“Get out,” Miss Leona said.
“Miss Le—”
“I said get out.”
“I—where are the dogs?”
“Up at the ranch. Chris came and got them for me this morning. Four dogs is three dogs too many sometimes. But it doesn’t matter, I said get out.”
“Let me at least—”
She turned on him, the same temper that ran through his veins setting her eyes ablaze. “If you don’t get out of my damn house.”
Jesse’s teeth ground together as he turned and stormed out of the room. He could hear Miss Leona saying sweet, soothing things to the old man and he wondered if he should go back and punch him for good measure. He walked over to his own house instead. He didn’t mean to throw his carry-on bag, but all intentions went to shit went it smashed against the wall and left a black mark. He took a deep breath, knowing he’d regret that later, then grabbed the keys to his truck. He needed to go get the dogs.
The lights came on as he walked into his garage. He stepped into his pickup truck and forced himself to wait until the lift door was completely open before he slammed into reverse. What the hell was Miss Leona thinking, making out with that man like some teenager? What the fuck was Mr. LeRoux thinking? Jesse knew exactly what he was thinking. Sick pervert with his fly down. When he got back, when Jesse had calmed down, he and Mr. LeRoux were definitely going to have a chat.
The garage door finally opened and Jesse started to back out, stopping as he saw the red Buick barreling down the driveway. And that was the moment Jesse knew he’d fucked up. Miss Leona hated to drive, but it was her behind the wheel, Mr. LeRoux beside her, clutching his wrist to his chest.
* * *
Jesse sat beside his pool, taking his time with the now room temperature beer in his hand. The sun had long set and the only things breaking up the darkness of his backyard were the blue lights coming from beneath the water’s surface, and the stars overhead. He’d tried to get ahold of his grandmother, but she never responded. Hours later, when his brothers and cousins returned from Vegas, he got a single text from Corie.
What the fuck did you do?
He didn’t reply, just let the dogs out so they could rush back over to his grandmother’s house to greet their other humans. That was his proof of life, the signal that he was at home, but he knew it would be better if he lay low. Hours later, even after he’d scrubbed the black mark from his suitcase off the wall, he still hadn’t heard from anyone else in his family and it was just as well. He knew exactly what they were going to say. They’d tell him to check his temper. Give him some lecture about Miss Leona’s right to booty calls and then go back to their own business without a care in the world.
He still had that meeting with the Democratic action committee to prepare for, but at the moment staring at his pool seemed like a better idea. He had to figure out what to say to his grandmother to get her to understand where he was coming from. He had to figure out what to say to his brothers, and Corie, to get them to shut the hell up about it.
He was about to reach for his phone, when Clementine hopped up from her spot beside his deck chair and wandered over to the back door. The door opened and Zach stepped into the backyard. He crossed the pool deck and took a seat in the open chair beside Jesse. His brother was usually all jokes and all smiles, but his jaw was set and he refused to look Jesse in the eye. A rare sight. An angry Zach Pleasant.
“Didn’t bring Sam with you? I know you two love an intervention.”
Zach didn’t respond, he just leaned forward and rubbed at a scuff on the tip of his boot. Clementine took that as her cue to shove her head under his hand.
“Fine. Let me have it. I deserve it.”
“I’m not gonna let you have shit.” He scratched Clem behind the ear before he finally looked up. “Mr. LeRoux has a hairline fracture in his wrist. He’s gonna be okay, but you could have really hurt him. Or worse, you could have given him a heart attack.”
Jesse knew his brother was right, but for some reason he felt his temper rising again. Zach didn’t fucking get it. “You didn’t see what I walked in on.”
“I didn’t, but Miss Leona told me what happened. And as much as I don’t even want to think about our grandmother mugging down, you cannot scream at old people. Like I don’t know how else to make that clear. What if you had given Miss Leona a heart attack, or what if she’d gotten hurt? She’s eighty-three, Jess. She’s not falling apart, but she is still eighty-three.”
Jesse sighed and leaned back into the deck chair. “Yeah, okay.”
“I thought we talked about this.” They had, over a year ago, but that was before Jesse walked in on what he walked in on. “I understand that you don’t want Miss Leona dating—”
“That’s not what I said. I don’t want someone trying to take advantage of her.”
“Okay, but don’t you think she gets to make that call? Did you even try to talk to her?”
“Yes, but she kicked me out.”
Zach let out a sigh of his own, then leaned forward. Jesse looked up and forced himself to make eye contact with his brother. “She’s been seeing Mr. LeRoux for almost a year.”
“Did you know?”
“No, she didn’t want to tell me or Sam because she didn’t want us to tell you. Do you see how that’s a problem? Our grandmother, who trusts you with pretty much everything, didn’t trust you with this, and it turns out she was right.”
Jesse’s gaze dropped back to the bottle in his hand. He didn’t trust himself to say anything else.
“I think you need to give Miss Leona some space until she’s ready to talk to you again. And I think you should apologize to Evie.”
“What did I do to Evie?”
“Well, we’re getting married in six days, and instead of yamming it up with the girls, talking about how much fun she had this weekend and how she can’t wait for our very X-rated honeymoon, she’s over at the house consoling our grandmother and praying you get your shit together so we don’t have to spend our whole wedding day wondering if you’re gonna start something. We already have the looming threat of Lilah versus Uncle Gerald to worry about, and now this.”
“You’re right,” Jesse said, his tone gruff. “I messed up.”
“And if I’m being real with you, you pissed me off too.”
“I hear you.” And he did, but Zach still didn’t understand where Jesse was coming from. He didn’t understand the pressure Jesse was under and he never would, so there was no use in arguing, even if Jesse wanted to lay it all out there. And he couldn’t get up and leave this conversation. It was his house.
“Give Miss Leona a few days, and if you feel yourself about to explode again, at least fucking walk away or something, man. You should really see a damn therapist.”
That stung, but Jesse kept that to himself too. He didn’t need a therapist. He needed someone in his family, someone besides him, to step up and give a shit. But he knew that wasn’t going to happen. Somehow, after his father, Jesse Senior, left to pursue his acting career, leaving Zach and Jesse in charge of the ranch, the roles in their family had shifted and then set themselves in stone. And that left Jesse as the rock. Sam and Zach could come and go as they pleased. Lilah had all the room she needed to learn and grow and be angry at her father, judgment-free, all because Jesse was holding it down. None of them wanted to hear that.