A Long Goodbye (22 page)

“You might want to take it easy, Ash. I heard about you and Tequila, not that I’m complaining.”

I gave him the stink eye and chose to ignore his comment. I knew what people said about some of the girls around here when they had too much tequila, and I hoped they didn’t lump me in the whole, “tequila makes her panties come off” club.

An hour of shots and a few beers later Woody and his brothers strolled into the bar without a care in the world. He didn’t see me at first. I was glad because there were two women with them, and I was trying to figure out if one of them was with him.

Woody and his brother Josh stopped at the bar to order their drinks, as I hyperventilated from the other side. Woody looked up a second later and our eyes locked. His face lit up for a split second as if he’d forgotten everything that happened. That smile vanished before I could blink my eyes.

My shaky hand reached down and grabbed the extra shot that had been sitting in front of me for some time. He watched me as he waited for his own drinks, and when I looked back up, he was shaking his head and walking away.

A small but lethal fire was igniting inside of me and even though I knew my head and heart were going to pay for it, I threw back Trevor’s shot too. Trevor had been keeping busy talking with his friend Kenny Jacobs about fishing in the fall; someplace in Georgia he liked to go, so he hadn’t seen me step down from the stool.

Somewhere in the back of my brain, I heard Kenny, “You might want to take that one home before she can’t perform.” I ignored his ruder than hell comment and headed for the dance floor. Trevor hurried up behind me and grabbed my hand. “What are you doing?”

I flicked my hair, and stepped out my shoes to get more comfortable. “I want to dance.” I turned around, wrapped my arms around his neck, and rested my head against his chest.

Trevor held me in his arms for over two songs. I wanted to cry so bad knowing that Woody was a few feet away and not where I wanted him. In my arms. Somewhere in the middle of song three, I noticed Lu come into the bar. Once she caught site of me, she didn’t hesitate moving to the dance floor with Rosie White. Rosie was a friend of ours in high school, but she got pregnant right before we graduated so I wasn’t allowed to hang out with her anymore.

Lu pulled me from Trevor and spun me around. “What are you doing with Trevor, Ashton?”

“That’s none of your business,” I fired back madder than hell. How dare she come in here and stop me from letting Woody know what he lost with his deceit.

Trevor reached out for me, but Lu wasn’t having any of it. “Get your hands off her, Trevor Owens, or I will cut them off.”

Trevor stepped in front of me to hide me, but I circled around him. He pulled me in so that his hands were wrapped around my waist and my back was pressed up against his stomach.

“Leave her alone, Lu. We’re just having some fun tonight.”

Even with the confusion and nasty words being thrown around, I smelled that familiar scent of Woody come up next to me. He glanced at Trevor but then fixed his eyes on me. “Can I talk to you?”

I glared. “No.”

“What the hell are you doing, Grace?”

“I’m trying to dance with my date,” I said spitefully.

“All right. Second question, what the hell are you wearing?”

“A dress. Do you like it?”

Meanwhile, the whole bar seemed to stop to listen to our conversation. Everyone was focused on the dance floor.

“No. Not when you’re putting everything you have on the showroom floor, Darling.” His eyes took a long, slow, lazy look down my body, causing me to remind myself not to quiver in my boots, since normally I loved when his eyes took me in like that. But deep down I knew I got what I wanted. He was jealous and outright pissed at me, exactly what I was aiming for.

I tucked my hand in Trevor’s. “Trevor likes it. Don’t you?”

Trevor kept quiet, but grinned.

“Go home, Grace.”

Trevor leaned down and asked, “Why does he keep calling you that?”

I raised my hand a little too fast to shut him up, and I smacked his nose. Hard. He released my other hand and held his nose. “What the hell, Ash?”

Woody pulled me to the side seeing he had his opportunity. “I know what you’re doing. I need you to grow up and go home. And if he won’t take you, I will.”

How dare he? “Just who do you think you are telling what to do?” I screamed. It was then the six shots of Tequila and the few beers decided to join the party. Lu, Rosie, and Trevor all jumped back and out of the way shouting, but Woody grabbed my hair just as I hunched over and chucked my guts all over his boots and the dance floor.

CHAPTER 40

DANE

I knew from the moment I saw her across the bar with him what she was doing. When she got up to dance, Jason tapped my shoulder and pointed to her. I almost spit my beer out with what she was wearing, and then was ready to get into a fight with Trevor with the way he held her in his arms.

If it wasn’t for Josh and Jason talking me down, I would’ve killed him. After fifteen minutes, I couldn’t take it anymore, especially when Lu showed up and a catfight was about ready to start. I didn’t have it in me to see Grace hurt any more than she was.

After I ushered her off the floor and to the ladies room, I walked right in and cleaned her up. She didn’t even try to fight me. She let me pick her up, place her on the sink, wash away her tears, and clean the sides of her mouth. “Tell me why?” She cried so softly.

“I want to tell you, baby, I do.” I placed her back down. “Not tonight, okay? Let’s do this another time.”

She looked up at me, and I felt like the worst person in the world. All the pain on her face was not nearly as painful as the shame I felt. “I’m leaving,” she said.

I brushed her hair behind her ears. “Where you going, Darlin’?”

She leaned in until her head was on my chest. “I don’t know yet. I just need to get out of here. Away from Charleston, Lu, you, Trevor, my Daddy, I need to go somewhere and start over.”

I cupped her face and tilted it up, so I could look in her eyes. “It’s not gonna do any good to run away from your problems, Grace. You need to face them head on and deal with them.”

“I don’t want to. I want to run away and meet someone who loves me for me. Who doesn’t lie to me, who loves me enough to fight for me.”

I sighed. “Maybe you need to learn how to fight for yourself first,” I whispered in her ear. I pressed my mouth on her forehead. “Come find me when you do.”

I figured if she could stand up to her daddy we might have a chance, but I needed her to do it and not let him railroad her into a life she didn’t want. I knew that she was talking about me, and about how she wanted me to be her knight in shining armor.

I also wanted to tell her about my family problems, and about how her daddy was the root cause of our pain. But I didn’t. I would someday, but it wasn’t going to be the ladies room with her too drunk to remember anything.

I walked away again. I left her alone in the bathroom crying as I opened the door. Lu was standing right outside waiting on us. “Is she okay?” she asked.

“Make sure she gets home safely. I’m leaving.”

I didn’t even say goodbye to my brothers. I just jumped in my truck, turned up the radio, and drove. I drove for hours, circling our town, stopping every once in a while to let myself drown in the pain I caused her.

I never knew Ashton Winslow. But I knew Grace Winslow and my Grace wouldn’t act like that, so the old Ashton, the one she so desperately wanted not to be, was the one I had the privilege of dealing with tonight until she got sick. And I hated myself for bringing her back. I thought she might be strong enough after our two weeks together, to stand up to her father and fight for what she wanted, but it appeared I was wrong.

I checked my phone for the millionth time tonight to see if she made it back to home. I still had her on my tracking system, even though I told myself it was wrong on so many levels. Every night before I turned in, I made sure I knew where she was, otherwise I’d probably go out and find her.

I assumed she was home since the GPS tracker told me she was, but I was wrong. Her little Lexus was parked outside my house when I pulled up after two in the morning. I fumbled, trying to get the keys out of the ignition, desperate to find out why she was here. All the lights were out in my mama’s house, so I hurried around back to my barn. The one small light I left on before I took off was the only thing guiding me inside. She wasn’t there when I first glanced around. I closed my eyes and slowly lifted back the curtain that separated my bedroom from the small part of the house. Grace was sound asleep on my bed, looking like the angel I’d found in Nashville. I knew I should take the high road and sleep on my lumpy couch, but when I saw that golden opportunity to hold her in my arms, even if it’s for one last time, I wanted it.  I might be going straight to hell for it, but I didn’t care.

I settled next to her, after I had thrown back a beer as I tried to talk myself out of it. In the end I lost, and so then I got ready for bed. My heart never listened to my brain before; apparently, it wasn’t going to start now. It was hot and I’d only slipped under the sheet in my boxer briefs. Grace was completely dressed. Only her dress was gone and she was in a pair of sweat shorts and tiny tee shirt.

My fingers ran through her hair, as I lifted wet strands to my nose taking in her familiar honeysuckle smell. She must’ve gone home and showered, leaving her cell behind. I sighed into her neck, burying my face in the familiarity of her. She rolled over and her hand slowly moved over my chest, making circles on my stomach. I knew she was awake. “Grace?”

“Hmm?”

“Baby, why are you here?”

“Because I miss you,” she whispered. My heart was breaking in half listening to her. Still, I just kept running my fingers through her hair as if I hadn’t heard her. “I’m still mad at you, Woody, but I need you to tell me the truth.”

“Are you sober?”

She leaned up to look at me and nodded. “Yeah.”

Her hair draped down and on my chest. Slowly, I pushed it away from her face, and breathed. “Your father is our problem, Grace. Not me, it’s your daddy keeping us apart. He wants you with Trevor. He hates my family.”

She shook her head, confused. “I don’t understand. What did he say to you?”

I turned on my side, so she followed suit. She had her hands tucked under her chin. “My father accrued a lot of debt before he died. We didn’t know, but mama did. Your father found out and offered my mama a chance to keep her farm. She took it and your daddy owns it now. He’s offered to give it back to her if I stay away from you,” I admitted.

“I can’t believe he did that. You must be wrong.”

I shook my head. “No, baby, I’m not. We can’t be together. My mama will lose her farm and he already threatened to find a way to ruin my brother’s business.” I paused to study her face. “Grace, I want to fight for you, I do, but my hands are tied so tight.”

Grace sprang up. “I’ve got money. You can have all of it. I have a trust set up. It’s yours. You take it and pay it off and then he can’t stop us.”

Unable to take her lying next to me anymore without touching her, I rolled over and pressed my mouth to hers. She moaned into the kiss, eagerly accepting it, but I pulled away knowing it was probably going to be our last. “I’m not taking your money, baby. But, thank you for the offer.”

Her face fell. “Can I ask you something? And I need you to tell me the truth for once.”

“Grace…” she pressed her finger to my mouth, stopping me from protesting.

“Was I really just a job, or did you fall for me as hard as I did for you?”

“Grace, what good is the truth right now? We can’t be together whether I want you or not.” She started crying and I wanted to take away that pain. “You were not just a job, baby, okay? But,” I paused to kiss her forehead, “it has to be over,” I admitted. “Maybe someday.”

Grace looked hard at me, her mouth slammed into mine catching me off guard. I wrapped my arms around her not wanting to let her go. The familiar taste of her mouth, the way it moved in sync with mine had me coming undone. Her mouth, her kisses were pleading with me to give in and I wanted to so badly my whole body ached. My hand ran down her thigh and under her shorts, craving to be inside of her one more time.

I was just about to give into my heart, which I rarely do, when Grace pulled away abruptly, “If you want to keep this going tonight, well, you can’t walk away again. You need to fight for me.”

It was like a bucket of ice water thrown at me. I didn’t like what she was doing, playing with my heartstrings. I pulled my hand out of her shorts. I kissed her lips gently one last time. “I’m going to have to stop then, Ashton.” I used her real name, knowing she’d understand why. Grace would never pull this on me.

I couldn’t see the tears, but I heard them as she grabbed her shoes from the floor and ran out the door. I lay in bed that night knowing that I pushed her away enough that she wasn’t coming back.

CHAPTER 41

ASHTON

All cried out and unable to sleep after Woody made a fool out of me, I made a pot of coffee when I got home. I don’t know why I thought if I climbed in his bed one more time, he’d give in and tell me he’d loved me. I should’ve known better than to believe that I had what he needed.

The sun hadn’t even risen yet, but it was coming soon and with it, the lecture I was going to give Daddy.

I drummed my fingers on the mug as I heard him make his way down the staircase. Patiently, I waited for him to grab his morning paper off the front stoop to join me in the kitchen.

He looked up from the front page and noticed me sitting down at the kitchen table. “You’re up bright and early, Sugarplum.”

I stared at him and in a small, disappointed voice, I said, “I know everything, Daddy.”

He looked baffled, but folded his paper and placed it under his arm. “All right, Ashton, I’ll bite. What do you think you know?”

My stomach flipped at the thought of ripping into my own flesh and blood, but if I had to give up Woody, then I felt like I deserved the truth. I sat up straight, crossed my arms, and raised my chin, determined. “I know what you did to the Wood’s family. What I want to know is why?”