“It’s a lot of trouble for nothing. I’ll call Rita and get her to tell the doc I feel fine. He can just call the drugstore to refill my medicine.”
“Rita already told you Doc wasn’t going to do that again.”
Pops kicked the dirt like an angry child. “I ain’t going.”
Although the old curmudgeon’s little rebellion was kind of cute, Teal decided it was time to mediate. “Actually, it could be a lot more trouble if you don’t go and your ticker stops on us.”
“Sometimes I wonder.” BJ’s grumbled remark drew an obscene gesture from Pops.
Teal continued as if BJ hadn’t spoken. “There’s all the arrangements for a funeral, not to mention the cost. Then the whole crew would want time off for the visitation, and the funeral. Probably lose two, three days of work. Of course, BJ could just get a backhoe and bury you up on a hill, like the Old West days, and be done with it in a few hours—that is if you don’t want a preacher and flowers and all that.”
BJ and Tank stared at her, mouths open, then burst into hoots of laughter.
Pops squinted one eye at her. “I reckon I haven’t weighed all that out.” He threw up his hands in surrender. “I’ll just have to go to the damn doctor until I’ve had time to think it over.”
“Good.” She looped her arm around Pops’s and tugged him gently toward the front of the shop where the ranch truck was parked. “Because going to the doctor first is not a problem. It’s not like I’ve got a schedule to meet.”
*
The doctor’s office, a former residence with a wide wrap-around porch, was two blocks away from an emergency-room facility affiliated with the hospital in the nearest city and from the town’s original downtown Main Street. BJ checked in at the desk, but a handful of others were ahead of them, quietly thumbing through a variety of magazines or catching up on local gossip. Before they settled in the comfortable chairs to wait Pops’s turn, he held the truck keys out to Teal.
“If you take a right, then a left onto Main Street, you’ll see the ShopMart on the left when you hit the outskirts of town. The shipping store’s in that shopping center. We might be here a little while. I have to go back with Pops because I don’t trust him to tell me everything the doctor says.”
Pops made a disgusted noise but didn’t deny the accusation.
She hesitated. “Are you sure? Is there any errand I can run for you while you’re here with Pops?”
“I’m out of my candies,” Pops said, digging in his pocket. He held out a five-dollar bill.
“He likes those butterscotch hard candies.” BJ took a twenty from his wallet and added it to Pops’s fiver. “And I need me some almonds and a can of walnuts—as much as this will cover. Helps my cholesterol, you know.”
“Are you sure?” BJ’s truck wasn’t like the beat-up farm vehicle August had been driving the day before. It was an expensive crew-cab limited edition with a locking, lift-up hard cover over the bed. “I’ll hurry so that I don’t keep you waiting.”
“Take all the time you need. If we’re not in here reading six-month-old magazines, it means we’re still back seeing the doctor.” BJ waved her toward the door. “Passenger trains don’t come through here, but you’ll see the bus station on your way to ShopMart. Can’t miss it.”
*
Main Street emptied onto the six-lane highway, lined with fast-food restaurants and other businesses, which had sucked traffic and commerce from the community’s once-thriving downtown. The familiar logo and the two buses loading passengers on the side of the building were easy to spot, but Teal decided it would be easier to access if she turned into the ShopMart shopping plaza to find the shipping store first, then hit the bus station on her way back downtown.
She parked and climbed out to survey her possessions BJ had transferred from her car to the bed of the big truck. A set of matching luggage held clothing as well as health and beauty products, the patchwork quilt her grandmother had given her for high school graduation was zipped into a heavy plastic bag, and the rest was camping gear she’d used at one overnight stop to avoid the chance of being recognized at a hotel while her face was still on national newscasts. The news reporters had probably already moved past the scandal when it was clear she’d left Washington, but the entertainment shows and Internet bloggers were still milking the story with constant speculation and false sightings. She might as well pay to have the store pack the items for her to save time before they shipped them. First, she should call Wade to see if there was a certain carrier she should designate or time of day for delivery.
Teal rummaged in her shoulder purse for her phone. She was about to touch her cousin’s contact icon, when a bit of information she’d tucked away for later investigation popped up like a red flag. What had August said about some guy tracing her phone and dragging her back to Dallas? Only law enforcement would have the authority to trace a phone call, but that didn’t mean some paparazzi reporters didn’t have contacts who could confirm an originating cell-tower location if she used her phone. August had said she’d bought a burner phone to use. Teal’s eyes went to the ShopMart sign. Good idea. She had butterscotch candy and nuts to buy anyway. She locked the lid covering the truck’s bed to safeguard her possessions and pocketed her wallet. If she hurried, maybe she could find a restaurant or Starbucks along the highway that had Internet service so she could initiate a search on August Reese and find out who wanted to “drag her back to Dallas” and why.
*
“Teal. I’ve been trying to call you. Are you okay? Where are you?” Wade sounded worried.
“I wasn’t specific enough for my GPS, and it led me to some small town near Caprock Canyon, Texas. I didn’t realize the mistake, though, before my car engine decided to catch fire and sacrifice itself to the scrap-metal gods.”
“Well, that’s got to suck.”
She laughed, despite the bad situation. She was starting to like this guy, even if she was worried that her mother was trying to play matchmaker. “Yeah. Fortunately, a Good Samaritan rescued me from languishing in the Texas desert and brought me into town. The car’s a loss, so I’m about to ship the boxes I had packed in it to you. Then I’ll text you when to expect me after I buy a bus ticket to Caprock, New Mexico.”
“You might want to hold up on that.”
Oh, no. Was he withdrawing his offer? She drew in a deep breath. “Have you changed your mind about having me at the farm?” If Wade refused her, she didn’t know where she’d go. Canada?
“No.” His answer was quick and adamant. Then he chuckled. “You need to start thinking like a tough cowgirl, not a dairy maid. This is a ranch, not a farm.”
She relaxed a bit. “Ha. You don’t know tough until you’ve worked a dairy farm.” She hesitated. “So, what’s the problem?”
“You should sue the shipping company after all this blows over. One of their employees must have seen your name on the paperwork for the things you shipped from DC and sold my address to some sleazy blogger who’s stalking you.”
“Tell me a murder of media crows aren’t flocking to your farm…I mean ranch.”
“I’m afraid so, but they won’t come up to the house. We normally use the front pasture that the driveway runs through as turnout for horses. But at the first sign those media dogs had tracked you here, Boone put old BB out there.”
“BB?” Boone must be his foreman.
“One of the biggest Brahma bulls you’ve ever seen. His horns are more than three feet long. And he’s cranky about people being in his pasture.”
She laughed again, picturing the bull chasing the paparazzi from his field. “I’m so sorry to involve you in this. I can go—”
“Absolutely not. My offer stands.”
She was relieved, but she still needed to clear the air. “Wade, if my mother gave you the impression that I was single and available—”
“Teal.” He cut her off gently. “You don’t have to worry about that. I’m in a committed relationship. I’m just offering to he
lp out a family member.”
“Oh, nobody told me. Sorry.” She was embarrassed to have brought it up. “It’s just. Well, if you knew my mother, you’d know why I had to say that.”
“It’s okay, but you can relax.”
She could hear a muffled voice, then Wade answering. “I’ll be right there. I’m talking to Teal.”
“Problem?”
“No, just Mr. Impatient. It’ll do him good to wait.”
Teal could hear him opening and closing cabinets. “So, is there a way to sneak in the back of the property where the media won’t see me?”
“Afraid not. Can you hang where you are for a while?”
She mentally counted her dwindling cash. “How long?”
“I figure to wait a week or two and ship a pair of boots up to my friend in Canada that he’s been wanting. If I act secretive enough, that busybody at ExPress will jump to the conclusion that I’m shipping something to you and sell the information to the paparazzi.”
“Thanks, Wade, but then your friend will have them camping at his door.”
“Honey, he’s in theater. He’ll love the drama. I’ll email him about what I’m doing and wouldn’t put it past him to disguise himself as you and have them chasing him all over Toronto. So, you’ll probably need to lay low there for three or four weeks at the most.”
“Maybe I can find an extended-stay hotel.” If she was careful with her money, she probably could get by without tapping into any of her accounts.
“When you get settled, set up a new email account with a fake name and message me. We’ll stay in touch through email. Cell phones can be risky.”
“Okay. I’ll email you when I’ve found a place.”
“Teal? It’s all going to be okay. We just need to throw the hounds off your scent. Meanwhile, you take care of yourself.”
“Thanks. I will.” She ended the call. Crap. Well, she couldn’t ship her stuff now. It would have her “shipped from” location for the ExPress busybody to give out to the highest payer.
She stopped by the bus station and checked on the price of a ticket to Caprock, New Mexico, then separated that amount from her stash and tucked the cash into her back pocket.
Teal drummed her fingers on the steering wheel. What was she going to tell BJ when she returned with all her stuff still in the truck? She needed to spin this. She snorted. That was Washington-speak. She needed a plausible lie.
*
When she drove up to the doctor’s office, BJ and Pops were waiting in two of the white rocking chairs lined up on the broad front porch. She’d never, even in her rural Pennsylvania hometown, seen a doctor’s office with a wrap-around porch and rockers.
Pops was all smiles and insisted she take the front passenger seat. “Doc says my ticker is thumping along like a marching band. Said me being tired didn’t have nothing to do with my heart. He said BJ was working me too hard.”
BJ bristled. “That is not what he said, and you know it. He said you need more rest. That means going to bed at a reasonable hour instead of staying up late to watch movies.”
Teal only half listened to their banter as she stared out the window, serious and silent. BJ glanced at her briefly but kept quiet while Pops continued to gloat over his good news.
“Don’t matter. You lost the bet, so you’ve got to buy us all lunch at Sophie’s. I want a cheeseburger, fries, and one of them big banana-split sundaes for dessert.”
“You will have a heart attack after eating that,” BJ said.
Pops was undaunted. “Man’s gotta die sometime.”
“You got time for lunch?” BJ asked Teal.
She stared down at her hands. “It appears that I do.” She gave him a weak smile. “A cheeseburger and ice cream sounds perfect.”
It was hard not to wolf down the best cheeseburger she’d ever eaten, but she did truly feel a bit sick to her stomach at the lie she was about to tell these two very nice men. They’d nearly fallen over each other in their competition to open the door for her and pull out her chair to seat her at the Formica-topped, single-leg table. They sat on either side, which was fine with her, because without someone sitting on the fourth side directly across from her, she had a clear view of the door. After her call to Wade, she couldn’t shake the feeling that someone might recognize her at any moment and alert the local media.
Pops was digging into his ice cream already, and Teal was swabbing a warm fry through the dollop of ketchup on her plate when she jerked her head up as the door chimed to alert the waitresses another person had entered. BJ followed her gaze, then returned his attention to his cheeseburger. “Expecting somebody?” he asked quietly.
This was her cue. She took a deep breath. “I hope not.”
“Want to tell me about it?”
Pops slowed his attack on the banana split, his gaze bouncing between her and BJ.
“My stuff is still in the truck.” She put her French fry down and picked up her burger. “I can’t go to my cousin’s right now. Is there an extended-stay hotel around here? Out on the highway, maybe?”
“Maybe.”
“I know you’ve already towed my car in and hauled me all over creation, but could you take me by Tank’s garage so I can see if the junk guy has picked up my car yet and left some money for me? Then you can put me and my stuff out at the hotel and I’ll be out of your hair.”
“How long you reckon you’ll be staying?”
She shrugged. “Not sure. A couple of weeks, a month maybe.”
Pops opened his mouth to say something, but BJ held up a hand, so he shoveled in another spoonful of ice cream instead.
“Well, sir. The way I see it, I can drop you off and you can pay out money to stay in that hotel, or you can come with us and I’ll put you to work for the few weeks you’re here. I can offer you room and board, plus twelve dollars an hour.”
Teal chewed her lip and studied him. The ranch was secluded and a better place to hide for a few weeks. An out-of-towner holing up in a hotel day and night could arouse enough suspicion that somebody might actually try to figure out who she was. But then there was August. She didn’t want her at the ranch. Why? Who was August hiding from? “I’d have to be stupid to choose a hotel over having a job while I’m stuck here.”
“There’s only one thing.” BJ wiped his mouth and tossed his wadded napkin onto his plate. “You gotta tell me what’s got you spooked. You’re not in trouble with the law, are you?”
She shook her head and dropped the last bit of her burger onto her plate before shoving it away. She was hoping she wouldn’t have to do this. “I can’t go to my cousin’s because my ex showed up there first. The fact that we’re not dating any longer doesn’t seem to matter. Getting thrown in jail twice for assaulting me hasn’t made a difference either. And the restraining order I got isn’t worth the paper it’s printed on. If I’d stayed in DC, I’d probably be dead by now.”
“You get you a gun and shoot him next time he shows up and tries something.” Pops gave her a righteous glare. “Men like that don’t stop just because the judge signed a paper.”
“I could go to jail,” Teal said.
“I’ll shoot him if he comes around here. I’ll tell ’em my eyesight is so bad, I thought he was a bear.”
“There are no bears around here,” BJ said, dismissing Pops.
Teal patted Pops’s arm. “I don’t think I could actually shoot somebody.”
“All the more reason that you should come with us.”
“I would feel safer, but I don’t think August wants me there.”
BJ picked up the check the waitress had left on the table. “You leave August to me. She might own the ranch, but I’ve known her since she was knee-high to a grasshopper.”
“Oh. So that’s why you called her ‘Grasshopper’ this morning?”
“Nope.” BJ headed for the cash register without further explanation.
Teal looked to Pops.
“Ain’t my story to tell,” he said, shoveling in
the last of his ice cream and standing to follow BJ.
After checking in at Tank’s garage—the junkyard man hadn’t come by for the car yet—BJ headed for the ranch. Teal was nervous about August’s reaction to her return, but she didn’t doubt the old cowboy held considerable sway over the grumpy ranch owner. So, if it meant free room and board in a place where the media wouldn’t find her for a few more weeks, she’d keep her head down, clean toilets if that’s what BJ assigned her, and try to stay clear of August as much as possible.
Chapter Seven
“The answer is still no, BJ, and you know why.”
“Keep your voice down. She’s right outside the door.” BJ pointed in a silent command for her to sit back down. August held his eyes in a hard stare and put her hands on her hips, refusing his instruction. He continued to point to the chair. It was a stand-off of wills.
August’s grandfather and Julio had taught her most of what she knew about ranching, but BJ had been her patient instructor in many things beyond cattle. She’d learned the Native American “spirit” rituals, the art of being one with nature, and—most importantly when she realized her sexual orientation was toward her own sex—how to be comfortable with herself even when others weren’t. She finally dropped her gaze and sat because of her respect for him.
BJ acknowledged her act with a slight bow, accepting the responsibility of her trust in him. “She needs our protection, August. There’s no way that guy can track her to this ranch, so it’s the perfect place for her to lay low for a few weeks.”
This was a bad idea on so many levels. She wasn’t worried about some jealous boyfriend. She was worried about Reyes and who might get caught in the crossfire if he showed up. Now BJ was asking her to add one more person. She sighed. But what if she turned Teal away and the boyfriend did track her to this area and hurt her? She’d feel even worse.
“Why does her cousin think she’ll be safe in New Mexico a month from now?”
“He’s got a plan to make the ex-boyfriend think she’s gone to Canada, but he needs a few weeks to make it look good and then maybe a couple more to be sure the guy took the bait and headed up there.”
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