Colt would never be rude to a lady, but he couldn’t stand there and let Yvonne speak about JJ like that.
“Jenna is a respectable educator and member of this community. Frankly, what goes on between us is none of your business. Or anyone else’s.”
Yvonne looked raging ma
d, then as soon as the evil look came, it went. With a malicious grin, she walked off, muttering something like, “We’ll see about that.”
…
It didn’t take any real convincing of Abigail’s mother to let her spend time with Jenna. Looked like it would be on a regular basis, and Jenna could help Abigail with reading and math in the afternoons after playing with Cindy. Jenna just dropped Abigail off and was now boiling water for noodles when a knock came at the door.
She opened her front door. “Colt?”
“Hey, look, we need to talk.”
Jenna looked him over. The normally confident cowboy was…nervous?
“Okay, what’s up?”
“Well, a lot actually.” He smiled and gripped his ball cap and yep, he was definitely nervous. But he looked so cute and happy. “First, ah, I should tell you that I ran into Yvonne and told her about us. I also want you to know that—”
“Wait!” Jenna’s heart jumped into her throat. “You told Yvonne Taylor about us?”
“Yeah.”
Jenna was about to strangle him for breaking her trust. He looked confused, as if this was a totally normal thing. That it was no big deal.
“Colt. The school board is voting in two days. This is the kind of thing that could really hurt me. I thought we were clear on this.”
He took a step back and something came over his face. A look of total pain. As if Jenna had just jabbed something sharp into his gut. She felt bad, but her head was spinning. He was the one who had betrayed her. And it cut her deeper than she could describe.
…
“Why would you do that to me? Do you want me to fail?” she asked and Colt hated the strangled edge in her voice.
“Of course not,” he whispered. She shook her head and tears started to form behind her eyes. “Yvonne can’t hurt you, JJ. She has a big mouth, but dating someone doesn’t mean you’re a bad person or you don’t deserve this job.”
Her head snapped up and with water lining her lower lashes she whispered, “Unless that someone makes people think the worst of you.”
Colt took a step back and in that moment, those few words, felt his world crash around him. He watched the woman he wanted more than anything else fight a battle he couldn’t help her win. He actually hurt her chances. Not just in this job she was going for, but in her life.
He was holding her back.
Bile rose in his throat and of all the kicks and stomps he’d gotten over the years, this one was the worst. He wanted to hold tight to the one thing he loved, but it wasn’t up to him. He should have known better.
“I’m leaving, JJ.”
Her gray eyes shot wide and she reached out for him. “What? But I thought…” She glanced away.
“What?” Colt said with way too much hope in his voice. Internally, he begged her to say it. Whatever it was going on behind those big beautiful eyes. Tell him he had it wrong. That she loved him too. Something. Anything. Just say—
“Maybe after the school board votes and things settle down we could try to figure something out.”
Colt’s chest tightened. “After?”
She rubbed her fingers under her eyes. “Yeah. Maybe Yvonne won’t say anything. There’s still a chance I could get the vote in my favor but until then, distance is best.”
“You’ve said that before.” Distance. The exact opposite of what he wanted. He wanted JJ. All the time. And he didn’t care who knew it. But she did. “Good-bye, Jenna.”