Owner of the best damn bar in Texas!
Thankfully, the gravesite service didn’t take as long as the church service. The preacher only said a few words and a quick prayer before the groundskeepers started lowering the casket into the ground.
As he watched the coffin being lowered into the deep, dark hole, sweat broke out on his forehead and his palms dampened the brim of the black cowboy hat he clutched in his hands. The lower the casket went, the more his ribs felt like they were collapsing around his lungs, as if the coffin was being lowered onto his chest. He wondered how long before he passed out and tumbled headfirst into the hole with his mama.
When a glint of light danced before his eyes, he figured not long.
But then he realized that the light had nothing to do with his lack of oxygen. It was the sun reflecting off something. He followed its dancing light across the faces of the people standing around until he pinpointed the source.
A silver star attached to a deputy’s uniform.
For some strange reason, the sight of Tallulah Gentry made his chest expand with air. Maybe because his mind was so busy categorizing the changes in her that it stopped thinking about the lowering casket.
The main change was the way she filled out the uniform.
She’d been just a skinny kid when her daddy had arrested him for robbery and vandalism. She wasn’t a kid anymore. She had one hell of a nice rack and curvy hips that made a pair of dorky khaki pants look sexy as hell.
Her hair was no longer a springy mass of unruly blond curls. It was stick straight and slicked back in a tight ponytail. As a kid, her high forehead, prominent nose, full lips, and large, expressive eyes had been too much for her small heart-shaped face. But she’d grown into those features. Now, they were a combination that made up a stunning face that was hard to look away from.
So he didn’t.
He knew the moment she realized he was looking at her. Her deep brown eyes widened and her cheeks blushed a pretty pink. But, like always, she didn’t look away. He couldn’t count how many times in his life he glanced up and found those Bambi eyes staring back at him. Back then, they’d been filled with an innocent awe. Now they were filled with something else. Something it took him a moment to identify.
Compassion.
A lump formed in his throat and tears burned the backs of his eyes.
He jerked his gaze away.
What the hell was a matter with him? No wet-behind-the-ears deputy was going to make him cry for his mama. He didn’t give a damn about Rosie because she had never given a damn about him.
So why had he come?
Standing there with the hot Texas sun beating down on his head and a softball-sized lump in his throat, he wished he hadn’t. Like Poppy, he wished he’d skipped this torture altogether. It had been a mistake to come. He’d gotten no closure. No enlightenment to why his mama had been unable to love her kids. All he’d gotten was sunstroke and a bunch of emotions that made no sense.
As soon as his mama was in the ground, he turned and headed to his truck to get the hell out of there.
His brothers quickly joined him.
“Well, that was a shit show,” Dawson said. “What say we go have dinner at that steakhouse out on highway eighty? I could use a couple beers and a thick porterhouse.”
“Sounds good to me, Dawg.” Huck hooked an arm around Dawson’s shoulders as if they hadn’t been fighting earlier. “I wonder if that pretty redheaded waitress still works there.”
Jaxon shot him a warning look. He might not have been here, but he’d kept in contact and knew what his siblings had been up to. “The pretty redhead who was married to the trucker who beat you senseless for flirting with his wife?”
Huck grinned. “That would be the one. I’m sure she’s divorced that asshole by now and is ready for some Huck luvin’.”
“More like Huck slobbering.” Dawson shoved Huck away. “But steak, beer, and getting to see you get your ass kicked will almost make coming home worth it.”
Not to Jaxon.
Nothing would make this trip home worth it.
“Hennessy boys! Hold your horses!”
All three men stopped in their tracks and glanced at each other with horror. They knew the gruff voice. Everyone in town knew the voice. Which was why they couldn’t ignore it. Jaxon had tried once and he’d never forgot the ear twisting and lecture he’d received.
Taking a deep breath, he turned to see Tully’s grandma striding toward them.
