Justified

by Jay Crownover

  And he’d reacted horribly.

  But Hope had been so happy and thrilled to meet him. He’d seen nothing but joy in her face, and although he couldn’t see himself, he had a pretty good idea of what he’d looked like. And she didn’t need to see that.

  He’d collected himself at the stone chapel. Regained his composure. And he was ready to face Hope with a smile and open arms. He was her daddy, goddammit. And if the way his heart ached at the thought of Jess ever escaping his sight again was any indication, he still loved her mama.

  Yesterday he’d been Big Verde’s most available sheriff. Today, he had a family.

  They’d make this work. If Jess could even stand the sight of him after last night.

  He grabbed his hat off the seat and stuck it on his head just as his door was yanked open. JD grabbed him by the arm. “Jesus Christ, Casey! I don’t know where you’ve been or why you haven’t answered your phone, but we’re on in a few minutes. I got us pushed back as far as I could. Get your ass out of the truck.”

  JD gave a hard yank and Casey stumbled out of the truck, slamming the door behind him.

  “Why the hell are you wearing chaps?” JD asked.

  “What’s wrong with chaps?”

  “You look like an idiot.”

  The two of them started walking.

  “Are we saddled up?” Casey asked.

  “Of course, we’re saddled up. And I warmed up Genevieve for you, but you need to get on that pony and ride around a bit. If we’ve even got time for that.”

  Casey glanced at the stands when they walked through the gate. He didn’t see Jessica, and that worried him. But surely she hadn’t gone back to Houston. Not after everything that had happened. Unless, she was so disgusted by his behavior that she never wanted to see him again.

  “Get your mind off of that woman,” JD said. “I know you think team roping is a breeze compared to bull riding, but you can still get hurt.”

  JD was right. Casey had to get his head on straight.

  Fifteen minutes later he and Genevieve were in the box, looking at JD sitting atop Brazen on the other side of the chute. There was a young steer in the chute between them, raring to go. Casey’s adrenaline was pumping. This was practically the best part.

  He and JD had been partners for six years and friends and/or foes for damn near a lifetime. He wasn’t exactly sure what it was he did with his eyes to say ready, but JD saw it and gave a small, tight nod of his head.

  The gates opened, and they were off.

  JD was the header, and Casey rode heeler. They thundered across the arena with JD in the lead. He was on fire. He tossed the rope and it flew through the air, hooking the steer’s horns. Now it was Casey’s turn, as heeler, to go for the legs. The arena seemed to shrink as he honed in on the steer, rope held high in the air, and then it was gone. Flying.

  The steer kicked up, and the rope ensnared its legs with perfect timing. Effortlessly, Casey got the rope around the saddle horn in a perfect dally before he looked up. The arena came back into focus and there was Jessica, hanging on the fence, with Hope next to her.

  They waved, grinned, and shouted just as the rope went taut, jerking the horse. Distracted, Casey wasn’t ready, and in what seemed like slow motion, he fell off the horse.

  Fell. Off. The. Damn. Horse.

  He landed with a thud and saw stars. Got the breath knocked out of him too.

  JD rode up next to him. Concern shone in his eyes, but only for a brief second. Then he started laughing. “I told you to get your mind off that woman. Are you sure you used to ride bulls?”

  “Ha-ha,” Casey wheezed. “Very funny.”

  It didn’t feel funny though. A sharp pain nearly gutted him when he inhaled. And when he went to stand up, he discovered he couldn’t. Goddammit.

  JD jumped down from his horse, concern back in his eyes. “Hey, bud. You okay?”

  No. He was not okay. But he would be. “It’s just my back.”

  Soon he was surrounded by people saying things like Don’t move and How many fingers am I holding up? Someone also mentioned ambulance.

  An EMT who looked maybe twelve years old called for a long backboard and a neck brace.

  Jesus. He just needed a few minutes to come out of this spasm…

  Suddenly Jessica was there. She dropped to her knees next to him and leaned over. “Casey, are you okay?”

  Her dark hair brushed his cheek. She smelled like sunshine and sounded like an angel and her eyes were wide with fright.

  “I’m fine,” he said, although for some reason, he was having trouble getting air in his lungs. “Where’s my daughter?”

  Jessica put a finger to his lips. “Shh…”

  “Where is—”

  “Casey, Hope’s not your daughter. Everything is fine.”

  Everything was fine?

  Everything was definitely not fine. Because that meant—

  He couldn’t finish the thought. “Jess, if she’s not my child, then whose is she?”

  Before he could get an answer, someone stuck a stupid oxygen mask over his face.

  Chapter Eleven

  Jess watched the ambulance leave. She hadn’t been able to answer Casey’s question, because the EMTs needed her out of the way. But Casey’s reaction to her thoughtless response, which she’d meant to be reassuring, answered any questions she’d had about him.

  When informed that he wasn’t the daddy of an eleven-year-old girl with Down syndrome whom he’d never met before, the emotion that had shown on his face was disappointment. Maybe even grief.

  Casey Long was a special kind of man.

  JD had heard everything but was busy acting like he hadn’t. “He’ll be fine,” he said.

  “How do you know that? He could have a broken back or a punctured lung or a concussion or—”

  “He’s embarrassed is all. And he should be. The idiot fell off his damn horse.”

  Carmen and Hope joined them as the dust settled and everybody started going back about their business. “Is he okay?” Hope asked.

  JD took off his hat and held out his hand. “Howdy. I’m JD. And don’t you worry your pretty little head. He’ll be just fine. Sheriff Long probably needs some horseback riding lessons.”

  Oh no! Jessica held her breath. He’d said Sheriff Long.

  She looked at Hope, praying she wasn’t about to blurt out something that would no doubt end up on the front page of the Big Verde News the next day, but what she saw was a blushing eleven-year-old. Blushing!

  “I’m Hope,” she said, taking JD’s hand.

  Well, JD was very handsome. The two of them shook hands and simultaneously charmed the heck out of each other while Carmen touched up her lipstick.

  “You know,” JD said, “we have a place here in Big Verde called Hope House. Since it practically has your name on it, I think you should stop by and check it out before you leave. My sister teaches cooking classes there, and she has a little boy named Dalton.”

  “Cooking!” Hope said, clapping her hands.

  “She loves to cook,” Carmen said. “In fact, she’s one of the best chefs at La Casa Bleu.”

  That wasn’t quite true. Hope loved to be in the kitchen, but in a place like La Casa Bleu, the pace was frantic. She could never be in there during the chaotic dinner rush. However, she loved repetitive tasks and was a stickler for details. The pastry chef adored her, and nobody could put a cherry on top like Hope.

  “I knew it!” JD said. “You’re Carmen Foraccio, aren’t you?”

  “Guilty as charged,” Carmen said. “And I assume you went to school with Jessica?”

  “High school heartthrob,” Jessica said.

  Carmen fluttered her eyelashes. “No doubt.”

  “Man, I love your show,” JD sputtered, taking off his hat as a sign of respect. “Gosh, I watch it all the time.”

  It was weird to think of JD watching cooking shows, and even weirder to see him acting starstruck. Although, if the blush on Carmen’s cheeks
was any indication, she was equally dazzled.

  “Should we go to the hospital?” Jessica asked. Because hello! Casey was hurt!

  “It would really embarrass him,” JD said. “So, sure, let’s go.”

  Jessica hated to drag Hope away from the rodeo. She’d been having so much fun up until the time Casey fell off his horse. “Carmen, do you guys want to stay here? I’m sure I can catch a ride with JD.”

  Two cowboys walked up. The pockets on their shirts said RANCHO CANADA VERDE. These were real working cowboys, as Rancho Canada Verde was one of the few cattle ranches in Texas that still managed cattle on horseback. Its cowboys had been sweeping the rodeo without even trying.

  “JD, we feel honored to have been here to witness Casey riding a horse for the very first time,” one of them said.

  Both cowboys laughed and then followed it up with a high five. They looked nearly identical. They had to be twins.

  “Shut up, guys. He just had some kind of—”

  “Spasm? Conniption fit?” the other cowboy said, with a smirk that bordered on full-out grin.

  “Ladies,” JD said, “these irreverent jerks are Beau and Bryce Montgomery.”

  Both cowboys removed their hats. “Ah,” one of them said, gazing at the three of them with his blue eyes.

  “We get it now,” said the other.

  “Pardon?” JD asked.

  “It was a woman.”

  “Yep.”

  One brother looked at the other. “The question is…”

  “Which woman?”

  Jessica’s cheeks grew warm, no matter how hard she willed them not to. Beau or Bryce—she had no idea which one—winked at her. “Bingo.”

  * * *

  Casey looked at Dr. Martin. “Happy now?”

  The X-rays had shown nothing was broken. Casey’s back was in a damn spasm and his ribs were bruised, but that was it. And he’d been carried out of the arena on a stretcher while every cowboy within a ten-mile radius had laughed his ass off.

  They’d never have laughed over a serious injury. During his bull riding days, Casey had seen guys get their necks broken. He’d seen ropers lose their thumbs. He’d seen a man tossed into the air by a bull who seemed to think he was a rag doll.

  But he’d never seen a man just fall off his horse for no good reason.

  Except there had been a reason. He’d seen his whole damn world watching him from the fence and the realization had momentarily tilted the universe.

  “I’m happy that you’re not mortally wounded,” Dr. Martin said. “Unless you’re planning to die of embarrassment, that is.”

  Casey gave him the side-eye. Partly because he deserved it, but mostly because he couldn’t turn his head.

  “You’ll need to take it easy for the next few days. I’ll give you some muscle relaxants—”

  Casey waved his hand dismissively, but the movement made him wince.

  “And you should stick to the bed or recliner.”

  Like that was gonna happen.

  “And avoid reading. You might have a slight concussion.”

  “Thanks, doc.”

  Casey got down from the exam table gingerly. He’d been through this before and knew what to do. Warm compresses. Cold compresses. He’d try to avoid the muscle relaxants, since they made him wonky and he needed his mind clear.

  There was much thinking to be done.

  Last night he’d been in a downright state of shock and panic when Hope had called him daddy. She’d seemed pretty damn sure about it, after all. But he believed Jess when she said he wasn’t the child’s father.

  Then who was?

  Wondering made his jaw and head hurt even more than his back. Jessica had been gone for almost twelve years. If she hadn’t been pregnant when she and her mom had stolen out of Big Verde in the middle of the night without leaving so much as a note, then she’d become pregnant very shortly thereafter.

  But somehow, he knew it was the reason they’d left. Jess had been pregnant. In high school. But it didn’t make sense, unless she’d slept with someone besides him. And while he knew folks made mistakes, particularly young folks, he just didn’t buy it. Not Jessica. She’d been levelheaded and practical, even at eighteen. The most foolish thing she’d ever done was him, and nothing in her behavior during their time together had indicated she was anything other than head over heels in love with him.

  And he’d felt the same.

  Jessica had come back to Big Verde for a reason, and he thought he’d figured out what it was. But he’d been way off.

  He walked down the hospital’s short hallway and out the back door where the ambulance had deposited him earlier. The bright sunlight hurt his head, and Doc might be right about that slight concussion. He reached in his pocket for his keys and looked around for his truck.

  Shit.

  The truck was at the arena. How the holy hell was he supposed to get home?

  A silver Lexus pulled up.

  Jesus Christ, not now.

  The tinted window rolled down slowly, and there sat Annabelle Vasquez. She wasn’t the only woman in Big Verde who regularly pursued him, but she was no doubt the most aggressive. And she was wearing a goddamn candy striper uniform.

  Blue Jays. That’s what the hospital volunteer ladies called themselves.

  Now would be a good time to make a dash for his truck, only he couldn’t dash if his life depended on it, and there was no truck.

  “I heard about your little accident,” Anna said with a smirk. Her eyes roamed the full length of his body. “You didn’t hurt anything on your way down, did you?”

  Why did everything she say sound so dirty?

  “No, ma’am. It wasn’t until I hit the dirt that everything started to hurt.”

  “Hm. Well, I’m early for my shift. Do you need a ride home?”

  “That’s mighty nice of you to offer but—” He looked around. It wasn’t like he had many options.

  Anna raised an eyebrow, then leaned over and opened the door.

  And Casey got an eyeful. He could see clear down to her belly button in that getup. Surely the old ladies like Mrs. Dunbar and Miss Mills didn’t wear the same outfit?

  “Is that the official hospital volunteer uniform?”

  “It’s the same general idea,” Anna said. “I had mine altered a bit.”

  Casey got in the car, feeling like this was the beginning of a very bad slasher film where you just knew it wasn’t going to end well. Or, as Anna reached across him to help grab the seat belt, “accidentally” touching his arm, shoulder, thigh, chest, and lap, the beginning of a low-budget porno.

  “Okay, Sheriff,” she purred. “Get ready to ride.”

  He gulped and stared out the window.

  As they pulled out of the parking lot she added, “Nice chaps.”

  * * *

  Jessica followed a winding road to the top of Lookout Hill and stopped in front of a private lane. The number on the fence post matched the address JD had given her.

  They’d gone by the hospital only to discover that Casey had been released nearly as soon as he got there. The doctor had told them he had some bruised ribs and was perfectly fine—HIPAA laws apparently hadn’t reached Big Verde—but Jessica wanted to see for herself.

  She peered down the lane at the white rock house. For some reason, her hands were sweaty. Casey was going to have some questions, and she wasn’t sure she was up to answering them. Hope was a Long, but Jessica had never intended on anyone knowing. Mavis had loved her only grandchild, but she had never suggested bringing Hope home to Big Verde.

  Maybe Mavis was ashamed. Just like Jessica had been ashamed over her mom’s citizenship status. Jessica had felt like she’d done something wrong, even though she hadn’t. It didn’t make sense, but shame and embarrassment weren’t necessarily reasonable emotions.

  But Mavis had started Hope House.

  Surely that meant something.

  Jessica bit her lip and slowly turned the steering wheel to start d
own the lane. She wasn’t sure how much she wanted to tell Casey, but she needed to see him. To know he really was okay. When he’d fallen, her heart had nearly stopped. She hadn’t been that terrified since the hospital had called to say her mom had had a heart attack. It was that same horrible, helpless feeling. The I might really lose someone feeling.

  Movement caught her eye. Someone was getting out of a silver car on the driveway. And even from a distance, Jessica could see that it was Annabelle Vasquez, who hadn’t changed a bit. What the heck was she doing at Casey’s house?

  Annabelle and Jessica had been cohead cheerleaders. Jessica had been chosen first, and then Anna had thrown such a fit that her parents had gone to the school board. Next thing Jessica knew, she was sharing the highly coveted position with Big Verde’s version of Nellie Oleson.

  Not that she was still mad about such a trivial thing. Much.

  Anna wore a super tight blue-striped pinafore. Was she actually in a costume? She carried a doughnut box in one hand and a Rite Aid bag in the other.

  Maybe there were condoms in that bag, and she and Casey were about to play “nurse and patient.”

  Casey had definitely picked up some skills in the sex department. Maybe Annabelle was a practice buddy. What did Jessica really know about Casey’s life here in Big Verde?

  She must have been thinking too hard, because Anna suddenly turned around and looked at her. Jessica slunk down in the seat, which was stupid, and Anna stared through squinted eyes. Then she smiled.

  Dang it!

  But she didn’t wave at Jessica or indicate she should come on up. She just turned on her heel, flipped her hair, and then sashayed her way to the front door, where she went inside without knocking.

  Jessica put the car in reverse and backed down the lane to the road.

  Casey had a life. And she’d done nothing but make it more difficult since the moment she’d got here. First, she’d made him late for his great-aunt’s funeral. Then they nearly got caught behind the pool pump, which would have been embarrassing for her but could have been career-ending for Casey. And finally, he’d been thoroughly traumatized by Hope calling him Daddy, before finally being sweetly disappointed to learn that he wasn’t.