She looked appalled. “Jackson? Why?”
I shrugged. “No idea. He won’t stop. Says he wants me to call him. Then he says he wants his stupid bag.”
“What bag? That fancy one you brought with you?”
“Yeah, that thing cost four thousand dollars.”
Her eyes lifted to mine. Widened. “Four thou–” She laughed, shaking her head.
“He loves that thing, so when I found him with Sheryl, I took it.”
“Good for you, honey. Why would he want the bag back? I mean, he’s a big city lawyer and can afford another.”
The answer was obvious. “He’s crazy.”
“Or it’s got something in it he wants,” she offered.
“I dumped the contents into a trash can before I left town.”
“That’s where you should’ve dumped him, too,” she added. “Let’s talk about Buck Wilder instead. Besides being handsome, he’s nice, too,” she repeated, circling back after being distracted by Jackson. “He’s done amazing things with the family ranch.”
I couldn’t help but smile. “He let me drive the tractor.”
She laughed. “I bet that was fun.”
It had been. Especially what we’d done in the cab.
“I… really like him,” I admitted. “The way I feel when I’m with him is… exhilarating and normal. It just feels right. We watched football on his couch last night. Me. Watching football. But I don’t know if I can trust a man again,” I admitted.
She patted my arm. “Honey, he’s one of the good ones and if it feels right, then it probably is. You have to decide that for yourself though. He’s also not what’s-his-name. I highly doubt he’s got a four thousand dollar man purse.”
She very well knew Jackson’s name, but she didn’t want to even say it anymore, which made me grin. I wasn’t heartbroken over breaking up with Jackson. I was heartbroken at how he’d strung me along and kept me from being with the right person.
“You’re not the same person either. You’re smarter and not listening to your parents or your ex. You know what you want.”
I wanted Buck’s dick. I also wanted to watch more football and eat more slow cooker meals and see his soft smile directed my way and his arms around me as we talked in the dark.
“Do I?” I wondered.
“You told me you only went to law school because your parents expected it, not because it’s your dream. You were with a man who didn’t put you first.”
“I’m aware of all that,” I sighed.
“Then make a different life.”
“Here?”
“Why not? It’s not the place who makes a home, it’s the person.”
Was Buck my person? It felt like it, which was crazy.
“Make a life that isn’t what your parents want or what a man expects, but whatyouwant for yourself.”
“Is that why you moved here? To escape all that?”
She gave me a soft smile. “It was a different generation. Your grandparents were a lot like your parents, knowing what was best, even when it wasn’t. I was destined for a life as a socialite. While your mom went to med school like your grandfather, I was supposed to be my mother’s sidekick at luncheons and charity functions. Can you imagine?”
She laughed.
