Landon’s face dropped, and he was utterly silent. When he glanced away, that was when I knew it was bad.
“What? Tell me!” I said, pushing him.
“Nothing.”
“Landon! Is it Vanessa?”
“I know Vanessa has a place in New York, but that doesn’t mean he went to see her. He’s probably working. That’s all he normally does anyway.”
“Landon, why would he go see his ex-wife? Why would he do that?” I didn’t really want him to answer. I didn’t want to consider why Jensen would go see Vanessa in New York after being upset last night. He’d promised he’d never cheat on me, and I had to believe that. I had to latch on to that with everything I was, or I might fall apart entirely.
“It’s complicated.”
I winced. “Then, make it uncomplicated.”
“I can’t. You should just…talk to Jensen about this.”
“I can’t!” I cried in frustration. “He won’t return my messages.”
“I’m sorry, Emery. I can’t talk about it.”
“Can’t talk about what?”
“Nothing,” he said quickly. “Don’t jump to any conclusions. It’s not Vanessa. This is normal Jensen behavior. He’ll come back soon and then all will be back to normal.”
I shook my head in disbelief. I couldn’t believe what Landon was saying. Things were complicated? Things were always complicated.
But Jensen running away from his problems was not solving anything. Whether this had anything to do with Vanessa or not…Jensen was purposely ignoring me. And that alone infuriated me.
Chapter 26
Emery
Jensen didn’t return a single message for five whole days.
By then, I’d thought of every worst-case scenario—from him being with his ex-wife to his death. My imagination was ripe, but it had no reprieve. I knew that I hadn’t done anything wrong. Not a damn thing. And, at this point, he was ignoring me on purpose. We definitely needed a good long talk, and maybe he needed a sharp kick in the ass.
By Christmas Eve, I was even agreeing to go to church with my mother of all people just to see if he showed up. That way, we could get all of this out in the open.
Kimber, Noah, and Lilyanne decided to stay in since Kimber was due soon, and the days had gotten harder. She wanted to conserve all of her energy for Christmas morning when she would get to see Lilyanne open her mound of presents from Santa.
So, I drove myself over to my mother’s place to pick her up.
“Look what the cat dragged in,” my mother said when she answered the door in a chic black dress.
“Ha, Mom. Never heard that one before.” It was our normal routine and slightly comforting, considering the week I’d had.
“Well, I was going to let Gary Lupton drive me to church, but I suppose you’re a worthy substitute.”
I cringed. “What about Harry Stevenson?”
“A girl has to have options, Emery.”
“Oh God, Mom!”
She cackled and walked out to my Forester. “Don’t be such a prude. I know you’re seeing Jensen Wright. Everyone knows that he isn’t a prude.”
I ground my teeth as I turned over the ignition. “I really, really don’t want to talk about my love life. Thanks, but no thanks.”
“Why do you have to be like this? I thought we were bonding.”
“I can’t bond with you over who you’re having sex with. It grosses me out,” I told her as I pulled out of her driveway.
“Well, you refuse to come by and see me. You aren’t getting married. You aren’t getting your degree anymore. You hate shopping and pedicures and makeovers. What exactly am I supposed to bond with you over?”
“Hey, I like pedicures!” I said. “But just because I’m not…Kimber doesn’t mean that I don’t have my own qualities or whatever.”
“I only needle you because I love you. I just want to make sure you’re happy. I don’t want to see you waste your life away at the Buddy Holly Center again.”
“You set me up to work there!” I accused.
“Temporarily. I thought you’d be going back to school.”
“Well, I’m not,” I said. My mind was still locked on Jensen, and here was my mother, trying to plan my career. As if I wanted to add to the list of things that I had to deal with right now.
“You used to be so full of love for things. Things I hated but you loved them. Soccer and that horrendous skateboard and coaching and tutoring after school and honors society and—”
“Yes, I get it. But, now, I’m adrift, and I need something of my own.”
“Exactly.”
I rolled my eyes. “I’ll figure it out.”
My mother put her hand on my arm and sighed. “Maybe you should consider working at the high school. You have the degrees. You’d need to be certified, but I know you could do it.”
“High school students?” I shuddered.
“You’d make a difference.”
I brushed her hand off my arm.
I didn’t want to admit that she was right. I probably could get a job teaching history at the local high school, and maybe I’d even get to help coach the soccer team. I’d played on the intramural team at Oklahoma and at an adult rec league for two years at UT. I just didn’t know if that was it.