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“Okay. I admit I’ll need some therapy,” Ty conceded, “but not two months’ worth.”
Most times it was hard to tell what Jessy was thinking. She had always had a man’s way of hiding her feelings. But not this time. The glance she slid him was alive with a mischievous sparkle.
“You’re just cranky because you hate not being able to cut your own meat at the table.”
The teasing jibe was all too accurate, and brought a fresh surge of irritation. “It makes me feel like a damned child,” Ty grumbled.
Jessy couldn’t resist another little playful dig. “That’s why he ordered Sally’s meatloaf instead of his usual steak,” she told Chase.
“What about my meatloaf?” Sally returned to the table with their dinner salads and coffee for Chase.
Ty shot a warning look at his wife and replied, “Jessy was just telling Dad that’s what I ordered.”
Taking the cue, Jessy changed the subject. “Have you told Chase your news, Sally?”
“What news is that?” Chase glanced from Jessy to Sally, a mild curiosity showing.
Sally hesitated, then proceeded to refill Ty’s coffee cup. “I wouldn’t exactly call it news.” But she was careful not to look Chase’s way. “It’s just that I’ve put the place up for sale.”
“For sale.” A stunned stillness gripped Chase.
“It should hardly come as a surprise.” Secretly Sally was a little pleased by his reaction. “I’ve been talking about selling out for a couple years.”
“Talking about it is one thing.” Chase declared with a frown. “Actually doing it is something else again. What in heaven’s name will you do? You’re too young to retire.” Then another thought hit him. “Where will you live? That apartment upstairs has been your only home for years.”
“More like decades.” Sally finished the thought with a sigh. “To be honest, I haven’t decided where I’ll go or what I’ll do. And I probably won’t until I actually receive a
n offer. Finding a buyer for a place like this out in the middle of nowhere won’t be easy, you know.”
“I know, but—why list it for sale now?” Chase argued, struggling with a sense of loss he couldn’t name.
“Because I’m tired,” she replied. “Tired of working fifteen, sixteen hours a day, sometimes more. I’m tired of never having a vacation. And the clientele—it isn’t the way it used to be, Chase. Most of the people who come in now are rougher, coarser.”
His expression darkened. “Has somebody stepped out of line?”
“With me?” A laugh bubbled toward the surface even as she glowed at the implied compliment. “Chase, I’m not a young redhead anymore.”
“Just the same, if someone isn’t showing you the proper respect, I want to know about it.”
“Of course.” Suddenly this entire discussion was becoming painful and Sally couldn’t explain why. “Would you like more water, Jessy?”
“Please.”
But Chase wasn’t about to let her slip away so easily. “Are you sure this is what you want to do, Sally?”
She paused. “Chase, when you don’t like your work anymore, it’s time to quit. With any luck, one of the guys working for Dy-Corp has a secret dream about owning a bar and will take this place off my hands. Lord knows they get paid high wages out there.”
“If this is what you want, Sally,” Chase began, clearly unhappy with her decision, “I’ll spread the word around that you’re looking for a buyer. But—it won’t be the same here without you.”
She could have told him she wasn’t necessarily leaving the area. She could have told him a hundred different things, but the words wouldn’t come. Something in his remark had a ring of finality, and it knifed through her. At that instant, Sally knew that she had always secretly feared that if she ever sold the restaurant, she would never see Chase again, that he wouldn’t come see her elsewhere because that would start talk. His comment had all but confirmed it.
“I appreciate your help, Chase.”
When Sally moved away from their table, Jessy wondered if she was the only one who noticed the sudden welling of tears. Every time Jessy observed Sally and Chase together—and the love for the man that shone in Sally’s eyes—it tugged at her heart. She had loved Ty from afar for too many years not to understand and empathize with the ache of that.
The memory of those times prompted Jessy to reach up and caress the strong hand resting on her shoulder, simply because she was his wife and she could. Tara was gone now; no longer did she have Ty caught under her spell.
The front door to the restaurant burst open, followed immediately by the bang of the screen door slamming shut, as loud as the crack of a rifle. Jessy jumped in her chair and half turned in her seat, her glance racing to the entrance.
