Page 25 of Homicide in Water Creek

Biting her lip, Jacks nodded, staring at the table. “You were afraid I’d follow King to the big city.” She didn’t have to look up to see his shoulder rise to touch his ear. “Granddaddy, you know what I’ve worked so hard for all these years. This is my home. The Double J is my dream as much as it’s yours. I’ll be on this ranch until I take my last breath, no matter how it or we change over the years.”

“Love is a funny thing, Jackie. Sometimes, when you’re in love, you’ll follow someone to the ends of the earth, no matter your dream. If we had let you and King get involved, there was a real chance I’d lose you.”

“I wouldn’t have lasted long in the city. Here’s what you and Keene didn’t take into account: King wouldn’t have lasted in the city either. He told me as much before he left.”

“What did he say?” he asked curiously.

She held his gaze as she spoke. “He told me his granddaddy wanted him to go, so he’d go. I wasn’t surprised to see him back here a few years later.”

“In his defense, he was shot twice,” Granddaddy said, as if she didn’t already know.

“I don’t think it would have mattered. He would have found his way back here.”

“If that’s the case, why didn’t you start seeing him again after he came back?”

“You damn well know why,” she spat. “For some reason, everyone but me can pretend the attack didn’t happen. It happened! It changed me!” Her mind immediately replayed the sequence of events, sending a shiver through her. She forced the image of King holding her on the bed to the forefront so she could breathe again.

“Jackie, I know,” he said on a sigh.

The room spun around her as she shook her head. “I don’t think you do. I don’t think you understand how it changed my fundamental faith in myself. You always told me I was invincible, that I could do anything I put my mind to. You always told me the brace on my leg was nothing more than an accessory to my outfit. Until it wasn’t. So don’t tell me you know. Does. King. Know?” Her voice was staccato and halting when she finally voiced the question she’d avoided for years.

He held her gaze as he answered. “I don’t know, and that’s the God’s honest truth. If he does, it’s because someone else told him.”

Jacks nodded once. “Can we move on now?”

“Move on to what, Jackie?”

“Move on with life. I don’t like being mad at you. I don’t like feeling like I can’t trust the one man I’ve trusted to take care of me since I climbed into his truck nineteen years ago. Maybe you were wrong about King and me back then, but you aren’t wrong now. King needs a woman without the emotional baggage I carry.”

“What does King say about that?” His head was tilted to the left as he studied her.

“King says he doesn’t care what others think. He makes his own decisions.”

“If King has his heart set on you, what Keene or I think doesn’t matter. King’s compass always points to the Double J. I knew it then, and I know it now. If it’s meant to be, it will be, no matter how much two old codgers interfere.”

“And if it happens, the two old codgers won’t object?”

He shrugged, resting both forearms on the table. “This old codger won’t. I can’t speak for the other one.”

“Are we good?” Jacks slid her hand across the table and took his, squeezing his fingers.

“I’m the one who should be asking that question, Jackie. I wronged you, not the other way around. So, are we good?”

There was a settling in her heart. “We’re good. Do it again, though, and we won’t be.”

He patted her hand with his other hand and winked. “I’ve learned my lesson, sweetheart. You’re an adult now. You make your own decisions.”

“Thanks, Granddaddy. I might make some mistakes, but I always try to make you proud.”

“And you do, every single day.”

When he stood and held out his arms, she willingly stepped into them, knowing the comfort they’d offer and the divide they’d heal.

Jackie 1

Jackson Senior Infinity

Chapter Twelve