LITMIR.BIZ

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handing out drinks, he kept one eye on the door, hoping Jenny wouldn’t make an appearance. Phoenix was up to his usual tricks in the den. After supper, he rolled back the area rug and he and Eden started dancing. Paxton and Lisa joined them.

      Before the crowd got too noisy, his mother called everyone to attention and welcomed Lisa into the family again. They clapped and cheered and Phoenix turned up the music. The party was on.

      Quincy was serving beers to some rodeo guys when he noticed Jenny at the front door. His heart sank. This wasn’t good. Paxton and Lisa were dancing close together to a slow number and Phoenix, Eden and Zane were clapping and cheering. Jenny, in jeans and boots, a look on her face Quincy had never seen before, walked straight toward them.

      His mother motioned to Quincy and Quincy groaned inwardly. Why was this his battle? Being a dutiful son, he walked toward his mother.

      “Do something,” she whispered. “Jenny doesn’t need to be here. She’s going to get hurt.”

      “Mom, I don’t know what I can do.”

      She gave him one of those looks he knew well.

      “Okay.”

      The music stopped as Jenny walked up to the couple. Paxton and Lisa drew apart and came face-to-face with Jenny.

      Color drained from Paxton’s face and sweat popped out on his forehead.

      “I’m Jenny Walker. Congratulations.” She held out her hand.

      “Thank you,” Lisa replied, taking the outstretched hand. “Are you a friend of Paxton’s?”

      “I dated him for over fifteen years.”

      Not a sound was heard in the room as Jenny made the declaration. Even the half-drunk cowboys went quiet. Quincy paused behind Jenny. She had a right to say what she wanted and he wasn’t going to stop her.

      “Oh.” Lisa looked at Paxton.

      “Jenny...”

      “You remembered my name. How nice. It would have been nice if you’d had the guts to answer my calls and I wouldn’t have had to come here.”

      “Jenny, this isn’t the time—”

      “No, it isn’t. I would’ve had the decency to call you if I had fallen in love with someone else. It’s a shame you didn’t feel the same way. Fifteen years of my life I shared with you and it didn’t matter.” She glanced at Lisa. “You’re welcome to him and I wish you a happy life.”

      The last word was shaky and Quincy took Jenny’s elbow and led her from the room and out the front door. They stood in the sultry September heat staring at each other.

      She brushed back her hair and a telltale tear appeared on her cheek. “What is she? A model or something?”

      “I don’t know.”

      Dark eyes glistening with tears glared at him. “Oh, you know. You just won’t share with me anymore. And that’s okay. I understand.” She gulped a breath as if she’d run a mile and Quincy got a whiff of liquor.

      “Have you been drinking?”

      “Yeah. It took a couple of glasses of wine to get enough courage to come over here. Stupid, huh?”

      The hurt on her face and in her voice cramped his gut, and all he wanted to do was hold her and let her know someone cared about her, but he couldn’t do that. That line between family loyalty and his love for Jenny was getting thinner and thinner.

      She raked her hands through her hair. “Oh, crap, I don’t think I combed my hair.”

      “You look beautiful” slipped out before he thought about it.

      There was an awkward pause for a second. Then she said, “Since you’re usually nice to everyone, I won’t take that personally.”

      There was nothing he could add to that. He really shouldn’t have said it in the first place.

      “Now I’m going home to finish off that bottle of wine. Tomorrow is the start of the rest of my life. A life without Paxton and without the Rebel family. You don’t have to worry about me coming over here and causing trouble because this will be my last visit.”

      “Jenny...”

      “You were right. I spend too much time over here and, like I said, tomorrow I start over with a clean page and a bright smile for a new future. I’ll return White Dove first thing in the morning.”

      “What are you talking about?”

      “I can’t keep the horse.”

      “Why? I gave her to you! And she’s pregnant.”

      “I’m cutting all ties, Quincy.” A feather of a hiccup left her throat. “And that means I can’t accept the gift. I’ll just leave her in the pen at the barn.”

      She loved the horse, and he knew this was hurting her and he didn’t know how to make it better. Even though her mind was set, he couldn’t accept it.

      “The horse will always be yours.”

      “Goodbye, Quincy. I’ll miss our talks.”

       Me, too. More than you’ll ever know. More than I can ever tell you.

      He wanted to tell her there was no need for her to stay away. Lisa and Paxton wouldn’t always be here. That was only asking for more trouble, though. There had to be a clean break, and his feelings didn’t matter. He would get over it and move on, just like she would.

      As she walked into the darkness to her truck, Quincy, for the first time in his life, felt his heart break. When his dad had died, his heart had been shattered. This was a different kind of pain, something he could change, but he was bound by family loyalty and that was what was tearing him up. He was a Rebel, though, and he would survive.

      Without Jenny Rose in his life.

       Chapter Three

      Paxton met Quincy at the front door. “Did you talk to Jenny?”

      “What do you care?” Quincy walked toward the kitchen, but Paxton followed. Falcon and their mother were in the kitchen.

      “What did she say?” Paxton kept on.

      Quincy got a beer out of the refrigerator and twisted off the top with more force than necessary. “You have a phone, don’t you, Paxton? Why don’t you try using it to call her, the way you should have days ago.”

      “Come on, man, get off my back.”

      Kate Rebel turned from the sink. “Paxton, your father and I raised you better than this. Not calling Jenny was the coward’s way out, and I didn’t raise cowards. Tomorrow you will go over to the Walker place and you’ll apologize with your hat in your hand. Jenny has been around this ranch since you were kids and I’m really upset at the way you’ve treated her.”

      “Mom, I couldn’t call her. She’d cry and I couldn’t handle that. Besides, I told her when we broke up we weren’t getting back together. I wasn’t ever going to change and she had to accept it. That was it for me. Jenny and I were over and I didn’t feel I had to call and explain when I fell in love with someone else.”

      Their mother wiped her hands on a dish towel. “That may be so, but you still owe her an apology.”

      “I’m not apologizing!” Paxton shouted. “You treat me as if I’m in grade school. I’m a grown man and Jenny and I had a relationship and we broke it off. Do you want me to call every girl I’ve ever dated to let them know I’m engaged?”

      Falcon was sitting at the kitchen table and he rose to his feet. Quincy was on alert because he knew Paxton wasn’t going to get away with talking to their mother like that.

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