Page 32 of Country Winds (King Creek Cowboys #9)
Tess gestured toward Megan’s room. “Jenny’s busy with her dolls on the carpet in your room, and I’ve put the makeup out of reach. So for now, the little monster is busy and not underfoot. I’m going to start taking what little is left in the house out to the moving van.”
Megan went to her sister. “Thank you. For everything.”
“That’s what sisters are for.” Tess took Megan’s hands. “You were there for me every step of the way when Steve died. I want to be here for you just as much.”
“You have been.” Megan hugged Tess and caught her soft honeysuckle scent. “You’re the best sister a girl could want.”
“Ditto.” Tess kissed Megan on the cheek. “Now, let’s get a move-on,” she said before she headed outside with the silverware box.
Megan bounced back to her old self, pushing aside painful and negative thoughts to enjoy her sister and her niece as they helped her get ready for her move to Arizona. It was a new day filled with exciting possibilities.
“Why Mom and Dad picked such a small area in Northern Arizona, I’ll never understand,” Tess said as she came back in the house for another box. “I’d hoped they’d move somewhere like the southern part of the state. Maybe Tucson, as opposed to the Prescott area.”
“I liked the place when I visited,” Megan said. “With a hundred thousand people in the area, Prescott is not really small.”
“It’s okay.” Tess shrugged. “I would just like something even bigger. Tucson has about a million people, close to the same population as Albuquerque.”
“But you don’t want anything as big as the Phoenix metro area,” Megan said.
“No, four million people is too much for me.” For padding, Tess scrunched the bathroom towels around the dishes Megan had just packed.
Megan grabbed the box tape. “Maybe you just need to get used to Prescott.”
Tess folded the flaps on the dishware box and held them closed while Megan sealed it. “Yeah, you’re probably right.”
“Do you miss New Mexico?” Megan asked her sister.
“Not really,” Tess said. “Like you, there’s nothing left here for me but memories too hard to bear.”
Megan rested her hand on Tess’s shoulder a moment before she picked up the dishware box and took it out to the big yellow rental truck that she’d be driving soon.
It was still early morning and they were close to hitting the road.
Last night they’d carried out most of the boxes with friends helping to load what little furniture Megan was keeping.
Tess and her daughter had caught a flight to Albuquerque a few days ago in order to make the road trip to Arizona with Megan.
Tess would be driving Megan’s red Toyota Camry.
Megan slid the dishware box inside the truck then headed back into the house where she grabbed another box. It only took a few more trips by both Tess and Megan before the truck was loaded. The last things they loaded were the kitchen table and chairs. With the leaf out, the table wasn’t too heavy.
Just as Megan started to follow her sister back into the house, a gold car she didn’t recognize pulled into the driveway and the driver parked. Megan frowned and narrowed her gaze then felt a rush of pain and anger as her ex-husband got out of the car.
“Hi, Megan,” Bart said as he shut the car door behind him. He walked toward her, his expression pleasant as if he was just a good friend. His cologne, as usual, was nearly overpowering. He glanced at the moving van. “You’re moving? Did you sell the house?”
Megan straightened and raised her chin. Like hell she was going to engage in a conversation with him. “What do you want?”
“Where are you moving to?” he asked.
It was none of his business and she wasn’t about to tell him anything personal. She gritted her teeth before asking, “Why are you here?”
“I keep forgetting to pick up my golf clubs,” he said as he looked toward the front door. “I came by to get them.”
“You’re too late.” Megan tried to remain calm. His presence made her feel anything but. “I donated all of the crap you left to the Salvation Army.”
“You what?” Bart’s features turned from pleasant to angry. “Those were mine.”
Megan shrugged and had the desire to laugh. “I told you at least ten times in the last seven months to get your stuff. You never bothered to come by. What was I supposed to do, deliver them to you?”
“You b—” he started.
“Get out of here, Bart.” Tess’s voice came from behind Megan, cutting off Bart’s sentence. “Megan doesn’t want anything to do with you.”
Bart ignored Tess. “You owe me for those clubs,” he snarled at Megan.
“You should have taken them with you when you left with that woman.” Megan hoped her features looked calm and didn’t show the churning anger inside her. “You didn’t, so, your loss.”
“Go buy yourself some new ones.” Tess came to stand beside Megan, arms folded across her chest. “And stop bothering Megan.”
“Get out of here.” Megan had to fight not to clench her hands into fists.
Bart looked like he was going to tear into her verbally like he used to. Instead, he turned and strode back to the car. He jerked the door open, climbed in and started the vehicle, then backed up the vehicle. The tires spun in the gravel as his car shot out of the driveway.
“I sure didn’t need that.” Megan sighed. The last thing she’d wanted imprinted in her mind before leaving New Mexico was her ex-husband’s snide features.
“Ignore him.” Tess took Megan by the arm. “Fart’s a loser. Come on in and we’ll give the place a once over.”
Tess drew Megan back into what had been her home and now was nothing but a shell. “It cracks me up every time you call him that,” Megan said
“Well he isn’t deserving of respect,” Tess said. “And besides, with all that awful cologne, the guy stinks, so it fits.”
Megan laughed. “Thanks Tess, I needed that. I need to just get him out of my mind.”
When they were finished making sure that everything was out of the house, Megan stood for a moment in the doorway as Tess and Jenny waited outside for her.
Megan looked over the living room that now only had the cable from the satellite TV sticking out of the wall.
The shutters were closed tight, no sunshine leaking in.
The place looked stark and naked and felt as hollow as her heart.
Megan thought about the five years she’d spent in this house. She had wondered if she’d miss the place but as she looked over the empty living room and kitchen, she knew she wouldn’t.
She smiled to herself. Everything would be fine. Life was good and she had a new life just waiting for her to grab onto and hold on for the ride.