A Fallow Heart (9 page)

All three girls on the bed froze as footsteps drew near. They gaped at each other before Jo Ellen frantically whispered to Amy, “Don’t tell him. Please.”

Appearing in the doorway, Grady paused when he saw his girlfriend. His face instantly brightened. “There you are. I saw your car outside.”

Jo Ellen felt a strange nip of envy as Amy sprang off the bed and swept toward him. So much love swirled between the two of them the emotion oozed out their pores and filled the entire room. Even Grady, who was usually gruff and somber, turned light and lovable whenever his girlfriend was around. Jo Ellen had to wonder if she and Travis were so obviously in love like that. For some reason, she had a bad feeling they would never excel to this level of devotion.

It was disheartening; especially now.

“I missed you this week,” Grady murmured, nuzzling his nose into Amy’s cheek before he planted a sweet, smacking kiss to her temple.

“I missed you too” Amy closed her eyes and nuzzled back.

“Dis-gus-ting,” Emma Leigh called from beside Jo Ellen. “Can’t you two go somewhere private for that?”

“Oh, that reminds me.” Amy pulled away from Grady long enough to glance at the twins then turned back to him. “You’d help support me and marry me today if I was pregnant, wouldn’t you, Grady?”

The smile froze on his face. “Say what?”

On the bed, Jo Ellen had to swallow a groan. What in the dickens was Amy doing? She was going to reveal everything if she wasn’t careful. Clamping down on Emma Leigh’s hand, Jo Ellen held her breath.

“I know we’ve always talked about getting married someday. But if something like that happened, you’d step up now and propose. Wouldn’t you, Grady?”

He blinked at her then swiveled his attention to the twins before he turned back to his girlfriend. “Where in the hell did that question come from?”

“Grady!” Amy admonished, tapping his shoulder in punishment. “Don’t curse.”

He dropped his hands from her and stepped in reverse. “Don’t change the subject. Why’re you asking me something like that?”

Stumped, Amy flashed the twins a panicked cringe. She pointed their way before plastering such a fake smile on her face even Jo Ellen rolled her eyes over the bad imitation. “Well…” she stalled. “The twins and I were just talking—hypothetically, of course—about what we’d do if one of us were pregnant, and I—”

When she glanced Jo Ellen’s way, Grady cut in. “One of
us
?” Turning to eye his sisters, he pointedly focused on the only twin with a boyfriend. “What? Are
you
pregnant?”

Jo Ellen tried not to react, but her face heated anyway. “Why do you automatically assume we’re talking about me? Why can’t Amy be pregnant?”

Grady snorted. “What makes you think Amy and I even have sex?”

Emma Leigh jumped into the conversation to snort right back at him. “Oh, whatever. I’ve seen the condoms you hide in the back of your underwear drawer.”

Spinning toward her, Grady scowled. “What’re you doing snooping in my underwear drawer, brat?”

Em shrugged and smiled. “Snooping.”

“Well, keep your damn nose out of my things.”

“Grady!” Amy gasped. “Language.”

He frowned at his girlfriend. “What? She needs to stay out of my room.”

“I want to know why you don’t think it’s Amy who could be pregnant?” Jo Ellen demanded, irrationally stung by his automatic assumption about her. Did her own brother think she was so promiscuous?

Oh, God,
was
she so promiscuous? What would everyone else think of her?

“Whoa! Amy’s pregnant?” Caine cried from the doorway.

The thirteen-year-old was wide-eyed as he zeroed his gaze inside the room at Amy’s belly. Grady’s girlfriend immediately covered her stomach with both hands before she ducked protectively behind Grady.

“Great.” Jo Ellen groaned. “How many more people are going to stumble across this conversation?”

“Go away, runt,” Emma Leigh demanded of their youngest brother, throwing one of Jo Ellen’s pillows at him.

Caine ducked but kept gawking. He glanced at Grady. “You’re going to be a daddy? For real?”

Grady sighed and set his hands on his hips. “Amy is
not
pregnant,” he very nearly yelled. Then he ruined the resolute proclamation by tipping a sideways glance toward his girlfriend and more quietly adding, “Right?”

She nodded vigorously, and his shoulders immediately slumped.

“So then who’s pregnant?” Caine demanded to know.

Grady sliced a thoughtful glance Jo Ellen’s way.

She exploded. “
Stop looking at me like that
.”

“Yeah.” Emma Leigh hooked her arm supportively through Jo Ellen’s. “Why do you assume we’re talking about her? Why can’t
I
be pregnant?”

Grady snorted and sent Em a get-real scowl. “Maybe because I’ve been through
your
underwear drawer and
didn’t
find any condoms.”

“Really, Grady. The idea of you pawing through my panties is just plain sick and creepy. Besides, wouldn’t the lack of condoms mean I was less protected and more apt to
be
pregnant?”

His eyes narrowed. “Jesus. You always gotta be a smart ass, don’t you?”

Before Amy could reprimand him yet again, their mother appeared in the doorway behind Caine. “What is going on in here? I can hear you kids arguing from downstairs.”

Instantly, everyone fell mute. Tara Rose Rawlings set her hands on her hips. “And what’s all this talk about someone being pregnant?”

Jo Ellen shared a poignant look with her siblings.

“Dear Lord,” Tara Rose uttered in a hollow voice, covering her mouth with both hands as she ogled Grady and Amy. “Who’s pregnant?”

Jo Ellen couldn’t take it any longer. “No one’s pregnant,” she yelled, and then ruined her resolve when her mother zapped her with a probing stare. Cowering closer to Emma Leigh, she more quietly added, “I don’t think.”

“Oh, Jo Ellen, no,” her mother whispered, disappointment and worry thick in her gaze. “What have you done?”

Chapter Six

A month after the night of Bose Eden’s back-to-school bash, Cooper still found himself scanning the halls of his high school for Jo Ellen between classes. He told himself to stop. She was Untermeyer’s girl. She’d always been Untermeyer’s girl, and she’d stay Untermeyer’s girl. He was being stupid anyway. Just because she’d stuck her tongue down his throat and totally rocked his world in a state of utter inebriation didn’t mean she had to feel for him what he felt for her.

But no matter how much he commanded himself to stop looking for her, to stop thinking about her, to stop dreaming about her, he continued to do all three. He kept remembering how good she’d felt pressed against him. He kept hearing her throaty sound of pleasure when he’d kissed her. He kept seeing her eyes widen and then go unfocused as she came apart in his arms.

And thus, he kept searching for her every dad-gum place he went.

Making out with her outside her parent’s house had been the biggest sin he’d ever committed, and yet he feared it’d live to stand as the most amazing memory he’d carry to his death.

Coop sighed and dug inside his locker, all the while watching hers with one eye, where it was located halfway down the hall from his. He’d just pulled out his American History book and was searching for a pen when he caught movement from his peripheral vision. Curious, he lifted his face, and the air stalled in his chest. A moment later, his heart kicked into gear and his lungs heaved, sucking in oxygen.

There she was.

Facing away from him, Jo Ellen unlocked her locker and slowly opened it. Her long brown hair floated gracefully down her back, flowing and molding to her with every precious move she made. After a mighty heave of her shoulders, she began to extract book after book before carefully bending to pile each one on the floor by her feet.

Cooper blinked as he watched her lug out an English primer, fan through the pages—occasionally removing a note here and there—and then pile the cleaned tome on top of the last. Her actions bewildered him until she finished going through her textbooks and began picking the pictures off the inside of her locker door and stuffing them into her bag.

He straightened, mind racing. What in the world? Why was she cleaning out her locker? Had she remembered their night together and felt so disgusted she had to move as far away from him as possible? But wait. Why would she go through her books as if she was about to turn them all in? Was she leaving the entire school?

A needle of guilt and despair stabbed through him. Shame and misery, tangled with a huge dose of longing, clogged his windpipe. He couldn’t just stand there and watch her leave, but he couldn’t seem to move either. So he just stood there, watching her pack her things to leave.

As if sensing his stare, Jo Ellen glanced over her shoulder and froze when she saw him. Her face instantly drained of color, alarming him. Students strode by, passing between them. Conversations littered the air, echoing down the busy hall; but as far as Coop was concerned, there was only he and Jo Ellen. Realizing glistening wet, red skin ringed her eyes, he took a protective step closer. Tears were his downfall; he’d do anything,
anything
, to end her crying. But first, he had to discover what had upset her.

Before he could take a second step, his answer came.

“Jo Ellen?” Untermeyer appeared at her side.

Her eyes widening, she spun away from Cooper and gaped at her boyfriend. Cooper halted, thinking Pretty Boy didn’t look so swell himself. Two fists balled at his sides. If Untermeyer had done anything to hurt her, the dirt bag was as good as dead.

“I, um…” Untermeyer’s voice went hoarse and quivered. When he reached for her hand, she pulled her fingers away.

Cooper’s chest heaved with a great big surge of hope. What was this? Were they fighting? Was she finally dumping him? He should feel bad but he was too full of hope and anticipation.

“Please try to understand,” Untermeyer started, confusing Coop big time. No way would he break up with
her
. Would he? No, Pretty Boy was an idiot but no one could be that stupid. “I can’t just…this is more than I can handle.”

Handle? What—

“You stay away from her!” A new voice snarled.

Cooper jerked back, surprised. The intensity in the hall hitched up about a hundred degrees as Emma Leigh stepped between the arguing couple, grasped her twin’s arm, and pulled Jo Ellen protectively closer. Coop realized he wasn’t the only one watching their drama unfold anymore. Everyone else had either paused to gape or was turning their heads toward the trio as they passed. Not that the three mixed up in the tense moment seemed to notice.

“If I ever see you trying to talk to her again, I will personally remove your worthless testicles with a pair of pliers,” Emma Leigh growled.

“Em,” Jo Ellen tried in a weak voice, tugging on her sister’s arm but not succeeding in pulling her back.

“What do you expect me to do?” Untermeyer’s voice grew defensive. “Y’all are leaving anyway. What else was there for me to do?”

Leaving? It was true then; she was going away. A painful thump slammed against Cooper’s chest; but
why
?

“So you just thought you’d add to her misery by breaking her heart on her way out the door, huh?” Emma Leigh accused.

“I told her we could start back up once this was all over and past. It’s not like—”

“Don’t even try to justify what you did, you measly excuse for a—”

“Stop it!” Jo Ellen finally screeched. “Both of you. Just…stop it.” Her shoulders heaved as a dry sob consumed her. Covering her red face with both hands, she spun from the arguing pair and raced down the hall, brushing past Cooper as she fled.

He watched her go, and then glanced back at Emma and Untermeyer. He knew he should stick around and pull his gal pal off Pretty Boy in case she went for Untermeyer’s face with her claws, which looked to be her next plan of action. But seeing Jo Ellen so upset was more than he could take. Spinning around, he hurried after her, leaving every other gawking student to handle Emma Leigh in case she turned violent.

Murmuring, “Excuse me,” and dodging between gossiping huddles, Cooper picked up his pace, worried he was going to lose sight of Jo Ellen and even more afraid she’d duck into a girls’ bathroom where he couldn’t chase. Relief came when she pushed her way through an exit that led out to the back of the school.

He followed.

She wept into the building, pressing her face and hands against the warm brick siding.

Heart cracking, Coop edged closer. “Jo Ellen?” His voice broke as he said her name.

She gasped and whirled to face him. Her eyes grew big, and she mopped at her cheeks as if to hide the fact she was crying her heart out.

Compassion flooded him. “What’s wrong?”

She shook her head. “N-nothing.”