Page 16 of Reckoning with the Cowboy
“You just don’t want anyone in Dry Gulch to know,” Cordell said. “Max, people are going to find out about us and Roger Grimes. I know you’ve always believed it would just be our terrible secret, but the truth is going to come out now.”
“Let’s not forget what we did,” Max said.
“Let’s not forget what he did to us!”
“I haven’t forgotten, as hard as I’ve tried,” his brother snapped.
“Then you know what he’s capable of doing. Roger knows where we are and who we love. We have to warn them.” Cordell hated the way his voice cracked with the fear he felt to his very core that his past might harm the woman he loved, had always loved. “That psycho threatened Josie and Goldie.”
“I told you. He didn’t.”
“Only because he’s smart enough to worry that you might be recording the conversation. Max, you know what he was saying. He’s coming for them just as he’s coming for us.”
He saw the muscle jump in his brother’s jaw, an expression of fury on Max’s face. “Of course I know. I’ve already stuck our necks out by sending the sheriff’s department in Rawlins out to the homestead.”
Cordell shook his head. “There’s no keeping a lid on this.” He looked down at the phone in his hand. “Josie needs to know and you can’t—”
“Give me your phone.”
His gaze shot up to his brother’s. “You seriously going to do this?” He and his brother hadn’t wrestled for years, let alone fought, but there was no way he was handing over the phone.
With a sigh, Max said, “I promise we’ll warn them, but let’s wait to see what the deputy down in Wyoming finds out at the homestead, okay?”
“And if Roger isn’t there?”
“Goldie probably isn’t taking my calls,” Max said. “But I’ll call Josie myself and warn her. She’ll tell Goldie. Let me tell her what I hope will keep them both safe until we know more.”
“You need to tell themeverything. They have to know how dangerous Roger Grimes—”
“They’ll believe it when it comes from the sheriff.”
Cordell took a breath, reminding himself that his brother the sheriff was respected in the community of Dry Gulch. He, on the other hand, was the kid-brother screwup who’d left town under extenuating circumstances. He had to let him handle this. “That deputy better call soon or I’m going to find Josie and tell her everything,” he said as he pocketed his phone.
His brother looked relieved.
“You do realize I’m not staying here to wait, right?”
Max sighed. “Come on, then.”
* * *
“Don’t want totalk about it,” Goldie said when Josie showed up at her door. “I don’t need any help, either. But I might take a glass of that wine you brought.”
She’d been in a daze for hours wandering around her cousin’s house, unable to concentrate. Clancy had a date she’d threatened to cancel to stay home with her, but Goldie wouldn’t allow it. “Go, have fun. I’m fine.”
But she wasn’t fine, so she’d been glad to see Josie drive up. Her best friend knew what she needed. Wine and company. The breakup had come out of nowhere. She and Max had been doing so well together for so long. She hadn’t pushed him about making it permanent because she hadn’t wanted to rock the boat. She’d felt they were headed in that direction, and she didn’t want to corner him with an ultimatum.
It wasn’t her style. She’d told herself that she didn’t need a ring on her finger or a marriage certificate on her wall. But now she knew there had been something she had needed. A sign that he was as invested as she was in this relationship. Clearly, if he’d given her one, she’d missed it.
She blamed herself for not getting that clarity she needed. Had she, Max wouldn’t have been able to blindside her. She would have known he wasn’t in it for the long haul. She blamed herself. She’d been too afraid to find out how he really felt about her and he’d been afraid to be honest with her a long time ago. They were both cowards. Maybe he wasn’t the man she’d thought he was. Or the woman she knew she could be.
Josie held the wine bottle up. “If there’s anything else you want…”
Goldie shook her head as she watched her friend get glasses from the kitchen and pour them both some wine.
“I saw Max leaving his house on my way in, Cordell with him,” her friend said and handed her a glass.
Goldie held it up, frowning at how little wine was in the glass. She looked to her friend for an explanation.
