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“I love egg salad. That’s the way my mother makes it.”
“Honey gave me a bottle of blackberry jam. Wish I would’ve thought to grab it. You might like it on toast.”
“You’ll just have to have me over for breakfast after all this is over,” she teased.
He looked startled, as if that would never happen, and she felt silly for even suggesting it. Once the storm cleared up, they wouldn’t be sharing any meals. She was engaged. That didn’t necessarily mean she couldn’t be Bo’s friend, and yet...somehow it did. Something told her he wasn’t built for casual relationships. And Remy certainly wouldn’t like her associating with his parents’ caretaker. So maybe it was partly the fact that Bo worked for the Windsors that made it weird.
“Would you like another sandwich?” she asked when he finished.
“Maybe for dinner,” he said.
She glanced at the clock. “That would be in an hour.”
“Yeah. Sounds perfect.”
“You want to eat again in an hour?” she said as she started to laugh.
“Why not?”
“Okay,” she said with a shrug. “Egg salad is easy enough to make.” She gave him the once-over. “I wish I had a picture of you in that tiny robe.”
His face finally relaxed into a smile. “You must be trying to get me fired.”
No wonder he’d left the slippers alone. But could he be right? Certainly, Remy’s parents would understand that she and Bo were in a difficult situation and want them to be as warm, dry, and comfortable as possible. Wouldn’t they?
Ismay had to admit...she didn’t really know the Windsors—not as well as Bo did. “You think Remy’s parents would fire you for borrowing a robe?”
His smile disappeared. “I don’t think it would take that much.”
Jack squinted against the evening sun as he stared out over his father’s fields. This farm was all he’d ever known. He’d been born in the house—he’d come quickly in the middle of the night before his mother could make it to the hospital—he’d been baptized and married at the local church, and he’d gone to the closest college. He’d assumed he’d spend the rest of his life here with Ashleigh, who would never be willing to move away from her family. With such a traditional, conservative upbringing, he’d never dreamed he’d be divorced, especially at such a young age—and for a reason like this.
He’d tried so hard to make his wife happy. He’d treated Ashleigh a lot better than his father had ever treated his mother, he thought. Buzz had never been mean to Betty exactly. He treated her with respect, as an equal, but he certainly didn’t baby her and try to make things nice the way Jack had with Ashleigh. Buzz expected Betty to be tough, and she’d hung in there and borne him eight children while working just as long and hard as he had.
Although Jack had graduated from Utah State, Ashleigh had dropped out and taken a course that would enable her to become an eyelash technician. Lash extensions had become all the rage in Utah, and she’d decided to cash in on the trend. Problem was...she wasn’t the only young woman in the area with the same idea. Competition had been stiff in their small town, so she’d wound up working only a few hours, at most, per day.
Apparently, she’d been getting to know Jessica Davidson the rest of the time. While he was at work...
He rubbed his neck as he watched the plume of dust that followed his father on the tractor. He should be out there plowing, not Buzz. He suspected Buzz had insisted on finishing up himself because he felt sorry about what’d happened with Ashleigh. His father never really addressed emotional issues—certainly not head-on—but there could sometimes be a little give in what Buzz normally expected.
Jack didn’t thinkanythingcould make him feel better, though. He was so shocked, he was numb; it was as if he’d walked out of the house and been struck by a semi.
That didn’t stop him from trying to think back and pick through the rubble, however. To look for all the signs he must’ve missed. And imagine Ashleigh with her new lover. He’d been the one to encourage her to go out and have a good time with Jessica...
“Hey, you okay?”
Jack hadn’t heard Hank’s approach. Hank had been helping on the farm since he’d finished his bachelor’s a couple of weeks ago, so he’d been around a lot lately, but until his brother spoke, Jack hadn’t realized there were tears running down his face, either. Embarrassed, he used the back of his hand to quickly wipe his cheeks and turned away without answering. He couldn’t deal with having a conversation right now. The pity in his brother’s voice was almost as excruciating as the rest of it.
Perhaps he wasn’t so different from his father; he was also a private man, preferred to bury his pain. But everyone in town would soon know Ashleigh had left him—for a woman, which would only make it more sensational—and that would mean he’d soon have nowhere to hide.
“Jack?” Hank called uncertainly.
Jack didn’t stop. Lifting his hand, he waved to at least acknowledge his brother, climbed in the old Ford he’d bought from their father when Buzz had upgraded, and drove away wondering what he was going to do once he got home. Everything in the house reminded him of Ashleigh. His wife had taken some of her things but not all of them. That would have to happen at some point. When? What was she doing now? Did she regret destroying his life? At least a little? Or was she reveling in the freedom she said she’d been craving to be herauthentic self?
Had she left him because Jessica could give her children, since she already had three little girls and could probably have more babies? She was still young. All it would take was a sperm bank.
A text came in. He heard the ding. But he left his phone in the seat beside him. Whatever someone was trying to tell him—or ask him—he couldn’t face it tonight.
“Still no word from your brother?” Bo asked as he walked back into the kitchen, where they’d been playing chess.
