No Getting Over a Cowboy

by Delores Fossen

  She lifted her head. In the same motion, she gasped, grabbed a pen and jabbed it at him the way a person would wield a knife. She missed, but a strange garbled sound left her mouth. Maybe trying to choke back a scream.

  “Garrett?” Nicky said on a rise of breath. “You scared the bejeebers out of me.”

  He didn’t know what a bejeebers was, but she’d given him a scare of sorts, too, because he sure as hell hadn’t expected anyone to be sleeping in his office, let alone on his desk.

  “Sorry,” she added. “I’m still on edge.” No doubt because of the body that’d been found.

  Groaning and wincing, Nicky climbed off the desk, got to her feet and turned on the reading light. Her gaze met his, and she looked at him funny. Only then did he remember he had what was left of a pizza slice sticking out of his mouth.

  Garrett yanked away the pizza so he could talk. “Why are you on my desk?”

  “Because the sofa was too small, and I kept falling off.” She made it seem as if that answered his question. It didn’t.

  “There wasn’t a bed?” he pressed.

  She shook her head and pushed her hands through her hair to move it off her face. He’d seen her face before, of course. Had seen most of her entire body actually. But there was something, well, intimate about having a sleepy-eyed woman just a few inches away.

  One who smelled like sex.

  That was probably his imagination though.

  “Why are you here?” she asked.

  “I need some files.” And he went to his desk drawer to get those. To do that, he had to walk right past her, and that’s when he noticed what she was wearing. Pj’s. Specifically, his pj’s.

  “Oh,” Nicky said, following his gaze. “My luggage seems to have gotten lost in the shuffle. I didn’t have any clean clothes, and your mom checked Sophie’s room for some, but your sister’s already moved her things to Clay’s. She got these for me instead. She said you don’t ever use them, that you usually sleep in your boxers.”

  Well, Nicky had gotten in his pants after all. Which was a stupid thought, of course. Something a teenage boy would think, but that seemed to be the way his mind was going right now. That meant it was time to get out of there.

  Garrett finished off the last bite of pizza, grabbed the files and was ready to leave. But Nicky stopped him.

  “Uh, can I ask you a question?” She didn’t wait for him to agree, though. “Are you and your ex-wife on good terms these days?”

  Garrett was certain he looked surprised. Because he was. “No. We’re not on any kind of terms because I haven’t spoken to her in months.” And he’d like to keep it that way. “You know about the video that ended up all over the internet?”

  Nicky nodded, glanced away. He’d been positive that she knew, and that was why her question was even more puzzling.

  “Why would you want to know about my ex?” he asked.

  She lifted her shoulder. “I was just wondering. I remember her from high school, of course. She moved to Wrangler’s Creek our senior year.”

  This was still confusing. “But you weren’t friends. Were you?” Because if they were, this was the first he was hearing about it. Then again, that not hearing about things was going around.

  “No,” she quickly agreed. “She knew about what had happened between us and didn’t especially want me around. Over the years though, I’ve run into her from time to time, and she’s been friendly enough.”

  Again, first time hearing this. Meredith had certainly never mentioned it.

  “Anyway,” Nicky went on, “no one around here has said anything about Meredith, and I didn’t know if you’d been able to work past what’d happened or not.”

  He hadn’t worked past it, but there was no way he’d tell Nicky that. He was about to press her again as to why she had a sudden interest in his ex, but maybe this was part of some kind of therapy. A shared experience sort of thing. Except there was really nothing to share. Meredith was alive, and Nicky’s husband wasn’t.

  Her husband, Patrick.

  Yeah, he’d looked it up on the internet. There hadn’t been an obituary, but there’d been a mention of him on social media from someone he’d done business with. It was one of those requests for prayers and hugs.

  According to what Garrett could glean from that, Patrick had been a lawyer at the same firm where Nicky worked. He’d died from cancer and been gone almost eighteen months now. Not an eternity, but maybe the pain wasn’t still as fresh and raw for Nicky. Of course, the flipside to that was Kaylee had been so young that she wouldn’t even remember her father. That had to be eating away at Nicky, too.

  Garrett knew plenty about grief. It was a hungry bitch. And if he could figure out a way to beat it, he would have already done it.

  “I’m sorry,” Garrett said before he even knew he was going to say it.

  She nodded but seemed ready to ask him to explain that. If she hadn’t also looked like sex, he might have hung around and added more. He headed out, but he nearly smacked right into Loretta.

  “Good morning, Garrett,” she said. “It’s so good to see you again.”

  Loretta didn’t look anything like sex, but she did seem wide awake. Awake, smiling and also wearing his pj’s.

  “Loretta’s luggage got misplaced, too,” Nicky volunteered.

  Well, at least he wouldn’t encounter anyone else wearing his limited nightwear because he had only two sets of pajamas.

  Garrett mumbled a “good morning” and hurried out. Staying longer and looking at Nicky would only cause this tug in his belly to tug even harder. He wasn’t overly concerned about belly tugs per se, but if that tug lowered to that idiot part of him behind his zipper, he’d be in big trouble.

  CHAPTER SIX

  NICKY WAITED ON hold for Clay McKinnon while she watched out the window. Kaylee and Gina were in the backyard, playing fetch with a golden retriever, and Kaylee was having a blast. Nicky couldn’t say the same for herself, though. That’s because her daughter and Gina weren’t the only ones in her line of sight.

  So was Garrett.

  He was in the barn about twenty yards away, and while he wasn’t exactly nearby, Garrett had a way of grabbing her attention.

  Damn him.

  He was wearing those snug jeans again and looking very much like the hot cowboy he was. A cowboy in charge since he seemed to be doling out orders to several of the hands. Judging from their body language, they were listening but weren’t liking what they were hearing.

  Nicky had wanted these old feelings to be gone by now, but instead they’d morphed into adult feelings. Specifically, feelings where she had no trouble noticing how attractive he was.

  Would she never learn?

  Apparently not. Two heart stompings weren’t enough to teach her a lesson, and she wasn’t sure she could survive a third one.

  “You still there, Mrs. Marlow?” Chief Clay McKinnon asked when he finally came on the line.

  “Nicky,” she automatically corrected. “I’m here. I hate to bother you because you must be busy, but I just wanted to know if there were any updates on the body?”

  Just saying the word body tightened her stomach, and Nicky hoped she wouldn’t feel the need to vomit again. While she was hoping, she added that maybe she could get those images out of her head. Every time she closed her eyes, she saw the skeleton. She hoped those images went away soon since she still had plans to live in that house for the next year.

  “The remains have been moved to the county morgue,” Clay explained, “and the CSIs will start going through the place this morning. I don’t expect them to find much, not after all this time, but you never know.”

  Nicky glanced out the window again to check on Kaylee. She was no longer playing with the dog but rather was running toward Garrett. That nearly s
ent Nicky bolting after her because she didn’t want Kaylee to bother Garrett, but Gina was on her heels.

  “As for the identity of the John Doe,” Clay went on, “he didn’t have any ID on him, and there weren’t any clothes in the immediate area that could have belonged to him. The CSIs will look upstairs, though. Did you happen to come across any men’s clothes when you were cleaning?”

  “There are some in a few of the dressers and trunks, but I doubt he undressed and put his things away.”

  “No. Unless he was staying there. That’s possible, of course, but it’s more likely that someone moved the clothes.”

  She was glad he didn’t spell that out for her, but Nicky’s mind began to race with some really bad ideas. Like maybe the clothes had been blood-soaked or had bullet holes in them.

  “If there’s no ID and you can’t get his prints, how will you figure out who he is?” she asked.

  “I might not. That’s the way these things turn out sometimes. Of course, I’ll keep looking through the missing person’s database. The Ranger lab might be able to do facial reconstruction, too. Until then, I’ll keep following what little evidence I have. The guy didn’t have any unusual dental work, metal plates or prosthetics, but he was wearing a wedding band.”

  That got her attention. She certainly hadn’t noticed a ring when she’d seen the body, but then she hadn’t lingered around for a long look. “He was married,” she mumbled.

  “Sure looks that way. The band was yellow gold,” Clay continued. “And it had the words forever wrapped around you engraved inside it.”

  Nicky felt her heart flutter. Not in a good way, either. Because those were lovers’ words. Unless it referred literally to the ring, that is. But she doubted it. No, this was likely a declaration of love.

  “He was really married,” she repeated. Nicky hadn’t meant for there to be that much emotion in her voice. Emotion that Clay must have noticed.

  “Are you okay?” Clay asked.

  She quickly tried to regain her composure. Also quickly tried to figure out how to get this conversation back on track. A track that didn’t include transferring her own feelings onto this situation. “I’m fine. I was thinking, though, that his being married could be a motive for murder, right?”

  “Could be. Maybe a jealous wife. Maybe a lover who got fed up waiting for him to get a divorce. I’m interviewing some folks today who knew Matilda. That doesn’t mean she had anything to do with this. Won’t know that until the ME can come up with a time of death.”

  Yes, that would certainly help narrow down the list of people who might have had something to do with this. Unless the John Doe was just some trespasser. One who’d gone into the house, stripped off most his clothes and gone into a closet to die.

  “By the way, I just told Garrett all of this,” Clay added. “He’s not giving you any updates?”

  Nicky hesitated. “No.”

  Even though it was only a one-word response, the chief must have filled in the blanks. “He’s still not too happy about you and the other widows being there.”

  Bingo. “There are a lot of us.”

  “Well, don’t take it personally. Garrett just has a lot on his mind these days. Plus, he might be having flashbacks when he sees your daughter.”

  “Flashbacks?” she blurted out.

  Silence. Followed by some mumbled profanity. “I’ve said too much. I’ll call you if I get any other information on the case. Oh, and first chance you get, I need you to drop by my office and sign the report on the dead guy. Loretta’s already come in, but I’ll need you to, as well.” And before Nicky could say anything else, Clay hung up.

  She stared at the phone and glanced outside again. Gina was obviously trying to coax Kaylee away from Garrett, but her daughter had something in her hand that she was showing him. Nicky saw it then. The look on his face, the need to detach from this situation. Did that have something to do with the flashbacks the chief had just mentioned? If Clay hadn’t added her daughter to that slipped remark, Nicky might have thought this had something to do with Meredith’s sex tape, but it had to be more than that.

  Nicky scrolled through her recent calls and texts. Two missed calls and three unanswered texts from Meredith. Maybe it was time to quit skirting around the woman, especially since Meredith might know what was going on. Nicky didn’t feel especially good about contacting the woman simply to pump her for information, but she wanted the big picture of what she was up against here. If her being here was causing Garrett real mental anguish, then she needed to find a way to get all the widows, herself included, out of there ASAP.

  She made another check out the window first. Gina had Kaylee by the hand and was leading her back toward the house. Garrett was still there. Not alone, though. One of the women was talking to him.

  Lady Romero, the prescription drug overdose widow, who owned a tow truck business. One that specialized in tacky slogans.

  Lady was young, beautiful and, on the surface, didn’t seem to be mourning as much as her fellow widows. In fact, at the moment she didn’t seem to be mourning at all. She was smiling and touching the front of Garrett’s shirt, and even though Nicky couldn’t actually see the woman’s face, she thought maybe some eyelash batting was going on.

  Oh, well. Garrett was a big boy and could take care of himself. He definitely didn’t need her to come to the rescue.

  Meredith answered on the first ring, and she obviously knew who was calling. “Nicky, thank God. I’ve been trying to reach you.”

  “Sorry, I’ve been really busy—”

  “Yes, I heard about the dead man in Z.T.’s house,” Meredith continued. Which was probably a good thing because that prevented Nicky from whining about everything that’d gone on. “You must have been terrified.”

  “More shocked than anything else—”

  “I would have screamed my head off.” Again, the interruption was good because Meredith didn’t need to hear about her dignity-reducing stomach issues. “It’s awful, just awful. Does this mean you won’t be opening the Widows’ House?”

  “I’m still waiting to hear what the police chief has to say, but I think the widows and I will be able to move in soon. Why—?”

  “Clay,” Meredith said. “He’s the police chief, and he’s engaged to Sophie. You remember her, right? Yes, I’m sure you do even though she was four years younger than us. I always felt as if Sophie was more like a sister to me than a sister-in-law.”

  This time the interruption wasn’t so welcome because Nicky had been about to ask her the critical question—what the heck was going on with Garrett?

  But Meredith remedied that when she continued. “Have you talked to Garrett since you’ve been at the ranch?”

  “A couple of times. Not for long, though. He was at the house when one of the widows found the body.”

  “Loretta,” Meredith provided. “When you didn’t answer my call or texts, I phoned one of the Ellery sisters, and she filled me in. Poor Loretta. Poor you! My God, your daughter didn’t see that, did she?”

  “No.”

  And this conversation was sounding a little too friendly for Nicky. Not that she minded friendliness, but it felt strange coming from Meredith. Over the past seventeen years, they’d seen each other three times. Once at a fund-raiser. Then a second time when Nicky had run into Meredith in a restaurant. That’s why it’d surprised her when Meredith had shown up at the widow’s support group.

  It surprised Nicky even more, though, when she’d found out what Meredith had wanted.

  The woman made a sound of relief over Kaylee not seeing the body, and this time it was Nicky who interrupted her. “Look, Meredith, I’ve considered what we talked about at the support group meeting, but I don’t think it’s a good idea for you to stay at the Widows’ House.”

  Silence. For a long time. “I se
e.” More silence. “I know I’m a divorcée and not a widow, but I can promise you I need the therapy and quiet time as much as the rest of you. I’ve been through a lot, Nicky.”

  She didn’t doubt that, and Nicky wasn’t immune to the emotion she heard in Meredith’s voice. A nasty divorce was a nasty thing. But Nicky also knew Meredith had brought some of that nastiness on herself. Unless...

  Nicky went back to what Clay had said about the flashbacks.

  She hadn’t exactly spent much time combing the internet for info about Garrett and Meredith. A friend had sent her the sex video, and Nicky had read some articles about the troubles with the Granger family business. Trouble that had now been resolved, apparently, but she’d purposely avoided anything personal. Maybe that had been a mistake.

  “Do you think Garrett will have any trouble being around Kaylee?” Nicky came out and asked. It was an out-and-out fishing expedition, and she didn’t expect much. She got plenty though.

  “Maybe,” Meredith said right off. But like before, she paused. “Garrett hasn’t said anything about our daughter?”

  Daughter? “Uh, no.”

  “Well, he probably won’t. We lost her, you see. Stillborn. And Garrett was never the same after that. Neither was I,” she admitted, and Nicky thought the woman might be crying or close to it. “Anyway, Kaylee and our little girl would have been about the same age.”

  Mercy. Yes, that definitely explained the flashback comment. “I’m so sorry,” Nicky said.

  “Now you know why I need to be at the Widows’ House. I’ve always loved Z.T.’s old place. Always felt a peace and calm there, and I’m hoping it’ll help. I need to heal. I need to get better.”

  Crud. How was she supposed to say no to that? And she was about to give in. Then, she remembered Garrett and knew this would be just another thorn in his side.

  “I’ll get back to you,” she told Meredith, and Nicky ended the call before the woman could launch into another tear-filled argument. One that Meredith would almost certainly win this time.

  Nicky groaned and put away her phone. Her quest for peace and healing was turning into a huge poop pile. And now she needed to sign that report for Clay. Which meant she’d have to read all about the dead man. Hopefully there wouldn’t be any photos of the body to accompany the report.