Never Say Never (37 page)

“Eunice is going home. That gives the three of them something to be happy about.”

“The three of them? Did Maxine relent?” Jill couldn’t believe that would have happened.

“Nope.” Marsh shook his head. “Over my advice, of course, Dustin went to get Joey. Don’t know that he managed it, but I know Dustin well enough to know that when his mind is in that tactical mode, he’s prepared for combat. Hope Joey’s prepared for his daddy to lasso him and pull him up through the chimney if he has to.” Marsh sighed heavily.

“Oh, no! You don’t really think…” Jill glanced at China. “Is he breaking any laws? Can he get himself into any trouble doing that?” She couldn’t bear to think of what Maxine’s reaction to Dustin’s determination might be. It was two strong wills going against each other—hard.

“I think Dustin will do anything he’s put his mind to, and hang the consequences. The old lady was tired of Maxine jabbing at her all these years for no reason and told Dustin to go get her grandson. Actually, she didn’t tell him to since he was already going. But she gave her permission, never mind what
my
opinion was on the matter.”

“He’s playing pissed,” China said, “because he’s afraid he’s going to end up having to arrest Dustin.”

“Oh. I hope not.” Jill knew that would bother Marsh greatly.

“So, best as I can see it, Christmas is up to you, Jill. ’Cause it’s pretty much gone to hell in a handbasket at this point.” Marsh looked at her expectantly.

“Up to me?”

He nodded adamantly. “Joey wants you. Eunice wants you. Dustin wants you real bad. So, if they’re gonna get any Christmas, you gotta get back where you belong.” He sniffed as he glanced around the apartment. “Looks like you ain’t gonna have much of one here, anyway.”

“I can’t do it, Marsh. As nice as it is of you two to care, and Eunice, too, it’s too heavy of a burden with the custody battle. I’m the worst possible thing for Dustin’s chances of winning.”

“Yeah, but see, you gotta let the man decide how he wants to roll the dice. Did he ask you to leave?”

“No.” He’d never remotely hinted at it.

“Then you’re doing him a disservice by not coming back. Why should Dustin be punished because of Maxine? My Lord, she’s tortured Eunice all these years, now Dustin has to lose, too?”

“Maybe she’ll cool off in a few years, Marsh. Maybe Dustin will find someone who doesn’t upset Maxine so.”

“Why should he care if she cools off? After all these years, she needs to learn to mind her own business. But there’s something else you should think about, Jill. Though I’ve stepped over the line in saying that, I’m also going to tell you that Dustin is not going to come here like we have and ask you to come back.”

Jill didn’t reply, but she kept her gaze trained on Marsh.

“Right or wrong, Dustin has a bunch of pride. If he felt like you two had something special, and I believe he did, then you walking out on him is going to tear into that pride. He is not the kind of man to go chasing after a woman and do the ‘Honey, please take me back’ thing.”

She closed her eyes for a second, wondering how to reply to that. It wasn’t that she wanted Dustin to come after her at all. She hadn’t discussed the problem with him because she knew him too well. He would have said “to hell with Maxine” but Joey’s grandmother was hell-bent for matters to turn out her way. Jill sparked that determination.

She shook her head. “Marsh, I made the best decision I could under the circumstances. I don’t want Dustin to come here. I don’t need him to call me. I’m just as satisfied with my choice now as I was when I left. Yes, it hurts. Yes, I wish very much that it could have been different. But Dustin needs more than a housekeeper right now. He needs a huge amount of luck and a sympathetic judge.”

“Okay.” Marsh stood, slowly pulling his injured leg under him. “You can’t say we didn’t try.”

“No. I can’t. Please let Eunice know how much I appreciate her concern. It was awfully nice of you two to come out here to sweet-talk me on her behalf.”

China’s eyes were distressed. Jill couldn’t bear to look at her for long. She didn’t think the woman agreed with her decision and that stung a bit. However, China swiftly leaned over and gave her a hug. “I feel so sorry for you,” she said.

“You shouldn’t. I’m going to be fine.”

“I know.” China broke the embrace and stood straight, but her large eyes were sparkling with unshed tears. “I know you’ve made the only decision you can under the circumstances, but it’s so hard to see this not work out. I don’t think Dustin’s ever had anyone love him just for himself before.”

Jill’s jaw dropped. She remembered Dustin’s gratitude over simple things, and that she had once wondered the same thing.

She did love him, just for himself. In loving him that way, that deeply, she had to let him go.

Marsh wrapped an arm around China. “What are you going to do with all these damn boxes?” he asked Jill.

“I’m about to call a truck rental company so that I can move the boxes to my parents’ garage. The furniture will have to go into storage, but I’m not that far along, yet. Today, I’m just hoping to get the boxes moved.”

“Well, hellfire, Jill. Don’t rent a truck for those few boxes. Let me put them in the truck bed and haul ’em to your folks. It’s on the way to Lassiter, and your mom sure would like to give me another piece of her strawberry bread.” Marsh grinned winningly.

Jill would miss all these down-home people. She would miss Marsh’s looniness. She would miss Eunice’s strength. She would miss Joey’s sweetness. Most of all, she would miss Dustin’s honest loving.

“No, thanks,” she said quietly. “You’ve got a sore leg. You don’t need to be lifting anything.”

“Well, hell, what’s in those boxes?”

“Clothes are in some. My china and day dishes are in others. All the things needed to start a new home.”

Marsh stared at her. “We could save you a bundle of money and time if you’d just let us toss these boxes into the truck and drop ’em at your mom’s.”

“He’s right, Jill. Let us do this,” China said.

It would be such a huge piece of worry off her mind, though she hated to take advantage of their time.

“Heck, this isn’t even that heavy,” Marsh said, carrying a box to the door.

“That one’s got bed pillows in it,” Jill said, going to open the door with a grin. It was plain that Marsh had set his mind on helping her, so Jill decided to fall in with his offer gracefully.

“Here’s the box marked ‘china’. Let’s not entrust it to Tommy,” China said. Jill stuck a box in front of the door to keep it open, then crossed the room to help China lift the box. Together, they carried it out the door and to the truck.

Fifteen minutes later the boxes were all neatly arranged in the truck bed. “Well, that does it,” Marsh said. “Guess will be on our way to Lana’s. Boy, I hope she’s cooking.”

Jill rolled her eyes and laughed. “I think I’ll go on out with you to Mother’s. I’ll call her and tell her we’re coming.”

“Great! Let’s lock this dump up—I mean this contemporary architect’s dream—and get going,” Marsh said happily.

Jill found her purse, sending a last glance through the apartment. All that was left was the slate-gray leather furniture pushed over by the wall, which she now realized she had never liked anyway. That had been Carl’s choice, and it showed. His things were still stacked around, but she wasn’t going to move them out for him.

“Thanks,” Jill said, after locking the door and hurrying to the truck. “I would never have gotten that much done by myself.”

The three of them started to get into the truck’s cab. “I’ll drive,” said Marsh.

“You can’t with your leg,” China pointed out.

“I can. I can’t exactly rest it at an angle like I was doing before, can I? So, I might as well drive.”

“Are you sure I’m not in the way?” Jill asked. She hadn’t considered Marsh might have been resting his leg across the seat while China drove.

“You are definitely not in the way. Get in,” Marsh told her.

He winced as he pulled his leg inside. She didn’t comment on it, knowing Marsh wouldn’t have admitted his leg was bothering him. China placed her dainty, pink-tipped hand on his thigh, and Marsh perked up as he started the truck.

Good medicine
, Jill thought. At one time she had thought she was good medicine for Dustin. Unfortunately, she had turned out to be toxic for him.

China and Marsh talked about mundane matters as he headed the truck north. They made sure Jill was included in the conversation as much as possible, but her heart wasn’t really in it. Having repeated her feelings to them had only stressed why her decision to leave Lassiter had been the right one. Taking her things to store at her parents’ underlined the finality of the situation.

“There’s the turn-off to my folks up ahead,” Jill said, pointing. “You’ll want to go east, so you have to circle under the highway.”

Marsh nodded. He didn’t ease his foot off the pedal. Jill watched them getting closer to the exit with some concern. If he didn’t slow up soon, they were going to take the turn-off dangerously fast.

“Uh, Marsh, this is the turn-off.” They whizzed past it and Jill turned to stare at the sheriff. “You just missed it. But up ahead there’s a place where you can hang a U-turn.”

Jill’s gaze met China’s. The two stared at each for a second as Marsh passed by the section in the highway. Then they looked questioningly at Marsh.

He looked sheepish. “Well, hell. I can’t let my best friend be a lawless renegade by himself, can I?”

“I think the sheriff has taken you into custody, Jill,” China said with a grin.

“Marsh, I hope you’re turning this truck around. I don’t want to go to Lassiter. You can’t just Shanghai me.” Jill froze him with a glare.

“Guess I’ll have to arrest you, then,” he said cheerfully.

“For what?”

“Willful abandonment of a man’s heart.”

Chapter Twenty-Three

Marsh’s blithe statement didn’t set too well with Jill, never mind how truthful it might be. “All I have to say to that is if you don’t turn around and take me to my parents’ house, I’m registering a complaint with your supervisor. Then I’ll call a taxi from Dustin’s house to bring me back home, at which point I will send the bill to the Lassiter police department.”

“You’re kidding, right?” The carefree smile slid off Marsh’s face.

“No, I’m not.” Jill shook her head. “I’ll be very upset with you if you do this.” She didn’t know if the threats she’d thrown out would worry the sheriff, but it didn’t matter. She couldn’t to go to Lassiter.

“You’d better go back, Tommy,” China said softly.

“Aw, hell,” Marsh complained. He turned the truck around at the next break in the intersection.

“I appreciate the thought, Marsh, but there are some things you can’t make happen, even for your best friend. Or his mother.”

Didn’t he know it. “I guess you’d say the word if you changed your mind. I’d be happy to drive out and give you a ride back, any time.”

She reached across China to pat him on the arm. “Yes. I would tell you. Now, turn right at the next street ahead. My mother’s is the red brick house with the white shutters.”

Marsh pulled into the drive. The front door opened almost immediately. Lana and Bob came out onto the porch, and once they saw who was getting out of the truck, they hurried over.

“Jill!” Lana threw her arms around her daughter’s neck.

“Sheriff,” Bob said amiably. “It’s nice of you to come out.” He stuck his hand out for Marsh to shake.

“This is China Shea,” Marsh said, amazed by how easily he nearly tagged “my girlfriend” onto the end of his sentence. He wondered how that would have gone over with her. “China, this is Bob McCall, and his wife, Lana.”

“It’s very nice to meet you, China. Please come in,” Lana invited.

“Actually, we can’t stay. We loaded some of Jill’s things up that she wanted to store in your garage. If you don’t mind, I guess we should take care of that.”

“Oh, certainly.” Lana stepped to the side of the truck to examine the boxes inside. “I can get the box of pillows, I believe. Bob, you get the sheets and towels.”

China and Jill reached for the box of dishes, smiling at each other as they slid it over the truck gate Marsh had let down. He rubbed his leg before reaching in to grab another box. For a minute there he’d thought his plan was going to work. He hadn’t counted on Jill’s resistance. Sadly, Marsh realized there was nothing else he could do to make the old lady’s wish come true. Maybe something more had happened between Dustin and Jill than he knew about. As China came around the corner to take another box, Marsh decided he wasn’t going to make the decision Dustin and Jill had been forced to make.

Marsh wasn’t going to let anything stop him from getting China Shea to the altar. He could just see himself pulling the wedding garter off of one of those long legs. He was going to take his time, nice and slow, doing it, too.

He wondered if she’d go for a Christmas wedding and a honeymoon in Bermuda. Seeing that woman in a bikini would probably kill him—but it sure would be worth it.