Braydon(36)

“Don’t worry, honey. You’re not the only one.”

“You’re in love?” she asked doubtfully.

“Hell no!” he exclaimed, choking on his beer.

“But you said . . .”

“Read between the lines, Jess.”

Jessie studied Sawyer for a moment. The man was the wild card in the entire bunch. There was no telling what he would do or say next, nor did anyone know what sort of mood he would be in. Although he attempted to always paste on one of those panty-melting smiles, Jessie had been around him long enough to see through them.

“You doin’ all right?” she asked him as he released her from his embrace and stood next to the table. He tipped his beer back and eyed her sideways as he grinned.

“Yup.”

Sawyer didn’t elaborate, but he didn’t have to. That smirk said it all. Whatever he was up to was probably going to get things riled up. And Jessie kinda hoped it would.





chapter EIGHT

Braydon was strolling across the parking lot of a recently demolished building. Well, it was partially demolished. The company that had hired Walker Demo was looking to add on, and a section of the previous building needed to go in order to accomplish that. Jared had assigned the follow-up to Braydon, although Brendon had managed the job during demolition. It was an easy stop, probably the only one of the entire day, but Braydon was okay with that.

He had just located the general contractor and was making his way over when his cell phone rang and vibrated against his side. In a move that was second nature, Braydon retrieved the phone and continued on his trek. He hit the Talk button on the screen.

“Hey, Mom,” Braydon greeted his mother, slowing his pace so he could manage the conversation without having to let her go.

“I was wondering if we could have that lunch you promised,” Lorrie replied sweetly, getting right to the heart of the phone call.

Promised? Braydon fought the urge to laugh. He loved the way his mother put things. He recalled mentioning it . . .

“Sure,” he answered hesitantly, glancing at his watch. “Now?” It was only eleven o’clock, which was a little earlier than he was used to taking lunch, but he had “promised” his mother. Although the invite was a little unexpected today, he was more than willing to have lunch with her, and his schedule allowed him to do so. “Want to meet somewhere?”

“The diner works for me if it works for you,” she answered quickly.

“I can be there in half an hour.”

“Perfect. It’ll give me time to make sure your father has something for lunch.”

“Does he want to join us?” Braydon offered.

“No, he said he had to meet with Travis later. So it’ll just be you and me,” she said in a rush.

“All right. I’ll see you there. Or do you need me to stop by and pick you up?”

“Nope, I’ll meet you there.”

Braydon ended the call and glanced at his phone. Something seemed off about that. He couldn’t pinpoint it exactly, but if he wasn’t mistaken, his mother was up to something. He’d seen it enough times with his brothers, he wouldn’t put it past her.

The strange part was that Braydon didn’t know exactly how he felt about that.

Knowing he’d be cutting it close if he didn’t get out of there, Braydon double-timed it over to the general contractor. They walked the area quickly, Braydon rattling off a couple of things they needed to address before Walker Demo would sign off, and then he was once again heading for his truck.

The heat of the day was already barreling down on him, and he looked forward to the air-conditioning, which he set on full blast. Tossing his hard hat into the backseat, Braydon glanced at the clock. Yeah, he was definitely going to be late, but hopefully not by much.

As he drove toward Coyote Ridge, he replayed his conversation with his mother over in his head. Not that it helped. He still wasn’t sure if he was just making shit up because he held out hope that someone would intervene and he’d have a chance to talk to Jessie. Clearly she wasn’t going to initiate any sort of reconciliation between them and she’d already shot down his attempt once.

Since their conversation at her place last night, he hadn’t seen or heard from her. Although he had requested that they get a moment to chat, he expected her to try to avoid him if possible. Last night, as he lay in bed alone, listening for the sound of Brendon coming home, he had decided to give her a few days before he tried again.

What were a few more days when three months had passed since they’d actually had a real conversation? Granted, even before then they’d been slowly drifting apart, but that was more his fault than anything. He was the * who had gone and made things complicated between them. Leaving well enough alone would’ve been the best plan, but he’d skated right on past that idea and moved in another direction altogether.

And that had led to the downfall of his relationship with Jessie.

And Brendon.

It seemed as though Brendon was avoiding him. Not that he blamed him. Their first real conversation after three months apart had involved Braydon getting up in his face because the man had left Jessie to her own devices for the entire time Braydon had been gone. If he’d known that Brendon and Jessie had called it quits, so to speak, he would’ve come back.

Maybe.