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“You’re okay,” he said caressing her back then Danni realized how intimate this situation was and she shouldn’t be here in his arms at least. She stepped back.
“I just came because Matt told me your mom died,” Danni explained.
He lowered his lashes and nodded. “Yesterday morning.”
“I’m sorry, Jackson. I know it must be hard on you.”
He nodded then he rubbed his hand across his jaw. He looked tired. “Jackson, tell me about you. What do you do now?”
They sat at his mom’s ancient outdoor table. Danni didn’t want to go inside. She wasn’t planning on staying that long.
She listened to Jackson, really listened to what he was saying, and she knew that she was where she belonged. If she had gone with him, it would have been a mistake. He wanted the finer things in life and her like Walker was happy in her tiny, little cabin. Walker used his feet for transportation not a big, fancy truck. Her old, red Ford had seen better days but the sentiment of her was important to Danni. Walker knew that about her baby and respected it.
Jackson hadn’t changed. She always knew this about him. She had stars in her eyes when she was eighteen and gave him her virginity. She didn’t see how different their dreams were until right now, sitting here with him.
Danni smiled at him with fondness. Gone was the bitter taste in her mouth because with Walker she had the dreams that she wanted. She knew in his own good, time, he would ask her to marry him. Nothing had changed between them. He still loved her. She still loved him. She decided to wait up for him when she got home. Danni wanted to see him.
When Jackson stopped, Danni realized she had missed the last few minutes of what he had said. “I’m sorry Jackson. I was distracted.”
The darkness of the night hid what else she was feeling. She was uncomfortable sitting here with him. They were no longer best friends. That part of their history was over. She had done the right thing by coming to tell him how sorry she was about his mother because once he was important to her, but she had never been important enough to him. She knew that now.
“Danni, do you know I never forgot you. I could never move on without you.”
“I’m sorry about that, Jackson but one day soon, I will marry Walker, so I think maybe you should.”
She watched him drop his head and wondered what he was thinking. Then his gaze traveled back up to her face. “Nothing I can do to change your mind?” He asked.
“No,” Danni responded. “Don’t you see Jackson how different we are?”
“I guess I don’t.”
She shook her head. She wanted to feel sadness, but she didn’t because her life was just fine and so was she. “Jackson, I’m here in Sherwood where I belong, and you are where you are happiest. Our dreams are so different. I don’t want what you want. I don’t think that I ever did but love and lust,” she giggled when she said that because once they had sex for the first time, she couldn’t get enough of him. “Well those things were blinding me. It was best that you left me behind.”
“I wish I hadn’t now,” he replied.
“Trust me it was for the best.”
Danni got out of her chair and she wished Jackson a good night. She wondered if he really was her first love or just the teenage kind of love where you had stars in your eyes and he was the most important thing in the world. She thought she couldn’t live a day without seeing Jackson Hand.
Walker was real kind of love that was lasting and consuming. Danni knew that in her heart she loved him more than she ever had thought possible to love another man.
“Will you be having a funeral?” She asked.
“Just a memorial service. My brothers can’t make it home. They are overseas.” She knew they didn’t even care to come home. They were both selfish in that way. “Before you head home?”
“Yes, there are people in town who will want to pay their respects to her. She wanted cremation, and nothing elaborate. So that’s what she’ll get.”
“Let me know the details. The Hatfield’s will be there,” Danni informed him.
“I will.”
She stepped down the porch steps and headed across the lawn to her cabin. She couldn’t wait for Walker to get home.
**
Before the crowds started rolling in, Hawk showed up at the bar. He was placing the clean glasses behind the counter with Simon standing beside him. “I need for you to come with me, Walker.”
He looked at Simon standing next to him. Walker was bent at the waist. He straightened and sighed. “What now?”
