Loving You (Love Wanted in Texas) (29 page)

I buried my face in my hands and screamed as she wrapped me in her arms. “I can’t live without him. I don’t want to live without him,” I cried out while she pulled me closer to her.

It was then I felt more arms around me. Dropping my hands, I saw Libby.

“Libby,” I barely said while my mother stepped away and Libby held me in her arms as I cried.

Her hand moved lightly across my back as she softly repeated the one thing no one had told me I could do.

“Taylor, let it out. Just cry and let it out.”

My emotions were beginning to mix together. I wasn’t sure if I was angry or sad. My throat and my chest ached. Looking at her, I shook my head. “He promised me, Libby. He promised me!” I shouted.

Standing, I began to pace across the room. “He was my everything and he’s gone. How am I supposed to go? I can’t go on! Damn it, I don’t want to go on without him.” Tears began to stream down my face as Libby wiped hers away. “He’s gone and I feel so lost.” A sob escaped from my lips as Libby stood up. Holding my hand up to stop her, I shook my head. “I don’t know who to be angry with! If one more person tells me everything will be fine, I’m going to punch them!”

“Grace. We can use Grace for that,” Libby said.

My eyes widened in surprise as I let Libby’s words sink in. “I think Meagan would be the better choice. She used to steal my make-up all the time.”

Libby cracked a small grin. “It’s okay to be angry.”

My lips trembled. “I don’t know what I am, Lib. All I know is I feel so lost without him.”

Libby took me in her arms as we sank back to the bed.

I wasn’t sure how long Libby had stayed in Jase’s room with me. We sat on his bed in silence as I stared out into the darkness.

“Mireya really wants to see you, Taylor. Can you come downstairs and see her?”

With a slack expression, I nodded and slowly stood up. My feet felt so heavy as I followed Libby downstairs.

Mireya was sitting next to Layton and Walker on the couch watching a movie. She was such a little flirt and I couldn’t help but smile when I saw her sitting between them.

When she turned and looked at me, I could see the confusion on her face.

She jumped up and called out, “Tay Tay!”

I forced a smile and dropped down to catch her in a hug. “Hey, princess. Are you watching a movie?”

She nodded her head. “Yep. With Wayton and Walker. I gonna marry Walker!”

My eyes snapped up to Luke who moaned. “I’m not ready for this at all.”

With a chuckle, I turned back to Mireya. “Oh, sweetheart, I hate to tell you this, but Walker has a wife.”

Mireya peeked over at Liza and blushed. “Tay Tay, I love you!”

When her little arms wrapped around my neck something happened. The sadness was still there and weighed heavy on my heart, but something else was there as well.

Something I hadn’t seen until I looked into the eyes of my best friend’s daughter.

Hope.

Taylor

A few hours later, Luke buckled a sleeping Mireya into her car seat while I kissed Libby goodbye. Trey had already fallen asleep a couple hours earlier and was safely tucked into his car seat.

Turning to Luke, I hugged him and kissed his cheek. “Thank you for bringing the kids. They were exactly what I needed.”

“We love you, Taylor and there isn’t a damn thing we wouldn’t do for you.”

I nodded. “I know.”

“Let me know if you need anything, okay?” Libby said as she got into the truck.

“I will.”

With a barely-there smile, she took my hand in hers. “I love you, Tay.”

Stumbling on my words, I tried to grin. “Love you too.”

I watched them pull off and drive away and tried to ignore the heaviness in my chest.

Jumping when I felt hands on my shoulders, I turned to see Whitley. “It’s late, why don’t we have a cup of tea and then try and get some sleep?”

Not having the energy to argue, I agreed. My parents were staying in one of the guest rooms, but they had excused themselves right before Luke and Libby left.

Walking into the kitchen, I couldn’t help but think of when I blurted out to Whitley that Jase had asked me to marry him.

I glanced down at my engagement ring and dropped down onto a chair. “Bella?” I asked, looking at her.

She smiled and said, “Colt and Lauren have her.”

I shook my head. “I just abandoned her.”

“Nonsense. She’s been fine. If you’d like for them to bring her here, you’re more than welcome to have her.”

“I’d like that if you’re sure you don’t mind.”

Her eyes were filled with love as she replied, “Of course not, sweetheart. This house has always been filled with dogs except for the last few years. Honestly, I’ve missed having a four-legged friend. I hope you don’t mind, but I’ve asked Lauren to bring you a few changes of clothes and some other items, like your toothbrush and such.”

Looking down, it was then I noticed I was completely dressed in Jase’s cloths. An old pair of sweets and one of his high school football shirts.

“You can wear them, Taylor. But I thought you might like some of your own as well.”

Whitley set a cup of hot tea down in front of me while she waited for her own to brew.

“I’ll never love anyone like I love him,” I said as I looked directly into her eyes. “And as much as my heart feels broken, I don’t feel like he is gone.”

A single tear slowly rolled down her cheek. “I feel the same way. He’ll always be with us.”

I wanted to clarify with her what I meant, but she looked so tired.

When she got her tea, she sat down across from me. I wasn’t sure what came over me, but I had to say what I felt.

“I don’t think he’s dead.”

Her eyes lit up.

“Wouldn’t we feel it if he was? I’ve felt so empty these last few days. But when I saw Mireya, something happened. It was as if a light switched on and I started thinking clearly. My mother told me I was tired and needed sleep, but that’s not it. I feel it in the depths of my soul that he isn’t gone.”

She covered her mouth as she closed her eyes. It took a few moments before she dropped her hand and opened her eyes. With a smile, she simply said, “You just said what I’ve been wanting to shout from the roof-tops.”

I reached my hand out for hers. “I’m not giving up hope until they find the plane and tell me he’s gone. Until then, I’ll be on my knees praying for him to come back to me.” Pressing my trembling lips together, I whispered, “He has to come back to me.”

Jase

Five days earlier

“Is everyone okay?” Tess yelled out.

“Yes . . . I’m . . . okay . . . I think,” I said as I tried to adjust my eyes. The plane looked like it was filled with smoke or dust.

“Mr. Montgomery? Are you okay?”

Nate moaned and then let out a string of cuss words. “I think my leg might be broken.”

Glancing over to Nate, we both shook our heads. “William landed the plane safely . . . somehow,” I said as I got out of my seat and made my way up front to check on him.

“William, are you okay?”

“Yeah, my ankle is stuck and I can’t get it out. If you can pull that back some, I think I can get it out.”

I pulled where he pointed and it moved just enough for him to pull his leg out.

“Is it broke?” I asked while helping him out of the seat.

He shook his head. “No . . . I don’t think so, but it’s not normal either.”

Looking out the front window all I saw was sand. “Where the hell are we?”

William followed my stare. “I’m guessing near or in the Red Desert in Wyoming. I need to work on trying to get the radio working at the very least. We lost power when the lightning hit us . . . twice. It fried everything.”

He looked at me and frowned. “Including the emergency beacon.”

“Fuck.”

“Yeah, which means when they realize we’ve gone missing they’re going to be looking in the wrong area.”

Pulling my head back in confusion, I asked, “Why?”

“They’ll assume we crashed in the area will be where they lost radar. We need to somehow let them know we made it a lot farther from where they think we should be.”

Gripping his shoulder, I smiled. “How in the hell did you fly this plane with no power?”

“It wasn’t easy, I’ll tell ya that. The sand though at least made for a lighter impact. How are Tess and Nate?”

“Nate thinks he broke his lower leg, Tess seems to be okay, but we should all let our adrenaline settle and then assess how we feel.”

William agreed. “We also need to start looking at food and water. Who knows how many days this plane will be our home. I’m going to guess no one has a cell signal?”

“No.”

“Let’s turn off the phones and save the batteries.”

“Mine’s already off, but I’ll let Tess and Nate know to do the same.”

After things settled, we discovered Nate had indeed fractured his lower leg. We were able to put it in a splint and find something to act like crutches so he could get around.

While Tess was helping Nate, she gasped and held onto her wrist.

“Let me see it.”

“It’s fine,” she softly said. Her eyes said something different.

“Tess, your wrist is probably broken with the way it is swelling. You probably did it when you hit the ceiling of the plane.”

With a slight nod, she replied, “I thought so, but I was holding out hope.”

“Let’s make sure to count out the pain med’s to ration between the three of you. William isn’t sure if his ankle is just badly sprained or if it is broken.”

She gave me a weak smile as I reached down for a bandage and began wrapping her wrist.

After making sure Nate and Tess were okay, I walked up to William. Bending down, I handed him the screwdriver he was blindly reaching for. “Tess and I found a few cases of bottled water along with some peanuts and bags of chips. Plus, I have some protein bars in my luggage we can divide up.”

He nodded. “Good.”

“How’s it going?” I asked.

Letting out a frustrated sigh, he shook his head. “The whole electrical system is fried.”

“Did you get any kind of a distress call out?”

“No. That’s the thing, that storm literally came out of nowhere and by the time I got the controls and was about to raise our altitude, we got struck by the lightning.”

Pushing my hand though my hair, I looked out over the vast desert. “Do you think I should leave and try to find help?”

“No. We stick together and all stay in one place.”

“How long before they spread their search area out?”

William looked up at me and then glanced over to Tess. With a frown, he motioned for me to get close to him. “Depends. I’d say it would take four to five days for them to get through the process of elimination. Then start gridding it out on where they think we might be. The problem is I glided down and we are a long ways off course.”

Closing my eyes, I mumbled. “Fuck.” Looking out into the vast area of nothing, I mindlessly said, “Taylor is probably freaking out.”

“Girlfriend?”

With a weak smile, I replied, “Fiancée.”

His eyes turned sad. “My wife is eight months pregnant and does not need this kind of stress.”

“Damn, dude.” Frowning, I placed my hand on his shoulder. “We’re getting out of here. Let me know what I can do to help fix this shit and call for help.”

With a wide grin, he glanced at Tess. “Let’s just hope Tess stays as positive. She looks scared to death.”

Turning over my shoulder, I watched as she helped Nate sit back in a seat. “Don’t worry about her. I’m sure Nate and I can keep her spirits up.”

I went to stand and William grabbed my arm. “Jase, even if you think we aren’t going to make it and I’m not saying that, but even if you doubt, don’t do that to Taylor.”

Looking at him with a confused expression, it dawned on me what he was saying. “Oh, hell no. I would never do anything to hurt Taylor. I think all Tess needs is a little attention . . . nothing grand and nothing that would lead her on.”

“Good. You had me worried there for a second with your comment about keeping her spirits up. I couldn’t help but notice how flirty she was with you before we took off.”

With a gruff chuckle, I headed over toward Tess and Nate.