“I’m fine, Mama.”
“Goodness sakes, Tully, you need to be more careful when you’re out for your runs. And I hope you took your pepper spray with you. Promise Springs might be a small town, but there can still be bad folks lurking around. Not to mention, stray animals. Remember when that wild pig charged Billy Rich’s nephew when he went for a run? Poor man never did come back to town.”
Tully’s heart swelled just listening to her mama ramble. As an adult, she knew people got separated and divorced. She just never thought her own parents would. She missed her mama. She missed her so much. Her heart jumped with joy when her mama offered to come take care of her . . . until she remembered that nothing got past Laura Gentry. Her mama would figure out in no time that Tully was involved with the Hennessys and renovating Honky Tonk Heaven. As much as she missed her mama, Tully wasn’t ready to have her parents find out about her plan and try and talk her out of it.
“No need to come back, Mama. My ankle already feels much better. By tomorrow, I’ll be good as new.”
It was easy to hear the hurt in her mama’s voice. “Oh, well . . . then I guess I’ll just check in tomorrow.”
Hating to hurt her mama, Tully quickly threw out another invitation “Maybe you could come back for the summer. You could stay with me. You wouldn’t have to stay with daddy . . . unless you wanted to.”
There was a long pause before her mama spoke. “Oh, sweet girl, I know you’d like to see your daddy and I get back together. But I don’t think that’s ever going to happen.”
Tully’s heart sank. “What do you mean? Have you decided to get a divorce?”
Her mama sighed. “I had hoped we could get things figured out, but it’s not looking that way.”
“What do you need to figure out, Mama? Daddy loves you and wants you back.”
“I know. But sometimes love isn’t enough, Tallulah. Sometimes people have to make sacrifices to make the other person happy. I spent a lot of years sacrificing things I wanted for your father and his career. I think it’s time that someone did a little sacrificing for me.” Before Tully could ask what she meant, her mama ended the call. “Now you take care of yourself and call me tomorrow. I love you, Tallulah Grace.”
The next day, Tully’s ankle was only slightly sore. Since her shift wasn’t until later that night, she ended up cleaning her entire house and doing four loads of laundry before she left for work.
She patrolled the town three times, before she finally gave in and drove past Honky Tonk Heaven. No lights were on, and without a key, there was no way to get in, but she parked anyway and just sat there looking at the building . . . and thinking about what Magnolia had said.
But why does your relationship with Jaxon have to be serious? Why can’t you just . . . have fun together while he’s here?
Kissing Jaxon had been fun. Tully knew that if Dumplin’ hadn’t interrupted, things would have gotten even more fun. But was she the type of woman who could just have fun without strings and expectations? And did Jaxon even want to have fun with her? Or had he just gotten caught up in the moment? He certainly seemed to be in a hurry to leave.
Her phone rang startling her out of her thoughts. It was pathetic how quickly her hopes rose, and then quickly died when she saw it was her daddy calling and not a certain Hennessy.
“Hey, Daddy. What’s up?”
“The silent alarm went off at the hardware store. I’m heading over there now.”
“I can go check it out. I’m the one on night patrol this week, Daddy.”
“No. I’ll do it. You’re still getting over your hurt ankle. But I would like you to drive past the Hennessys and see if there’s anything suspicious going on.”
Her stomach felt like it sank all the way down to her boots. “The Hennessys? Why would you think they’re responsible for the alarm going off at the hardware store?”
“Because they’re trouble, Tully. You know that.”
Her indignation was similar to when Magnolia called Jaxon a criminal. “They were trouble when they were kids, Daddy. They aren’t kids anymore.”
“Jaxon wasn’t a kid when he robbed Mickey’s.”
Tully had never gone against her daddy. Ever. But she did so now. “I thought you believed in justice.”
“Excuse me?”
She took a deep breath before she continued. “I’m just saying that if you didn’t have enough evidence to hold him, maybe we should at least give him the benefit of the doubt.”
“I don’t know who has been putting foolish notions into your head. But the truth is that Jaxon robbed Mickey’s that night. I saw him leaving with my own two eyes. He might have gotten away with it, but I’ll be damned if he gets away with it again. Everyone knows they ran out of money for the renovations. Desperate men do desperate things. I’ll check out the alarm and you keep a watch on the Hennessys’ house.”
She should have told him the truth about giving the Hennessys a loan, but she didn’t.
“Yes, sir.”
