Chapter 21: Women Go Back

Jesse's POV

I put the last duffel bag on the truck seat and stood looking at the black ruin of my garage.

The roof beams lay in a heap, soaked and charred.

Somewhere under them was eleven winters of my life.

I had told myself I was leaving to give her room.

That was a lie, and I knew it.

I had woken at dawn with her warm against my side, so happy I couldn't breathe.

Then I had looked out the window and seen Boone at her gate.

He had shaved.

He had come to her at first light with his hat in his hand, and I knew how that went.

Every old lady in the club had gone back to her man at least once.

They said the same words every time: he's sorry, he's changed, he's the father of my kids.

I had stood in the back of that room for sixteen years and watched women choose the club and the man over themselves.

Dani had a house, a shop and a building with her name on the deed.

And she had a husband waiting outside her gate.

And all I had was a patch I'd earned back one day ago.

I'd taken the coward's road, and I knew it.

A car engine stopped behind me on the lane.

I didn't turn around.

"You left without your shirt," Dani said.

She stood on the gravel in her father's flannel, with her braid coming loose, holding my T-shirt in one fist.

Behind her sat her truck, with the door open.

Her face was pale, and her eyes were furious.

"I put on the one in the truck," I said.

"That's a different shirt."

"It's the same shirt, Dani."