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“I think they’re still going to fire me,” Jess says quietly, pulling me from my thoughts.
“Then you’ll work for me until I return home. We’ll figure something out for after that before the time comes. Matthew is right. This was done out of jealousy toward you. I should have seen this coming sooner.”
“It’s not your fault. You have a lot on your mind.”
I lift my locket and fidget with it, running it back and forth over the chain. I need to get Jess out of this hotel and home safely. We’re all used to what happened. She was clearly in shock once we were all loaded securely in the elevator.
Her hands were shaking as she received a text on the way up to the suite. Matthew was livid as she and Maggie were almost hurt. Maggie had tried to help Jess and got caught in the crossfire. Someone had to have leaked that I was here.
People seemed to leap out of nowhere, we were surrounded so fast. Jess has been sitting in shock since we made it into the suite. I feel terrible.
“She wasn’t wrong,” Jess says from beside me.
I turn to look at her, and she’s staring at the locket in my hand. I knit my brows, wondering what she’s talking about. Her eyes light up and she fully turns toward me.
“My mama. She wasn’t crazy. Well, she is but not like I thought. She always said my daddy didn’t love her because he was in love with someone else.
“That locket, yours is the other half. When I asked him about it earlier. He said someone he loves has the other half. Not someone he loved—someone he loves.
“As in the present. Oh my God. You have to speak to him. You guys need to talk,” she pleads.
“Jess—”
“No. Listen. I don’t know what happened, but I know something did happen. I’ve been doing the math. My daddy has talked about Paris a few times to me, and I believe he let it spill that he was there with a girlfriend.
“I know that was you. I think that was the last time he was truly happy. The way his eyes light up when he talks about it.”
She pauses and moves to the floor in front of me. Getting on her knees, she grabs my hands and looks into my eyes pleadingly. I’m too stunned to say a word.
She sighs heavily. “I know you need to talk to him. I … I learned something. Something I’m not ready to share with anyone because it’s devastating, and it’s going to hurt a lot of people.
“If I’m right, my secret affects you too. No one deserves to feel like I feel. This confusion, this hurt, I don’t even know who I am. I feel like this thing used to hurt people I love,” she says through a throat clogged with emotions.
Her eyes are filled with tears. “I don’t know if I’m right. This could all be assumptions, but my gut and the trail the pieces of my daddy’s heart have made tells me I’m onto something.
“You need the truth. As hurtful as it is, I’m glad I have mine. No one deserves betrayal like this. Especially not a man like my daddy,” she says.
“Jess, some things should be left in the past. Decisions were made. People made choices and we’ve lived with those.”
“No. No, no, no. Choices were taken. You don’t understand. You have to talk to him and hear his side. I know something bad happened. If she could do this to me … please, just talk to him.”
“You’ve been hurt. I get that, but what I had with your father was years ago. Who’s to say we still feel that way?”
“Y’all do. I know my daddy does and I know you do too. He’s the man in Texas,” she says and begins to sing me my lyrics.
I close my eyes as the tears begin to spill over. I don’t think anyone else has ever figured out how personal that song is.
There’s a man in Texas.
His hair is like gold and his eyes are blue.
He’s tender when I want it
He’s rough when I need it
He’s everything, everything, everything I’ve needed.
He’s very honest
He’s overprotective
He’s right in the place where my heart will always bleed through?—
There’s a man, there’s a man, there’s a man I love?—
In Texas?—
“You were spelling my daddy’s name. You still love him, and he has always loved you. Someone has just been weaponizing the honorable man he is.”
“Oh shit. How did I miss that?” Elise gasps. “I’ve listened to that song a million times and never caught that.”
“That’s my favorite album. It’s so real. I could feel her emotions in every song.”
“They’re just songs,” I murmur.
“No, they’re not. They’re your half of the truth. Please, talk to him for me. This is all my fault. If it wasn’t for me—” She cuts off and shakes her head.
