~ Jorie ~

“Hey, girl, I heard you were back.”

I looked up to see Julie Langley, one of my good friends from high school. When I wasn’t hanging with Nash, I’d been with Jules and Missy. Usually, it had been us three girls along with Nash, Max and Dustin though. Now, Julie had a baby in one of those sling things across her front while she pushed a shopping cart. Though she was obviously a new mom, she looked glowing and all put together.

Me? Not so much. Gran had sent me out for groceries, bright and early, so here I was, looking a little ragged from no sleep and not expecting to run into anyone I knew. I should know better. This was Mason.

I smiled, though, taking in the changes in my friend. Her honey-blonde hair that used to hang straight down to her rear was cut to just below her shoulders and filled with natural curls. She’d sprung some pretty rocking curves, too. A big ol’ rock sat on her ring finger. So different, yet the same.

“Hey,” I replied. My hand went self-consciously to my hair that I’d yanked back into a messy ponytail. “Um, yeah, I’m visiting Gran. I didn’t think people would already know.”

Jules waved her hand, blowing out a breath between her nearly closed lips. “You know Ms. Magnolia. She started telling people you were back yesterday at her prayer meeting, and you know how fast that word spreads. Did you really think you could come back to Mason without everyone finding out?”

“I wasn’t even here yet,” I laughed. “It was almost two when I rolled in this morning.”

So much for wanting to stay on the DL. It wouldn’t be long before all my old friends knew I was back—not that I was hiding from them or anything. Not from most of them. Only from one of them, if truth be told. Okay, not even from him. No matter how angry and hurt I was by what he’d done that night, I still longed for my best friend to the deepest part of me. We were soul mates, at least I’d always thought so. Was it possible for that to be one-sided?

Jules laughed at the news Gran had told everyone I was here before it even happened. “Ah…Magnolia. That’s just like her, isn’t it?”

Was it? Yeah, I guessed it was. I swear my grandmother had been one of the forerunners in the “self-fulfilling-prophecy” movement. Visualize it as if you already have it, she’d always told me. Want to make the team? Believe you’re already on it. Want an A in that class? Believe you’ve already got it and your mind will do the work to achieve it. How many times had I rolled my eyes at statements like that? Seemed Magnolia was still at it—and it appeared to be working for her, too! Gran always got what she wanted.

“Yeah, it’s just like her,” I agreed. Jules and I stood there in the produce department, chatting for a bit until her baby started fussing.

“Guess I better get moving before Sadie throws a full-blown fit,” Jules said. “Don’t you be a stranger. I expect to hear from you while you’re here, and don’t you dare try to skip out without seeing me, or I’ll kick you a—um, butt.”

“I promise,” I vowed, giving her an awkward hug around the baby and remembering just how much I’d missed all my friends here in Mason. I’d had tunnel focus when I’d run, but the truth was, I’d left behind so much more than Nash when I’d fled in humiliation.

I’d just turned to head over to the bakery for bagels when a shrill scream of excitement froze me in my steps.

“Oh my God! Jorie Holland? Oh my gosh, it is you!”

I turned to face Missy—yes, the infamous Missy from that fateful night and the third girl of our group. I’d come to terms with her innocence in the whole drunken conversation between the guys. Just because they’d brought her up, I had no reason to hold resentment against her. She’d had nothing to do with Nash’s assholery.

I smiled at her. “Hey, Missy. Long time no see.”

“No shit,” she laughed as she crushed me in a hug. “You’re back. Where the hell have you been?”

I shrugged. “Up north. I’m back for a while. Came to see Gran.”

She nodded. “Good. I know she’s missed you. Talks about you to my mom a lot. You went to school in Michigan, yeah? Ma always talks about how smart you are and how great it is about you going to university there, but gah! the cold up in the frozen north. I’d rather go to community college here and see the sun.”

I laughed as Missy rambled on, practically running her words together with how fast she talked. She’d always been like that, speaking a mile a minute and filled with bubbly glee.

“Yeah, I did miss the sun,” I agreed. “The snow was…interesting…until I had to drive in it the first time.” I shuddered. Even after five years, I’d never really adjusted. “Thankfully, with my degree, I don’t need to live where it snows if I don’t want to.”

“Oh yeah, what’s it in?”

“Hospitality,” I said, but she stared at me with knitted brows. “You know, managing hotels, restaurants, catering, events… Stuff like that.”

“You don’t say,” she said thoughtfully. “And you don’t have a job yet?”

I shook my head. “It isn’t that I can’t get someone to hire me. I’ve just been dragging my feet—post-graduation fatigue, I guess. It’s worked out though. Since I hadn’t gotten a job yet, I was able to come down here when Gran needed me.”

“Yeah, maybe, it’s fate,” she agreed, still seeming deep in her head. “You know, I’m working over at the Lazy D. You should totally come out and see how it’s changed.”

“You are?” I couldn’t hide my surprise. Ranching hardly seemed Missy’s thing. Despite growing up in Mason like me, ranching had never been her think. She’d always vowed to run away to the big city someday. Funny, I’d always wanted to work on the Lazy D. What a role reversal.

“Yeah. Cooking, cleaning… Stuff like that.” She raised her eyebrow making it obvious she was echoing me. I chuckled. “So…” she went on. “Come out and see it?”

“I’m not sure that’s a good idea…” Actually, I was pretty sure it was a horrible idea.

“Just…” Missy shook her head, redirecting her argument. There was no way she, and everyone else I knew here, didn’t know something had happened between Nash and me. As secretive as we’d been, it was sure to get out, from Gran if not from Nash himself. “Just think about it, okay. Let me give you my number, and you can give me a call when you decided to visit.”

Reluctantly, I agreed. Missy had been my friend, too. Even if I never set foot on the Lazy D, the two of us could reconnect.

After we parted, I finished my shopping and ran into no less than eight more people I knew from my Mason-past. Definitely a bad day to not look my best.

At least none of them were Nash.

* * * *

“So when do you think you’re coming back here?” Ryder asked. I wasn’t sure why. I mean, I’d just arrived less than twelve hours ago.

I noticed he didn’t ask when I was coming home.

“I don’t know,” I admitted. Gran seemed okay, though I hadn’t seen her so far today. I’d come home to a note that said Doctor and nothing else. That had annoyed and worried me. Didn’t she think I’d want to be there with her or realize it was important that I know what was going on so I could give her the best care possible—or get someone in here who could if it was beyond my abilities? I didn’t think her illness was to that point yet. When we’d sat together at the kitchen table last night, she’d seemed exactly like the Gran I knew.

Truly, that had been a huge relief. I’d been so worried about what I’d find when I got here. I wasn’t ready for that. Gran had been my “mom” for over sixteen years. She was my closest family. And in my head, she was way too young to be dying. She was only in her mid-sixties.

“Okay, let me know if something changes. I’m still coming out for vacation.”

“You are?”

“Of course. I want to see Gran. See the place you’ve been homesick for.”

“I haven’t been homesick.”

“Riiiight… Tell that story to someone else.”

I sighed. It was true, but… “Maybe I was homesick, but that doesn’t mean I wanted to be here. I love Mason, but it’s hard. Knowing what happened. Then there’s everyone I left behind because I couldn’t face them.”

“It’s not like you were the one who was a douche canoe.”

I snorted at the phrase Ryder loved so much. I swore he said it just to make me laugh.

“Jorie?”

“Yeah?”

“I don’t want you far away, but… Well, I think maybe you should think about finding a job down there. Especially, if you’re going to be there awhile with Gran. You’ll need something besides caring for her, or you’ll go crazy. I know your heart wasn’t in it up here, and I bet you could find something amazing down there in Texas. Maybe not in Mason, but Austin’s not far away, right? Or maybe, Fredericksburg?”

“I don’t know if I should…”

“Trust me. I’ve seen heartbreak and the aftermath in a couple of my friends. I’m smart enough to figure it out on my own, but having witnessed it, I know how it is.”

“You’re one of the smartest people I know, stupid.” He’d graduated Magna Cum Laude and could write his own ticket after graduating college.

“Just think about it, genius.”

“I will.” Even as we continued to talk for a few minutes, my heart lightened with the idea of a job down here. If I got something in Austin, I’d be close to Gran and could visit often, but I’d be far enough away to avoid certain people…or a certain person and the rumors surrounding the two of us. Yeah, a job in Austin would be great.

But I knew I’d probably never consider something more than an hour or two away. I needed to stay near Gran, and that meant looking closer to home—my home here—and staying in Mason indefinitely.

Since Gran wasn’t at the house, I spent a couple hours on my laptop, putting together my resume and scanning for hospitality jobs in Fredericksburg, Llano and surrounding areas. I even peeked at a couple in Austin, just to see what was there. The more I worked, the more excited I became at the prospect of being back home. I wouldn’t tell Gran yet. I didn’t want to get her hopes up before anything panned out—if anything panned out. I know she wanted me home and had for a while.

I’d just closed my computer so I could do some housework when my phone rang. My eyes widened at the ID. Missy. That was fast.

“What are you up to tomorrow?” she asked, once we’d passed greetings.

“Just sending out resumes. I decided to look into some possible jobs in Texas.”

“Can you come have lunch with me at the ranch? I have a doctor’s appointment in the morning then I need to get back here or I’d meet you somewhere in town.”

“Doctor’s appointment? Everything okay?”

“Depends on your definition.” She laughed, the sound almost bitter. “I’m healthy enough; just knocked up. Nash is pretty pissed about it. I do a lot of stuff around here that he’ll make me stop doing soon. I swear if he had his way he’d have me sitting in a cushy chair with my feet on a pillow while I direct traffic around the ranch.”

Why would Nash…? Oh… He and Missy were a thing. Maybe more than a thing.

I closed my eyes against the hurt that caused, my fist rubbing over my heart.

“Jorie?”

“Yeah,” I answered distantly, lost in my thoughts but realizing I’d been quiet too long.

“So can you? I’ll show you all around the place.”

“I’m not sure that’s a great idea. Are you sure we can’t meet in town?” I didn’t want to see Nash. I definitely didn’t want to see Missy and Nash together. I had no hold on him, no right to be jealous, but acid ate up my insides. I hated him, didn’t I? I didn’t care if he’d committed to her after he’d played me. Right?

“I can’t get away that long. Please,” she wheedled. “Please come out and see me. I’ve missed you. I want to get caught up.”

My head dropped forward, and I closed my eyes with a quiet sigh. I’d been friends with her almost as long as with Nash. I’d missed her, too, even though I’d tried to push away all my friends, packaging them with Nash as past history.

“Jorie,” she said after a moment of silence. “I know something happened with you and Nash, though I don’t know what; he never told me. Just… Well, he’s not supposed to be around, okay? Max said they’re going out to check fences tomorrow. When that happens, they’re not back until supper. Some of the crew will be around, but mostly, it’ll just be me.”

I nodded, though she couldn’t see me. “Okay. What time?

* * * *

~ Nash ~

“Nash!” Dustin called as I lugged some wire and a lumber cart of beams to the checkout at the Farm and Feed. I could have had them delivered, but since I only needed a few things, this was quicker. It was kind of an emergency—another caused by how busy I’d been. We had a broken fence and none of the supplies needed to fix it. I’d spent the morning wrangling the herd into a different area so we wouldn’t lose any onto the highway bisecting our spread. Then I’d needed to run into town.

I looked up to see him heading for me. Dustin managed the store owned by his dad. One day, he’d own the place, so he’d worked through every position here until he’d made it to general manager over the day crew.

“Dustin, what’s up? How are ya?”

“Good. Didn’t think I’d see you today.”

I grunted and indicated the load I was hauling up to the front.

“You know we deliver?” he teased, full-well knowing why I was here and not vice versa.

I grimaced. “Needed it three hours ago. I’ve gotta get my crap organized, so we can stop meeting like this.”

Dustin laughed. “I was going to call you today anyway?”

“Yeah?”

“Did you hear Jorie’s back?”

A scowl pulled at my face. Had I heard? Only from about twelve people…today alone. “I heard,” I grated.

“Okay. Okay.” He held up his hands defensively, but still smiling. “Thought you’d want to know your girl was back.”

“Not my girl,” I snapped, my mind immediately going to the ring wrapped in soft cloth in the back of my dresser drawer. She’d more than proved she wasn’t mine. Leaving it. Leaving me. Running.

“Right,” he said, his disagreement clear. So you weren’t best friends for like a million years.

I shrugged. “She’s back. I’m here. Mason’s big enough we don’t have to see each other.”

“Right,” he said, again disagreeing despite his word choice. “Like that’s going to happen. You ever going to tell me what happened between you two.”

I sighed. Maybe if I knew. Fact was, I had no idea why my girl as he’d called her had left me and taken my pulverized heart with her.