"I love you, Izzy," I whisper to her; she nods, and we both walk away, and my head is spinning.
Dinner at the main house later that night is excellent. It's the day before Thanksgiving, yet Mrs. Kristen and Mr. Cade also prepared a whole feast tonight. They're both great cooks, something I could never forget.
Although two people in particular are missing, it raises a ton of unasked questions.
Maverick and Dessa showed up without Izzy. Maverick said Izzy wasn't feeling well. I'm glad he came anyway. He's such a people person that he couldn't pass up the opportunity to be social. Jett didn't show up either. Mrs. Kristen said he got caught up with some work on the ranch and would try to make it by later.
After dinner, we all sit on the back patio, and Ander starts a fire in the giant brick fire pit in the center of the patio furniture. Beers are passed around, and the conversations flow.
I love this.
After a while, a familiar voice calls out from a short distance, "I guess the party does go on without me," Jett says as he walks up with a smirk and pops the top open on a bud light before sitting down next to Ander. He's trying to seem playful, but it seems like a front. He looks tense, chaotic even.
"Jett, this is Via's friend Dessa and my buddy Maverick; he's Izzy's boyfriend." Ander continues, "Guys, this is my older brother Jett."
Jett's jaw clenches; it's brief, and if you weren't looking for it, you'd have missed it.
Jett stands, introduces himself to both of them and shakes their hands.
Dessa is ogling him; "Hey, Jett," She says as she bats her eyelashes at him and twirls a strand of hair through her fingers. Holy shit, I've never seen Des try to flirt. It's kinda cute!
Before sitting down, she whispers to me, "Does sexy run in their DNA, sweet Jesus!"
I can't help but laugh.
Maverick and Jett's exchange of pleasantries is a little more. . . awkward.
"Hey man, It's nice to meet you. Your brother told me a lot about—"
"Yep, nice to meet you too," Jett says, through a forced smile and tense body language.
Maverick knows Izzy slept with Jett before, but he's not one to let that bother him. I don't know Mav to let very much bother him. I don't think he can take anything seriously enough even to be phased. Jett, on the other hand, looks one hundred percent phased, and the tension is fucking thick.
What thefuck.
"Well, that was uncomfortable," Dessa leans over and whispers to me. Her eyes widen, and I nod in return.
The confusion is plastered over Maverick's face, as it is on all of ours, but Mav doesn't falter. He continues being his typical upbeat self. He starts up some small talk with Mr. Cade about the deer as he walks toward the nearby treeline to spread some corn for them.
Ander leans over to Jett and asks, "What was that about?"
Jett shrugs and averts his gaze, saying, "I don't know what you're talkin' about."
Que the awkward silence and blank expressions.
"Our friend Izzy is here too; she just wasn't feeling well." Dessa, oh sweet Dessa, chimes in.
Jett scoffs and raises an eyebrow at her, "Oh, is that so?"
Abbie huffs out an uncomfortable laugh, rolling her eyes. "Jett, don't be a moody prick."
At that, he laughs, takes a swig of his beer, kicks his feet out, and props them up on the firepit. Mrs. Kristen, the angel that she is, fills the awkward silence by starting a conversation about a recipe she recently saw on one of her favorite cooking shows. I've never been so grateful for talk of the FoodNetwork because that was gettingweird.
The conversation picks back up, and things are much less awkward, but I can't help but notice howsadJett looks. I've never seen him like that. As the night passes and the beer kicks in, he loosens up, and everyone has a great time. We played way too many rounds of Blackjack, just for fun, and thank god there were no bets on the table because Mr. Cade dominated each round. Abbie's competitive ass was fuming, and it was hilarious.
Being with them is so comfortable.So natural. Fuck, I've missed them all. So much that the part of me that has felt empty for all of these years physically hurts at the thought of having gone without their presence in my life for so long.
"Maybe you are a cowgirl after all. All those years of you riding horses back in the day paid off, but you're much better at riding the cowboys." Ander whispers into my ear as he plants a firm smack to my ass right when we walk into the main house on Thanksgiving morning. I can't hold back my laughter. Our morning together was perfect. He showed meexactlywhat I have in my life to be thankful for.
