The guilt left Addy’s heart and soul. She glanced across the table at Jesse, and they shared a moment of happiness without either of them saying a single word.
Chapter Nineteen
Jesse felt his phone vibrate in his back pocket, so he pulled his four-wheeler under a big scrub oak tree and stopped. Mia pulled up beside him and raised a dark eyebrow.
“Phone call from one of my military buddies,” he answered her silent question. “Take a break and get a bottle of water out. We’ve been running hard all morning.”
“No arguments from me.” She cut the engine, got off her machine, sat down at the base of a nearby tree, and used the trunk for a backrest.
“Hey, what’s goin’ on? How are you adjusting to civilian life?” Jesse answered the phone.
“First week was great,” Frankie chuckled. “Second one, I started to get bored. I just landed a fantastic job with a private security firm. Tommy’s here with me, and Ned and Beau are coming in next week. We just need you to get our old team back together. Tommy has talked to the boss man, and he’s got no problem with us working together. What do you say?”
“I’ll have to turn you down. I came home to help on the ranch, and I found out I’ve got a nineteen-year-old daughter that I want to get to know,” Jesse said.
“Will you think about it? Starting pay is six figures with a benefit package that will blow your mind,” Frankie said. “And how did you get a daughter that old without even knowing about her?”
“Long story.” Dollar signs flashed in Jesse’s mind.
“Bring her with you,” Frankie said. “Girls like the beach.”
“Beach?” Jesse removed his cowboy hat and fanned his face with it. “Where is the headquarters for this job?”
“Miami. Nice beaches. Warm weather, but we’ll be sent out on missions all over the world. It’ll be like old times,” Frankie said. “Give yourself a few days to think it over, and I’ll call back at the end of the week. Sure be nice if we were all together again. After that first week at home with the wife and kids, I missed you guys.”
“How does Nora feel about moving to Miami?” Jesse asked.
“She loves the idea,” Frankie said. “Got to run now. Talk to you later. Promise you’ll think it over seriously?”
“Promise I’ll think it over, but I’m pretty sure my answer will be the same,” Jesse answered. “Give Nora my love.”
“Will do, and she misses you, too,” Frankie chuckled again. “She kind of liked being the hostess for all of us. See you later.”
Jesse opened up the saddlebag and took out a bottle of water, carried it over to where Mia was sitting, and sat down beside her. “You ever think about living anywhere other than here in Honey Grove?”
“I did, and you see where that got me,” Mia said. “I’m just now finding out that Poppa and Nana are really mine. I would never leave them. Why are you asking?”
“I just had a pretty big offer for a job, but it would mean moving to Miami, Florida,” he answered.
“You can’t do that!” Mia gasped.
“Why not?” Jesse downed half of his bottle of water.
“Because it would break Nana and Poppa’s hearts. All they talked about for six months before you came home was if they could just hang on until you got here, everything would be just fine, and you’re going to be the boss in a few weeks when Henry moves to Colorado, and…” She stopped to take a breath. “And because the ranch needs you.”
“Any other reasons?” Jesse asked.
“Mama is happier than I’ve ever seen her, and you need to give her another chance. She would be devastated if you left her again, but she would never say a word about it because she wouldn’t want to ruin your dreams.” She finally turned up her water bottle and drained the rest of it.
“Is that all?” Jesse asked.
“I don’t want you to go,” Mia said. “I’ve gone almost twenty years without a father, and we’re just now really getting to know each other.”
Jesse didn’t realize he was holding his breath until it all came out in a whoosh. He swallowed hard three times to get past the lump in his throat that formed when Mia said she didn’t want him to leave. “You don’t think you and your mama would like Miami? There’s beaches and lots of things to do, and the money is great.”
“Sure,” Mia said. “We would love to go there for a vacation, but this is home, and you need to put down roots and help us make a family. Maybe you and Mama will get back together. Maybe you won’t, but the three of us can be a family, whichever way it goes.”
“So how would you feel if I asked Addy out on a date?” Jesse asked.
Mia whipped around and glared at him. “You better be sure you’re settled down and not wanting to run off to some military thing before you ask her. If you break her heart, I’ll have to get even, and I hold a grudge forever.”
“What if I talk to her about this new job, and she thinks it’s a great idea and wants to move away from here for a fresh start?” Jesse asked. “Maybe she’d like to go back to full-time nursing where she works a shift and then comes home without having to do fill-in ranch stuff.”
Mia shook her head. “Mama is happy here on Sunflower Ranch. She gets to be a nurse to Poppa, and that’s enough. Don’t make her choose. That’s not fair to her. You make up your own mind, and either leave us behind again or stay. But I’ll tell you right now”—she pointed her finger right at him—“I’m not leaving again, and even crossing the Red River into Oklahoma is going to be like going to a foreign country to me from now on. I’ve learned my lesson about testing out the grass on the other side of the fence. It’s not greener, and it tastes bitter.”
“I’m not going anywhere,” Jesse admitted.
“Well, why in the hell are we having this stupid conversation then?” Mia hopped up and got back on her four-wheeler. “I was worried that you were serious.”
“I was testing you.” Jesse removed his hat, resettled it on his head, and smiled up at her.
“Did your old Army buddy even call you? Or was that Poppa telling you to check on something?” Mia eyed him suspiciously.
“Air Force, not Army, and yes, it really was my friend. His name is Frankie.” Jesse settled into the seat of his four-wheeler. “I turned him down, but he’s going to give me until the end of the week to think about all that money, and then try to talk me into it again.”
Mia did a head wiggle. “Army, Air Force, Marines, whatever. It’s all men in uniforms.”
“You’d better not let a veteran hear you say that,” Jesse said. “And there are women, too, you know.”
“Did you tell him about me?” Mia asked.
Jesse nodded. “I sure did, and he knows that my dad isn’t well, and Mama needs me, so no matter what he says, I’m not going anywhere.”
“Does that decision make you sad?” She had to raise her voice over the noise of the engine.
Jesse shook his head. “Not in the least, and Mia, I would never hurt your mother.”