Page 70 of The Christmas Cowboy

After church Logan,Cici, and Maureen went home but Liam suggested they go to Grey’s since it was early. Everything at home had been good when he checked after church. Connor had other plans, so he wasn’t able to come.

As soon as they walked in they saw Wyatt Gallagher and his wife Mia. Wyatt waved at them, and they walked over to the table. “Sit and have a drink with us,” he said.

Val sat but Wyatt and Liam left to get drinks for everyone. As soon as they left Val said to Mia, “Thank you so much for the painting of Moondance and her foal. I know Liam’s going to love it.”

“I was happy to do it and I’m so glad you like it.”

“I’ve seen some of your paintings around town and loved them. I feel so lucky you were able to paint the horses in such a short time.”

“Trust me, it was fun.” They said no more as the men came back with drinks.

They chatted for a while and made plans to go out after Christmas. It was a nice break from all her worries.

Later, as they walked to the truck, Val checked her phone. She’d had it silenced. Besides several phone calls and messages, and there were fourteen texts—all from Trent. The last one said:

Trent:Where are you? Answer me, damn it. I need to see you. You’ll want to see me.

She debated not answering but he’d been blowing up her phone with texts and it didn’t look like he was stopping anytime soon. And given the circumstances, she couldn’t block his number.

Val:It’s Christmas Eve. What do you want? Can’t this wait?

Trent:No. Tonight or tomorrow. Your choice.

“What is it?” Liam asked.

“It’s Trent,” she said and showed him the texts.

“Impatient bastard, isn’t he? Tomorrow’s Christmas. We might as well get it over with tonight.”

“What do you think he wants?”

“Who knows? It’s not like he said anything useful in his texts.”

“I can’t imagine what this is about. One way to find out.” She texted back.

Val:Fine. Tonight. Where should we meet?

Trent:My apartment. Is the shithead with you?

Val:What shithead? My husband is with me.

Put that in your pipe and smoke it, she thought. Like she’d meet him by herself. Of course, he didn’t respond to her question.

Trent:Get here as soon as you can. I have things to do.

Val:Ten minutes.

So do I, she thought,and seeing you is the last thing on my list.

*

The last timeLiam had been to Trent’s apartment he’d left not knowing if his talk had done any good. Now he knew it hadn’t. He hoped tonight would be better, but he wasn’t counting on it. He pulled up in the parking lot, turned off the truck, and looked at Val. “Ready?”

“No.” She said it so low he almost couldn’t hear it.

Val had been silent since she sent the last text. He reached for her hand. “Stop worrying. Whatever it is, we’ll work it out.”

“What if we can’t? What if—what if our only choice is to get a divorce?”

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