Page 2 of Reckoning with the Cowboy
The wind threatened to steal his beat-up lucky Stetson as he shoved it down harder on his thick head of sandy-blond hair. As he did, he caught his reflection in the car dealership window. Should have at least gotten a haircut, he told himself. Too late now, he thought as he continued down the street toward the sheriff’s department.
Yep, coming back here filled him with so many emotions he felt choked up. It was the exhaustion, he told himself. Just the thought of seeing his brother filled him with regret over the past and fear about the future. If they had a future, he thought as he passed the drugstore, glad to see it was still open. So many small towns in Montana were dying. He couldn’t bear the thought that Dry Gulch was headed in that direction.
He caught a glimpse of a young woman standing just inside the door of the drugstore. She looked vaguely familiar, but then again, unless Dry Gulch had changed a whole heck of a lot in the six years he’d been gone, he knew everyone in this town and most of those in the county around it.
CHAPTER TWO
Cordell pushed open the door to the sheriff’s office on a gust of wind. He saw his brother look up from the small glassed-in office set back from the dispatcher’s and deputy’s desks. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the two them freeze.
Seems they had already heard he was in town but hadn’t expected him to walk into the mouth of the lion, so to speak. His brother rose slowly from behind his desk and opened his office door to step out. He had the same sandy-blond hair as Cordell except his had been recently cut. Still, it was longer on top than Cordell remembered, making Max look more boyish. The one thing that never changed were the faded-denim blue eyes. They were the same as his, maybe a little more piercing, but definitely not friendly.
“Deputy, arrest this man,” Max Lander said.
The deputy looked confused. “Sheriff?”
“He’s got several old warrants out for him in this county. Cuff him, read him his rights and lock him up.”
The deputy rose slowly from his chair, picked up his cuffs and moved cautiously toward Cordell the way he would a rattlesnake coiled in the middle of the path.
“Max, we need to talk,” Cordell said, holding up both hands in surrender. “I’m serious. You need to listen to me. I have some news you aren’t going to like.”
Max picked up his Stetson from the hook by his office door. “It’s my lunchtime. I’m going down to Goldie’s for the daily special. Rance, I expect you to have this man behind bars by the time I return.”
“Max,” Cordell said as Bobby grabbed his arm and pulled it behind him, then snatched the other one. He felt the familiar bite of the cuffs as Max walked right to him.
“What did you think was going to happen?” Max whispered as he continued to the door and stepped out into the blustery fall day.
* * *
It was nearlyimpossible to keep a secret in a small town in Montana. Josie had gone back to snapping the last of the green beans from the garden when she heard the landline ring inside the house. Her sister answered it on the second ring even though Amy Sue was busy putting up the last of the beets.
From the porch, Josie listened to her sister’s side of the conversation through the screen door. She’d been expecting a call and now tensed as she waited with some trepidation to hear what this one was about. Hard to tell with her sister’s one-word responses to whatever was being said on the other end of the line.
“Well, I’ll be,” Amy Sue finished. “Sorry to hear that. Thanks for letting us know.” She hung up and walked to the screen door again. Josie didn’t move, hardly breathed as she waited for the bad news.
“Appears Cordell Lander is back in town,” her sister said quietly. “Clancy just called. Says he’s driving a pickup and pulling a rented small, enclosed trailer. Sounds like he’s back to stay for a while.”
Josie closed her eyes for a moment. She could tell her sister was waiting for a reaction. While Josie had done her best to hide how devastated she’d been when Cordell had left Dry Gulch six years ago, she figured everyone in town knew. She and Cordell had been best friends, then sweethearts, then lovers. She’d given him her heart, knowing that if he broke it, she’d never love again.
And sure as the devil, that’s what he did.
Rising, careful not to spill the beans, she turned to her sister. “You need some help with the beets?”
“That’s all you have to say?”
“What would you like me to say?” Josie asked. The wind whipped her hair into her eyes as her sister stepped back to let her enter the house.
“Aren’t you the least bit curious as to what he’s doing back here?” Amy Sue demanded.
“Nope. Whatever it is, he won’t be here long,” she said as she carried the bowl into the kitchen and began digging out a large pot from under the counter to put a scald on the beans before freezing them. She could feel her sister watching her, looking for any remnant of feelings Josie might have for the bad boy who everyone in town, including her sister, thought would ruin her life.
That seemed like a lifetime ago, but really hadn’t been all that far in the past. The pain certainly hadn’t decreased any. Nor had those old feelings. Not that she would let her sister see either if she could help it.
But as she turned on the faucet to cover the beans with water, she couldn’t help the thump of her pulse in her ears at just the thought of seeing Cordell again. What was he doing back here? Had he changed much since the last time she’d seen him? Did he plan on seeing her before he left again?
Her hands shook as she put the pot on the burner.
“You don’t have to pretend with me,” Amy Sue said, standing watching her. “You know you want to see him.” The landline rang again.
