him she’d said, “Yes,” loud enough for the whole restaurant to hear.
If that was so, why would she be crying now? She’d told him she
loved him. She must’ve been hoping for a ménage relationship like
the other men had with Teresa. He knew he could never do it. Not
with someone he’d known all his life, like Jack and the others had,
and certainly not with a man he’d never met. His heart cratered a little
more.
Getting his attention back, Angel replied, “Yeah, she was very
distressed.”
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193
His throat closed over the words as he spoke them, needing to get
away. “Well, you know how it is with Juliana. She’s a little on the
hotheaded side. I’m sure she’ll be fine.” He chose to leave it at that.
“Well, okay,” Angel said uncertainly. “But if you need to go after
her, let us know. She looked like she was really hurting.”
Did he have to twist the damn knife like that? “I’ll let you know.
I’m sure she’ll be fine.”
“Okay,” Joaquin said, but there was a note of disbelief in his
voice, and he sounded like he wanted to say more. They walked off,
speaking quietly to each other.
The phone in his pocket rang, and his heart lurched, hoping it was
her so he could apologize for being so harsh with her. But caller ID
made him curse instead. This whole situation was now officially
FUBAR. Fucked up beyond all recognition.
* * * *
Teresa overheard the men’s conversation as they came in through
the front door for lunch late that morning. “It wasn’t like him to allow
her to leave like that,” Joaquin said.
“There’s probably more to it than what we saw. Maybe she
needed time to cool off, and he knew that, so he let her go,” Angel
replied.
“But did you see her face? I’ve got a strong suspicion that was no
tantrum. If it had been Teresa, I wouldn’t have let her get behind a
steering wheel.”
“Maybe he let her go in favor of not causing a scene. You
remember what her temper is like?”
“Yeah.”
Teresa came from the hallway. “What’s the matter?” she asked as
she was drawn into Angel’s embrace. After she’d greeted and kissed
both men, they explained what they had seen to her.
194
Heather Rainier
The men went and sat down on the couch in the living room.
Michael was sitting on the floor with a coloring book and crayons
spread out. Teresa climbed into Joaquin’s lap when he reached for
her, and she said, “Juliana came by here a little while ago. She looked
tired, and she said she had to talk to Ash and mentioned something
about decisions she needed to make.”
The men looked at each other with troubled expressions, and
Angel said, “Well, when she left, it looked like she hadn’t gotten the
reception she’d hoped for.”
Their conversation moved on to other topics as she put lunch on
the table, but Juliana and her mysterious news stayed in the forefront
of Teresa’s mind. After they finished, she kissed all three of her men,
including Michael who was hanging on Angel’s back, before the three
of them left to finish their work day.
Teresa had a sneaking suspicion she knew what was going on but
was having a hard time putting it all together. Teresa knew Ash well
enough by now to be certain that if Juliana were pregnant, he would
be overjoyed. Ash was excellent father material, if she could judge by
how he treated Michael when he hung around the barn. The more the
news her husbands had shared with her rolled around in her head, the
more it didn’t make sense.
Knowing she might be interfering in something that was none of
her business, she picked up her phone. Teresa called Juliana’s cell and
rolled straight to voice mail. She called Juliana’s home phone, and the
answering machine picked up. Juliana wasn’t usually one to screen
calls. Teresa called the store and talked to Evelyn. After hanging up,
she was even more confused.
Evelyn told her that Juliana seemed upset the last time she’d
talked to her. Juliana had said she was taking a short-term emergency
leave of absence and that she planned to be gone only a week, two at
the most. Juliana had offered no excuse or other information beyond
an apology for the inconvenience.
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195
“Juliana didn’t tell you where she was going? Did something
happen at the store?”
“She didn’t tell me her destination. This morning the only thing
out of the ordinary was her cousin inviting her to lunch at Rudy’s.
Juliana said he was in town for a court appearance and had a surprise