Page 10 of The Cowboy Complication

“I’ll take him in.” He gave his friend a grin. “Then you can deal with these guys the next time we get called to The Creekery.”

Leland took just about any call that came from The Creekery, and it wasn’t hard to guess why. Even if he hadn’t known Leland since they were kids, it was easy to see his friend was fully in love with Paige, the bar’s owner. Had been for just about forever.

And he couldn’t blame him. Paige was smart, hardworking, and strong—even if she was a little oblivious. Hopefully one day she’d pop her head out of her ass and see what had been standing right in front of her for years.

Cooper loaded the misbehaving ranch hand into the back of his car and aimed for the station. After taking him in and finishing up the repetitive paperwork involved, he was back out on the road. The sun was well above the horizon, but morning was far from over. This was usually the least eventful portion of the day. Everyone was where they woke up early to go to, and it wasn't quite time for lunch yet.

Deciding to take the opportunity to patrol the stretch of two-lane highway leading to the next town over, he headed that direction, following the path to the edge of his jurisdiction before turning to circle back. It was as he circled back that he came up behind another car. One that was traveling ten miles an hour under the posted speed limit. If it had been at night, he would assume the driver was drunk, but there was no swerving or variation in speed to indicate inebriation was the issue. If anything, there was almost too little fluctuation. The car held the exact same space between the lines and never inched above or below the pace it was going.

Something was going on. It wasn’t exactly illegal to drive that slowly, but it was one hundred percent suspicious.

When they came to a curve, the car's brake lights illuminated, showing one of them was out. He took full advantage of the opportunity and flipped on his lights. Whoever was driving was having some sort of an issue—possibly medical—and it needed to be checked out.

He called in the stop, reading off the license plate to dispatch as he searched it in the system. The name the sedan was registered to made him pause and do a double take. After checking everything to make sure it was correct, he stepped out of the car, moving a little faster than normal. Going straight to the driver's side window, he leaned down, expecting to find Evelyn's grandmother—possibly having a stroke—behind the wheel.

Instead a pair of wide dark eyes met his.

"Isla?" He leaned to peek around her, finding Gram-Gram in the passenger’s seat, sipping from an insulated paper cup.

The unexpected development had him so thrown off, he forgot what the fuck he was even standing there for until Isla lifted a piece of paper between them.

"I guess you probably want to see this." She turned to Griselda. "Do you have your registration and proof of insurance?"

Cooper blinked, his mind finally coming back online. "It's fine. Don't worry about it." He rested one arm against the top of the car and leaned down, taking in the sight of Isla. "I thought you didn't have your license."

She wiggled the paper he hadn't reviewed. "I just got my learner’s permit."

That explained... Some of what he was seeing.

"I'm a little surprised you didn't ask Grady or Evelyn to take you." He'd heard enough about Evelyn's grandmother to know that while Griselda wasn't a bad person, she wasn't exactly warm and fuzzy. Definitely not the kind of person he thought should be teaching someone as sweet and shy as Evelyn how to drive. Not that it looked like Gram-Gram was doing much instructing.

"Well..." Isla's dark eyes darted to the woman beside her before coming back to his face. "Griselda suggested that we go this morning."

One of Griselda’s brows lifted. "That's not how I remember that conversation going."

He tried to read the older woman's expression, hoping to suss out what she was trying to say, but she had one hell of a poker face. And considering he made a living figuring out all the shit people didn't say, not being able to get a read on her was pretty impressive.

"A woman should never be beholden to a man." Griselda finally looked his way, her eyes sharp when they met his. "She should always have a way to get where she needs to go, so I told Isla I would take her to get her permit this morning."

Griselda might have a good poker face, but she offered up a huge amount of information in a small number of words.

Her concern that Isla not be ‘beholden to a man’ wasn't about Grady driving Isla to and from work, he knew that much for sure. Gram-Gram was chilly, but she had a soft spot for Grady. That meant there was another reason she was worried about Isla. Either from personal experience—maybe Gram-Gram’s life of wealth had its dark spots…

Or because she knew something about Isla’s past.

Thinking the sweet woman blinking up at him from behind the wheel may have been treated badly by some asshole had his hackles up. He’d seen shit like that happen more times than he could count. Showed up at too many calls to find a woman’s soft nature being exploited and taken advantage of by a man who wasn’t worth the skin he was printed on.

Women like Camille Shepard—now Camille Pace.

“She’s right.” Cooper could give Griselda that much. “But I’m not sure Gram-Gram’s the best one to help you get comfortable driving.” From the looks of it, Griselda was just sitting there, sipping her coffee, while Isla raw-dogged her first behind-the-wheel experience. “I can take you out next time.”

Isla’s eyes widened. “Oh.” She shook her head. “You don’t have to do that. I’m sure you’ve got way more important things to do than?—”

He wasn’t going to let her finish that thought. “No. I don’t.” If it was Isla’s own past that pushed Griselda to bring her out, there was no fucking way he’d let her think for a second she wasn’t important enough for him to find a little time in his schedule.

Isla’s mouth dropped open, but she looked more surprised by the offer than put off. “That would be…” Her cheeks barely pinked up from the chill seeping through the open window. “Good then.” She glanced at the clock on the dash. “Um. Do you need to give me a ticket? I’m supposed to be at Grady and Evelyn’s soon.”

He chuckled. “No. I don’t need to give you a ticket.” Leaning down so he could see Griselda better, he gave the older woman his main reason for the stop. “You’ve got a taillight out. You need to get that fixed.”

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