Page 41 of Reckoning with the Cowboy
“Delicious,” she said, feeling guilty because she had barely been able to taste it. “Goldie made us a special meal at Cordell’s request.”
“Really?” her sister said, studying her. “I thought you were staying in town.”
“I changed my mind.”
“Hmm.”
“What does thathmmmean?” Josie demanded, making her sister laugh.
“The dress apparently didn’t have the effect you thought it would,” Amy Sue said.
“Oh, the dress and me in it had his mouth watering,” she snapped as she stormed into the kitchen. “It wasn’t that.”
Her sister cocked her head at her. “Cordell was the one who said whoa, ponies when it came time for dessert?” She laughed. “Your bad boy isn’t bad anymore?”
“Apparently we are taking it slow,” Josie said, grabbed a beer from the refrigerator and headed for the porch.
“Want to talk about it?” Amy Sue said after joining her. They both took a drink of their beer and looked out into the night. The velvet sky was alive with stars and just a fingernail slice of moon. A breeze stirred the dried leaves on the aspens. Somewhere in the distance, an owl hooted.
But that darkness was out there, as well. It had been there long enough that she thought maybe it wouldn’t come to Dry Gulch. Maybe there would soon be good things on the horizon instead.
“I want Cordell,” Josie said after a moment. “I always have.”
“You’ve always taken him anyway you could get him knowing it probably wouldn’t last,” her sister said without looking at her. “You know what Gram used to say.”
“If you say anything about giving away milk—that’s so old-fashioned. Times have changed.”
“Have they?” Amy Sue said. “Maybe Cordell wants more this time.”
She stared at her sister. “What more could he want? I gave him my heart. I would have left here with him, traveled the country with him, gone anywhere he wanted if he had asked me.”
“But you never would have married him because you’re too sensible,” Amy Sue said as Josie started to object. “Have you ever seen yourself married to Cordell Lander, having his children, depending on him instead of yourself?”
She felt tears burn her eyes. She had taken care of not just herself but her grandmother before she died and now her sister. She’d paid off the farm, leased the land to pay for everything else, buried her grandmother and made everyone proud of her. Marrying Cordell had never been in the plan because she’d thought she would just be taking on more than she could handle.
“Can you believe he wouldn’t sleep with me after I wore this dress?” Josie asked and laughed. “That’s all I wanted.”
Her sister laughed. “Sounds like he knew what you were up to, and he wanted more.”
She shook her head and took a drink of her beer. In town, she drank wine. Out here, she loved nothing better than a cold beer.
“You know, I’m not always going to be around,” Amy Sue said. She shot her sister a concerned look. “I’m not dying or anything. I might want to make a life of my own one of these days. This farm…” she said, looking around. “Grandmother left it to you. But she was wrong about me. I want to farm the land with my husband.”
“Husband? This man in your life that you’re keeping under your hat, it’s that serious?”
“We’re just talking, maybe about the future,” Amy Sue said and took a sip of beer.
“Sis, you know this farm is as much yours as it is mine.”
“Just not legally.”
Josie sighed. “That’s because of the trust. Nana set it up so it couldn’t be changed. But it doesn’t matter, does it?”
Amy Sue shook her head. “We’re just talking.” She quickly changed the subject. “Did he even kiss you?”
Josie shook her head. “I know what Cordell’s up to, and it isn’t going to work.” She swore and her sister laughed.
My Angel,
