Page 41 of Forever After All

“I’m not your sis,” Jess said before turning back to her empty cake plate. There weren’t even any crumbs to play with while she pretended she had something more important to do than talk to her long-lost sister.

“Yes, you are. It doesn’t have me jumping for joy either, but even you can’t deny the genetics.”

Emerson didn’t look like Brett or even their dad, and Jess wasn’t ready to check those similarities in the mirror. The color of Emerson’s eyes matched Brett’s perfectly, and the shape of her nose was one she’d recognize as a Patton anywhere.

Jess stabbed at a pretend crumb on her plate. Brett and Emerson had taken a genetics test. Good for them, but Jess wasn’t ready to embrace and have a sleepover.

Emerson cleared her throat. “So, how are the horses and stuff?”

Enough was enough. Emerson could be her sister all day long, but it didn’t mean Jess had to make friends. “I don’t want to talk to you.”

Emerson slapped her palms on the table. “That’s not news. Let’s cut to the chase. Linc. Is he single?”

Jess’s grip on the fork tightened, and her head snapped up faster than a bucking bronc out of the chute. She pinned Emerson with a stare that could melt glass. “That’s none of your business.”

Emerson laughed. Actually threw her head back and laughed like something was funny.

Nothing about this unwelcome conversation was even remotely humorous, and the pounding in Jess’s ears was loud enough that it almost drowned out Emerson’s laughter.

Emerson made a show of wiping tears from her eyes as her cackling subsided. “Easy, drama queen. Don’t claw my eyes out. I wasn’t staking my claim.”

More pounding. The plastic fork in Jess’s grip snapped in two. “Don’t even think about it.” Each word was carefully articulated, so Emerson would have no trouble getting the message.

Emerson narrowed her eyes and flashed a fake smile. “I just asked a question, and I got my answer.”

Jess broke her stare and dropped the broken fork. She shouldn’t care if Emerson was interested in Linc, but shedidcare. She cared a lot.

Chapter11

Linc

Linc pushed crates against a wall, sending dust and dirt flying. The tack room saw plenty of action, and Jess always got tense when things were out of order.

He arranged the medications in a blue crate and huffed. He wasn’t doing this for Jess. He was rummaging around in the tack room after dark because it was his job. There wasn’t anything wrong with getting a jump on things.

Who was he kidding? Linc was on this cleaning and organizing steam train to take his mind off Jess’s date.

It wasn’t working.

Everything in the barn reminded him of Jess. This was her world, and he was just lucky enough to get to see it. She loved and cared for the horses like they were her babies, and everyone else stayed out of her way.

Linc got a swift punch in the gut every time that woman whispered to a horse or wrapped her arms around one. If he was jealous of the sweet pieces of Jess that the horses got, the news about her date turned him into an ugly green envy monster.

His phone dinged, and another ding followed right after. Twisting to pull it from his back pocket, he hastily cradled it in his hands as if it held the cure for the clawing in his chest.

The screen showed an unknown number, and he didn’t need to see a name to know the face behind the words.

Come on, man. I’m headed north.

Where are you?

Linc shoved the phone back into his pocket. No way was he letting Ryan anywhere near this ranch. After crawling out of prison, the last place Linc would ever go was back inside those walls.

Ryan was a fast pass to the lockup. Never again.

There were a few years of Linc’s life that got constantly kicked into the gutter of his memories. He’d stolen everything from guns to cars. He’d thrown countless rocks through windows. He’d picked off mailboxes with a bat until his arms were sore.

He’d burned every bridge he set his sights on, and he hadn’t just lit them on fire, he’d blown them up in a red-hot puff of smoke.

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