Page 7 of Love Me Again

“This is my daughter, Molly,” Deb said.

Which made her Boone’s sister. So after years of knowing the guy, loving the guy, being married and then left by the guy, she was finally meeting his mother. His grandmother. His sister.

“Hi,” Josie said miserably. “Thank you,” she added when the woman handed her the socks.

Not knowing what else to do, Josie put the socks on her feet. She needed to pull herself together and get the hell out of here. Now she knew where Boone was, maybe if she could just get one of them to give her a phone number, she’d never have to come back here.

Still, she couldn’t seem to find the words to say that to them. So three generations of Tyler women just peered at her and she looked at her lap.

“So. You need Boone to complete your divorce paperwork so you can settle something.”

Deb spoke softly, with absolutely no hint of blame leveled Josie’s way. It allowed her to answer honestly without bursting into tears again.

“My father’s estate.” No tears, but her throat did seem to burn. “I’ve been trying to get everything settled, but there’s a property I can’t sell because Boone is still apparently my husband.”

“And you didn’t know this?” Molly asked gently.

Because Boone hadn’t told them. Hadn’t told them he’d ever been married at all. She knew he had problems with his family, knew it was a sore subject—that’s why she’d stayed away from it for the most part.

Josie shook her head. “I…I should have. I realize that now, but…” She trailed off, losing the words to her closing throat.

“Why don’t you start at the beginning,” the elderly woman said. Her voice was brisk, not as gentle as Molly’s, which helped somehow.

Except Josie didn’t know exactly what the beginning was. “We met at the rodeo. We dated. We got married. He didn’t speak much of his family, and I didn’t press. It seemed a sore subject.”

Josie found her curiosity outweighed the pain in her heart, so she looked up. Each woman had a pinched and hurt expression on their faces. Clearly this wasn’t news to them, but it was a sore subject too.

But Boone was here. Clearly living on the family ranch again, so it couldn’t be all bad.

She cleared her throat to continue. “After the rodeo accident, when he was in the hospital, I knew… Well, obviously it was devastating for him. He loved the rodeo. It made him feel alive.” Probably a detail they didn’t need, and not one she liked to look back on. Because at the time she hadn’t realized that meant she wasn’t enough.

That had come later.

“He left the hospital without telling me, but he made it clear he didn’t want to be married anymore. So I hired a lawyer. We were… It was all very amicable, but it’s a long, annoying process and when my father got sick again, I told my lawyer to…just handle it. I gave him a fat wad of cash and said do whatever, just leave me out of it. Well, he wasn’t the best lawyer in the world, and neither was Boone’s. They both sort of let things slide, because neither of us were pushing the matter I suppose.”

“I hope you got your money back.”

She laughed bitterly. “No. No, I don’t…” have anything. Her breath hitched again, but she couldn’t do this. She couldn’t keep crying. Maybe she had nothing left, but she had herself and she had to somehow figure out a way to forge forward.

For now, that was finalize her divorce and get Dad’s estate settled as best she could. After that?

If she considered after, she started to panic, and she couldn’t stand to do that. Not here. Not now. So she focused on the next step and the next step only.

“I just need him to hold up his end of things to make this process quick and…” She couldn’t quite form the word painless.

Because nothing about this was painless.

“Well, we’ll see what we can do on that score. In the meantime, where are you staying?”

“Oh, I…” She had no plans. Divorce decree was the only plan. “I’ll find somewhere along the way.” She tried to smile reassuringly at the woman.

Deb’s gaze was disapproving. The grandmother’s was the same. Molly, on the other hand, shook her head like Josie had just made some grave mistake.

“You’ll stay here then,” Deb said firmly.

“Here?” Josie blinked at the woman, who must also be suffering a psychotic break of her own. “Oh… No, Mrs. Tyler⁠—”

“Deb.”