“Do you need to leave right away?” Jack asked.
“Yes.” A cold feeling was settling in her gut. Maybe he’d offer her a quick lay for old time’s sake. She knew it wasn’t fair, but she was bitter about his lack of feeling.
“Sam, pack a bag. We’ll take the Benz. Call ahead and get us a hotel suite. We’ll go house hunting this weekend.”
“What?” Abby felt her jaw drop.
Jack shrugged negligently. “If this is important to you, then we’ll go.”
“But the ranch…”
“Juan can handle it.” Jack looked sure. There was nothing in his face that told Abby he wasn’t perfectly serious. “If Austin turns out to be the place you want to stay, then we’ll work something out. I like working on a ranch, Abby. I won’t lie to you. I love it here. I love you more.”
“So do I,” Sam said quietly.
Abby was shocked to her core. They were willing to leave everything she was trying to save. She couldn’t let them do it. “No.”
Jack didn’t look surprised by her quiet denial. “No. Why not?”
“I don’t want you to go with me.” She was struggling to maintain her composure. Jack wasn’t reacting the way she thought he would, and it was throwing her off. She decided some very tough love was required. She was going to have to get nasty. “You’re going to make this hard, aren’t you?”
Jack smiled gently, but made no move toward her. “I’m going to make it impossible, my love.”
Abby rolled her eyes, and her voice dripped with sarcasm. She laid it on thick. “God, Jack, I really thought you were different. It was what attracted me to you. I thought you would be a man I could have some fun with, who would know the score.”
“I didn’t know we were playing a game, sweetheart.” His eyes were almost sympathetic. She scrambled.
“It’s always a game, Jack.” Abby used her worldliest tone. “It’s been fun. I enjoyed the whole fantasy, two men thing, but it’s not something I want to spend a life doing. I’m bored now. I want to move on. You couldn’t seriously think I would want to live in this pissant town. I hate it here.”
“Then we’ll move,” Jack said plainly.
Abby felt tears of frustration welling up. “You don’t get it, you idiot. I am leaving. I don’t love you. I don’t want you. I stayed here to help my mother, and now I’m leaving. As soon as I can get her packed up, we’ll both be out of here. You and Sam there were a nice diversion, but I’m not living this freaky life with you!”
“You’re embarrassed?”
“Yes,” she hissed, thankful he was finally following the conversation. He still didn’t sound pissed, though. “I’m ashamed to be seen with you.”
Jack looked back at Sam. Abby realized that Jack had been closing in on her. He had been subtly moving closer and closer. “Did she hide her head in shame earlier today when you took her shopping?”
“Hell, no.” Sam frowned. “She held my hand, and she kissed me in front of town hall. When some old lady called her a tramp, she patted my ass and agreed with her.”
Jack chuckled. “Now that sounds like my Abigail.” He looked pointedly at her. “This does not. Are you going to tell me what happened, baby?”
“I’m tired of people calling me a tramp,” she tried.
Jack shook his head. He was standing so close to her, she had to look up at him. She could feel the heat coming off his big body. God, she would miss it. “Try again.”
Abby pushed him away. “I don’t want you.” She was not able to keep the tears out of her voice. Couldn’t he take a hint?
“But I want you.” Her little attempt at pushing him around had done nothing to keep him away. “Abby, I know you. I know Sam fucked up somehow.”
“Hey,” Sam protested.
Jack never took his eyes off Abby as he replied. “Did you leave her alone?”
“Well, I had to help this old woman with her car.”
“That’s when they got to her.” Jack looked at Abby as though waiting for confirmation.
“No.” Abby shook her head. She was losing control of this conversation.
“Sweetheart,” Jack said quietly. “Watch what you say. You’ve been lying to me, and you’ll have to answer for it. Now, listen to me and listen well. I love you. I don’t know what that old biddy said, but she can’t hurt me. Even if she could, you would hurt me more by walking out.”
Abby sighed, and the tears started to fall. Her hands shook with the force of her emotion. “She can. Please, Jack, I can’t take it. Just let me go.”
“I will,” he promised. “If you can walk out the door after you’ve listened to everything I have to say to you, then I’ll let you go.”
Abby nodded. She would listen and then she would go.
“I love you.” Jack forced her to look him in the eyes. “That won’t change because you tell me you don’t love me. My love is not dependent on yours. It’s just there, and I won’t do anything to cut it out of my heart. It’s what I’ve waited for all of my life, and if you walk out that door, I’ll go to my grave loving you, missing you, praying that you’ll come back to me. I will never love another woman the way I love you. I will always be there for you. If you leave, know that my door is open. I will always be waiting for you to walk back through it.”
Abby couldn’t help it. The tears flowed freely now. “I can’t hurt you this way,” she sobbed. “She said she would ruin you. She has plans, Jack. She’s going to cut off your access to feed from the feed store. She has friends on the city council. She plans to pressure them to rezone the area the feed store is on. It would force them out of business.”
Jack looked slightly amused. “I assume if they dropped the ranch as a customer, the pressure would be off.”
Abby nodded. He was finally understanding her. “That’s not all. She plans to try to shut down your packaging plant. She’s going to have city regulators all over you. She’ll bring in inspectors.”
Sam laughed. “Let them in, Abby. I assure you, we can handle a visit from some inspectors. As for the feed store, we’re their biggest customer. Baby, you think this town still works the way it did twenty years ago. That old biddy can talk all she likes, but the city council is more interested in the jobs we provide than pleasing a nasty old lady.”
Jack sighed and pulled her into his arms. “You’re the only one who can ruin me, Abigail. And you can only ruin me by walking away.”
“She’ll hurt you.” Abby cried against his chest.
Jack pushed her back and shook her slightly. “Abby, would you have wanted Ben to push you away when he found out he had cancer? Would you have wanted him to spare you the pain and heartache? Is that how you view a marriage? Is it something that should work only when no one has to sacrifice?”
“No.” The world was a blurry mess, and only Jack seemed real to her. Where was Sam? Then he was there at her back as though he could read her thoughts. He pressed himself comfortingly against her. She sighed and wrapped herself around Jack. “No, I wouldn’t have wanted him to do that.”
“This is our fight, Abby.” Jack’s hands tightened on her waist. “We stand together. We face it all together. You and me and Sam.”
A deep sense of relief flooded Abby. She knew suddenly that Jack was right. They were more important than anything else. They could make it through. Abby cried and the men held her, whispering soothing things and stroking her gently. Gradually, she calmed and felt contentment push out fear.
“Sam, I believe Abigail could use a drink,” Jack suggested after a long while. “She likes vodka. I think there’s some cranberry juice in the fridge. I could use some scotch.”