Barbara McCauley - Texas Temptation

Myrna sighed. “Yes, well, I know what it’s like to lose someone you love. It’s only been eight months since J.T.’s been gone, and I just can’t imagine—” her lower lip quivered and she blinked several times “—well, I just loved him so much. I hope someday I’ll be able to get over his death as bravely as you have Jonathan’s.”

That was it. Jared had had enough. He’d just use his bare hands. That would give him more pleasure, anyway. He took a step toward his stepmother. “Myrna—”

Annie laid her hand on Jared’s arm. “Bravery has nothing to do with death, Mrs. Stone,” she said quietly. “We have no choice but to accept it, no matter how deep or how black the pain. It’s also the one thing in life that no one escapes, the one thing that makes us all equal, no matter how different or how special we might think we are.”

Annie turned to Jared then, and he saw a tension in her eyes that belied the calm expression on her face. “I still have some questions on cost estimates, Jared. When you’re finished here, I’ll be in the office.” She faced Myrna again and nodded. “Mrs. Stone, it’s been a real...pleasure.”

* * *

Eight hours later Annie sat in a booth at the Cactus Motel Café, staring intently at the menu a perky waitress with short platinum hair had thrust into her hands after reciting the nightly specials. The smell of grilled steak and onions wafted deliciously on the air, reminding Annie that she’d forgotten lunch in her hurry to not only finish her report, but to call in a report to the manager at Arloco and ask for verbal authorization for approval.

It was a go.

She’d only heard an hour ago, and the excitement that had been building inside her was bubbling over. Jared would be here any minute, and she couldn’t wait to tell him the good news. She’d already ordered wine to celebrate.

Even recalling her run-in with Myrna earlier in the day hadn’t dimmed Annie’s pleasure. There’d been a cool distant look in Jared’s eyes after the woman had finally left that made Annie uneasy. He’d apologized for his stepmother, but Annie had shrugged it off and insisted that whatever the woman said or did had no bearing on the project.

But there had been that one moment, she realized, that one second when she’d looked up at the rig, and doubt had shivered through her....

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