Page 86 of A Fallow Heart (Tommy Creek 2)

She gaped. Bitter envy sluiced through her. He’d moved on, gotten married, had children and he obviously hadn’t let any grass grow under his feet. He’d left Jo Ellen an emotional tangle of sorrow, rage, guilt, and depression, while he’d strolled along through his life without a care in the world.

She thought he might’ve at least regretted the way he’d ended things with her, leaving her to deal with the fallout of their relationship. She’d assumed that’s why he’d been so urgent to talk to her at the party in Dallas. Deep inside, she’d been expecting an apology.

But he didn’t seem to bear any kind of shame or regret when he grinned at a fellow classmate and waved, introducing his family with a smug kind of triumph.

Her skin went hot and yet cold at the same time, fissures of anger and injustice crawling over her like a smothering fog.

He was married and happy, with children.

She was all alone, because he’d killed her faith in men.

That just didn’t seem acceptable.

Following her stare, Emma Leigh gasped. “Quick.” She tugged on her husband’s arm. “Trade me spots.”

“What?” Branson straightened and glanced around at Emma’s anxious tone. “Why?”

“Jo Ellen’s ex is here; with his wife. I don’t want him to spot her and think she’s alone.”

“Emma Leigh,” Jo Ellen hissed, grabbing Em’s arm before she could stand. “Don’t. I am here alone.”

“Well, he doesn’t need to know that.”

“Well, I’m not going to pretend Branson is my husband just to keep from looking like a poor desperate, pathetic loser.”

“But—”

“

I said no!”

“Which one is he?” Bran asked, leaning Emma Leigh’s way and unconsciously stroking Brand’s cheek as he scanned the room.

“He’s still standing in the doorway,” Jo Ellen reluctantly grumbled, just as Travis steered his picture-perfect family across the floor to the refreshment table.

Branson zeroed in on him and blinked twice before lifting his brows and turning back to Jo Ellen. She cringed. “He had hair back then,” she muttered. “And weighed about twenty—maybe fifty—pounds lighter.”

“Definitely closer to fifty,” Emma Leigh corrected.

Jo Ellen pushed back her chair, unable to watch the man who’d destroyed her childhood prance around with his family as if he owned his old school. “I need some air,” she mumbled, stumbling to her feet.

“Joey—” Emma Leigh burrowed her brows in concern.

Lifting her hand to motion her twin back down, she shook her head. “No, I’m fine. I just…I’ll be back in a minute.”

She escaped the gym and found herself in the quiet front lobby of her old high school. Not many lights had been turned on and the dank smell of old books and floor wax filled her nostrils. She didn’t miss this era of her life at all and wasn’t sure why she’d let her sister talk her into coming back to revisit it.

Cooper’s face flittered through her mind. The only thing that would make today bearable was if he showed up. But she knew he wouldn’t.

“Jo Ellen?”

With a gasp, she spun around to find Travis stepping conspicuously from the gym and glancing both ways before hurrying to her.

She hugged her waist, watching him from hollow, untrusting eyes. “Travis.”

He smiled and reached out to touch her elbow. “Hey. I wasn’t sure if you’d really show up, or if you were pulling my leg about meeting me here.”

Unable to respond to his comment, she glanced toward the doors of the gym. “You’re married.”

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