Neither of them had the jitters—they had each chosen the wrong person and were doing something about it before it was too late. Selma didn’t see it that way, which made Emma wonder about her marriage to her father.
Had they settled? If so, they seemed happy, which only gave Selma ammunition.
If only Darion had cheated on her...or done something outrageous. Then maybe Selma would back off.
“Em...?”
She raised her gaze, met the eyes of the man that she trusted most in this world—even if he did piss her off most of the time. He was the closest thing she had to her brother and right now she needed her brother.
“Take me with you.” The words came out before the thought was formed.
The look on his face was priceless. It also ticked her off. “I’m not kidding.”
“You can’t come with me.”
“Why?”
“For all the reasons I’ve given over the years when you wanted to come along with me and Len.”
“I’m not underage anymore.” She was twenty-five, but he probably didn’t realize that. He started to speak, but she interrupted. “I can drive part-time, which will come in handy if you get yourself all beat up, which is a very real possibility.” He opened his mouth again, and again she jumped in. “I have a little money socked away. Not enough to start a new life, as I’d hoped, but enough to buy food for myself for four weeks.”
Jess eyed her, obviously waiting for her to run out of steam before telling her no way.
“You can buy the gas, because you’d be doing that no matter what.”
Jess waited a few more seconds, then said, “Are you done.” It was a statement rather than a question.
“Waiting to hear all the reasons that this is a no-go,” she said mildly. “Although, you know that Len would have taken me.”
“How do I know that?”
Her tone became low and serious. “Because this isn’t a matter of me being capricious. This is something I need to do. Selma is breaking me, Jess. I don’t want to run forever...just until I can get my equilibrium back.”
He was wavering. He, who took the hard line whenever she’d come up with some scheme to include herself in his and Len’s adventures.
“I lost my brother a little over a year ago, Jess.” Nineteen months, actually. “I’m not one hundred percent. And I think Len’s death is affecting Selma, too. I just...want to get away.”
He lowered his eyes. Tapped his fingers on the table a couple of times. Em held her breath. Waited. “What about your job?”
“There’s a stack of applications in the office. Skye will understand.” Jess’s sister-in-law was now managing the café where she worked. She was a friend. “Don’t make me beg.”
He met her gaze with a frown. “You are begging.”
“Don’t make me beg super hard, then.”
Jess scrubbed his hands over his face, and Emma let out a silent sigh of relief. She’d won. She was going to get her reprieve. “Only if Skye will hold your job for you.”
“What?”
“You have to make a living when you come back.”
“That’s not your concern.”
“But it’s my condition...that and a rodeo-by-rodeo assessment. If this isn’t working, then the deal is done.”
Emma wished her head wasn’t hurting so much. Yes, that seemed fair enough...except for the rodeo-by-rodeo thing. She did have a way of triggering Jess.
Well, she’d just have to figure out a way not to do that.
* * *
JESS THOUGHT BACK over his rides at Hennessey’s practice pens the day before. He hadn’t hit his head, so he couldn’t blame anything but himself for agreeing to let Emma ride along with him on his rodeo tour.
The change in her expression when she’d realized he was about to say yes had been profound and drove home the point that Emma, who had the ability to bounce back from any and all situations, was not bouncing back from the death of her brother and her broken engagement. Throw in a controlling stepmom and...well, he’d said yes.
He hoped he didn’t regret it.
Of course you’re going to regret it.
Okay—he hoped he wasn’t going to regret it too much.
“I need to go to the motel and get my stuff.”
“Do you have enough to travel?”
“I’d better, because I’m not going back to the ranch to pick up more.”
“But you will tell them you’re leaving.”
“The beauty of texting.”
“And talk to Skye.”
“I’ll do that today before we leave.”
“Are you leaving her in a lurch?”
“No. It just occurred to me that Chelsea wanted to ease back into part-time now that she’s had the baby, so this will work out well.” She shrugged. “It’s almost like it’s meant to be.”
He didn’t know about that, but he was certain that now that he’d said yes, there was no way he could say no—at least not until they started wrangling with one another while on the road.
“I’m driving to Union City tonight.”
She gave him a small smile. “We can pick my stuff up on the way out of town.”
Jess didn’t have a lot to say when he drove, so Emma read on her phone and left him in peace. Len had always wanted to get into his head before an event, and she figured Jess was the same. And even though she was being the perfect cab-mate, riding in silence, Jess kept cutting looks her way as if expecting her to speak.
What was she supposed to say? Thank you for taking me with you? She’d already said that, and Em wasn’t a big believer in repeating herself.
On the fifteenth or sixteenth look she finally broke.
“Nice day for a drive.”
He frowned at her.
“You wanted me to talk, right?”
“I was wondering why you weren’t talking.”
“There’s nothing to say.”
He gave her an I’m-not-falling-for-that look. Fine. He didn’t have to fall for anything. She went back to her phone. He wasn’t going to be able to complain that she was distracting him from mentally preparing for his ride.
“When did you become so quiet?”
“When I figured out that listening was as valuable as talking.” She scrolled to the next page.
“When did that happen?”
She gave a small shrug. “Years ago.”
“Not that many years ago.”
She couldn’t help scowling at him. “I was in college.” She’d dropped out shortly after Len died.
“Ah.”