beautifully-planted, manicured orchard with several varieties of pecans for the purpose of healthy cross-pollination. The Caddo, prolific producers of football-shaped, medium sized nuts, the Candy, early ripening, small, good flavored nuts and the Oconee, with large, oblong nuts and thin shells. One thing about our grove nagged at me since I was little: the natural orchard, rife with choking brush, weeds and dead limbs. It wasn’t pretty, but all these trees, just standing around producing nuts, was left to seed. It would take a lot of back breaking work to clear the old grove with its stately, fully mature trees and the promise of an excellent harvest.
Needing a distraction and tired of just talking about it, I went to the edge of the manicured orchard and started to pull brush. Clearing the ground of cover was the first step that needed to be done before I could bring this grove back to production. Most of these pods would fall into this no man’s land and end up as fodder, mulch and food for the birds and squirrels.
I was determined to see this project through and the harvest wouldn’t be until early November of next year. I suspected this Elliot nut variety would be a specialty item we could sell. The smaller tear-drop shaped nut had a bit harder shell to crack than other assortments, but their taste was so buttery sweet, it was worth the effort.
I spent a couple of hours in the orchard, avoiding any contact with my family, cooling off and getting my bearings.
When it came time to get ready for the party, chiefly sponsored by us, so attendance was mandatory, I went home, showered and dressed for my role.
Anna Kate was dressed to the max when I picked her up. Her hair and makeup perfect, her dress expensive and elegant. I wore an ivory linen suit and light blue button down.
When she went to sit in the passenger seat, she frowned, picking up the sheaf of papers on the seat. “What are these?”
“Application materials for a Ph.D.”
“What do you need another degree for, Jake? You have more than enough money.” She put on her seat belt and said, “The top, please. The wind will wreck my hair, sugar.”
“It’s not about making money,” I said, wondering why I ever got a convertible if I wasn’t going to get to have the top down. I hit the switch. “It’s about knowledge and learning about plants and how they function that fascinates me.”
But she wasn’t listening. She was texting on her phone, laughing at what someone had said to her. She waved her hand at me, dismissing me. When she raised her head, she frowned again. “What happened to your hands?”
I guess we were on to the next topic. I looked at them, and they were scratched up. I’d need to make sure to wear gloves next time. “I was clearing some land.”
“Manually,” she said as if I had just told her I’d killed someone. She sniffed and her phone chimed again. “Don’t you have people to do that for you?” she asked absently.
I shifted in my seat, my hands gripping the wheel. Why the hell did she ask me any questions if she wasn’t going to have a conversation with me instead of at me?
Anna Kate was preoccupied with her phone the whole rest of the way into town. When we arrived, my parents were already greeting people along with River and Chase. At first, it was strange to see my brother fully participating in a family gathering, but I grudgingly admitted to myself that Samantha was good for him. Residual anger left over from his blatant attempt to send me a message only made the anger curl. But my momma caught my eyes and I took a breath, resisting.
Samantha stood next to Chase, her face wreathed in smiles. I heard that she’d baked an enormous number of pies for this event and provided a lot of food along with my brother-in-law Braxton. He was currently not in line, but vigorously grilling ribs, steaks, hamburger and hot dogs. River was standing next to Chase with her three sons in a stroller next to her.
I got a lot of satisfaction in seeing them all together. Then I saw her—Sky. She was talking to Verity Outlaw near the potato salad, and I couldn’t take my eyes off her. She was out to slay me. She’d ditched the hat and the cutoffs for a cute, colorful summer dress, but true to form she wore a pair of complementary cowgirl boots. I loved that she was herself. She looked fresh and sweet as the pie I could smell on the air. Her dark hair was pulled back, secured at the nape of her neck and the sight of it made my mouth go dry. With her hair like that, exposing the long line of her throat, with some tendrils slipping loose, curling around her face and the back of her neck, something unnamed stirred in me. She could hold her own, and I might like that most about her. She was nothing short of a piece of work.
A piece of work with a deep, sultry laugh and the softest, most perfect skin I’d ever seen on a woman. She was built like a centerfold, dressed like a cowgirl princess and had the face of an angel. An elbow dug into my ribs, and I looked down to find Anna Kate scowling at me. “I was talking to you, Jake.”
I guess she didn’t like it any more than I did when someone wasn’t paying attention. “I was distracted by the pies,” I lied smoothly. No matter how attracted I was to Sky, she wasn’t for me. My path was set. Except she laughed, then, and, once again, I was struck by her beauty, not her physical beauty, that was definitely there, but her inner beauty, the kind that shone out of those expressive eyes, a vibrant, living joy. I didn’t know where my mind was, but with her, it seemed to slip away from me. There was that restlessness again, and I tamped it down and greeted my parents, River and Samantha with a cool hello to my brother.
