“Sofia said she’d reserve a room for me to stay in until Caleb and Beck can get an apartment overlooking town square done. And who knows, by then Austin and Ginny might have found a house they like and moved to it, though Ginny said Austin doesn’t want to be too far away from his office.”
“Who. Are. These. People?” Angelica demanded, accenting each word with a smack of her fingers against the edge of her desk. “I don’t know any of those names.”
Espy lifted a hand. She’d forgotten, actually, that Angelica had left town as soon as possible after the tornado. “That’s because I spent a lot of time with them this week. I helped out in the diner and at the trailer park and got to know them. And I like them. I like the town. I like the energy. And I like Javi.” She missed him already, his gentle tone, his easy smile. “He’s a good guy.”
Angelica drew her chin in to frown up at Espy. “And you’re going to go back there and put him on the spot? I mean, how well could you really know each other after less than a week?”
Espy lifted a hand. “That’s kind of the point of me going back. It’s not like it has to be permanent, especially if I stay in the motel at first. If it’s not what I hope it can be, I can come back to Oklahoma. Even if you don’t want me to live with you anymore, I can find a place. And I thought, since I’ll be working remotely, or, you know, looking for a job to work remotely, that I could maybe finish up my degree remotely. Or even go to Angelo State University, see if they have a meteorology degree.”
Angelica’s expression softened a bit at that. “It would be so good if you did finish your degree. I think that would be wonderful.”
Energized by the slight hint of approval, Espy charged forward. “And I’d still run the reservations part of the business from Broken Wheel, and the website. I’d come back in March, or if you need me in February, whenever, to help get everything ready for the season.” She braced her hands on the desk across from Angelica. “I still want to be a part of the business. I’m not walking away from you. But I never met anyone like him, anyone who is kind and gentle and sexy. He made a lot of changes in his life and he wants to make more, and I want to be there to support him when he does.”
Angelica narrowed her eyes. “What kind of changes?”
Espy didn’t really want to talk about Javi’s fears with her sister. He’d told her in confidence, and she wanted to keep it private. “Just something that I feel like I could help him with, is all.”
“Did he ask for your help? Did he ask for you to come back?”
Espy kept her chin up, because she did know that was the flaw in her plan. “I told him I would come back, but he didn’t believe me. Not yet, anyway.”
* * *
Javi twistedhis beer in front of him on the table of Texas Forever, the honky tonk just west of Kimmel. He hadn’t been here in a few months, but if anyone deserved a night out, he did after the week he’d had. Austin, Ginny, Poppy, Caleb and Sofia had come along, and he didn’t fail to notice their group contained an equal number of men and women. He hoped they weren’t trying to set him up with Poppy, the only other single person in the group, because they were just friends.
And he missed Esperanza.
Hope. The meaning of her name suited her more than her parents could ever have known when they gave it to her.
He hoped she followed up on her vow to return, but he wasn’t holding his breath. He was used to disappointment.
Caleb and Sofia were dancing, but the rest of them were too tired after weeks of cleaning up tornado damage and trying to live their normal lives at the same time. Javi’s mom was ensconced in his house now, and, well, gave him more motivation to go out with his friends. He loved his mother but, well, the new arrangement was more of an adjustment than he’d anticipated. He wanted her to make herself at home, which she was hesitant to do since it was his house, and he found himself fighting with himself when shediddo something to make herself at home, like rearranging the kitchen cabinets.
“So have you heard from Espy since she left?” Ginny asked as she dropped onto the bench seat beside him, a fresh bottle of beer in her hand.
Javi scooted an inch or two over to make room. “No, we never exchanged numbers.”
Ginny lifted the bottle to her mouth, stopped just before taking a drink. “Yeah, she’d mentioned that her last day here and I just do not understand the reason behind that. Why not?”
Javi tugged at the label of his own bottle, not wanting to explore the question too deeply. “We just never did. She was leaving, I was staying, what’s the point?”
Ginny gestured toward him with her bottle. “The point is that you like her and I don’t know why you wouldn’t want to keep in touch with her.”
“I do, but she lives in another state. I mean, she said she’d come back, but she was just saying that. No one moves to Broken Wheel on purpose.”
“Caleb did, and Hailey did, and Beck moved back,” Austin enumerated, climbing onto the other side of the bench beside his wife.
“I notice you didn’t count yourself,” Javi said before taking a pull from his beer. Austin’s return to Broken Wheel after med school had been fraught with tension. Austin’s mom had driven the bus that had been swept off the road, and many people in town had blamed her for the death of the two girls who had been trapped, and the trauma the other kids had suffered. Austin hadn’t wanted to come back, but the town had paid for his med school, and he was beholden. And now he was married to the owner of the diner, and would stay until his contract was up, at least.
“We all know I didn’t have the choice. But look what I would have missed if I hadn’t returned.” He looped his arm around his wife’s shoulders and planted a kiss on her mouth.
“Ugh, stop,” Poppy said, deadpan from across the table. “What I will say is that if a male storm chaser who had been cute and sweet and pitched in to help the town had been stranded here instead of Espy, I would have happily encouraged him to come back every chance he could get.”
Javi straightened, squaring his shoulders. “I like her. I really do. She’s got this magnetic personality, but she and I are so different.”
“How’s that?”
He got the rest of the label off his bottle and balled it up in his hand. “She is a risk taker, and I just…I’m not that kind of guy.”
