Closing the door slowly, Braydon ignored his gear in the backseat of his truck. It was there if he decided to stay and it was there if he decided to go.
Walking up to the porch, he met Jessie’s pretty blue eyes. She’d been crying, he could tell. The thought made his chest clench painfully tight, but he kept moving. He couldn’t touch her. If he did, he’d be the one reduced to tears, and the last thing he wanted was to let either of them think he was affected by their relationship.
He had to brush by Brendon to get into the house, their shoulders bumping as he did. His brother didn’t say anything, but the tension radiating from him was powerful.
Today wouldn’t rate among the best days of his life, he knew that much.
But it was time to face the music.
JESSIE DIDN’T TAKE her eyes off Braydon as he passed by her. She absorbed the massive sight of him, cataloging all the things she remembered as well as the noted differences in his appearance since the last time he was there. When his eyes met hers, she tried to read what he was thinking, but there was nothing reflected in the once-warm blue-gray depths.
No, this Braydon wasn’t the same man who’d left all those months ago. Where his quick humor and easygoing manner once were, there was something much more resigned.
She turned to face Brendon as the two brothers made their way into the house. He cast a glance back over his shoulder, signaling for her to follow. Intending to do as he’d requested, Jessie nodded and then took a step forward but stopped. She couldn’t do this. Not yet.
It was hard enough seeing Braydon. Harder than she had thought it would be. Talking to him would be damn near impossible.
So, instead of following them inside, she bolted to her car. Her key remained in the ignition, where she’d left it, and she sent up a silent prayer as she twisted her wrist, praying the damn thing wouldn’t decide to die on her today. A second later, the engine was humming to life, choking only once or twice before it was good to go.
Without looking up, she put the car in gear and headed back the same way she’d come nearly an hour and a half ago. The longest hour and a half of her entire life had been spent in silence with Brendon just a few feet away. They’d both pretended to be interested in whatever was on the television, but she hadn’t been paying much attention at all. Hell, he could’ve actually been talking to her, but she was so lost in her own thoughts, she had no clue.
It didn’t take long before she was pulling up to her little house—correction: Travis’s house. After turning off the engine, she yanked the keys out of the ignition and scrambled out of the car. She didn’t stop until she was safely inside the house, the door solidly closed behind her.
Why she was rushing, she had no idea. It wasn’t like Braydon was going to come after her. They were both probably relieved that she’d left, although now Brendon wouldn’t have anyone to blame for the events of the last few months.
Just in case, she flipped the dead bolt on the front door and tossed her keys on the small table close by before heading to the kitchen. The adrenaline flooding her system was the only thing that kept her moving. It didn’t help that she’d started to shake, her arms and legs trembling.
Probably not from adrenaline though.
When her cell phone rang a second later, she nearly came out of her skin. Jessie rushed back to the entryway, glanced down at the screen, and that was when she realized it was Kylie.
“Relax, woman,” she told herself as she hit the Talk button and greeted her sister.
“Just wanted to make sure you’re comin’ to dinner tonight,” Kylie responded, apparently too focused to apply the pleasantries that a phone call usually required. “I don’t appreciate you leaving, but I get it. I’m sorry if Travis scared you.”
“Braydon’s back,” Jessie said in a rush, not hearing most of what Kylie said.
“What?”
“He’s back. He’s at home now.”
There was silence on the other end of the line, and Jessie waited patiently for her sister to say something.
“Did you talk to him?” Kylie finally asked, her voice much softer than before.
“No.” And she didn’t want to, either. The only thing she cared about was that he was home where he belonged.
“Jess,” Kylie admonished.
“What?”
“Don’t you dare disappear on me. Do you understand?”
Jessie wasn’t sure she could make that promise, so she kept her mouth shut.
“Jess, I mean it. We’ve got a business to run. I can’t do this without you.” Kylie paused briefly. “I don’t want to do this without you. We’ll work through this, I promise.”