Wishing on a Rodeo Moon (Women of Character) Read Free

him
breathing. She clenched her thigh, looking down at her legs, the one pant leg
empty and flat. Why was she like this?
    Jake
cleared his throat. "I was there that day."
    "That
day?" she repeated hoarsely, turning back to him. Desperately, she
searched his face.
    Jake
nodded.
    "I
don’t want to talk about it." Tye knew the truth and it tore at her.
She had known from the moment she saw his eyes. She would never forget the look
there, the compassion, the fear. Why had he been afraid? He had been her
protector the night of the accident. In a hidden recess of her mind, she had
clung to the memory of his strength during her hospital stay, and then later
during the stressful, intense rehabilitation process.
    "It
wasn’t real," she muttered. She had thought of him as a guardian
angel, not a real man. Not her Jake. Damn! Tye clenched her hands. Get over it , a voice screamed inside, he’s not your Jake .
    She
hadn’t asked anyone about him. She had wanted to believe it was all a
figment of her imagination, a spiritual presence sent during her desperate time
of need. He had kept her calm while she had been extricated from under that
bull. He had been her lifeline, then when medical help arrived, she hadn't seen
him again. He had left her, but knowing he had been there during the worst of
it had made her feel protected and special. It was strange, but she had never
felt so protected in her life, and all because of a man who now looked at her
as if she meant no more than a stranger.
    Tye
pulled her thoughts back. They were strangers.
    She
clenched her jaw and set her shoulders. "This is too much. I cannot handle
this." She had said the words out loud. Oddly, she felt as if all her
dreams were being ripped away. Tye tried to stay calm, but as her gaze darted
around the room, regret sliced through her.
    "This
place would have been perfect," she muttered. "Now it’s all
ruined." It wasn't quite clear as to why, but she knew she couldn't stay
here in such close proximity to Jake. The real Jake was no guardian angel, but
a man who despised her. Maybe he had a right to after what she had done that
night long ago.
    "Tye."
    Without
thinking about it, Tye wheeled quickly toward him, adroitly aiming the chair
between the door and his legs.
    Jake
quickly pulled his toes in. "Hey," he said, "I've brought all
the bags in. There's nothing else out there."
    Tye
threw back her shoulder-length blond hair and looked straight up at him.
"As soon as you move, there'll be something out there. Me."
    He
looked startled and lifted his brows. Deftly, Tye wheeled past him. She heard
his footsteps follow her down the ramp. She wheeled the chair faster, faster,
her arms feeling as if they’d fall off. Damn! Why had the driver left so
quickly?
    Tye
stopped at the edge of the driveway just in time to see the van disappear. Her
shoulders slumped. She cursed under her breath as Jake moved into her line of
vision.
    "What's
the problem, Tye? If something needs changing, I can have it done."
    "No."
Hurriedly, she shook her head, refusing to look at him. It hurt so much, the
thoughts in her head. He was too handsome, too much for her to look at. Memory
slammed her. Jake bending down tenderly to kiss her, helping her over some
rough spots when they went hiking. She recalled how he’d surprised her
with flowers when they had been dating for a month and how he’d cheered
her up when she lost a rodeo event. He used to tenderly rest his arm along her
shoulders at the movies. She recalled the small wooden animals he carved and
how he would hide them for her to find... Every minute detail she had
remembered about him was the same: the blueness of his eyes; the small crinkles
alongside his straight, firm mouth: the square, clean line of his jaw.
    Tye
again looked at her legs, intense, emotional pain tightening her mouth. Why did
she have to be like this? Why wasn't she normal? The regret of wasted years,
what now felt like a wasted life, was too much.
    "This
won't work,"