Page 46 of Texas Made
Ask her here? “I hadn’t really thought about it.”
“Start thinking. It’s her birthday, dummy.”
“Sh—Crap. I forgot. Actually, I’m not sure I knew.” Why hadn’t she mentioned it? What the hell was he going to get her? Oh, man, he was no good at presents.
“Well, it is, so ask her to come here. I’ll keep an eye on Cap while you two go to dinner. You’re going to have to start leaving him some, you know.”
Yeah, he knew. But that didn’t make it any easier. Still if he had to leave him at least he had family to count on. And if Jaclyn came to the ranch then he wouldn’t have to leave Cap for long. “I’ll see if she can come.” He got out his cell and walked off as he speed-dialed Jaclyn.
“Hi,” she said when she picked up. “I was just thinking about you.”
“That’s good to hear. Are you busy?”
“Not right now. I have a meeting in about half an hour.”
“How about coming down here this weekend?”
“I thought you were going to come up here?”
He didn’t remember anything about that. But he wasn’t going to point that out. “I can’t, Jaclyn. I can’t leave Cap that long. Besides, we’re finally getting the barn back in shape. It would be a bad time to leave.”
“That’s what you said last weekend and the weekend before.”
“That’s because it was.” She didn’t say anything. “Look, I’m sorry. I can’t leave right now. But I really want to see you. Do you think you could come down here? Please?”
She sighed heavily. “All right. I want to see you too. But, Marshall…” she said and hesitated. “Never mind. We’ll talk when I get there.”
“Okay. Let me know when you leave Dallas Friday.”
“I will. Bye.”
Frowning, he ended the call. He had a pretty good idea what Jaclyn wanted to talk about and he sure as hell didn’t want to talk. Hello, rock, meet hard place. She had reason to be annoyed. What was happening must seem likedéjà vuto her. He didn’t want to be like her jerk of an ex, but on the other hand, what the hell else was he supposed to do? He had responsibilities at the ranch and he couldn’t simply blow them off.
He remembered how sure he’d been that he’d be able to go to Jaclyn rather than her always having to come down here.Yeah, that’s working out great, dumbass.
*
Jaclyn wasn’t inthe best of moods driving down to Whiskey River. First of all, she’d really wanted Marshall to come to Dallas. Earlier, one of those weekends that had been a ‘bad time’ for him, she’d hoped they could celebrate the Fourth of July together, but no such luck. She understood—sort of—why he couldn’t come, but that didn’t stop her wanting him to.
Second of all, this was her twenty-ninth birthday. One more year before the big three-oh. She knew twenty-nine wasn’t old. Especially not for someone who had already started and owned a successful company. But a tiny, admittedly childish part of her didn’t want to leave her twenties behind.
Big deal, she reminded herself. As if she didn’t have enough to worry about without adding something as inconsequential as a birthday.
Dwelling on that sort of crap helped no one. She’d think about the plus side of going to Whiskey River. The biggest plus, of course, was that she’d get to see Marshall. She missed him like crazy. He said he missed her but frankly, she wondered if he was too busy to miss her much. Not to mention, was he ever going to come to Dallas again? Was she being too impatient?
Probably.
By the time she arrived it was past nine and dark. She’d tried to miss most of rush hour by leaving by four but on a Friday that wasn’t really early enough. Actually, on a Friday there was no time early enough.Gotta love Dallas traffic.She parked at the house. The big two-story white wood farmhouse was a welcoming presence. She’d loved it from the first time she saw it, back when she visited Damaris when they were in college.
It was a sprawling house with big, wraparound porches. White wood with black shutters. Unlike a lot of older farmhouses, the Walkers kept it up as it clearly sported a new paint job. Additions had been built over the years, but the style was the same as the original house, so the additions looked like they belonged and didn’t appear as a hodgepodge, slapped together.
She walked up the front steps and crossed the wide front porch to ring the doorbell. The porch lights were on and she could see the rockers and flowers that adorned the porch. When no one answered she debated going around back but decided she’d be better off going to the barn since that’s where Marshall, at least, was likely to be.
The night was warm and humid. Typical summer weather in the Hill Country. Walking down the rocky path to the barn, she realized it was lit up like a Christmas tree. To say it looked different from the last time she saw it would be an understatement of huge proportion. The front end of the barn, which had suffered the most damage, sported a brand-new facade. Clearly it hadn’t been painted yet but that was probably the last step. It also looked like they’d added on a bit of space when they fixed it.
When she walked inside, she sucked in a breath, amazed at what they’d been able to accomplish in a month’s time. The office and the tack room were off to her left and looked like they’d been the beneficiaries of some of the extra space. There was also a brand-new washing station and what she decided must be a grooming station.
“Marshall?” No answer. She raised her voice and tried again.
