Page 37 of One Wild Texas Night
She wondered, too, if Regina had missed her half as much as she missed Regina. Probably not because when Regina left, she was no doubt wrapped up in being in love with Sam and getting married. Her eleven-year-old sister wouldn’t have been that big a part of her life after she left home and married. Especially if she got pregnant right away. Now she had Sam and four kids to love. Regina had probably severed ties and never looked back and figured Claire had gone on with her life, too.
Claire remembered her friend Stefanie’s joy over being an aunt and what fun Stefanie had with her nieces and nephews. Stefanie got to see her nieces and nephews. Claire never had and never would. There wasn’t any joy in discovering she was an aunt when she couldn’t possibly see or talk to her nieces and nephews. Even if they met her now, they would have no interest in her, because they had never known her.
Pain filled her for so much that had happened in the past, but it was Jake causing the deep hurt. Regina had been gone a long time, and that hurt had dulled through the years—Claire had learned to live with it. What hurt now was telling Jake goodbye, because she had fallen in love with him. She hurt because she loved him, but if she had it to do over, she would react the same way. Jake should have told her about Regina and Sam and trusted her, which he would have if he loved her. Obviously he was not in love with her.
She had known from the start that she was going to get hurt by Jake. She’d known he wouldn’t fall in love, and she had guessed that she would. Well, she had, and it hurt terribly to tell him goodbye.
She finally gave in to tears, crying, missing him already, knowing he was gone from her life. Would she ever really get over him? Could she ever forget him?
She heard a car and saw the one coming that had been described to her as her ride. Wiping her eyes, she shouldered her bag and glanced back one time in the direction of Jake’s cabin. All she could see were mesquite trees scattered across the fenced fields. Jake had driven away and out of her life.
She turned as the car stopped and a driver got out to greet her and open a back door for her.
* * *
Jake drove home and sat in his car after he had parked. He stared into space, seeing Claire and thinking about her. It hurt to have her go and have her angry with him. He had never parted that way with anyone else.
He hated to part that way, and he hated that Claire had been hurt. Honestly, he hadn’t thought once about that picture. He hadn’t even looked at it since it came last year. But she wouldn’t listen to him now. She was in shock, and maybe when the shock wore off, he could talk to her.
He had always kept his brother’s secret, and he was still staying true to his promise. Sam and Regina had never contacted any of their relatives here, including Claire, so he’d just stayed true to his vow of secrecy. After all these years, he didn’t give enough thought to Claire still wanting to connect with her sister—and he should have started thinking about that when they became closer and intimate. He’d made a mistake, and he wished he could fix it. But it was too late now. He suspected Claire had said goodbye to him forever.
With a sigh, he got out of his pickup and went inside. He needed to go work—tough physical work that would take his mind off Claire and enable him to get over her. He wished he could talk her out of her decision to leave, but he knew he couldn’t. Her relationship with her sister had been tight, and he had a feeling Claire’s feelings would never change. She’d never understand why he hadn’t shared that info with her—but he had given a promise, and he kept his promises.
He swore softly. He needed to find some work that would take his mind off Claire. He needed to work straight through the night. His nights had been spent with Claire in his arms and their fabulous lovemaking. He was going to have to work himself close to passing out tonight if he hoped to get one second’s sleep.
He already missed her, and that surprised and worried him. He had never missed any woman before. He hadn’t been ready to say goodbye to Claire. He couldn’t recall any time a woman had walked away when he wasn’t ready to see her go. But he wasn’t ready with Claire.
“Damn,” he said quietly. He already missed her, and she had just gotten out of his sight. He went to get some tools. He had some jobs he had put off doing, and now was a good time because they were demanding, physical jobs that would tire him out and take his mind off Claire.
He told himself he’d get over her soon, because he hadn’t known her long enough to be deeply serious. What he needed was time and to keep busy and to go out with someone really fun who could occupy his mind.
She wasn’t that important to him.
But he couldn’t ignore that nagging voice inside his head that repeated the same question over and over again. If she isn’t, why do you hurt so badly?
He changed clothes, got tools and drove out to an area where cedars had taken root. Even a little cedar was a chore to dig up and get rid of, but hard work was exactly what he needed.
Jake began to dig, working furiously, determined to get Claire out of his thoughts.
It was dark when he returned to his dim, empty house. He went to his gym to work out and run on a treadmill. He hoped to work off some of his worries and also to try to reach a point where he might sleep a little tonight.
He finally showered, dressed in jeans and a T-shirt and went to the kitchen to get dinner, but nothing sounded good—he wasn’t hungry, and he missed Claire more than he would have thought possible.
Instead of dinner, he reached for a beer. As he sat at the table with it, he took out his small directory of phone numbers and addresses and looked for his brother’s. He sat there for twenty minutes debating whether to make the call. Then finally he picked up his phone and called Sam.
* * *
Claire sat in the empty hotel room. She had cried until she thought she couldn’t possibly have any more tears left. And then she cried again. She cried over Jake, over her sister, over the whole dang feud.
Her phone rang, and her pulse jumped. It beat even faster when she saw that the call was from Jake.
Her heartbeat raced faster when she answered and heard his deep voice. “Claire, it’s Jake. I’ve talked to Sam,” he said, talking fast. “I called to tell him about you and that you found their picture, so I had to tell you a few things.”
Shocked, she listened. She hadn’t thought about what Jake might do because she was too busy sobbing, missing him and wishing she was with him. How deeply in love with him was she?
“Claire? Are you still there?”
“I’m here,” she replied.
