Romantic - Enemies to Lovers - Forbidden Love
•✦───✧✦✧───✦•
In the peacetime following World War II, Jean Ward loses everything and is sent to live with her best friend, Clyde Mayberry, and his brood of brothers on his family's cattle ranch.
For a...
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•✦─Winter, 1957─✦• Jean, age 18
The last thing Jean expected to see when exiting work one snowy day in mid-January was Jory leaning against Mr. Mayberry's new truck as it idled next to her pickup.
He was wrapped up in a fleece-lined leather jacket with his ever-present Stetson atop his head. He didn't see Jean as she neared him, his eyes narrowed on the mechanic shop across the street. Snow was beginning to settle atop his broad shoulders, the flurries multiplying by the second.
"What are you doing here?" Jean hissed. She'd hardly seen him in the weeks following New Year's and wanted to keep it that way.
It was easier like that.
Jory kept his eyes pinned to the open bay of the shop. "Renner doesn't bother you, does he?" he asked.
Jean frowned, following his gaze to spot Vincent Renner glaring at them from where he sat next to a space heater in the open bay of the garage.
"No," Jean said. "I mean, not really."
Jory finally looked at her. "'Not really?' What does that mean?"
"It means that he likes to glare at me," Jean shrugged.
Jory looked back at Vincent, sending him a glare of his own. "You want me to go talk to him?"
"What? No. What I want is for you to tell me what you're doing here," Jean told him.
Jory glared at Vincent for one moment longer before sighing and looking back at Jean. He nodded his head toward his truck. "Hop in. I'm taking you home."
He pushed off the hood, moving to open her door.
Jean didn't move. "Why? My truck works perfectly fine."
"Not in this weather, it doesn't," Jory told her. "The roads are iced over and your old clunker isn't fit to get you home."
Jean glanced at her truck. He was right. The truck wasn't very safe when it came to poor road conditions. Even so, it was usually Paulie or Clyde who would come to get her when she needed a ride home, never Jory.
"Why'd you come?" she asked.
Jory popped open her door. "Because I was the only one available." His bored eyes danced over her angry frown. "Yeah, I'm not happy about it either. Now, hop in. The weather's getting worse."
Jean eyed the door, then looked back at her truck, weighing her options.
"I'm not letting you drive that thing," Jory warned. "You're coming home with me whether you like it or not, Sally Jean."
