The Last Second Chance: A Small Town Love Story (Blue Moon Book 3) (32 page)

What the hell was she going to do? Her dad would be at least another twenty minutes, especially if the hammer wasn’t in the specially designated hammer spot. It could be a half an hour before he came back. She was out of sight of the brewery and the farm and she was stuck under a nervous horse that, if he didn’t trample her, would probably bite her out of spite.

She looked up.

“Oh my God, Apollo. Do not shit on me.”

She tried to tug on her foot, but it was good and wedged in the stirrup. And the movement only caused Apollo to shift his weight effectively scaring her into a motionless heap.

“Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.”

She put her hand to her head again and looked at the fresh blood on the glove. “Why do head wounds have to bleed so much? It’s like a freaking sieve.”

Joey dropped her head back to the cold, hard ground and tried to brainstorm. It was like trying to solve world hunger while drunk on a merry-go-round. “Just whoa, okay, Apollo. Whatever you do, whoa.”

Her head was pounding so loud it sounded like hoof beats in her skull.

She was so sleepy. That probably wasn’t good. She was pretty sure sleepiness and head wounds were a bad combination, but she wasn’t sure why.

She felt Waffles tugging on her glove. She wasn’t in the mood to play though. “Not now, Waffles. Mommy’s tired.”

But Waffles wasn’t there anymore and neither was her glove. It was just her and the twelve hundred pounds of anxiety-ridden stallion. It was as good a place as any to take a little nap.

J
ax spotted
Forrest when the man rode up to the barn on Tucker.

Forrest gave him a curt nod. It was the friendliest greeting Jax had gotten out of him in the history of their relationship. “Joey sent me back for a hammer and staple gun. One of the horses pulled the wire off a gate in the back pasture.”

“Probably Romeo,” Jax said, holding Tucker’s reins while Forrest dismounted. “He loves to chew on fence posts. I’ll show you where the tools are.”

Jax tied Tucker to a hitch and they started toward the door. “How’s it going?”

“Well, she hasn’t thrown me off the property yet,” Forrest answered. “But you might want to warn Ellery that Joey’s none too pleased with her.”

“I’ll let her know to lay low for a few days.”

Jax pushed the door open just as a gray and white blur of fur hurtled around the corner.

“Geez, Waffles,” Jax said, as the dog ran a figure eight through his legs yipping.

“Waffles was with us on the ride, he must have followed me back,” Forrest said. “What’s that he’s got in his mouth?”

Jax gave Waffles the “sit” signal and held out his hand. The dog dropped the item neatly into Jax’s palm.

“It’s a riding glove.”

“Must be Joey’s,” Forrest said. “I think she was wearing a pair like that.”

Jax examined the glove closer and stooped down to look at Waffles who was yipping again. “Forrest, there’s blood on the glove and on the dog.”

Their eyes met and understanding and fear bloomed sharp and bright between them. Jax was running for Tucker and shouting instructions over his shoulder. “Go to the brewery and get Carter’s Jeep. Meet me where you left Joey and bring a cellphone.”

He swung up onto the bay’s back and kicked him into gear. Tucker, sensing the excitement, launched into a canter.

“Fuck. Fuck. Fuck,” Jax chanted to himself. It was probably just a scrape. She was messing with the wire and cut herself.

Waffles was racing alongside him and Jax knew that a cut on the hand was not what he’d find. He felt the cold fist of fear clutch at his gut and urged Tucker on. The big bay wasn’t usually a sprinter, but he mustered everything he had for this uphill haul.

When Jax crested the hill, his heart stopped. He immediately reined Tucker in to a careful walk. He got as close as he dared with Tucker before pulling him to a stop.

“Joey?” Jax called out not loud enough to spook Apollo who looked like he was just looking for a reason to run.

He slid off Tucker’s back and tied him to the post and walked as quickly as he could without freaking out the stallion.

“Joey,” he said again, leaning over her. There was blood in her hair, over her forehead, drying in her eye. Her beautiful, pale face looked like a crime scene.

“What?” she grumbled. Waffles scooted over and curled up next to her, resting his head on her shoulder.

“Joey, open your eyes and look at me.”

“I fell off my horse,” she said on a sing-songy sigh. Some of the fear that had iced in his gut started to thaw.

“I can see that, Jojo. You’re laying on the ground under Apollo.”

“I told him not to crap on me. I think I have a concussion.”

Jax shook his head. Joey never lost her cool in any situation, including this one.

“I think that’s a pretty good bet. Good thing you hit your head and not something else.”

“You’re trying to make a hard-head joke and I think that’s highly inappropriate.”

“You’re right. I’m sorry. Listen, baby. I need to get your foot out of the stirrup, but first I have to make sure Apollo doesn’t move, okay?”

“He bites.”

Jax stood up and approached the stallion’s head. The horse’s brown eyes were wide with nervous energy. “It’s okay, bud. You did good. Way not to trample the woman I love,” Jax said, taking the horses reins and securing them to the gate. “Just let me get her out from under you and you can go back to your nice, warm stall.”

He traced a hand down Apollo’s neck, over the horse’s shoulder so the mount knew where he was. “Joey?”

She didn’t answer him.

“Joey,” he said a little sharper and felt Apollo start to shift against him. “Sorry, boy. Didn’t mean to yell.”

Jax nudged Joey’s free leg with his boot. “Joey, wake the fuck up.”

“Jesus, I am awake,” she said with a bad-tempered pout.

“Good. Listen to me. I’m going to pull your foot out of your boot, okay?”

“It’s cold.”

“I know it is. But I have to get your foot out of the stirrup.”

“Gynecologists have stirrups too, you know.”

“I was not aware of that,” Jax said, gripping the heel of her boot in one hand while the other worked her foot free. He could have sworn that Apollo sighed with relief when her foot slid out.

He could feel some swelling in her ankle through the sock, probably a sprain, and was careful to place it gently on the ground.

“Okay, now I’m going to slide you out from under the crap and trample zone.” It wasn’t smart to move head wound victims, but it was even dumber to leave them under a horse that could crush them with one stomp of their bad-tempered hoof.

“I want a blanket,” Joey muttered.

“I’ll get you a blanket. Just let me move you a little this way,” he gritted his teeth and slid one hand under her shoulders and one under her knees. “I’m going to pick you up, okay?”

Waffles sat up and wriggled out from under the horse.

“One, two, three.” Jax picked her up as carefully as he could and carried her a few feet away. He tried to set her down against a fence post, but found his arms just wouldn’t let her go. He was shaking so bad his muscles had locked in place. He tried a second time and she whimpered.

“Tell me what hurts, Jojo.”

“Head. Foot. Arm. Hungry.”

“My poor girl.” Jax gave up trying to put her down when he spotted Carter’s Jeep flying toward them through the adjoining pasture. “Here comes our ride.”

“No!” She grumbled against his shoulder. “You need to put Apollo back. Can’t have seven figures of horse running away.”

“We’ll have Carter put him back,” Jax promised as Carter and Franklin jumped out of the Jeep and came running.

“No. You. Make sure he’s safe.”

“Fuck, Joey, come on.”

“Do I have to go to the hospital?”

“Yes.”

“Then you have to put Apollo back in his stall.” There was no arguing with a non-head wound Joey so he deemed it completely useless to argue with her in this state. So they compromised. Jax rode Apollo back to the stables with Carter and Tucker on his heels while Franklin drove Joey and Waffles down in the Jeep.

The second they hit the yard, Jax slid off of Apollo’s back and handed the reins over to Carter. “If Joey asks, I put him away.”

“You got it. Go take care of our girl,” Carter said, his face carved with lines of worry.

Jax opened the passenger door of the Jeep. “I’m coming with you.”

“I figured,” Forrest said.

Waffles thumped his tail. “Sorry, Waffles. You can’t go with us. You hold down the fort with Carter, okay?”

Jax thought it looked like Waffles’ lower lip was trembling, but the dog hopped out of the Jeep and wandered into the stable after Carter.

Jax climbed in and shut the door. Forrest put the Jeep in gear and they started down the slope toward the main road. “I promised her no ambulance,” he said to Jax. His voice sounded calm, but his knuckles were white on the wheel. “Carter’s calling the emergency department to let them know to expect us.”

Jax leaned back between the seats and pressed a hand to Joey’s forehead. “The bleeding looks like it’s slowed down a lot. I think she hurt her arm or her shoulder, though.”

“I didn’t hurt it. The groundhog did,” Joey muttered from the back.

“Groundhogs are jerks,” Forrest said.

“Yeah,” Joey agreed with a frown. “Jerks.”

Forrest drove like a Frenchman at Le Mans and had them pulling up to the emergency department’s doors in record time. There were two orderlies ready and waiting with a gurney. “Oh, she’s going to hate that,” Forrest predicted, worry still heavy in his eyes.

Jax had to tell Joey it was just a bed for her to agree to get out of the Jeep and onto the sterile sheets. He weighed his options as the orderlies got her strapped down to keep her steady.

“Listen, give me the keys. I’ll go park the Jeep and you go in with her,” he offered.

Forrest looked relieved. “Okay, you should be able to find us inside. Just follow the cursing.”

Jax thumped the man on the shoulder. “She’s going to be okay. Just keep her sort of calm if you can.”

Jax kept it together until he pulled the parking brake on the Jeep. He put his head on the steering wheel. He must have lost ten years off of his life when he saw her lying there, crumpled on the ground like a forgotten flower. And the blood. The memories came back at him fast and sharp. Once again he was walking into a hospital covered in a good deal of Joey Greer’s blood.

She was going to be okay, he told himself. She was going to be just fine and she’d be pissed off about all the worrying and the fussing. But she’d looked so helpless, so fragile just lying there.

He owed Apollo an unrepayable debt. Never in this century would he have thought that horse would have kept his head about him and not freaked the fuck out. But he hadn’t. He’d stayed statue still and Waffles, the little furry genius, had found the fastest way to bring help.

She was going to be fine. And damn it, she was going to love him again. And they were going to get married and have a family and breed horses and brew beer. No matter what anyone said. Even her.

He got out of the Jeep and stormed toward the doors.

He followed Forrest’s advice and followed the sound of the f-bomb being dropped like confetti. He pulled back the curtain and saw Forrest standing near Joey’s head while a doctor tried to explain to her that her shoulder was dislocated and they needed to put it back in its rightful place.

A nurse was cleaning up the gash on her hairline and another one was stripping off her sock so they could get a good look at her ankle.

“I’m sorry, sir. Are you family?” The nurse with the sock in her gloved hand was staring at him and probably the better portion of Joey’s drying blood on his jacket and shirt.

Joey’s eyes were closed. Frozen with old memories, Jax didn’t respond.

“Sir?”

“Of course he’s family,” Forrest blustered. “He’s my daughter’s fiancé.”

“This is your fiancé?” the nurse asked Joey and those big, brown eyes slowly fluttered open. She gave Jax a lopsided smile and shrugged with her good shoulder.

“Sure, why not? He’s pretty cute, isn’t he?” she asked the nurse.

The nurse finally cracked a smile. “Set a date soon, honey. Men like that you need to lock down fast.”

“’K,” Joey smiled and closed her eyes.

“Okay, Joey, we’re going to set your shoulder on three. One, two, th—”

And the f-bombs flew with abandon.

B
etween Phoebe humming
while she cleaned the upstairs bathroom and her own mother puttering around the kitchen making a nice “hearty stew to put some meat back on her bones,” Joey was over the whole convalescing thing.

She was forbidden from working at all for at least a week and not allowed to get on a horse for three. Lifting anything heavy like straw or saddles or a full water bucket? Forget it. She was good and screwed for at least six weeks.

She’d put up with the pampering and the mother henning as long as she could. Three whole days now. She was busting out of this joint. What would make her feel better? Seeing her damn horses, maybe swinging by Apollo’s stall with some apple slices and a heartfelt “thank you very much for not murdering me with your hooves when you had the chance.”

She waited until April wandered upstairs to the laundry room before she made her escape. Pulling on boots would take too long so she slid her moccasins on her feet and grabbed Phoebe’s down coat from the hook by the front door. She snagged Jax’s John Pierce Brews baseball hat and pulled it down over the gauze on her forehead.

Incognito, she limped out the front door and skirted the far side of the house to avoid detection. It felt like it had been weeks, not days, since she’d last walked through the door of the stables. Jax had spent every night with her, but refused to have sex with her saying that she needed to take it easy for a while. She’d offered to let him be on top, but he still wasn’t biting.

She tucked her hands into the pockets of Phoebe’s coat and hunched her shoulders against the March wind. Winter was hanging on to the bitter end in Blue Moon. The cold made the ache in her shoulder even more noticeable. But soon, spring would be here. And spring meant sunshine and flowers and impregnating horses. It was going to be a good year. She could feel it in her bones.

Joey glanced around her when she got to the stables to make sure the Joey police weren’t making their rounds before she slipped inside. She limped around the corner, thankful that she’d been lucky with just a minor sprain, and glanced down the aisle. She spotted Gia, with her fiery red hair piled on top of her head mucking out a stall with aplomb, if not a great deal of efficiency.

Beckett poked his head out of the office and Joey ducked back so he wouldn’t see her. “Babe, coffee’s ready,” he called to Gia.

“Oh, thank God. Listen, I think I can get one more stall done before I have to head in for my class.”

“No problem,” Beckett said, holding the door for her. “I’m finishing up some invoices here and then I can take over. Evan said he’ll help out Saturday.”

Joey heard the door behind her open and she limped into the tack room. Carter hauled in a fresh bale of straw and put it next to Gia’s wheelbarrow before ducking into the office with them.

She heard voices and the soft trod of horses in the indoor ring. It sounded like someone was teaching her group lesson. She tiptoed out of the tack room and toward the ring. Her five o’clock students were all on their appropriate mounts working on a figure eight led by Jax and…her father?

Jax and Forrest stood shoulder to shoulder in the center of the ring. They took turns calling out instructions, some that were spot on and others that were a little more questionable.

Jax said something to her dad and Forrest laughed and clapped him on the shoulder. Joey felt a lump build in her throat.

They were doing this for her. All of them. Because they loved her. And whether she understood or even appreciated what they were doing, she realized that they were doing their absolute best for her. And that’s all anyone ever had done. Maybe they hadn’t known better before. Maybe they knew better now. But what mattered is that they were putting their best efforts forward for her.

And she loved every single one of them for it.

She’d eat their damn stew and smile at the ridiculous pattern someone had raked in the ring. She’d praise the weird goat milk fabric softener Phoebe brought her. And she’d sure as hell tell each and everyone one of them how much she appreciated them. In her own way, of course. Baked goods most likely. Maybe a funny card. Not with actual words and hugs and stuff.

She snuck another peek at Jax and her father standing side by side and shook her head. Damned if she didn’t love them both, with a fierceness that scared her. Was this what forgiveness felt like? She felt lighter, happier. Jax had been so calm during “the incident” as her mother had taken to calling it. And the tenderness he showed her after, well that just choked her up with emotion. Despite her obvious durability and her impatience to get back to normal, he handled her as if she were something precious.

He’d stuck this time. And she knew now that he would always stick, always stay. They were tied up in each other and there would be no untangling these knots ever again.

With her heart coming to life in her chest, she snuck back out of the stables and headed home to think.

That night, she waited until it was just she and Jax, relaxing on the couch. The fire was low, the dishes were done, and Waffles was curled up in a furry ball at her feet. Her head rested on his shoulder, his fingers stroking her bare arm. She watched the story unfold, carefully crafted and beautifully written.

“Jax?” she said.

His lips brushed the top of her head in a lazy kiss. “Yeah?”

“Seeing as how we’re fake engaged and all, I think you should move in.”

“Is this the head wound talking?” he asked lightly.

She shook her head and smiled. “No. It’s the ‘I think you should move in before we get married so we can make sure we won’t murder each other living together’ talking.”

“Are you sure you didn’t hit your head again?” He turned her chin this way and that to check her pupil dilation.

“Pretty sure.”

“Marriage is a big deal,” he told her.

“So I’ve heard. But now that I know what a big deal you are in Hollywood I want to lock you down while I still can.”

He pinched her and she yelped. “Also, I get why you did what you did.”

Jax stilled his hands on her. “You do?”

“And while I don’t agree with some of the things you’ve done,” she said pointedly. “Everything you’ve ever done where I’m concerned came from a place of love. Sometimes stupidity and love. But the love part is what’s important. And I’d be the biggest asshole in Blue Moon if I ignored that.”

Jax tipped her chin up, brought his mouth within a whisper of hers. “I’m so glad you’re not the biggest asshole in Blue Moon. I love you, Jojo.”

“I love you back.”

J
ax moved
in the next day. With all the troops at Joey’s beck and call, it was easy work forming a vehicle convoy filled with Jax’s limited possessions and distributing them all over Joey’s house.

The first few days were a little rocky with Joey ceding so much of her own territory, but they soon found their rhythm. And just to make sure they both had enough elbow room, Jax put a call into Calvin to see if the man’s crew could handle yet another Pierce Acres project with an office, sunroom, and bedroom add-on to Joey’s house. Calvin told him thanks to all the Pierce projects he was thinking about retiring…or at least taking his wife on that Hawaiian vacation she’d always wanted.

Spring finally sprung chasing the last vestiges of winter north. Everyone’s workloads on the farm doubled—those with twins found their workloads quadrupled—but the acres were never lonely. Grandparents, kids, neighbors, and friends were constant visitors. The dogs, enjoying the warm weather and muddy fields, spent their days romping between stables and barns giving chase to lazy barn cats and each other.

Business at the brewery was booming and the need for a full-time manager was no longer just speculation. Joey’s relationship with her parents had smoothed out to the point where she no longer felt like she was wearing a plastic bag over her head during conversations with them. Forrest had stopped treating Jax as a pariah, and April had only hinted around for a week or two after Joey’s fall that maybe Joey should start working with livestock smaller than horses.

Joey and Jax agreed that Apollo and Calypso’s first “experience” with each other seemed wildly successful, after a few well-placed kicks from the mare reminding Apollo to mind his manners. In a few weeks they’d know for sure if there would be a baby Aplypso, as Jax had dubbed the potential foal.

Yes, life in Blue Moon was beautiful, Joey sighed, letting the spring air from the open car window rush through her fingers.

After some spectacular early morning sex, Jax had talked her into breakfast at Overly Caffeinated to celebrate their day off together. And after plates of growth hormone- and cruelty-free bacon and eggs, they were heading home to do whatever the hell they felt like. Jax brought the knuckles of her hand to his lips and brushed them and she felt that familiar flutter in her stomach.

In his aviators and t-shirt, his hair carelessly tousled, he looked more movie star or model than writer and brewer. And he was all hers.

Suck it, Moon Beam Parker.
Joey grinned. “Breakfast sure puts you in a good mood,” she said.

“I was just thinking about a vacation with you.”

“A vacation? Don’t tell me you’re back on road trips again.”

The sun glinted off the glassy waters of Diller’s pond as they cruised past.

“I was thinking more along the lines of passports and white sand, blue water, and a tiny bikini.”

“If you think you can pull off a bikini I’ll be happy to post photographic evidence to Facebook,” Joey teased.

Jax slowed and downshifted, bringing the Nova to a smooth stop on the side of the road.

“Oh, gee. Are we out of gas?” Joey smirked.

“Cute. Now get out,” Jax said, reaching across her and pulling the door handle.

It wouldn’t be the first time Jax had pretended to throw her out of car. But when she looked around them, she realized where they were. The oak was still standing and, despite the scars it bore on its trunk, it looked stronger than ever.

She climbed out of the car and wandered over to it, fingers skimming the bark. She’d never revisited the site of the accident. She’d driven past it hundreds of times since, but had never stopped. Never wanted to remember that night.

“What are we doing here?” she asked, wondering why Jax would want to put a damper on what had started off as the perfect day.

His fingers joined hers on the trunk of the tree. “Do you know what I see when I look at you, Joey?”

She faced him, arched an eyebrow. “I can’t even imagine.”

He brought his hands to her waist and she felt the love in those gray eyes. “I see my past,” he began, turning her wrist up and starting to trace her scar from the elbow. “I see my present.” He skimmed a hand over her cheek, fingers dipping into her hair.

“And I see my future.” Jax looked her square in the eye and slowly began to sink down on one knee.

Goosebumps sprang up on her arms as Jax’s hand left her face and traveled down her arm until he held her hand. Her breath caught in her throat.

“Joey, it’s always been you for me. There’s no home, no heart without you. Marry me. Be my wife, my partner, my home.”

She saw it then, the diamond glinting in the spring sunshine.

She bent at the waist, trying to catch her breath. “Are you sure about this?” she asked.

His slow, sexy-as-hell smile made her heart beat even faster. “Hell yes. Say yes.”

“Are you asking or telling?” Joey’s vision blurred with tears.

“There’s only one answer here, Jojo.”

She laughed and straightened. She knew it too. There had always been only one answer.

“Let’s do it.”

Jax whooped and picked her up around the waist, spinning her in a circle. Joey laughed as he let her slide down his body inch by inch until her toes touched the ground. He was hard before her lips met his, sealing the deal. When he pulled her against his hard-on, she put a hand on his chest. “Gimmie the ring, Ace. And then take me home and make love to me.”

He slid it on her finger and pressed a kiss to her palm.

“It’s freaking beautiful,” Joey said admiring the glint and glitter. The platinum band sat snugly against her finger and despite the fact that the diamond was the size of a car tire, it sat low enough in the setting that she might actually be able to wear it and not snag it on a horse.

“Beautiful and practical, just like my girl,” he told her.

On the drive home, Joey made Jax promise he wouldn’t say anything to anyone yet. She didn’t want to deal with Summer and Gia showing up with their Pinterest wedding boards. If anyone asked her opinion on tablecloths and invitations she’d tell them exactly where they could shove said tablecloths and invitations.

When she said as much to Jax as they pulled up to the house, he laughed. “I don’t think that’s going to be an issue.”

She pulled him out of the car. “Come on, let’s find out if engaged sex is different from dating sex.” She planted a hot, fast kiss on his mouth and he wrapped her legs around his waist carrying her up the porch steps.

“Door’s open,” she said, dipping her fingers into his hair and tugging just hard enough to elicit a groan from him.

“Wait, wait, wait, Jojo. Shit,” he murmured against her mouth.

She bit his lower lip and he growled.

“Wait?”

“We don’t have time to find out what engaged sex is like.”

“Why the hell not?” she demanded, squeezing him with her thighs.

“Because we’re getting married in an hour.”

J
ax wasn’t kidding
. One hour later, Joey walked down the grassy aisle on her father’s arm in her Brigid Winston dress. All the pieces of her heart were there. There on the ridge where John Pierce’s ashes were scattered.

The Pierces, Franklin, Evan, and Aurora, her parents, even her sister’s family.

Jax waited for her at the end of the aisle looking model perfect in one of his tuxes. And as she walked toward him, he laid his hand over his heart.

“I’m still not going to apologize for wanting what’s best for you,” Forrest whispered gruffly.