Page 25 of Lucky Cowboy

His phone rang with Rusty’s number, and maybe because of the exhaustion dogging him, Mark didn’t bother to answer with his usual polite greeting.

“What is it, Rusty?”

“Suspicious plate heading in your direction, sending a text with it now.”

“If you could’ve just sent a text in the first place, why’d you call?” he snapped, and there was a weighty pause on the opposite end of the line.

“What’s eating you?”

Mark almost mouthed off with an immature, “You are,” but caught himself before the idiotic language could leave his mouth. He was losing it big time, and his friend hadn’t earned any of this.

“Sorry,” he blew out a breath. “Rough day.”

“Wanna talk about it?”

“Nope.”

“I think you should.”

“Why?”

“Because you’ve never had such an extreme reaction to a routine call since I’ve known you. If it’s this bad, you need to get it out.”

The ironic part was that the news wasn’t bad. It was good. Confusing sometimes, but mostly good.

“You know about Ulysses Biggs, right?”

“Yeah. He being a thorn in your side?”

“More that could his behavior is highly peculiar.” Mark related the cancellation incident in Bozeman. It’d been recent, but it felt like it happened ages ago. Time kept passing in these irregular spurts, normal and then at light speed. “I don’t get what he was trying to accomplish or what his endgame could then be.”

“Definitely off-the-wall.”

“Then there’s the person I met the same night I ran into him. A woman.”

“She trouble?”

For the first time, Mark grinned to himself. Oh, she was trouble, all right. “Not like you mean. We’re kind of… hanging out.”

The pause was longer this time. “Hanging out…” Rusty stretched out the words like he might to a non-native English speaker. “Why am I getting the feeling that your version of hanging out has little to do with this case?”

“It did start with the case,” Mark clarified. “But lately, well, other stuff has been going on.” This time, he told his friend about Val’s dad. “She needs me, so I’ve been making myself available. Only when I’m with her, I feel things I’ve never felt before. Chemistry.”

He thought about their almost kiss but didn’t tell the other sheriff about it. Some things were meant to stay sacred and private.

“You catching emotions for this woman?” Rusty asked him pointblank, coming right out with it.

“Maybe. I don’t know. I hate when I have to leave her, and I think about her a lot when we’re separated. If that’s what you mean by ‘catching emotions.’ I mean, we have this intense connection. She’s gorgeous, too. Like could be a model gorgeous. And she’s caring toward her dad and employees. She’s been through a bunch with this Biggs jerk. I wish I could help her more. Be there with her more.”

A chuckle reverberated from his friend’s side of the line. “Sounds like you’re not being all that bright.”

Insulted, Mark clapped back. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“It means that you’re past the point of no return. Don’t pass go, don’t collect your two hundred dollars. She’s already captured you hook, line, and sinker.”

Truly baffled now, he growled into his phone. “What are you talking about, Shackleton?”

“I’m talking about the fact that you’re all gaga over this woman. Your mom and sister would say that you’re in love with her.”

---