Page 17 of The Promise Of Rain

Instead of smiling back, he leaned back and regarded me steadily.“I heard you had dinner with Jenny Davis when you were here last,” he stated.

I held his gaze, my good mood fading fast.

They’d never liked her for me.Thought I was too good for her.

I wasn’t.

“I did,” I confirmed.

“You’ve always had your head in the clouds.”He shook his head.“She’s a troublemaker.”

“Like her mother,” my mother spat.

A hard look passed between my parents.

I sat back in my chair, quelling my impatience.“I know her mother is no treat, but what is your problem with Jenny?Get it all out now because we won’t be revisiting this topic.”

My mother sat back, a fleeting look of panic crossing her face.

I frowned.

“She’s not the girl for you,” my father challenged.

“But Carolyn was?”I asked softly, guilt slithering through my chest at the mention of her name.

They’d loved my ex-wife.How could they not?She was basically a prototype of my well-dressed, churchgoing, mother.

“She obviously wasn’t what she appeared,” my mother sneered.

I’d never in all my life heard that tone from her, but it was her words that compelled me to speak.

My eyebrows flew up.“How’s that?”

She waved away my question.

“Mom,” I corrected sternly.“I was the problem in my marriage.I never should have dated Carolyn, never mind married her.”

I’d cared for her, and I’d been attracted to her, at least for a while.Mostly, I was determined to move on from the woman who had a chokehold on my heart.

I was a fool to think Carolyn could free me.

Worse, I made a fool out of her.

“But—"

“No, Mom.We’ve been over this.I won’t cast the blame for my mistakes on Carolyn.I’ve hurt her more than enough already.She was not for me, I knew she wasn’t for me, and I married her anyway.”

“Jenny Davis is about as far south of Carolyn as you can get,” my father stated.

South.

My blood began to boil.

He continued, “It’s time to take your place on the farm.”

The farm didn’t need me.Was it habit that drove him to push me?Or a need to control?

“It’s time to settle down.And not with the likes of Jenny Davis.”