Page 33 of Slow Burn
“The mothers,” Jocelyn repeated, leaning back in her seat. “Sounds like the name of a horror movie.”
Natasha huffed a laugh. “They can be downright awful.” She rolled some of the paper scraps between her finger and thumb, back and forth. “Mama and her little pack of high-and-mighty friends.”
“Ah, yes,” Jocelyn murmured.
“Anyway, they embellish.”
“Who doesn’t?” There was a bitter edge to Jocelyn’s words she couldn’t block. The things they’d said about her mama…
Natasha winced. “Anyhow, he was the wild one, and him and his daddy never did have an easy go of it.”
Based on Cole’s words a few moments before, that wasn’t surprising. Ellen had hinted that there was fault on both sides. But Jocelyn’s experience at their house the other day hadn’t seemed as strained as she’d been led to believe. And the way Cole jumped to John’s defense…
“He looks at you a fair bit,” Natasha noted.
Jocelyn didn’t have to ask who. She was all too aware of how often Cole’s attention lingered on her—or the way he seemed to reluctantly seek her out whenever she was around. The flutter in her stomach and the easy way they seemed to fall into flirting banter told her it wasnota good idea. It was best she added the distance while she could.
“I’m not here to stay,” Jocelyn said, though Natasha hadn’t asked the question. The implication had been there clear enough.
Her half-sister cocked her head. “What’re you here for, then?”
Jocelyn hesitated. As much as she felt she owed this town nothing, Natasha was different.Seemedto be different. And they were sisters. Yet her mouth remained closed.
“It’s okay. You don’t have to tell me,” Natasha said as Jocelyn’s hesitation stretched.
Jocelyn took a bracing breath, but Cole’s reappearance interrupted her.
He slid their food onto the table, then shifted closer. “Brian’s here. Want me to get rid of him?”
Natasha started to sink lower before she thought better of it and straightened. “No, it’s fine. Thanks, Cole.”
He nodded, his eyes flashing to Jocelyn before moving on. But his steps carried him toward the man she assumed was Brian, his movement belying a predatory grace. A story there, certainly.
“Who’s Brian?” Jocelyn asked.
Natasha’s lips twisted against an answer. But as she spun her basket and pulled out the ketchup, she sighed. “That’d be my ex.”
Must’ve been a bad break-up if Cole was willing to toss him out over it.
“He’s an asshole,” Natasha muttered.
“That asshole is coming over here.” Jocelyn tracked the dark-eyed, dark-haired swaggering cowboy whose gaze had locked on her sister.
Natasha rolled her shoulders back like she was about to enter a boxing ring.
“Hey, Tash,” the cowboy drawled, appraising Jocelyn with an interested slant to his expression.
She nodded. “Brian.”
“Who’s your friend?” he asked, winking as he stuffed his hands into his pockets. A wedding ring caught the light before it disappeared into the denim, and suspicion stirred hot in Jocelyn’s chest.
“She’s…” Natasha faltered, looking at Jocelyn.
Might as well dive right in. It wasn’t a step Jocelyn wanted to gloss over.
“I’m her sister,” she said, not offering to shake his hand.
Natasha gave her a grateful smile, tentative and brief.
