Baseball and Other Lessons (Devil's Ranch Book 2) (28 page)

Not a snowball’s chance in hell.
“Sounds great, Mom. Love you. Bye.”

Jenn ended the call and collapsed onto her couch. Her parents were going to drive her crazy.

Going to? They already had.

This was ridiculous. She didn’t get the whole serious prepper thing. Sure, there was nothing wrong with having some extra food and water on-hand, or having a first-aid kit and knowing how to use it, or even thinking about what you would do in the event of a wildfire or tornado or something. Her parents, however, were taking it way beyond the extreme. If Pluto was extreme, her parents were like fifty galaxies away from that, in places scientists hadn’t even discovered yet.

They were that extreme.

A headache began pulsing behind her eyes. She’d been on pins and needles since her name had been linked to Matt’s Sunday night. Having him come over all week hadn’t helped matters. Sure, he was nice to look at and she could no longer lie to herself about enjoying his company. Hell, she’d been enjoying his company since he’d come back to town last month.

Being around him so much, though, was wreaking havoc on her system. As soon as she caught a whiff of him it was like her body went on high alert and her ovaries started partying hard. Just his voice made her wet, and his casual touches literally made her weak in the knees.

And okay, so his touches seemed casual but she knew what he was doing. He was seducing her one touch, one look, one baseball game at a time. Watching Wranglers games with him was both heaven and hell; on one hand she loved being able to pick his brain and get insights into the game she’d never had, on the other, the intensity with which he gave those insights seriously turned her on.

Then there was his intelligence. Sure, she’d always known Matt was no dummy, and that night ten years ago had proven that even further. Since that night, though, he’d matured, become more comfortable in his own skin and more comfortable letting his intellect shine through. Yes, they talked a lot of baseball, but he’d surprised her by initiating conversations about books he’d recently read, current events and even one time engaging her in a heated debate on the best modern-retelling of one of Shakespeare’s plays (she’d said
Romeo + Juliet
, he’d said
Sons of Anarchy
).

He hadn’t kissed her again, though. The not kissing was driving her nuts, but in all fairness she was the one who’d insisted on being “just friends.”

She was beginning to think being “just friends” was for the birds.

Her phone dinged, drawing her out of her own head.

Jo: Apparently Chase and Owen are going up to the ranch for a couple of days. Girls’ night?

Jenn: Sure. Miguel’s then drinks somewhere not public?

She really didn’t want to court temptation by being out in public too much. So far she’d been lucky, but she knew it was only a matter of time before her privacy was further invaded.

Jo: No problem. You wanna come over to Gran’s? We can figure out something from there.

Jenn: Or we could just party with Gran. ;-) Be there in a few.

Jenn got up from the couch and went into the bedroom to change out of her battered pair of denim shorts and tank top into a maxi dress and cute pair of sandals. She checked her hair in the bathroom mirror and deemed it presentable before heading into the living room where she grabbed her phone, purse and keys and left to go meet Jo.

About an hour later, they found themselves seated at a corner table at Miguel’s.

“Alright, so why don’t you want to have drinks somewhere public?” Jo asked without preamble. Leave it to Jo to just cut right to the chase.

Jenn sighed and blew a curl out of her eyes, reluctant to tell Jo the real reason why. As far as she knew the article with her name in it hadn’t spread like wildfire, and if someone in her inner circle had read it they would have said something by now. “Because people are driving me freaking crazy.”

“Like who?”

Jenn dropped her head into her hands briefly before looking back up. “Everybody.”

Jo lifted an eyebrow. “Everybody?”

Jenn groaned. That, at least, was completely honest. “Okay, not everybody. Mostly my parents and Matt.”

That, however, was only partially honest.

“What’s up with your parents?”

Before Jenn could respond, their waiter arrived to take their drink order. They both asked for sweet tea. Jenn waited for the teenager to leave.

“I think I taught him a few years ago. That makes me feel old.”

Jo laughed. “Nuh uh. You’re not getting away with changing the subject.”

Jenn rolled her eyes. “Fine. My parents are just…” Jenn’s hands fluttered in the air. “They’re crazy. Mom called me this morning to tell me they’d been contacted by that
Doomsday Preppers
show and they’re thinking about filming an episode. What would my principal think if he found out my family’s a bunch of nut job preppers?”

“Wait.” Jo held up a hand. “They’re that far into it?”

Jenn nodded. “Unfortunately, yes. It’s gotten steadily worse over the past year. They’re at the point where they have weekly drills and play renegade soldier.”

Their waiter returned, set their teas down and took their order. Neither of them bothered to look at the menu—Jenn wanted enchiladas, and she was pretty sure Jo would order the same thing. As soon as the teenager was gone, Jo asked, “Weekly drills?”

Jenn groaned. “Yes. They get out their guns, dress up in desert camo and act as if their compound is under siege.”

“Compound as in Branch Dividian or compound as in Kennedy?”

“Compound as in off the grid shipping container fortress. They have a landline and satellite cable and internet. That’s it.”

“Wow. I didn’t realize they’d gone that far off the deep end.”

“Yeah. It’s ridiculous. Mom keeps ordering emergency food kits and other survival stuff and sending them to my house. I’ve just been stashing it all in the spare bedroom, figuring I’ll ship them to Mom and Dad eventually, or use them as a science experiment or something. Matt happened to be there one day for the latest shipment, and it was embarrassing to say the least.”

“Wait. Matt knows your family’s a bunch of preppers? What was Matt doing at your place? I thought you guys hated each other.”

Before Jenn could concoct an answer, their waiter returned with their food. Instead of answering Jo’s question once he left, Jenn dove into her enchiladas.

“Seriously? You’re going to drop that on me and then not answer my question?” Jo asked.

Jenn swallowed before saying. “Sorry, I’m hungry, and don’t know where to begin.”

“How about, I don’t know, at the beginning?”

Jenn took a deep breath and tried to gather her thoughts, mentally weighing how much to tell and not to tell Jo right now. “I don’t know that Matt and I hate each other. There was just some…animosity there.”

Animosity’s one way of putting it.

“At any rate, he’s been coming over to my place in the evenings here lately, so you and Chase can have some privacy. He was there that day and he kind of teased me a little bit about it.”
That’s not completely true and you know it. Yes, he teased you a bit, but he never made you feel bad about it.

“So that’s where he’s been going,” Jo murmured.

“Yeah. He says he wants to give you guys some alone time, and that he doesn’t want to hear all the wild monkey sex going on when he’s not getting any.”

“That’s oddly sweet.”

“Matt, sweet? Yeah, right.” She didn’t know why she was trying to hold up the charade with Jo, especially since she knew that Matt could indeed be sweet.

“So you and Matt have managed to hang out together—alone—and not kill each other? I’m impressed.”

“Oh, I almost stabbed him with a fork the other night.”

Jo laughed. “What’d he do to deserve that?”

Jenn looked away before saying, “Nothing, really. He was just being a jerk.”

Not really, he hadn’t. She’d almost stabbed him with a fork out of sheer sexual frustration, which really was no excuse.

Jenn changed the subject off of Matt before Jo began putting two and two together. “So what’s up with Chase? I’ve called him a couple of times this week and he hasn’t answered. He’s barely responded to text messages. That’s not like him.”

Now it was Jo’s turn to dive into her enchiladas.

“Uh oh. What’s going on? Y’all didn’t break up, did you?” Not possible. Jo and Chase totally belonged together.

“Not that I know of. We had a pretty serious talk the other night, and he seemed like he had a lot on his mind, really worried about something. I tried to get it out of him, but all he would do is ask me what our plan was once I go back to Austin.”

“And what is the plan? I love you guys, and obviously y’all are meant for each other, but even soul mates can’t survive distance for too incredibly long.” Not that she’d thought about long distance relationships or anything recently.

Jo shrugged, misery settling around her like an old cardigan. “I know that. He knows that. Part of it’s my fault—I haven’t exactly wanted to talk about it, even though I know we need to.”

“Uh, yeah.” Jenn took a sip of her tea before continuing. “What I don’t understand is why you’ve been avoiding the inevitable. Just rip the damned bandage off already.”

Why don’t you take your own advice, oh wise one?

Shut. Up.

Jo pushed her enchiladas around her plate. “I know, I know. I’m just so scared of the what-ifs, and the thought of losing him. I think by avoiding having that particular conversation, it’s been easier for me to keep reality at bay.”

Jenn shook her head, even though a part of her understood all too well. “You counselors really can be some screwed up people.”

“Tell me about it.”

“Oh, I can if you really want me to.”

Jo snorted. “No, thanks. I’m well aware of just how messed up I am. But seriously, I get the feeling that there’s something else bothering Chase, that it’s not only the distance thing. I just can’t come up with any ideas.”

Jenn shrugged. “I really don’t know. I mean, the distance thing is kind of a big one, y’know. And knowing Chase, he’s probably scared to death to let you in all the way, because even though he’s one of my best friends and one of the nicest men on the planet, he also has some issues and has a really hard time letting people in.”

“Yeah, thanks to me,” Jo said bitterly.

“Partially, maybe. But I don’t think it’s just you. Chase tells me most everything, but I know there are things he keeps pretty close to the vest.” Jenn dragged her fork through the remaining enchilada sauce on her plate, making swirly patterns with the tines. “I know he tells Owen more than he does me, and Owen would never divulge state secrets, so to speak.”

“How exactly did Owen and Chase and you become friends to begin with? I don’t remember him from high school.”

“Really? He moved here like our junior year, I think, but he was pretty quiet. Junior ROTC. Graduated a year ahead of us. After he graduated he joined the National Guard and moved to Houston for a while. Came back to Del Rio oh…nine years ago maybe? At any rate, he came back here and opened up a construction business. Chase moved back not long after that, and with him being in commercial real estate they ended up working together a lot, and then ended up doing a lot of the same community events. They just became friends really quickly.”

“So you became friends with Owen by proxy then?”

Jenn shrugged. “Kind of. More like, Chase started inviting Owen to go to the lake with us or come over to his place or to April’s, and before I knew it I suddenly had two hot guy friends who unfortunately both treated me like I was a sister.”

Jo snorted. “About that…was there seriously never anything between you and Owen?”

Jenn laughed. Loudly. “Oh, God, no. I mean, did I think he was hot? Obviously. Even a blind woman could see that. But there simply wasn’t any chemistry, and at the time I honestly wasn’t looking for a boyfriend or even sex. It was a very easy slide into friendship. Anyway, though, enough about me. How about we get the check and head back to Gran’s for some ice cream and alcohol?”

“Ice cream and alcohol, huh?”

Jenn signaled for the waiter and said, “Just feels like that kind of a night.”

#

“Chase wants to have dinner tonight,” Jo said as she sat down on the edge of Jenn’s bed. Instead of going to Gran’s last night they’d come back to Jenn’s and indulged in Mudslides made with ice cream, which really was the best of both worlds.

Jenn yawned and stretched. “So? That’s a good thing, considering y’all are together and all.”

“I’ve got a bad feeling about this.”

Jenn sat and pushed her hair out of her eyes. “Okay. Why do you have a bad feeling?”

Jo shrugged and slid down on to the floor, her back against the mattress. “I don’t know. I can’t quite explain it. But he’s basically ignored me all week, and then when he texted me a few minutes ago he was pretty short about it.”

Jenn slid off the bed and sat on the floor beside Jo. “I can see how that would make you nervous. But didn’t he also say he was going to spend a couple of days up at the ranch? Sounds to me like he’s coming home early because he wants to see you.”