“Okay, sweets. Well, drive safely and call me tomorrow.” I hung up and started pacing again.

I’d decided to have Jeff just drop me off at home. I had hoped Gunner would have just come home right after I left, so I hadn’t bothered to pick up Alex. I’d thought we could make up. Gah! I’d wanted him so bad all night, and then that stupid Victoria had gone off and ruined everything.

Just then, I heard two vehicles pulling up. I didn’t have any of the lights on, so I walked up to the window and peeked out. Scott was helping Gunner out of the truck, and then it looked like Gunner was pushing Scott away. Jessie walked up and grabbed Gunner by the arm. Then, Scott and Jessie started to bring Gunner up toward the front door. I was just about to open the door for them when I heard Gunner talking to Jessie.

“I’m really sorry I’s your first, Jessme.”

Her first? Her first kiss? Her first love? Her first crush?

“Drew, you’re really drunk, and you need to sleep this off before you talk to Ellie. Do you think she’s asleep?”

“Shheee’s probably at my Graaaammm’s house,” he said with a slur.

“Oh, okay. Well, you can make it inside the house and to bed on your own, right?”

“Don’t worry, Jessme. I won’t try anything on yous. I wuv my wife very much.”

I rolled my eyes.

Jessie laughed. “Drew, I know you better than that, and I know how much you love Ellie. Just do me a favor. Always be honest with her, Drew. Honesty is so important in a relationship.”

When I heard a bang on the door, I jumped back.

“Jesus, Gunner, be careful,” Scott said.

Gunner started laughing. “Don’t worry, Jessme. If shheee ever asks who I f**ked and wost my virgin…virginity to behind the barn at sixteen, I’ll be sures to be honest and tell her it was yous.”

I threw my hand up to my mouth. Oh. My. God. No!

“Nice, Gunner. Really nice, you a**hole. You make a lousy drunk,” Scott said.

“Fuck off, Drew,” Jessie said.

I stepped back away from the door. My hands were shaking. He slept with Jessie? She was his first? That motherfucker!

I reached out, grabbed the door, and opened it as fast as I could. I stepped back when I saw Gunner come flying into the house. When he landed, he hit his head on the tile floor.

Oh shit!

“Motherfucker! What in the hell just happened?” Gunner sat up and grabbed his head.

When I looked over at Jessie, I saw she was looking at me. I noticed a tear rolling down her face as she held her hand up to her mouth.

She slowly pulled it away. “Oh god, Ellie…”

Scott helped Gunner stand up, and then he asked where our bedroom was. I told him and then turned back toward Jessie.

“Was he your first?” I asked.

She nodded, and I sucked in a breath of air. Fuck.

“Ellie, it wasn’t anything like that. I mean, we weren’t meant to be together. We were friends…almost like brothers and sisters even.”

“Uh-huh…brothers and sisters who sleep together?”

“Drew and I started talking about it when we were behind the barn one day. He mentioned he’d never had sex, and I couldn’t believe it. I mean, all the girls around here loved it whenever he came to town, and they were always throwing themselves at him. I was only fifteen at the time, and well…one thing led to another, and we—”

I shook my head. “I really don’t want the details of the first time my husband ever had sex.” I needed air, so I walked out onto the porch.

“Of course. I’m sorry. It’s just that…well, Ellie, it didn’t mean anything to either one of us. We were curious, that’s all. I’d heard my brothers go on and on about it, and well…I wanted to know. I begged Drew. I told him if my first time was going to be with anyone, I wanted it to be with one of my best friends.”

I spun around and looked at her. “Funny because most girls want it to be with someone they love!” I shouted at her.

“I know, Ellie, I know. I wasn’t a normal girl. I was such a tomboy, and I didn’t want to be a virgin when I started school, so…I guess you could say we both used each other.” She looked away. “Believe me, I think back to that afternoon, and I wish I could take it back. I wish I would have saved myself for when I met the man of my dreams. But I can’t take it back, and I’ll never experience that magical moment…ever. I cried afterward, and I told Drew how stupid I was for talking him into doing that with me. I felt so guilty, and I kept saying how I’d never get my special moment. He apologized to me for five years after that. Every time he saw me…he would say how sorry he was that I never got my special moment.”

Oh my god. No wonder he wanted to make our first time together so special. “That must have hurt you for him to say he f**ked you behind the barn.” I walked closer to her and took her into my arms.

She started crying. “He didn’t mean that, Ellie. He doesn’t have a mean bone in his body. But you should know everything.” She pulled back and looked at me as she took a deep breath. “When he came here the summer before he went to college, we started dating. It was for a very short amount of time, and I think he only did it out of guilt. I don’t think either one of us wanted to date each other. It was awkward. Maybe we were just trying to make each other feel better. I was actually totally in love with one of his friends,” she said with a laugh.

Do I really want to hear this?

“We only lasted for a month and a half.”

“What happened?”

She looked away and then back at me with a weak smile. “Um…I called out someone else’s name while we were having…um…”

They dated…and slept together more than once. I think I’m gonna puke.

“He told me y’all were just friends,” I said, tears sliding down my face.

“Ellie, why would he tell you? Why would he want to hurt you or make you doubt him?”

I let out a gruff laugh. “Well, I can tell you I certainly doubt him now!” I turned away.

“Please don’t, Ellie. He loves you so much. Please don’t let something that happened so long ago get in the way of something so beautiful.”

She was right, and I knew it, but it didn’t mean I had to like it.

We sat down on the porch swing and talked for a few minutes longer. I slowly started to feel like an insecure fool again.

“Can I ask you something, Jessie? And you don’t have to answer if you don’t want to.”

“Of course you can!”

I peeked up at her and smiled. “Whose name did you call out?”

Even in the dark, I could see the blush on her face.

She looked back at the door and then at me. “Uh…Scott’s.”

I let out a gasp. “Oh my god! No!” I grabbed her hand.

She smiled and nodded. “Oh my god, Ellie, I’ve never told anyone that! I’ve never told anyone at all about how I feel for Scott. Only Drew knew.”

“Wait. What? How you feel? Oh, Jessie…are you still in love with him?”

She gave me a weak smile as she nodded.

“Why haven’t you told him or gone after him?”

“He’s been dating the same girl since high school. It’s the reason I left Mason. I couldn’t stand seeing them together. It drove me crazy. Then, I heard they were getting married, so I just knew I would never come home. I’m almost done with vet school though, and I wanted nothing more than to work around here, but—”

I jumped up. “Jessie! He’s not getting married!”

Jessie stood up and grabbed my hands. “What? How do you know?”

I let out a laugh. “Okay, Scott loves to torment the hell out of Jefferson. Jefferson thinks Scott has the hots for Ari, but he doesn’t at all. Jefferson told me tonight that Scott’s fiancée left him! She told him she didn’t love him.”

Jessie dropped my hands and put her hands up to her mouth. Then, she started pacing.

“Jessie, what’s wrong? I thought that would make you happy?”

She stopped and looked at me. “Oh, Ellie, it makes me very happy…and scared as shit, too. Scott’s only ever looked at me as Dewey and Aaron’s tomboy sister.”

I looked her up and down. She was breathtaking. She was about my height and weight, but she had blonde hair and the lightest of green eyes. And at the moment…she was totally freaked out.

Well, shit. I sure don’t need to worry about her having feelings for Gunner. “Um…well, I can tell you that you’re certainly not a tomboy anymore, sweets.”

“I would have to agree,” Scott said from behind me.

I closed my eyes and wondered how long he had been standing there. Jessie spun around, and her mouth just dropped open.

“Who said you were a tomboy?” Scott asked.

“What?” Jessie and I said at the same time.

Scott laughed. “Ellie, you said she wasn’t a tomboy anymore. Who said you were, Jessie?”

“I…um…well, nobody said it. I was just…um…I just…”

Oh. My. God. This poor girl can’t even talk! “Jessie just mentioned to me how she used to be a tomboy when she was younger, and I just said she certainly wasn’t anymore!” I laughed. “Hey, by the way, is Jessme your nickname?”

Jessie laughed. “No, Drew’s just a really bad drunk. He never could talk right whenever he got drunk!”

Scott threw his head back and laughed. “Damn straight.” Then, he looked at me. “That boy loves you so much. He was actually crying when I threw his ass on the bed. He was begging me to go and get you. Kept saying how he hurt you again. I hope everything is okay between y’all.”

I smiled at Scott. I was starting to warm up to this guy…even though he lived for tormenting Jefferson. “Yeah, everything’s fine. I just had some old…issues…pop up, but I’ve got it now.” I winked at Jessie.

Scott took in a deep breath and slapped his hands together, causing Jessie and me to jump. “Oh shit! Sorry, ladies.” He looked at Jessie.

With the way he was looking at her, I could tell he had a thing for her.

“You need a ride, don’t you, Tiny?”

Tiny?

Jessie frowned at that nickname. “Yeah, I’m staying with Aaron and Jenny, so if you wouldn’t mind dropping me off there, that would be great.” She walked up and hugged me. “Go love on that drunk bastard,” she whispered in my ear.

I let out a giggle as I pulled back and smiled at her.

As I watched them walk toward Scott’s truck, I noticed Scott inching closer and closer to Jessie. He jogged ahead of her, opened the door for her, and then he held out his hand to help her up into the truck.

These Southern boys…damn, they sure know how to melt a girl’s heart.

I stood in the doorway of our bedroom, just watching Gunner sleep. He was passed out cold. Scott had somehow managed to take off Gunner’s boots, pants, and his shirt. Thank God he was wearing underwear. As he started mumbling in his sleep, I smiled, thinking back to the first time I’d spent the night with him…when he was drunk.