“Me, too, Daddy,” she said. “Me, too.”

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Sixteen

Jody sat in one of two old lawn chairs in the middle of a bare spot where her trailer used to be parked. Less than two weeks ago she was in a committed relationship. In some ways it seemed more like ten years, but sitting there, the pain was still very raw. To her right, what was left of her garden had shriveled up and looked like a bed of weeds. Ruts were dug deep into the ground where the trailer had been taken out right over the top of all the plants that she’d cared for so lovingly.

“It’s a testimony of my life right there,” she said. “Smashed and dead.”

“Excuse me?” A man’s voice seemed to come from the white clouds above her.

It startled her so badly she almost fell backward in the chair. She glanced to her left to see a man with one foot braced against a big pecan tree, his arms crossed over his broad chest.

“Who are you, and what are you doing here?” she demanded.

“I might ask you the same thing.” He removed his cowboy hat and wiped sweat from his brow with a snow-white handkerchief he took from the hip pocket of his Wranglers.

“I’m Jody Andrews and until ten days ago, I lived with Lyle Jones in the trailer that set right here.” Her tone sounded cold even to her own ears.

“I see. Mind if I sit down?” He held his hat in his hand. “I’m Quincy Roberts.”

She nodded toward the other chair. “I hear you’re going to buy this property. Is that true?” Jody asked.

“I’m dealing with Lyle for it. It’s the last little corner, and I’d like to have it, but we’re haggling over mineral rights. Even though I’m not interested in drilling for oil, I don’t buy anything that doesn’t totally belong to me,” Quincy said. “I heard about how Lyle left you high and dry. Why on earth would you come back out here?”

“Closure,” she answered. “Seeing my garden like this with nothing left of a fifteen-year commitment but two old lawn chairs almost does it for me.” She pushed up out of the lawn chair. “What are you going to do with this land, anyway?”

“Run cattle on it. Maybe even a few hogs,” he said. “I’m an oil man, but I like to get my hands dirty. It makes me happy. What are you doing now that Lyle’s married to another woman?”