Tucker's Crossing (39 page)

“They’re always on the house,” Shelby joked, forcing a smile. “But I’ll pass.”

Normally the flaky dough was all too tempting to ignore, but today Shelby was afraid anything that went down was sure to come up. Her life felt like it was falling apart. Last night she’d allowed herself to believe that it would somehow all work out, the love-conquers-all dream. But in the daylight, after reading over her divorce papers, Shelby began to understand that her life was about to end. Because without Jake and Cody, what kind of life would she really have?

“Okay, you’ve passed on the biscuits twice. In the same week. What’s wrong?”

“I could ask you the same question. Why aren’t you at the clinic?”

“Dr. Morgan’s in Dallas at a medical convention. He was sweet enough to give me the day off. Then Brittney called in, morning sickness,” she paused, smiling at an experience most women would gag at, and continued. “She asked if I’d fill in for her. So here I am.”

Faith’s always-ready smile sagged with worry. She set the tray on an empty table behind her and slid into the seat, placing her hand on Shelby’s. “I’m worried about you.”

Her concern was tangible and made Shelby want to cry. Today, everything made her want to cry.

“I’ll be fine.” Shelby intended to stop at the lie, but Faith’s willingness to just listen and not judge was too good to resist and she heard herself ramble on. “Well, I’m sure the whole town knows by now, Cody and I are getting married.”

“I was there. Congratulations.”

“Thanks, but my lying, cheating, bastard of an ex showed up Saturday at the fair.”

“Again, I was there.”

“Oh, yeah. Well, now, I’m just plain exhausted.”

“I should have been offering you something stronger than coffee,” Faith teased. “You had my sympathy at two Tuckers.”

Faith shifted on the bench, her bare legs squeaking against the worn cushion. Her face took on a sudden shyness that Shelby had never noticed before. “So, do you know if the other Tucker boys have any plans to come home? For a visit, I mean.”

“Cody’s pretty determined that Beau will never come back.” Shelby mentally rolled her eyes. She was used to women being interested in the whereabouts of the youngest of the Tucker men.

“I don’t blame him. I was only there once, and I
never
want to go back.”

Shelby was surprised that Faith had even been out to the ranch. According to Ms. Luella, the boys
never
brought friends home.

“Actually, I was asking about Noah.”

The door chimed. Gina walked in wearing a navy suit pressed so hard it had edges, strawberry-blond hair twisted into a tight bun and stabbed through with a pencil, briefcase brandished like a shield, and a look that said she’s just hanged someone. And Shelby felt tears well up, never so relieved to see another human being.

“Hey, Gina.” Faith stood, dismissing her earlier question, and picked up the platter of biscuits, balancing it on her shoulder like a tray full of beer and wings.

“Leave those,” Gina ordered, sliding into the booth.

“You got it.” Faith extracted a menu from the back of her apron and set it on the table next to the biscuits. “Be back in a sec to take your order.”

Gina shoved the menu aside, gave Shelby a brief once-over and said, “You look like crap.”

“Good to see you too.” Shelby tried for snarky but hit somewhere between pathetic and tear-bound. Truth was, she felt like crap. Stress did that to a person.

“Faith,” Gina hollered across the diner even though the waitress in question was only a table away, clearing the remains of what must have been 500 grams of fried food and gravy. “Can you get me a double-bacon bluebonnet burger, double the cheese, double the bacon and double the fries.”

“And a double bypass for good measure?” Faith suggested, her hands crossing over her chest, a look of disapproval knitting her brows.

“Fine,
sweet
potato fries. And a glass of water. Happy?” Without waiting for an answer, Gina looked back at Shelby and added, “Oh, and a roll of paper towels for Shelby here. Waterworks are imminent. And they won’t be dainty, it’s looking like it’s going to be the ugly kind.”

Shelby scowled. Gina ignored her.

“So, you want the good news or the bad news?” Gina cut through the bull and opened her briefcase. She set down a copy of Shelby’s divorce agreement and flipped to the middle somewhere, spinning it to face Shelby.

Shelby didn’t need even to glance at it. She’d looked at it enough for one lifetime, thank you. “The bad news, I guess,” Shelby ventured, not sure she wanted to hear either at this point.

“Preston’s a total bastard.”

“Yes, well, we already knew that, didn’t we?”

“And you got royally screwed. I mean, shit, girl, did you even read this? I’m beginning to wonder if you’ve gotta be able to read to get into nursing school.”

Shelby straightened. “Are you done?”

“No. But I can tell you are.”

“What’s the good news?”

“You divorced him.”

“That’s it?” Shelby snapped, knowing that Gina was trying to distract her from the tears that had been sitting pretty on her lashes, waiting to fall since yesterday, but irritated all the same. “That is the total sum of your legal expertise and advice?”

Gina leaned back in the booth and snorted. “Sweetie, you couldn’t handle even a fraction of my legal prowess, let alone the entire sum of it.”

The café door jingled and any trace of the fun-loving, confident Gina that Shelby knew faded. Her friend grabbed the contract, buried her nose page deep and studied it like it was the most complex and important document on the globe.

“Morning, Shelby,” Logan greeted with a tip of his sheriff’s hat. “Gina.”

Gina looked up, seeming baffled. “Oh, hey, Logan. Didn’t see you come in.”

“Busy as ever, I see,” Logan said, a smile in his words. He reached down and turned the papers Gina was so content on reading, right-side up.

She shoved the contract back and finally met his eyes. But Shelby could tell she was bracing herself first, forcing a happiness into her expression that she didn’t feel, and masking everything that she did. “How’s Sid?”

“Framed her blue ribbon and hung it above the fireplace.” The tension between the two eased at the mention of the little girl. “Not before she brought it to summer camp to show it around. Actually, she brought home something you should see. Seems the kids had to draw a picture of their favorite superhero. She drew you, briefcase in hand, fighting back a horde of old ladies in aprons, wielding poisonous okra and wooden spoons,” Logan said, smiling like a proud papa.

“Do you blame her?”

Logan’s smile faltered a bit. “Hey, your mom’s coming for dinner tonight and I’m grilling. Why don’t you drop by after work?”

“Gosh, I’m washing my hair tonight. Sorry,” Gina said with what Shelby and Logan both knew was forced humor.

“Come on, Gina. It’s to celebrate Sidney’s win.”

“I really can’t tonight. I have a big case,” Gina lied, pointing to Shelby’s papers. “How about I take her this weekend and she and I can have a slumber celebration.”

Logan seemed disappointed, but wisely decided not to push. “A girl’s night with her favorite aunt. I think that can be arranged.”

“Don’t let Kirsten hear you say that,” Gina chided, referring to Logan’s sister.

Shelby could see the pleasure his words brought, but more importantly the ache. To Gina, every minute spent with Logan and Sidney was a torturous reminder of what should have been, but never was—or could be.

“Friday night work for you?” Gina asked, looking back to the divorce papers, and missing the confused and hurt look in Logan’s expression.

“Perfect.” Logan tipped his hat. “I’ll let you ladies get back to your
business
.”

After Shelby was certain the sheriff was out of hearing range, Shelby leaned across the table, placing her hand over Gina’s, making sure to keep her voice low. “Gina, Dawn’s been gone almost three years. It’s okay if you—”

“She was my sister,” Gina cut her off. “And he had his choice. He chose Dawn. End of story.”

Shelby was forced to lean back when Faith arrived, making way for the enormous trough of food that was Gina’s lunch. “Sure there’s nothing I can get you, Shelby? I’ll even open the bar.”

“She’d just throw it up in the bushes,” Gina joked, heavy on the truth and light on the sarcasm. “So let’s save us all the money and trouble and let her fiddle with the cold coffee she ordered to be polite but will never drink.”

Faith gave a sympathetic wink and left.

Gina took a bear-sized bite and continued, lawyer-mode fully engaged. “Now, before we go into this travesty that you signed. You need to tell me, how do
you
want this to turn out?”

That was easy. “I want Jake to grow up here, at the ranch, with Cody. Have a stable, normal life,” Shelby said, an overwhelming protectiveness rearing up inside her. “I love him so much, I’m willing to do whatever it takes.”

“Are you talking about Jake or Cody?”

Shelby looked at the table, trying to control everything she was feeling. Finally meeting Gina’s eyes, she admitted, “Both.”

Shelby knew it wasn’t the sight of her late-model Honda pulling up that had Cody pushing through the door and storming down the porch. It was Preston’s six-figure over-compensation on wheels behind her, kicking up dust and most likely Cody’s every instinct.

He rounded her car, swung open the driver’s door, and pulled her into his arms. Shelby felt the tension ebb as his body cocooned around her, sheltering her into his chest—until she didn’t return the affection.

God, this sucked.
All Shelby wanted to do was throw her arms around him and hold tight. Forget Preston, forget the divorce decree, and forget about everything but the man holding her. But she couldn’t. And that made what she was about to do all the more heart-wrenching.

Gina had only confirmed Shelby’s worst nightmare. According to Jake’s birth records, Preston was Jake’s legal father, and the divorce papers stated nothing about Shelby receiving full custody. Best-case scenario, Gina had pointed out, it would look as if Shelby had denied Preston a relationship with his son. Worst case, she could be tried and possibly convicted for kidnapping.

Although Gina assured her it would never get to that point, Shelby wasn’t willing to chance it. Especially when Gina relayed that Preston had created an elaborate story and already set the plan into motion with friends willing to testify on his behalf. What hurt was that most of them, at one time, had been Shelby’s friends as well.

Desperate to make things right, and seeing no happy ending for all, Shelby had settled on a plan that would protect her boys. Gina had disagreed adamantly, offering to represent her, convinced Shelby should fight Preston, or at least hire a hit man to snuff him out, but Shelby remained firm.

Cody and Jake were all that mattered right now. But standing in Cody’s arms, feeling his body sag around her with confusion, made her wonder if she had made the right decision.

“Where have you been?” He sounded strained, as if he was trying to be understanding but slowly losing the battle. And she supposed he had a right to be. He had called her half a dozen times, but she hadn’t had the courage to answer. She could only do this once.

“Cody.” Her voice was too thin, not strong enough to continue. Instead, she wrapped one arm around his neck and pulled him to her. Her lips parted his, joining them in a kiss filled with love and apology.

“Well.” Cody pulled back, his forehead resting against hers. One hand dropped to her rear, the other moving up to tangle and fist in her hair. “If that’s the kind of reaction I can expect when you get home, you can run as many errands as you like. Next time, though, it would be nice if you let me know you were heading out. I was worried. Especially with everything going on.”

Preston’s door slammed, the sound shooting through her chest, signaling her time was almost up. His tasseled loafers crunched up behind her, each step ticking off the few seconds she had left.

“You were right. Loafers are for pussies.” Cody gave her a quick kiss, and turned to confront Preston. “You always were an idiot, but I figured ‘get the hell off my property’ was pretty straightforward. My mistake.”

Not wanting this to end like yesterday, Shelby took Cody’s hand and tugged. His face looked down at hers in question, then went slack. His eyebrows slammed together as his finger rolled over hers.

Cody lifted her left hand, the newly placed diamond glimmering in the sun, his eyes dropping in conjunction with her heart.

“What’s going on, Shelby Lynn?”

She forced a small smile, which she hoped would be one expressing bridal bliss. But even to her, it felt shallow. “Preston and I are getting remarried.”

“Excuse me?”

Shelby swallowed. Saying it a second time was almost impossible. “Preston and I—”

“I heard you the first time.” Cody looked from her to Preston and back, his expression grim. “Just like that?”

Not a word passed between them. He looked so hurt and completely lost and Shelby was torn. Should she just go get into Preston’s car and take off, or stay here and drag out the pain?

“Seems you’re too much to handle for such a fragile woman.” Preston broke the silence, taunting from behind.

Cody didn’t so much as move. Just continued to stare into Shelby’s eyes, but she felt his heart drop, saw insecurity rise in those penetrating brown eyes.

She knew what she was supposed to say, had rehearsed it the whole way over, but she’d be damned if she left Cody with him believing he was a monster. “That’s not true, Cody. It’s just that seeing Preston made me want to give us another try, that’s all.”

“That’s all?” Cody dropped her hand, stepping back and firmly putting his walls back up. And Cody was gone, back to that place where Shelby could never reach him. It should make this easier, but it didn’t. “You know what, lady? I don’t understand you. Never did, and don’t think I ever will.”

“You know me better than anyone, Cody,” Shelby whispered, finding it increasingly difficult to hold his unaffected gaze, but forcing herself not to look away. “I hope someday you’ll see that.”