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He nodded. “Her name’s Sidney.”
Jo Ellen nodded too. “How…how old are your children?”
It took him a moment to think up the answer. “Uh…Bradley’s eight and Stella is…five.”
Eight. No, he most certainly hadn’t waited long to find himself another woman to impregnate. Jo Ellen’s child would’ve been ten a month ago.
A mother and young girl pushed out of the gymnasium and into the front hall, the woman herding her daughter in the direction the bathrooms. Wanting to question Travis further with more privacy, Jo Ellen touched his arm. “This way.”
With a nod, he followed her around a corner and into a darkened hall lined with old metal lockers. When they reached a quiet nook that led to a pair of classroom doors, she stopped and turned to face him.
* * * *
Cooper ran a nervous hand through his hair only to check his reflection in the rear view mirror of his truck to make sure he hadn’t made a total mess. Sitting parked in front of his old high school, he sucked in a long, invigorating breath.
It was now-or-never time again. He felt a sense of déjà vu, as if ten years had never passed. He might as well be standing in front of Jo Ellen’s parents’ house again with a filled book bag in one hand and his mom’s cookies in the other, ready to confront the girl of his dreams with his feelings before she left town.
It was like this situation just kept repeating itself until he got it right. This time, he refused to mess it up. He didn’t care if he ended up like his father any more, spilling his feelings to a woman, not knowing whether she returned his affections or not.
After talking to his mother last night, he decided his father’s letter had been the most courageous thing he’d ever heard. And he’d always followed tradition, always followed his dad’s footsteps. There was no reason to stop now. Besides, there wasn’t another man alive he’d want to emulate.
Blowing out a breath, he opened his truck door and stepped out. The sound of his boot heels striking the sidewalk sounded lonely and solitary, but he hoped when he exited the school, there’d be another set of footsteps walking beside his. Jo Ellen’s.
When he opened the front doors and stepped into the quiet lobby of the school, he barely caught sight of two people turning down a darkened hallway. Recognizing Jo Ellen anywhere, he paused and focused on the man following her.
Eyes narrowing, he trailed the two from a distance, stepping lightly so his boots wouldn’t alert them to his presence. Reaching the opening of the hall, he paused and leaned forward to peer down the row of lockers. Jo Ellen ducked into a shadowed nook and her companion followed. Though he could barely see both of them, he couldn’t hear anything they said.
Cooper studied the other man a moment longer before he recognized Travis Untermeyer. Jaw clenching, he kept watching, unable to look away as Jo Ellen and her first love began to talk. As his retinas stung from the intense way he stared, Cooper watched Untermeyer reach out and catch Jo Ellen’s hip in a possessive hold. He drew her close to him.
Cooper couldn’t watch them kiss. To avoid it, he slammed his eyes closed and tried to breathe through his nose to keep from exploding.
She’d made her decision, he kept telling himself. She’d chosen Pretty Boy. He needed to leave it alone. Still, he wanted to storm down the hall and kill her perfect, little polished city boy. He wanted to crush and hurt. Instead, he whirled on the heels of his boots and didn’t open his eyes until he’d moved past the opening of the hall.
Storming from the school, he strode to his truck, the sound of his single footfalls making him grit his teeth. Damn it. This wasn’t how it was supposed to end.
Rubbing at the center of his chest, trying to abate the clawing ache, he opened his door and climbed in. Starting the engine, he didn’t even look back. He drove away.
He wouldn’t mourn, he commanded himself. He didn’t have time. He had crops to harvest.
* * * *
“So?” Jo Ellen licked her dry lips, nervous about what Travis planned to say.
He smiled. “So…”
Her brow puckered with confusion. “Did you…did you want to talk about the baby or what?”
Confusion lined his features and wrinkled at the corners of his eyes. “Baby? What baby?”
Her mouth fell open. She blinked rapidly through the incredulous shock swelling inside her before she hissed from between clenched teeth. “Our baby?”
He stared blankly before his eyes grew wide. Then he glanced around as if to once again make sure they were alone. Then he grasped her hip and led her deeper into the dark nook. “Are you telling me you actually kept it?” he hissed.
“Kept it?” she repeated, totally bewildered. What in the world was he talking about?
“Christ, Jo Ellen. I knew your family was against the idea of abortion, but I thought your parents were at least smart enough to make you give it up for adoption.”
He didn’t know.
