A Fallow Heart (Tommy Creek #2)(80)

But he didn’t seem to bear any kind of shame or regret when he grinned at a fellow classmate and waved, introducing his family with a smug kind of triumph.

Her skin went hot and yet cold at the same time, fissures of anger and injustice crawling over her like a smothering fog.

He was married and happy, with children.

She was all alone, because he’d killed her faith in men.

That just didn’t seem acceptable.

Following her stare, Emma Leigh gasped. “Quick.” She tugged on her husband’s arm. “Trade me spots.”

“What?” Branson straightened and glanced around at Emma’s anxious tone. “Why?”

“Jo Ellen’s ex is here; with his wife. I don’t want him to spot her and think she’s alone.”

“Emma Leigh,” Jo Ellen hissed, grabbing Em’s arm before she could stand. “Don’t. I am here alone.”

“Well, he doesn’t need to know that.”

“Well, I’m not going to pretend Branson is my husband just to keep from looking like a poor desperate, pathetic loser.”

“But—”

“I said no!”

“Which one is he?” Bran asked, leaning Emma Leigh’s way and unconsciously stroking Brand’s cheek as he scanned the room.

“He’s still standing in the doorway,” Jo Ellen reluctantly grumbled, just as Travis steered his picture-perfect family across the floor to the refreshment table.

Branson zeroed in on him and blinked twice before lifting his brows and turning back to Jo Ellen. She cringed. “He had hair back then,” she muttered. “And weighed about twenty—maybe fifty—pounds lighter.”

“Definitely closer to fifty,” Emma Leigh corrected.

Jo Ellen pushed back her chair, unable to watch the man who’d destroyed her childhood prance around with his family as if he owned his old school. “I need some air,” she mumbled, stumbling to her feet.

“Joey—” Emma Leigh burrowed her brows in concern.

Lifting her hand to motion her twin back down, she shook her head. “No, I’m fine. I just…I’ll be back in a minute.”

She escaped the gym and found herself in the quiet front lobby of her old high school. Not many lights had been turned on and the dank smell of old books and floor wax filled her nostrils. She didn’t miss this era of her life at all and wasn’t sure why she’d let her sister talk her into coming back to revisit it.

Cooper’s face flittered through her mind. The only thing that would make today bearable was if he showed up. But she knew he wouldn’t.

“Jo Ellen?”

With a gasp, she spun around to find Travis stepping conspicuously from the gym and glancing both ways before hurrying to her.

She hugged her waist, watching him from hollow, untrusting eyes. “Travis.”

He smiled and reached out to touch her elbow. “Hey. I wasn’t sure if you’d really show up, or if you were pulling my leg about meeting me here.”

Unable to respond to his comment, she glanced toward the doors of the gym. “You’re married.”

He nodded. “Her name’s Sidney.”

Jo Ellen nodded too. “How…how old are your children?”

It took him a moment to think up the answer. “Uh…Bradley’s eight and Stella is…five.”

Eight. No, he most certainly hadn’t waited long to find himself another woman to impregnate. Jo Ellen’s child would’ve been ten a month ago.

A mother and young girl pushed out of the gymnasium and into the front hall, the woman herding her daughter in the direction the bathrooms. Wanting to question Travis further with more privacy, Jo Ellen touched his arm. “This way.”

With a nod, he followed her around a corner and into a darkened hall lined with old metal lockers. When they reached a quiet nook that led to a pair of classroom doors, she stopped and turned to face him.





Cooper ran a nervous hand through his hair only to check his reflection in the rear view mirror of his truck to make sure he hadn’t made a total mess. Sitting parked in front of his old high school, he sucked in a long, invigorating breath.

It was now-or-never time again. He felt a sense of déjà vu, as if ten years had never passed. He might as well be standing in front of Jo Ellen’s parents’ house again with a filled book bag in one hand and his mom’s cookies in the other, ready to confront the girl of his dreams with his feelings before she left town.

It was like this situation just kept repeating itself until he got it right. This time, he refused to mess it up. He didn’t care if he ended up like his father any more, spilling his feelings to a woman, not knowing whether she returned his affections or not.

After talking to his mother last night, he decided his father’s letter had been the most courageous thing he’d ever heard. And he’d always followed tradition, always followed his dad’s footsteps. There was no reason to stop now. Besides, there wasn’t another man alive he’d want to emulate.

Blowing out a breath, he opened his truck door and stepped out. The sound of his boot heels striking the sidewalk sounded lonely and solitary, but he hoped when he exited the school, there’d be another set of footsteps walking beside his. Jo Ellen’s.

When he opened the front doors and stepped into the quiet lobby of the school, he barely caught sight of two people turning down a darkened hallway. Recognizing Jo Ellen anywhere, he paused and focused on the man following her.