Broken(37)

The establishment had first come first serve seating, so sometimes getting a table could be a bit tricky. Tonight however, most of the patrons were at the bar or on the dance floor. As they made their way toward one of the empty tables, someone called out their names.

“Jocelyn! Kyla!”

She looked over to see Decker and Ridge sitting at a large table with a bored-looking blonde in tow. Jocelyn was actually pleased to see them. Having people she knew around her took away some of her nervousness. “What are you guys doing here?”

Decker and Ridge stood. Only a year apart, most people mistook them for twins because they looked so much alike with their russet hair, green eyes and lopsided grins. Decker leaned over to give her a kiss on the cheek. “Thought we’d come out for a night out on the town. Why don’t you ladies sit with us? We have a couple empty seats.”

Jocelyn looked at Kyla who shrugged in turn. “Well, sure. Thank you for the offer. We’ll sit here,” she said to the hostess before taking the offered seats. Once they’d taken their chairs, she noticed there were three more empty seats. “This seems like an awful large table for three people.”

“Stone is on the dance floor. Tootie managed to corner him tonight.”

Jocelyn grinned. “Is she still chasing him after all these years?”

Decker chuckled. “Yep, without much success. But she’s one determined lady. I don’t think she intends to stop her pursuit until she’s caught her man.”

Jocelyn raised a brow. “Does he want to be caught?”

Decker shot a meaningful glance in Kyla’s direction. “By the right woman he might.”

Kyla was too busy watching the goings on at the bar to notice that silent exchange. Jocelyn knew what her friend’s reaction would be if she knew the sexy rancher had his eye on her. Run like hell.

“Cade went to the bar to get another pitcher of beer,” Ridge offered. “Where are our manners? You haven’t met Misty, have you? She works at the Circle L Range. Misty, this is Jocelyn, an old friend of ours, and Kyla, a new one.”

The blonde nodded in their direction, not bothering to offer her hand. Jocelyn barely noticed because once Ridge mentioned Cade’s name everything ceased to exist. “Cade is here?”

“Yeah, took some convincing for him to come out with us, but we finally managed.” Decker took a healthy swig of beer from his mug. “Hope he gets his ass back soon. I need a refill.”

Kyla leaned over. “Are you okay? Do you still want to stay?” she whispered just loud enough for Jocelyn to hear.

Jocelyn and Cade had crossed paths only once since the incident in the barn a couple days ago. The small talk they’d attempted had seemed so awkward they were both relieved when it ended. She tried not to dwell too much on that scene because to do that was like opening the wound all over again. She wasn’t angry at him for what he’d done. Jocelyn had expected him to be angry with her, but it caused her a great deal of grief to know she still affected him this way. Coming home, she’d fully expected him to have moved on with his life. In some ways he had, but romantically he had not from what she had gathered through conversations with other people.

As painful as it was, she’d have to pretend she didn’t love him anymore in hopes that he could move on and find someone who could give him the things he deserved in a woman—the very things she couldn’t provide to him. Seeing Cade hurting nearly made her break down and tell him the truth until he held her in his arms and reality bitch slapped her in the face. His kiss had underlined the very reason why they couldn’t be together and he had to go on believing the worst of her.