Page 65 of Texas Made
“There are plenty of other things you do that should make you feel jerky. This isn’t one of them.”
He laughed. “Gee, thanks.”
She smiled fleetingly. “I don’t mind, Marshall. Honest. I’m actually looking forward to it. I’ve never lived on my own. Not that I’ll really be living completely on my own. It’s not like I won’t be over here for meals. I draw the line at cooking for myself.”
“Can’t blame you there.” He sighed and rubbed his jaw. “Are you a hundred percent sure about this?”
“I wouldn’t have said anything if I wasn’t.”
“I still don’t think it’s right.”
“You’re a good brother, Marshall. Don’t worry, I want to do this.”
“If you need more room we can add on to the cottage.”
“I don’t think that will be necessary but thanks.” She laughed and added, “No grown woman needs trophies and ribbons from horse shows and competitions she won when she was ten years old.”
“You do have a lot of them, counting all the ones you won as a teenager.”
“Those were the days.” She laughed. “Now I have to settle for the occasional rodeo.”
“Do you miss it?”
“Nope. Not a bit.”
*
A week afterDamaris moved out, Jaclyn moved in. Chase and Ella’s wedding was set for a couple of weeks after Jaclyn’s move. She was in Marshall’s room unpacking some of her things and talking about the wedding. Marshall told her his parents and his other siblings would be home for it. “Weddings and holidays are about the only time we see Cole and Jedidiah. My parents come down a little more often.”
“I haven’t seen your parents in years. You know, I haven’t seen either Cole or Jedidiah in a long time either. Not since I came down with Damaris during college,” Jaclyn said. “Do they have something against Whiskey River?”
“I don’t think so. Technically, Cole lives in Whiskey River, but he’s not here much. You know Cole owns a company that repairs and maintains oil rigs, so his business takes him all over the place.”
“Oh, I guess it makes sense I haven’t seen him, then. What about Jedidiah? She’s a couple of years younger than Damaris and me. We didn’t see a lot of her when I was here.”
He was watching her put her underthings—panties, bras, camisoles, socks—into one of the dresser drawers he’d cleared out for her. His eyes were glazing over, which gave her a good idea what he was thinking. “Marshall?”
“What?”
“I asked you a question.”
“Oh, right.” He gave her a rueful grin. “It’s hard to concentrate when you’re waving all those frilly things around.”
She laughed. “I asked why your other sister doesn’t come home a lot.”
“Jedidiah left home right after she graduated high school. She always said she was meant for a more exciting life than what she could have here.”
“What does she do?”
Marshall rubbed his jaw. “I don’t know, exactly. She’s been in California the last few years. Doing something with computers, but don’t ask me what.”
“Computers? Did she go to college, then? Or business school?”
He shook his head. “No. One of her first jobs paid for her to have some training in computers. She took some specific classes after that as well. She became a troubleshooter for computer security systems and travels a lot. But both she and Cole made it back for Gabe’s wedding and they say they’ll be here for Chase’s.”
“Isn’t that a good thing?”
“Yeah.”
