Lone Star Hero. Jolene Navarro

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СКАЧАТЬ so hard at being the good wife to a man that didn’t care about being a good husband or father. It was all about image for Tommy.

      Dousing the fire pit with diesel, Vickie watched the flames dance high into the Texas night sky. Hands on her hips, she looked up, following the tongues of orange as they curled and danced toward the stars.

      For a moment, she focused on the silhouetted hills surrounding her father’s ranch. She grew up counting the trees along the riverbank. Their smell always gave her comfort, but not tonight.

      Tonight she needed to do something to purge the remaining traces of bitterness and feeling of helplessness. Maybe a good cry. She snorted. Her mother would disapprove.

      Crying didn’t solve anything, just made a person look weak. Opening the elaborate cover of her wedding album, she looked at the engagement picture. That girl looked like a stranger to her now. She was made up in the image of her mother.

      Tommy smiled at the camera, one arm wrapped around her waist. Her hand flat against his shirt, showing off the large diamond. She tossed the grinning groom into the blaze and stared as his face distorted before vanishing into ashes.

      She couldn’t think of one single day in the last two years she had even missed Tommy and his hypercritical demands. Finding out about the other woman was her breaking point. He blamed her, telling her he couldn’t love her.

      Being a wife and mother was all she ever wanted. She didn’t seem to be winning in that department, either. She rolled her head back and closed her tired eyes.

      A grown woman with an eleven-year-old son and seven-year-old daughter to raise and not a marketable skill in sight.

      Her mother lectured her for the past twelve years about being the good wife, even after the divorce. People in her family did not get divorced.

      Against all evidence, Elizabeth Lawson hung on to the dream that Tommy would come back and beg her forgiveness, becoming the model family man. Vickie knew it was beyond over. She failed at marriage and had messed up the perfect family history. Her mother would have to find a way to deal.

      The one thing she would not be, could not be, was a failure at being a mom. Her kids needed her more than ever since Tommy’s disappearing act.

      She tore out another photo, her mother fussing over the intricate pile of hair the hairdresser had created around the bridal veil. Miles of perfectly preserved white lace and tiny beaded pearls surrounded Vickie along with all her mother’s plans and expectations.

      Seth needed her to be strong. She knew the divorce and his father’s abandonment hurt him beyond words.

      Flipping the heavy page, she ripped out another photo. Into the fire the kiss went. Running down the steps of the church...gone.

      The three-foot wedding cake...history.

      The breeze blew smoke into her face. Vickie’s chest and throat started to burn as tears finally escaped, one after another. Her eyesight blurred as she watched each picture vanish in the multicolored inferno.

      Headlights made their way down the long drive. She gritted her teeth. Why couldn’t her mother just leave her alone in her misery? Using the bottom of her oversize T-shirt, Vickie wiped her face.

      The car door opened and closed.

      “Vickie?” A strong, masculine voice surprised her. She hung her head. Much worse than her mother, the ex-best friend that almost arrested her today. Officer Jake Torres.

      “I could see the flames from the highway. You know the county is in the middle of a burn ban.” He walked straight toward her.

      She pretended not to notice his wide shoulders or powerful legs. He was a walking cliché of a Texas Ranger. “Officer Torres, I would think you had better things to do than bother women—” A leftover sob escaped her chest. She swallowed it back down “—on their own property. Is this an arrestable offense also?”

      He sat on his heels, hunched next to her as he picked up a picture that had fallen in the dirt. “Wedding pictures?”

      She stared at the fire, hoping he would leave. She didn’t want to share her humiliation with anyone, especially her childhood crush. Every girl at school had giggled whenever Jake walked by. He had been her best friend but completely out of reach.

      He thrust his chin to the box at her feet. “In honor of your anniversary?”

      She turned to him in shock. “You remembered my wedding date? Tommy never did.” She should look away. Please, just go away before I start to think I could rely on you. “You weren’t even there.”

      This time he broke eye contact first. “Yeah, I...um... I had to be somewhere else.”

      Why didn’t you take me with you? “You had to run off and save the world.”

      He reached out and touched her arm. His dark hand stood in contrast to her pale skin.

      “Vickie, are you all right? Has Tommy done something?” She jerked her arm back. Don’t let him think you need a friend, Victoria Maria. She turned her face away from him and focused on the fire. “I’m fine. This is not about Tommy. He’s in Florida planning his new future, and I’m here with the kids. That’s all I need.” Please leave before I do something stupid like cry in front of you.

      He pulled his hand back and stood. “You’re a good mother. Listen, I know you’ve had a couple of rough years, but you have people that are here for you if you need anything.”

      The problem with that was she needed to learn to take care of herself. Swallowing the lump in her throat, she focused on the popping of the fire. Maybe if she ignored him, he’d go away.

      * * *

      Looking around, he spotted the green water hose, neatly curled up like a snake. With a turn of the old knob, he had the water running full blast. Stretching the hose from the old barn to the pit, he started smothering the flames. Jake scanned the area for any wayward embers.

      Vickie burst from her chair almost eye to eye with him, even barefoot. He always liked her height. He frowned. Was that the problem? His mother was always trying to match him up with short women.

      “Hey! That’s my fire. Just because you wear a uniform now doesn’t mean you...”

      “Victoria, it’s so dry, the smallest spark could turn your father’s ranch into an inferno.”

      Standing, she crossed her arms over her chest and glowered at him.

      He smiled.

      The hostility in her glare was so much better than the defeated look he saw earlier.

      With a deep sigh, she looked away and ran her fingers through her dark blond mane. “I’m sorry.”

      Tonight her hair hung loose, looking wild as the flames reflected off the long strands. He loved it down. Most of the time, she kept it styled and starched. He had to lean in a bit to hear what she muttered.

      “I don’t know why I say the things I do. It just pops in my head and out of my mouth.” She turned her face back to him. Her eyelashes glistened with moisture. “I’m so tired of fighting. Seth and СКАЧАТЬ