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The screen door squeaked and her entire family came charging out.Her daddy was in his underwear holding his shotgun.Mama was in her bathrobe holding a kitchen knife.Her sisters wore various sleepwear and were armed with baseball bats, a tennis racket, and a riding crop.And Mimi was in her foam curlers and housecoat with no weapon at all.Just a big smile on her face.
“And everyone thought my plan wouldn’t work.Just how much does a Canadian football player make, anyway?”
ChapterTwenty
The drive back to the house was miserable.Not only because the heater didn’t work well in the old truck and Decker was sopping wet, but also because the jealous haze that had fogged his thinking when he had seen Jace and Sweetie all cozied up on the porch swing had lifted and he felt like a complete and utter idiot.
He knew what had sent him over the edge.He had spent way too many years standing on the sidelines while Jace took what Decker had wanted.All those feelings had reared their ugly heads when he’d gotten up to let Dixie Chick out and discovered Jace’s rental car was gone.
It hadn’t been hard to figure out where Jace went.Especially when he had flat out confessed to coming back because Sweetie was there and he wanted another chance with her.Not that he’d said those exact words, but he didn’t have to say them for Decker to know what he wanted.
Only a fool wouldn’t want a second chance with Sweetie.
Decker wanted a second chance.He wanted a second chance to redo the night and not show up at Sweetie’s house acting like an arrogant, jealous fool.She had been furious and he couldn’t blame her.His behavior had been immature and irrational.But the sight of Sweetie leaning in to kiss Jace’s cheek had unraveled all the emotions he’d been trying to keep tucked deep inside.
He hadn’t just felt rage.He’d felt terrified.Terrified at the thought of Sweetie giving Jace what she refused to give him—her love.Probably because Decker still saw himself as being unworthy of it.It had always been Jace and Sweetie.The football star and the hometown sweetheart.They had a history that she and Decker would never have.
Which explained why when he arrived home and saw Jace standing in the front yard waiting for him, he couldn’t help being pissed all over again.
He jumped out and slammed the door so hard the old truck swayed.“If you think you can just waltz back into town and start things up with her, you got another think coming.”
Jace glared back at him.“She was mine first, cuz.”
“She isn’t yours anymore.”
Jace snorted.“It doesn’t look like she’s yours either.”
Decker wished he could argue the point, but he couldn’t.He’d done exactly what he’d promised himself he wouldn’t do.He had forced Sweetie into a corner by charging over to the Holiday Ranch and claiming her as if she was some kind of possession.Which was exactly why she had left the first time.She had felt smothered and like she belonged to everyone but herself.And there he had stood in her family’s front yard and acted like some kind of arrogant, possessive Neanderthal.
What had he been thinking?
She was probably packing right now.
Just the thought of her leaving had his heart throbbing as much as his jaw where Jace had hit him.He wanted to jump back in his truck, head to the ranch, and beg her to stay so badly his hands shook.But he knew that would only make her feel more cornered.Only push her further away from him when all he wanted was to pull her close.
He fisted his hands and yelled up at the sky.“I love her.I fuckin’ love her!”
“And you think I don’t?”
He glared at his cousin.“Shut up, Jace, or I’ll finish what I started.”
“I believe I was the one winning when Sweetie hosed us down.”Winning had always been so important to Jace.It had never meant that much to Decker ...until now.
“Sweetie isn’t a prize to win.”
“Funny, but that’s not how you acted tonight.And be honest, you don’t love Sweetie.You’re just infatuated with her because she reminds you of your mama.”
Decker moved closer.“Watch it, Jace.”
“The truth hurts, doesn’t it?”
“It’s not the truth.”
“Of course it is.And I get it.You were grieving hard when you first came here to live.Being around Sweetie made you miss your mama less.But before you go around claiming to love her, you better make sure the feelings you have for her aren’t just feelings of gratitude because she helped you get through a rough time.”
“And I suppose your love for Sweetie is more authentic.”Decker snorted.“You don’t even know her.You don’t know that her favorite muffin is lemon poppy seed and her favorite flowers are tulips.You don’t know she has at least two hundred songs she wrote in notebooks in her room.Songs that speak about how hurt she was because no one seemed to care about who she was or what she wanted.It would have been so easy for her to stay here and take over the ranch.Or for her to marry you and become a football star’s wife.But she wanted her own life.She wanted to be her own person.
“So she left here at eighteen and went to Nashville all by herself.I can’t even image how hard that must have been—all alone in a big city where she knew no one.But she hung in there.She never gave up.For twelve years, she’s been working her tail off to try and make it in the music business.That’s not just feistiness.That’s determination, dedication, and the refusal to let anything or anyone hold her back.Not you.Not her daddy.Not the town she loves.”He swallowed the lump that had risen to his throat.“Not even me.That’s the woman I fell in love with.Not when I was eleven, but when I was twenty-seven years old and thought I was over crushing on her.But I’ll never get over Sweetie.Never.”
