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“Why aren’t you going after him?”
I turned around to find Mulaney underneath the one working light on the building, hands on her hips.
“I don’t know where he went.”
“This town ain’t that big,” she pointed out.
“He won’t listen to me when he’s this upset.” I’d never seen him this mad, so I didn’t know that for sure, but during our last argument, there’d been no reasoning with him.
She dropped her hands by her sides and took a step toward me. “I swear I was only trying to help,” she muttered, looking down at the gravel parking lot. An innocent weed that had somehow managed to grow through the rocks took the brunt of her frustration.
“What did you do?”
When her eyes met mine again, they were determined. “Tomorrow. One o’clock. The tree behind my house. You know the one.”
“Tomorrow is Christmas,” I protested.
She walked back toward the bar. “Be there,” she called over her shoulder as Stone and Mr. Jacobs came out of the bar. Mulaney smacked her hands on both of their shoulders. “Hope y’all don’t mind a long walk, ‘cause our ride just took off.”
Chapter Fourteen
Mitch
“Mulaney,it’s colder than all hell out here. Why couldn’t you drag Stone to mend fences?”
She’d burst into my room going on about some emergency with a broken fence that had to be fixed immediately. I wasn’t into it. After last night, I didn’t care much about anything.
“Stone can’t fix this one.”
Somehow I’d found myself going to help her. The truck jerked to a stop. I glanced out the window and ground my teeth at how close we were to the spot where Juliana and I had had our first kiss. No broken fence was in sight because there was no fence right here.
“I don’t know what you’re up to, but take me back to the house.”
“Can’t do that.” She opened the door and grabbed something from the side pocket. “Get out of the truck, Mitch.”
I sat there for a second. She slammed the door and took off in a direction I didn’t want to go. It hurt too much. Yesterday at this time, I’d believed Juliana and I could get through anything. Now, I realized I’d been deluding myself.
Mulaney didn’t turn around as she went deeper into the scattered treeline. She’d almost disappeared when I shoved out of the truck and hurried after her. When I’d almost caught her, I wished I’d stayed behind.
Juliana stood not too far from our tree, arms wrapped around herself with her back to the trunk as if she couldn’t bear to look at it.
“Mulaney,” I warned under my breath.
She yanked on my arm and dragged me forward until I was close enough to catch a lungful of Juliana’s sweet scent. My anger flared, licking through me at the thought of her lips on someone else’s.
“Before either of y’all start, hear me out.” My sister didn’t let go of me, not that her grasp was enough to hold me if I wanted to leave. “I did some meddling—well, you two were just too stubborn for your own good. I only wanted to give you a little nudge to go after Jules. She makes you happy, and you haven’t been for months without her.”
“What kind of ‘little nudge’?”
“She wasn’t kissing the kid in the parking lot yesterday at the market,” Mulaney admitted in a rush.
“You told him I was kissing Alfie?” Juliana gaped at my sister like she’d heard her wrong. And then those livid eyes landed on me. They softened. “And then last night happened.” Her shoulders dropped, along with her chin.
“I didn’t know y’all had worked everything out yesterday morning.”
“How do you know that now?” I hadn’t said a word to any of my family about the temporary reconciliation.
“I found some panties in the barn I’m pretty sure don’t belong to me or Mama.”
