A Fallow Heart (13 page)

Their only grandkid, huh? Jo Ellen must not have a gaggle of babies then. Instantly, he winced, guilty for the relief he experienced.

“…Thank goodness we decided to come down for the whole week,” Emma Leigh rambled on. “The new grandparents probably would’ve hog-tied us and trapped us in the basement if we’d tried to make this a single-day trip. I coaxed Joey into coming down from Dallas for the entire week, too; she’s only seen Brand once since he was born.”

“Dallas?” Coop repeated, his attention whooshing into focus. “She’s living in Dallas?”

“Yep. And Caine’s in Fort Worth if you can believe that. He’s a big time photographer these days. And barely twenty-four, to boot.”

“Wow.” Cooper made the right sounds, even though his mind returned to Dallas.

She was in Dallas.

It made sense. She’d always been so polished and chic as if she had belonged in a big city from birth.

“You should really check out his website. Even for my annoying little brother, the damn boy has talent.”

Cooper nodded politely. But Dallas? How long has she been in Dallas?

“So you said you’d moved back home, huh,” Emma said, changing the subject abruptly. Scrambling to catch up with the switch in conversation, Cooper gave her plenty of time to add, “When’d you do that? And when’d you move out in the first place?”

“Uh…I bought a place straight out of college and started my own agricultural business, spraying, and fertilizing, and such. But…” He let out a soul-weighing sigh as he added the miserable part; “I sold my house and moved back to the farm about a year before we had to put Dad in a nursing home.”

“Oh my God.” Emma’s mouth dropped open as she set her hand on Cooper’s arm. “You had to put Thad in a home? He must hate that.”

Coop stared at her hand, trying to calm the panic and misery eating at him whenever he thought of his father. “When he remembers who he is, yeah, he’s raring to get out of there. But…” The words died in his throat as his voice failed him.

Jesus, he hated it when he had to explain what had become of his dad.

“Remembers who he is?” Emma repeated, shaking her head. “What do you mean? What’s wrong with him?”

Cooper swallowed down the lump in his throat. “He has Dementia.”

Pressing her hand to her mouth, Em gasped and studied Coop with enough pity to just about unravel him.

His dad had always been larger than life in his eyes. Steady, dependable, hard-working. Now, he was a shell of a man. It rattled Cooper every time he visited the nursing home.

Before he could stop himself, he spilled out the whole story. When he and his mother recognized what was happening, Coop had moved home to help with the daily chores. But as his father declined, Coop’s responsibilities doubled. Finally, he dropped his spraying business and took over his father’s job full time. Thad might’ve forgotten most everything, but he hadn’t forgotten he was a farmer. Every day, he’d tried to climb onto a tractor and start it.

For a couple months, they’d hidden all the keys from him. Then he’d fallen off when trying to climb onto one and bruised his hip so bad it was a miracle he hadn’t broken it. That’s when Loren and Coop decided he needed to go to a nursing home, where he couldn’t wander off and hurt himself.

Thad’s mind had only decayed from there. Most days, Thad didn’t recognize Cooper’s face. To top everything, Cooper had found that damn, incriminating letter a month ago when he’d been helping his mother clear out all of Thad’s old clothes. He hadn’t been able to look her in the eye since, too confused and strangely upset. His entire foundation where his parents were concerned felt rocked and no longer stable. It was almost as if he didn’t even know who he was himself any longer.

“Poor Loren,” Em cooed, making him grit his teeth to keep from blurting out his new awkwardness with his mother. “She must be miserable; used to having Thad around all the time.”

Coop managed a tight nod. “Stacia keeps trying to get her to move in with her and her boys, but…”

“Is Stacia your wife,” Branson butted in, sounding hopeful.

Coop managed to hide a grin as he shook his head. “No. My sister. She lives about five hours away and has three kids. All boys. But Mom says she refuses to leave Dad here by himself.”

It took all he had not to sound sarcastic. But his whole life, he’d adored his mother and everyone knew that. To suddenly show any kind of disapproval toward her in public would only produce a bunch of questions he really didn’t want to answer. So, if his mother wanted to pretend she really missed his father, he’d go along with that story. Sure.

He didn’t know what to do about either of his parents. The helpless frustration he’d felt since moving Thad to the nursing home to this new knowledge he’d gained about Loren made it hard for him to breathe, burning his windpipe.

As if realizing he needed some kind of diversion before he disgraced himself and broke down, the door quivered open, stirring warm outdoor air into the bar. Cooper had no idea what possessed him to look; it was as if he sensed her or something. Drawn like a magnet, he lifted his gaze and froze, unable to even breathe as Jo Ellen Rawlings appeared between the scarred old doors and swept inside.

Suddenly very alert, he continued to hold motionless while every nerve ending in his body twitched like a live wire, ready to electrocute the first thing he touched.

The feminine way she moved, the tilt of her head, the way she wore her hair. God, she was breathtaking. She was so…so Jo Ellen.

He told himself he hadn’t been pining for her. But seeing her brought about an almost painful awareness, making his skin grow tight and foreign. He couldn’t work his lungs right, and his hearing went wonky so he couldn’t make out anything Emma Leigh said to him past the buzzing in his eardrums.

He quietly exhaled a long breath, trying to calm himself before he nudged Em’s elbow. “Expecting any more to join your party tonight?”

Chapter Nine

Jo Ellen took a deep breath as she entered the tavern, paying careful attention to dropping her keys into her purse and clicking the latch closed.

She hated entering a social establishment alone. She should’ve just told Emma Leigh she’d meet her at their parents’ house where they were staying the entire week.

Thank God she heard her sister’s voice as soon as she tucked her purse under her arm. “Hey, Joey. Over here.”

She didn’t know what she would’ve done, loitering around the bar and looking pathetic all by her lonesome until Emma Leigh had arrived. Relieved she didn’t have to worry about any of that, she smiled and glanced toward the call to find Alexa and Dexter gathered around Branson and her sister. Her step faltered before she regained her momentum, forcing herself to suck it up. If she was going to be stuck as their fifth wheel for the entire week, she might as well get used to it now.

“I’m sorry I’m late. I ran into a traffic jam on the interstate and—”

“You’re not late.” Em checked the Rolex on her wrist. “You’re ten minutes early.”

“I am?” Jo Ellen frowned and consulted her own slim, silver watch. “Then what’re
you
doing here?”

Her sister really had changed if she actually ran on time these days.

Emma Leigh tossed back her long, dark hair and laughed before explaining, “Oh no. I haven’t changed that much.” She hooked a loving thumb Branson’s way. “Even Mr. Dependable here can’t keep me on time for anything. This one is all Lexi’s fault. She was starving, which forced us to get here early.”

As they glanced in unison at Dexter’s wife, the bartender served her a plate of steaming barbeque. She grinned and waved before she picked up a sauce-dripping rib with her bare fingers and tore into the juicy meat.

Jo Ellen smiled fondly and neared Alexa to set her hand on the baby bump. “How’s my little goddaughter doing in there?” She stroked once before she felt an answering kick. The sign of growing life caught her in the throat, choking her up. So bittersweet, it had her blinking back tears as she dropped her fingers from Lexi’s abdomen.

Nearby, Dexter corrected her, saying, “God
son
.”

She brightened. “Oh, you found out the gender?”

“Oops.” Emma Leigh cringed. “Forgot to tell you. They’re having a boy.”

Jo Ellen rolled her eyes. How typical of her sister to forget something so important. Setting her hand on her hip in a scolding manner, she angled a frown at Emma Leigh’s husband. “I thought we discussed this, Branson. You were supposed to work on her communication skills, remember?” She tried to look stern but was sure he could see the teasing glint in her eyes, not to mention the lips she tightened to keep from grinning.

He lifted his hands in surrender. “Hey, she has no problem communicating to me, telling me whenever I mess something up.” Then he grinned, showing how much he didn’t mind such communication.

Jo Ellen laughed, pleased to see her sister so happily married to a man who adored her. This was exactly the life she’d always dreamed of for her twin…and herself.

As the amused sound chimed from her vocal chords, she heard a sharp intake of breath nearby, from the man seated at the bar next to her group. She could make out a vague, blurry image of him from her peripheral vision. By his jeans, boots, and hat, he screamed local, which was exactly why she refused to glance over and focus on his face. From the instant she’d entered Rio’s, she’d been too nervous to look directly at anyone besides the four she’d come to see, too afraid she might recognize someone from years ago.

Cowardly move, sure, but she didn’t care. Her nerves had wadded themselves into a huge, messy ball and she was performing as well as could be expected, faking all her smiles.

But Emma Leigh just had to go and say, “Oh, hey. Look who we ran into as soon as we got here.”

She grabbed Jo Ellen’s arm and revolved her toward the man, practically shoving her into his lap, right between a pair of spread knees. Eyes widening, Jo Ellen gaped at those thick, masculine knees, covered by thin, fraying denim. Her eyes strayed up of their own will, taking in strong, muscled thighs and somehow landing on his crotch, where the fly of his jeans stretched over an impressive bulge nestled under a big shiny brass belt buckle.

She gulped as the man scooted upright, obviously also alarmed by Emma Leigh thrusting her so close.

“Coop’s here,” her sister announced.

Coop?

As in Cooper Gerhardt?

Cooper
Thaddeus
Gerhardt?

No.

Jo Ellen’s eyes widened on that denim-clad bulge, her face draining of color. If Travis Untermeyer was the number one person she didn’t want to run into, Cooper Gerhardt was the second. Didn’t even matter that he’d turned into a delicious hunk of heaven, which from what she’d seen so far, it looked as if he had.

She jerked her face up, her lips instantly parting with surprise as she came face to face with the grown-up version of Cooper Gerhardt.

Oh, Lord have mercy.

In high school, he might’ve been the cutest boy in her class. Now, he was just plain hot; Playgirl centerfold, the country boy edition. In a cowboy hat and cowboy boots, he wore blue jeans and a button-up shirt with the arms ripped off. A few ragged fringes hung down over his very tan, very muscled biceps.

Jo Ellen went a little breathless. “Oh! Uh…H-hello again, Cooper.”

Pale brown eyes inspected her before he tipped his hat politely. “Jo Ellen.”

And, wow oh wow, his voice had grown deep. The man truly played havoc on a woman’s hormones.

The tension between them grew palatable. She could practically taste the brewing chemistry. Like wine, it layered an intoxicating brand against her tongue until she grew lightheaded. Even Alexa paused eating to glance back and forth between them.

“Been a while,” Cooper murmured oh-so politely.

Jo Ellen cleared her throat and nodded. “Mmm hmm. How…how are your parents?”

There, that had to be the safest topic to discuss.

When he flinched, however, her insides contracted. She’d been grasping for something polite and distant to say, something that had nothing to do with the million and one apologies she felt she owed him. But seeing the brief pain in his expression told her she’d hit a sore spot. She covered her mouth immediately, already worried about both Loren and Thad. They’d always been the most considerate people.

“Oh, it’s just awful,” Emma Leigh butted into their conversation, explaining Thad’s condition. “Most days, he doesn’t even remember who he is.”

Jo Ellen glanced at Cooper. When he shifted his gaze away, misery lacing his features, she swallowed. “What about the farm work?” she asked, her voice sounding rusty. “Did you have to hire on more help?”

Cooper shook his head, still unable to make eye contact with her. “Can’t,” he rumbled out the answer in his new low-pitched voice. “There was no money to hire another hand.”

Her brow furrowed. “So, how is everything getting done? I thought Thad had bought cattle to add to
his farm a couple years back.”

He glanced at her, a quick intense dart from his whiskey eyes, before looking away again. But in that split second of contact, she felt physically touched. “It’s slow moving, but I’m managing to get through. A couple of neighbors have offered to help when it’s time to pick corn.”