Free Donovan by Vanessa Stone Page B

Donovan
took me by surprise and almost brought me to my knees with grief. I had to
leave before I crumbled in front of him. Before he could say anything, I turned
and quickly headed toward the front door of the restaurant, unable to face him
one second longer.

 
    Chapter 9
    Donovan
    For a
moment I sat frozen at the table, not sure whether I should go after Memphis or
leave her alone. She wanted a reason for why I had left, but it wasn't quite as
black and white as that. Any answer I could give her wouldn't be simple. With a
sigh, I gestured to Gina, who had emerged from the kitchen and was ostensibly
making herself busy cleaning behind the bar although I had a feeling she was
more curious about what was going on between Memphis and me than cleaning. She
came over to the table as I pulled my wallet from my back pocket and pulled out
a twenty, which I knew would cover the cost of our beers.
    "Keep
the rest," I said. Without glancing at her again, I stood and headed for
the door. To my surprise, Memphis had not headed straight for her car, but
stood at one corner of the building, looking out into the distance. There was
really nothing out there, as the Chit Chat restaurant was situated outside of
Bolger, surrounded by the flatlands of the Texas Panhandle.
    She heard
me approach and quickly swiped her hand over her eyes before turning to face
me. Despite the fact that I could tell that she had been crying, she showed no
sign of tears now. To the contrary, her jaw had hardened and her eyes flashed
with anger. I guess I couldn't blame her. My leaving Texas had more than likely
destroyed her dreams, and perhaps even her heart. Still, I doubted that she had
remained in Stinnett pining for me for the past eight years. She was beautiful,
smart, had a great personality, and she was a
go-getter. There had always been men swarming around her, although, at least in
my past experience, she had not shown much interest. What had
happened during the past eight years I had no idea, nor was it my place
to ask.
    "I'm fucking
sorry, Memphis," I said, knowing that those words were inadequate. There
was nothing else I could say.
    "I'm
so frustrated with you, Donovan! You can’t even explain it to me. You don't
have any excuses for not coming back, even for a visit, do you?"
    "Memphis—"
    "No!
You don't understand. Do you have any idea what kind of impact your leaving had on your family? On me?"
    Before I
could open my mouth, she continued.
    "Your
mom cried for months, did you know that?" she accused. "Your dad kept
himself busy, but he would scowl and mutter under his breath any time your name
was mentioned. In your absence, everyone has moved on with their lives. Cameron
is relatively successful with his shop, and Tammy and Julie each have
relationships that may even turn into marriage in the near future. Do you know
any of that?"
    I shook my
head. How could I know? Not only had I not made any effort to stay involved
with the family after my leaving, but my family had obviously felt the same
way. Plus, my mother never mentioned it.
    "And
Shane... did you know that Shane always had aspirations of taking over the
ranch?"
    Again, I
could only shake my head. "He will, won't he?"
    Memphis shook
her head. "No, your father made it plain that Shane didn't have what it
took to run the ranch. Oh, he's a good enough ranch hand, and seems perfectly happy living in the bunkhouse with the other men,
and, although I do admit that he doesn't have much of a head for business, he
does know cattle, horses, and is familiar with most of the ranch
operations."
    "So
what's he going to do?"
    Memphis
glared up at me.
    "How
the hell do I know?” she exclaimed. "I may be close to your family, but
I'm certainly not privy to a lot of the private conversations and decisions
that are made around there. I was hired to help your dad with the books because
Shane had no head for the numbers and Cameron was busy getting his own business
off the ground and didn't have the time to