Austin: Second Chance Cowboy

by Shelley Galloway

  “But—”

  “Dinah, I’m telling you, there’s nothing you could do now anyway.”

  “I can’t leave him there all night.”

  “He’s not getting tortured, Dinah. Go on home and get some sleep. I’ll see you at six. That’s in three hours, by the way. Sleep.”

  She did as he asked because he made a whole lot of sense. She was so tired and stressed it was a given that if she tried to do anything of value she would most likely make a bigger mess of things.

  Pulling into her old Victorian, she barely made it to the bathroom to brush her teeth before collapsing into bed.

  A hot shower and a pot of coffee almost made her feel human for her short drive to the office.

  But when she arrived at five-thirty, things had gone from bad to worse.

  Duke was waiting for her with a grim expression and Austin was sitting next to him looking madder than a yellow jacket stuck in a sprinkler head.

  “What’s going on?” She looked around. “Where’s Clyde?”

  “He just left. I got here early, deciding to start on some of the paperwork so you wouldn’t have to do it all on your own…when we got a call.” He sighed. “Dinah, there’s been another robbery.”

  She checked her cell, then flinched as she saw that somehow she’d silenced the ringer. “Where?”

  “My store.” Austin glared.

  “What?”

  “Cheyenne just called over here. She went by there this morning. She got worried since I wasn’t answering my cell phone.” His expression darkened. “It’s been locked up.”

  “What did Cheyenne say?”

  “My store’s been hit hard.”

  “Let’s go.” She was vaguely aware of Duke locking up the office as the three of them walked over to Austin’s store.

  Duke’s dog, Zorro, kept pace with them, walking quietly by their sides through the early-morning fog. Absently, she ran her fingers through his thick coat.

  Dinah was glad for the dog’s calming influence, because she felt terrible.

  Anger emanated from Austin with every step. She supposed she didn’t blame him. She’d kept him from home for next to no reason, since she never had gotten a chance to talk to him further. It didn’t even matter that she hadn’t intended for him to be locked up.

  Now chances were good that whoever hit up his shop knew he wasn’t going to be there that evening.

  When they walked in, she gasped. Beside her, Austin said a few choice words loud enough to reverberate through the building. Their thieves had had a field day. Coats and other merchandise were on the ground, jeans were splayed all over counters. Leather belts and other accessories were scattered from one end of the store to the other.

  Zorro lay down by the front door while Duke got out the digital camera and started taking snapshots.

  After stopping briefly and staring at it all in wonder, Austin walked quickly to the back. There he called out, “Dinah?”

  She had out a pen and paper. “What’s up?”

  “This.” He pointed to the holes in the display. “Yesterday, two saddles were lying here.” Turning to their right, he swore some more. “And at least five bridles and a rope. That’s thousands of dollars of merchandise gone. I can’t afford that. I’m toast.”

  Dinah felt so guilty, she almost would have rather he punched her in the arm. “I’m so sorry about this. I’m going to get these guys, Austin. I promise you that.”

  “Maybe you’d get somewhere if you started focusing on other people besides me.”

  He wasn’t saying anything she wasn’t already thinking to herself. Though Duke had stiffened behind her—obviously not appreciating Austin’s critique—she felt that it was richly deserved. “You’re right. I really am sorry. I know I messed things up. But when I never got a straight answer from you, I felt I had no choice. Look, I’ll call Clyde again and see if he or the sheriff there can come out and help us some more. We’ll fingerprint and take pictures. And I’ll work nonstop until I get whoever did this.”

  Unable to face Austin’s scorn a moment longer, she turned to Duke and mouthed a few choice swear words.

  Duke closed his eyes. It was obvious he felt the same sense of frustration that she did.

  “Austin, I hate to tell you this, but I’m afraid we’re going to need to keep things like this for a while, so we can do our jobs.”

  “I know.”

  She turned around and gathered her courage to look at him directly again. And what she saw was a true surprise. All of a sudden, he wasn’t yelling at her. Instead, there was the compassion shining once again in his eyes.

  Austin had done a lot of thinking while hanging out in Dinah’s sheriff’s office. Around three in the morning, he’d come to the conclusion that if he hadn’t been so intent on getting her riled up, she never would have brought him to her office.

  His mouth had done a number on her, and he would have never attempted to rile up Duke or another sheriff that way.

  He’d also known he should have been more up front with her. Pride was all well and good, but it had gotten in the way of common sense.

  “Dinah, listen,” he said slowly. “I’m upset with the situation, and I am mad. But I’ll get over it.”

  “Really?”

  He noticed the lines of stress and exhaustion around her eyes. He noticed the way she was holding herself together—as though she was in danger of falling apart by a good stiff wind.

  He ran a hand through his dark hair. “I should have told you where I was on Monday night. I could have made your life a little easier.” He leveled a hard stare her way. “Though you sure as heck didn’t need to take me in, D.”

  “My apology was sincere, Austin. I know I overreacted.”

  His heart slowed a bit as he realized that was true. Dinah felt terrible about what had happened. And though he was pissed…well, he was pissed enough at the world. He wasn’t real anxious to add her to his list.

  Duke joined them. “So, what were you doing, Austin?”

  Austin weighed his options. Part of him still ached to keep his drinking problem a secret. But so far, that secret hadn’t done him any favors. “Listen, I don’t know how you’re going to feel about this, but I was at a meeting at church.”

  “What kind of meeting?”

  “It wasn’t church related. It was—”

  The door swung open and his dad strode in, looking upset enough to make a guy think his pants were on fire. “Dad? What the hell are you doing here?”

  “Hoping to save your hide.” Marching up to Dinah, he slammed a hand on Austin’s front counter. “What the hell are you doing, girl? Arresting my son like he’s some two-bit criminal? I bet you haven’t even given him a moment to let him call a lawyer.”

  Dinah’s eyes narrowed when Buddy slammed his hand on the counter again. “Mr. Wright, there’s no need to hit things.”

  “No need to do what?” Buddy retorted. “Defend my family’s honor? Just because I did a couple of things I’m not too proud of don’t mean you can run ragged over my son.”

  Austin hated that his father even claimed him as kin. “Buddy, stop.”

  Dinah raised her eyebrows at his use of his father’s name. But dammit, he didn’t like to think of the broken-down drunk in front of him as anything but a distant relation. Here he was, rushing to Austin’s defense, but he smelled to high heaven, though he didn’t seem to be drunk.

  Who even knew when he’d showered last?

>   Furthermore, his hair was scraggly, and his skin looked as sallow as ever. Most likely because he’d just come off a bender.

  “Mr. Wright, you need to calm down,” Duke said.

  “I’m fine,” Austin said.

  She’d already apologized…and not a bit of it was his father’s business.

  Of course, his father didn’t feel the same way. “Sheriff Hart brought you over there in the cruiser. Everybody’s talking about it.” Looking around Austin’s shop, with all the clothes and other merchandise in disarray, he added, “And now Cheyenne’s told me that you got robbed.”

  Just a couple of moments ago, Austin was sure that this was the worst day of his life. But seeing his dad, thinking about everything he’d put them through?

  In the grand scheme of things, Dinah taking him in didn’t seem like all that big of a deal.

  After all, his family had been through a whole lot worse. “Go on home, Buddy. Where is Cheyenne, anyway? I thought she was the one who found out the place was robbed.”

  “She had to go home to be with the girls.”

  “So who’s taking you home?”

  “I can still drive, boy.”

  Austin hadn’t realized that his father still had his license. That was how distant their relationship had gotten. When Cheyenne had told him that she’d been driving their father around a lot, Austin had assumed that Buddy had done something to deserve his license being taken away. “If I need you, I’ll let you know. But you need to go on out of here. You aren’t helping.”

  Slowly, Buddy sagged, relaxing his militant stance, all of a sudden looking broken.

  It pained Austin to see him this way, but not enough to feel sorry for him. It hadn’t been easy growing up with a man who’d rather buy booze than food…and who would rather make money quickly than honestly. All his life, Austin had paid the price for his father’s neglect, for his father’s bad decisions. Even now, he didn’t trust others, and he rarely trusted himself.

  Making him feel like the worst example of a man.

  After a few seconds of stunned silence, Buddy shuffled out.

  Looking from him to Dinah, Duke cleared his throat. “I think I’ve got enough pictures for now. I’m going to go get on the phone,” he said before motioning for Zorro to follow him out the door.

  When they were alone, the silence between him and Dinah turned palpable. And Austin realized he no longer had a thing to lose. His father was already his worst liability, and Dinah was already pretty darn sure that he was a carbon copy of the man.

  It was either time to come completely clean or do what his dad had done unsuccessfully for most of his life: pretend to be better and smarter than he actually was. Put that way, there really wasn’t much of a choice at all.

  “Dinah, I was at an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting on Monday night,” he said quietly. “I was there from seven until ten-thirty. I’d rather not tell you anyone’s name to corroborate my story because I don’t know anyone else’s name. Just my sponsor, and it seems kind of a shame to give his name after he was kind enough to sit with me all that time.”

  Dinah’s jaw dropped. “Austin, I…I had no idea.”

  He was so embarrassed, he made fun of himself. “You had no idea I was a drunk or that I finally decided to get help?”

  Her gaze turned pained. “You’re not a drunk. Austin, don’t say such things.”

  “I’m not saying anything most folks haven’t already thought, honey.”

  If she noticed that he’d slipped and called her an endearment, she didn’t let on. “I had no idea you decided to join AA. How, uh, is it going?”

  She’d asked the question quietly, and the expression in her eyes was kind. Almost as if she wasn’t the sheriff and he wasn’t the suspect accused of ruining the whole town. “I’ve only been to a grand total of one meeting.” Because he was proud of himself—even though it wasn’t much to be proud of—he said, “I haven’t had a drop to drink in over a week, so I guess it’s going okay. Well, at least on the right track.”

  “I’m proud of you.”

  “Yeah, right. I’m sure you’re thinking that if I was a better man I could’ve nipped this in the bud all by myself.” He looked away, and just so she wouldn’t be the one to tell him the way things were, he added, “Shoot, for some reason, I’m the only guy around town who can’t even handle one longneck.”

  “For the record, I’ve never based a man’s worth on whether or not he could suck down a few beers.”

  He was feeling so weak-kneed, he almost asked what she did take into account when considering a man’s worth. But he caught himself in time. Instead, he forced himself to smile slightly and keep his pride. “Glad to hear it.”

  But of course, his snarky tone lay between them like a riled-up rattler.

  Frowning, Dinah leaned forward, resting her elbows on the scarred countertop his dad had been pounding a couple of minutes ago. “Austin, is there any way we can just stop all this foolishness between us? I don’t want to be your enemy. I really do care for you.”

  “How so?”

  “I want to be your friend. I thought we once were.”

  He wanted to believe her. But his back was also stiff and sore from lying on a plastic mattress all night. “And this is how you treat your friends? Have them spend the night at your office?”

  She sighed. “I know you don’t believe me, but I really am just trying to do my job.”

  He felt like an ass all over again. Because the thing of it was, he admired a person who was willing to do what was hard. It was tempting to take things the easy way. Especially if going in that direction meant a person didn’t have to make a lot of waves.

  “I know you’re only doing your job.” He swallowed hard. “I’m sorry about Buddy showing up.”

  “You don’t need to apologize for him.”

  “He should know better than to come barging in here, making a fuss.”

  Her eyes widened, then to his surprise, she totally looked as if she was trying her best not to laugh.

  “Dinah? What did I say?”

  “Nothing.” She waved a hand. “I’m sorry. It’s just that your dad’s always been a piece of work.” Her shoulders shook, giving evidence that she really was doing her best to hold it all in. “I mean, when hasn’t he made a fuss?”

  His surprise that she’d say such a thing flip-flopped to humor in the span of a few seconds. ’Cause the fact was, Dinah was right on the money. For all his life, his dad had seemed to thrive on creating waves where there was only a dry desert.

  Buddy Wright’s talent for adding drama to most any situation was almost a gift.

  But never before had Austin been able to laugh about it. Next thing he knew, he, too, was grinning about his father’s behavior.

  “Remember when he got all riled up about the pony races?” he asked.

  Her eyes sparkled. “When you were seven and he was sure everyone else in the area was a no-good, cheatin’ liar?”

  “Yep. I thought your brothers were going to have a conniption.”

  “They would’ve if my mom hadn’t calmed them down.” Smiling at him again, she sat up and cleared her throat. “Austin, if you could, please give me the name of your AA contact. I won’t call. But I want something to document that there wasn’t any way you could be a suspect.”

  Grabbing a pen, he wrote a name on a scrap piece of paper. “Here you go.”

  Without reading the name, she folded it neatly and slid
it into her back pocket. “Thanks. I’ll get out of your way now. My guess is that someone should be here to help with fingerprints within the hour.”

  “So you’re going to be working all day?”

  “Yeah.”

  “When are you going to make time to eat?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “Think you’d have time to get something to eat with me later?”

  “You mean dinner?”

  She looked nonplussed. He didn’t blame her. Even he wasn’t quite sure where the offer was coming from. But now that it was out there, shining like a beacon, he couldn’t very well take it back.

  “Yeah, I’m talking dinner.”

  “Not a date, though.”

  He didn’t know what he wanted. All he did want was to be in her company for just a while longer. “Not a date. Just food. I mean, we both have to eat. And you did arrest me by mistake.”

  As he’d hoped, that got a rise out of her. “Austin, you don’t need to keep reminding me every two minutes.”

  “So…what do you say?”

  He thought she was actually going to consider it. For a moment, he’d even been sure that she was going to say yes.

  But she bit her lip and shook her head. “I don’t think it’s a good idea.”

  He was disappointed, but he took it like a man. Shoot, only he would do something so stupid, anyway. Grabbing his old ball cap that was lying on a chair, he slapped it on his head, tipping it slightly as he backed away. “No biggee. I’ll be seeing you, Sheriff Hart.”

  Dinah gave a little wave but didn’t say a word.

  Austin figured that was probably just as well.

  Chapter Twelve

  Driving down the highway, Austin instinctively kept looking for spots to make a U-turn. Though he knew there was no way around the fact that it was time he paid a visit to the old homestead.

  His father’s appearance at the store reminded Austin he had a sister and two nieces he was sorely neglecting. Besides doting on the girls when they stopped by or when Cheyenne worked for him at the shop, he’d done his best to keep his sister and her girls at a healthy distance. He loved them dearly, but he didn’t want to see them all that much.