“Yeah, it is. Especially when you’re about to marry a girl you don’t love.”
I don’t even bother to refute him. “You don’t understand.”
“So enlighten me.” His jaw hardens. “I never took you for the kind of guy who marries for money.”
The kind of guy who marries for money.
I lose it. All this time I’ve been holding it together, keeping the truth from everyone I love. And I’m tired. I’m also buzzing from the alcohol, and my ability to think rationally is pretty much shot.
So I take out my frustrations on the one guy who’s calling me out on the biggest lie of my life. The lie that I want to marry someone not named Macey Henwood.
I jump on Blake so fast he’s not expecting it. I shove him up against the railing, but we both lose our balance when the rickety wood shifts. The two of us go flying down the three steps and onto the grassy front lawn of the bar.
We roll around the grass, each trying to get a hit in.
“You’re an ass for even intimating that I’d use somebody for money,” I snap as I dig my shoulder into his chest. “Don’t butt in where you don’t belong.”
Blake’s always been quick, and he turns abruptly, pinning me beneath him. Breathing heavily, he says, “I don’t like seeing you doing something I know is all fucking wrong for you. And you fucking know it, too. And the fact is, I don’t actually think you’re marrying Gigi for money, but I can’t get you to crack, Wild. So are you going to tell me why you’re really doing this?”
I open my mouth to confess, but movement on the porch gets my attention. I glance past Blake to the sight of Macey, Jamie, and Ben stepping out of The Cowherd. Ben hustles down the steps and grabs Blake by the back of the shirt.
“Get up, you two idiots,” he says.
The kid may be years younger than me, but he’s always been a hell of lot more even-tempered.
Blake stands up, and Ben keeps his arms around him until he’s sure the two of us are done trying to take each other out.
I get up, dusting the grass off my pants.
Macey walks slowly down the three porch steps. She takes her time getting to us, and when she does, she looks between Blake and me for several seconds before saying, “I never could take you boys anywhere.”
“Mace…” Blake starts to say, but she cuts him off with a wave of her hand in the air.
Her whiskey eyes are smoldering with emotion.
“I don’t want to know what you two are fighting over. But doing it on Cowherd Whiskey property when there’s a crowd of people, a reporter, and a cameraman inside? That’s unacceptable. We’re trying to keep the bar afloat, not lose it because of more drama and more bad press.”
I swallow, and Blake looks contrite as he mumbles an apology. Macey sends him back inside, and Ben follows.
I reach for Macey’s hand. “I’m sorry…”
She pulls her hand back as Jamie comes down the steps. “Save it for later,” she says to me, her face unreadable. “Jamie and I were about to have a romantic moment of looking at the stars together.”
Macey
I’m bluffing to Logan. Jamie and I do look at the stars after Logan disappears back inside, but the moment is stilted and awful. I try to explain my relationship with Logan to him, but I don’t think he has a clue what to say. I wouldn’t either.
I lead him back inside the bar, and by closing time, I’m single again. Not that I was ever truly taken.
Jamie and I break up in a very public, very uncomfortable fashion after he’s had a few drinks and accuses me of lying to him about my marriage to Logan. We’re standing by the bar, but Logan witnesses the entire exchange, as do Skip, my parents, and God knows who else.
Jamie storms out of the saloon, and I step outside after him, not sorry to see him leave. He refuses to take back the commitment ring, telling me it’s not worth enough to get a refund.
Ouch.
I stand out on the porch and listen to the familiar popping sounds from the backyard across the street. Over a month early, but the Hanson boys say every day is Independence Day for those of us lucky enough to be born in the great state of Texas. Red, white, and blue colors light up the Hill Country sky for a good twenty seconds as I slowly but surely work Jamie’s ring off my finger and into my jeans pocket. And then, I walk inside to the bathroom where I kneel down alone by the toilet and flush the ring into the water until I’m sure it’s drowned.
When I return from the restroom, George and Ben insist I take a break while they put up the chairs and kick everyone out.
