Cowgirl, Unexpectedly Page 20

  “So, what did my dad say to you?”

  I tore my gaze from the mirror and stared through the windshield. “Uhhh…”

  The heat returned to my face, and before I could tell her it was none of her business, she waved her hands back and forth. “Scratch that. I don’t want to know.”

  “No. You don’t,” I allowed with a smile. God, I liked this kid.

  “Turn right,” she said, as I reached the end of the driveway. I’d already glanced at the map before heading out so I pretty much knew how to get where we were going, but I was happy to let her direct me since my brain hadn’t yet fully re-engaged after Hank’s parting remark. If he’d wanted to leave me something to think about all day, then enemy vanquished, mission accomplished, medal earned.

  Beside me, Jenna vibrated with excitement. A wide smile on her face. Again, I wondered what she was up to. Sure, there was nothing like a little road trip, and maybe getting the cattle back was exciting in its own way, but this energy thrumming through her was disproportionate. Something else was going on. She opened her mouth to say something then closed it again.

  The sun had cleared a low peak, bathing the road in front of us in brilliant light. The sky sat like a bright blue cap on top of the mountains. We passed a freshly mowed field and cranked the windows down. A cool rush of air rippled over my skin, heavy with the sweet scent of grass. We punched on the radio, but reception was poor and the static was louder than the music. Maybe the cassette player still worked.

  Ever the optimist, Jenna opened the glove box and pulled out a Willie Nelson cassette. Jenna shrugged her shoulders and raised a brow at me. “Sure, why not,” I said.

  As she pushed it in, we picked up the song already in progress. I thumped my thumb on the steering wheel to the beat as Willie sang about gypsies and highways and best friends. Jenna settled back in her seat, crossing her ankles and resting her booted feet at the juncture of the dash and the sill of the door, all but blocking the side mirror, but there was no traffic behind us, and I doubted there would be much of any for a while.

  As the miles passed, and the music played, Jenna’s excitement ratcheted down. I might have chalked it up to her relaxing, settling in for the ride, but the tension growing in her belied her laid-back posture. She stuck a hand out the window and the shift in wind pressure buffeted my eardrums as she let the wind stream through her fingers as her head rested on the back of the seat.

  Her hair was in a low ponytail, her battered, brown felt cowboy hat on the seat between us. She wore newer jeans with creases down the front the same way Hank had worn his the first time I’d seen him. Her turquoise cowgirl shirt had the top two buttons unsnapped and a shiny silver belt buckle encircled her waist. We were headed to a small-time livestock auction to claim the cattle, but she made me feel underdressed in my work jeans and an old green Marines T-shirt.

  She sucked in a lungful of air and I immediately tensed, thinking she was finally going to spit out what was on her mind. I’m not sure if I wanted to know. She rolled her head along the back of the seat until she was looking at me. “We’re friends, aren’t we, Mac?” Her voice was soft as if she weren’t certain.

  I worried where this conversation was leading, but in a very short period, I had grown to respect and admire this strong, passionate, hardworking young woman who seemed wise beyond her years. The fact that I desperately wanted to jump her father shouldn’t have any bearing on our friendship at all. I punched the radio off so I’d be sure to hear her over the rushing wind. “Yeah, sure.”

  I glanced over at her. She was still facing me, but her eyes were unfocused and her mind far off. I waited her out as Dread crept around in my belly, all quiet, face painted, and camo-ed up.

  But Dread and I were old buddies. I’d recognize him anywhere.

  Minutes passed, before she came back to me, picking up where she’d left off. “I don’t really have anyone I can talk to.”

  She and I had already had this conversation. There were things a girl didn’t want to talk to her father or her grandmother about. Dread sucker-punched me in the gut and I mentally swallowed down the grunt of pain. He chuckled. Bastard. I wasn’t convinced I wanted to hear what she had to say. Quinn figured into this somehow, but I didn’t know how. “What’s up?”

  Chapter 13

  “Will you go to the doctor with me to get birth control?”

  “What?” I slammed my foot on the brake pedal and eased onto the gravel shoulder of the road. Thank God, no one was behind me and the trailer was empty.

  She sucked in a wheezy breath as if her throat had constricted, but she raised her chin and looked me straight in the eye. “Will you—”

  “I heard you.” I held up a hand for her to give me a second to absorb the magnitude of what she’d asked. I stared blindly out the windshield. So many questions swirled around in my brain. When I went to speak, they all jumbled up on my tongue and I couldn’t get any words out.

  I ran a hand down my face. This wasn’t happening. I’d rather get an ass chewing from my old CO than have this conversation. The universe worked in mysterious ways if somehow it thought I was the right person for this talk. In fact, I was the least qualified.

  You were the one she asked.

  “Last week you said you were going to wait to have sex.”

  Her fingers absently mangled the feather tucked into the snakeskin headband on her hat, but I gave her props for not shying away from the conversation and maintaining eye contact. I forced myself not to glance away.

  “I did. I’m not…We’re not…I mean, I don’t think we are, but I want to. Quinn does too. I know that doesn’t mean we have to act on it and it’s not as if he’s pressuring me or anything. It’s just that I want to be ready in case we do.” She glanced down at the feather and tried to straighten out the shaft she’d crinkled into an angular, lopsided ball. “I don’t want to make the same mistake my parents did.”

  She’s killing me. “What’s wrong with condoms?”

  “Nothing. Quinn bought a box. But they’re not a hundred percent and I don’t want to get pregnant.”

  “I hear abstinence is back in vogue and a hundred percent effective.” I was only half kidding.

  She rolled her eyes. “Easier said than done. Don’t you think?” She raised a brow at me and her lips curled into a knowing smile as if daring me to deny the truth of the statement after she’d found her father in my bed this morning. “Besides, I haven’t even decided for sure. But I want to be ready.”

  As much as I thought she was too young to be making those kinds of decisions, a part of me applauded her for being mature enough to think it through. Then again, this was a kid who’d lived with the knowledge her parents hadn’t had the foresight to do the same.

  A semi-truck passed by, shaking our vehicle slightly with the air it pushed. A gush of pungent exhaust invaded my nostrils. My heart did a back flip and nosedived into my stomach where Dread kicked my heart around as if he was David Beckham in the World Cup finals. “Does your father know about this?”

  A short snort of laughter escaped her. “Do you think Quinn would still be in one piece if Dad did?”

  I liked the way she had started calling her father “dad” again, instead of Hank. I’m not sure she even realized she was doing it. It gave me hope she might someday forgive him.

  Accepting this kind of responsibility for her wasn’t mine to take. I had no right to do what she was asking. “This is serious, Jenna. Your father needs to know.”

  Jenna tucked her heels onto the edge of the seat and rested her forehead on her knees. “I know,” she groaned into her pant legs. She turned her head toward me. “There’s a clinic in Laramie my friend told me about that is open on Saturdays. If I can get the pills, then I could talk with my dad when things settle down a bit at the ranch.”

  “You can’t keep this from him. I can’t keep this from him. Even for
a little bit. You have to tell him. Tonight.”

  She perked up and a smile spread across her face. Not because she was infatuated with the idea of telling Hank she was getting birth control, I’m sure, but because I’d essentially agreed with her plan. “You’re the best, Mac.”

  When the road was clear, I pointed the truck toward Laramie and as I gained speed, the transmission thunked into high gear—it sounded remarkably like the sound of the pressure plate on a land mine activating. I knew, despite her promises, there was no way out of this situation without it somehow blowing up in my face.

  * * * *

  The first thing to hit me when we parked at the livestock auction was the stench. It wasn’t subtle. It reached out and smacked you in the face, leaving your eyes watering and making you breathe shallowly through your mouth. The grounds were small and all the animals packed in tight.

  I’ve heard cows moo before, but the sounds these animals were making was different. These cows bellowed a distressing sound that instantly made the hairs on my arms stand at attention and sweat break over my lip. In the background, a couple horses whinnied to each other. It almost made me happy to be taking Jenna to the doctor while we waited for the auction later in the afternoon. Anything to get me out of this place for a little bit.

  Letting Jenna take the lead, I followed her into the office. She introduced herself to the man behind the counter. She had the logbook tucked under one arm, her cowboy hat snug on her head. Smart. Capable. And if the feather in her hatband was ratty as if it had gone a few rounds with an angry bear, no one seemed to notice.

  The man brought us to a hallway that led out to the stockyard. A narrow table sat against the wall, a hot pot of coffee filled the air with an ashy hint of scalded coffee beans. A local sheriff’s deputy was pouring himself a cup of joe. Taking the initiative, Jenna introduced us and we followed him out to a back corral where the ranch’s cattle were being held. The cattle were on the edge of where the covered pens stopped and the larger uncovered pens began.

  While Jenna and the sheriff checked ear tags against the logbook, I wandered down an aisle of horses. The facility was old, the pipe fencing rusty where layer upon layer of paint had chipped off. Water faucets dripped, turning the pens into nothing short of pigsties as the nervous horses paced back and forth, grinding urine and manure deeper and deeper into the muck.

  It didn’t take long for me to reach the dark corner of the aisle on the north end of the building. There was a solid wall here, except in a couple places where rickety barn doors were open to allow tractors down the aisles. I’d bet my last bullet they hadn’t been closed in my lifetime. The last pen was empty, so I turned on my heel, but movement in my peripheral vision caught my eye.

  Then I saw him.

  Or her, I figured, based on her rotund abdomen. “Hey, there.”

  She didn’t move or even flick an ear in my direction. Her corral was a low spot where most of the leaking water had drained. The pool of water was fetid and foul and flies buzzed the surface as if sensing something dead.

  The horse stood in the far corner where the dirt was a little higher, but mud still covered her hooves. The only dry place in the entire pen was the bottom of her water bucket. I muttered an oath, grabbed the nearest hose, and began filling her bucket. With the first hollow splash of water on the plastic, her ear flicked in my direction then her nostrils quivered and her head bobbed. Her first step she nearly stumbled, as if it had been a long time since she’d bothered to move.

  She walked over—the pen was small, but the bucket was almost halfway full by the time she made it to me, she walked so slowly. She stretched her neck out, sniffing the water as if making sure it was safe to drink. Then she plunged her muzzle in and started slurping loudly like a table full of starving people at a Japanese noodle restaurant. She sucked great gulps of water down her throat and the hose had a hard time keeping up.

  I don’t know how long I stood there, filling the bucket, the horse draining it. When she finally had her fill, she sucked in a great lungful of air and let her last mouthful drain out through her lips. Then she acknowledged me, her nostrils flaring as she sniffed my hand. She lipped my finger and rubbed the bristled end of her nose over it as if making sure it wasn’t something she could eat.

  If I wasn’t mistaken, she hadn’t seen a bag of groceries for a while. Her ribs stood out on her sides like bars on a jail cell, her hipbones jagged enough to cut steel, her eyes dull and lifeless. Then her eyelids slid to half-mast.

  I knew that look.

  I’d seen it in the mirror on more than one occasion.

  Some people would say she’s just an animal and all, but she’d all but given up. If she’d had opposable thumbs, I wouldn’t have left a gun anywhere near her.

  The mare stood parallel to the fence, the high ground on this side of the pen. I ran my hand down her neck, the dirt crusted under my fingernails as my fingers bumped along her ribs coming to a stop on her rounded flank.

  Ack! There was movement beneath my hand. I removed my hand and watched as her flank and belly rippled as the foal shifted and kicked like a monster from Alien trying to get out. Jenna stepped up beside me.

  “All sorted?” I asked.

  “Yes.” She had a self-satisfied smile on her face. “Sixteen, it turns out. Still in good shape, so we’ll leave them in the auction. Which means we’ll need to stay until it’s over to collect our check.”

  “How much time do we have?”

  “Auction starts in a couple hours. With the stock horses up for auction along with the cattle, it’ll probably be another two to three after that before we can beat it back to the ranch.” She raised her brows. “So can we?”

  By that, I knew she meant go to the clinic. For birth control pills. Dread lassoed my chest with his rope and cinched it tight. I sucked in a shallow breath and blew it back out, but Dread yanked the rope tighter. Fuck. “You sure this is what you want?”

  “Positive.” She didn’t even hesitate.

  I admired her decisiveness if nothing else. I gave the mare one last scratch on her withers and followed Jenna out of the yard, knowing this was going to come back and bite me on the ass. “Let’s do this then.”

  * * * *

  As it turns out, Jenna hadn’t needed me there at the clinic after all. Well, at least not to get the pills, but to my surprise, she hadn’t wanted to go into the exam room by herself. As mature as she was in so many ways, I had to remind myself that in others, she was still a kid. I think the long wait for her turn amplified her nerves, but jittery as she was, her decision never wavered.

  Now we were sitting in the back row of the auction house. A half-moon of steep seats, theater-style around a pen where the animals would walk through on one end and exit out on the other. I had a cold hot dog in my hand and a lukewarm soda at my feet, the tail end of an auction number sticking out from under my thigh.

  All the cattle were up for auction first. Some singles, some in small herds. Jenna’s cattle came through, fat and healthy despite what they’d been through and brought top dollar. Jenna cheered as the auctioneer cried, “Sold!”

  Her knee stopped bopping up and down and she sat back in her chair as relief washed over her. She’d been quiet since we’d left the doctor’s office and hadn’t touched her food from the concession stand. A big smile now lit her face, and she ripped the foil wrap from around her hot dog. “Wow. Gramps is going to be thrilled. It won’t pay for all of the barn rebuild, but with the money my dad put in from his truck, and now this….” She chewed a bite of her dog and chewed. “It’s a good start.”

  “That was nice of Hank to sell his truck to help pay for the barn.”

  “I told you he wasn’t all bad,” she said with a triumphant smile, and I knew she was remembering the time in front of the café when I’d first met them and my opinion of him was anything but stellar.

  I couldn�
��t help smiling in return. “So you did.”

  Over the quick rattle of the auctioneer’s voice as the last of the cattle were auctioned, I asked Jenna, “So did the deputy have any new information on the stolen cattle?”

  Jenna glanced at me, stopping mid-chew. She tried to swallow the bite but had to wash it down with a swish of her drink. “Man, I totally spaced. I was so focused on…on…”

  Yeah, I knew what she’d been focused on. Why she couldn’t mention the pills now when she’d had little trouble bringing it up before was a surprise. Maybe she was reconsidering her options. I figured bottom line, it was better for her to be prepared. “What did he say?”

  She crumpled up her foil packet and dropped it in the bag at her feet. She leaned in closer to me even though we had a few rows to ourselves. “The guy who brought the cattle to the auction said he got them from a guy selling them on Craigslist. The weird thing was the seller insisted on bringing the cattle to the buyer. Usually, it doesn’t work that way unless the buyer is willing to pay a transport fee.”

  “What about a description of the guy?” The last lot of cattle must be good because there were hoots and hollers as bids were barked out.

  She nodded and leaned in closer. “The name the guy gave is probably bogus, but the description of the man and the truck pulling the trailer….” She leaned in, put her lips near my ears. I knew I wasn’t going to like what came out of her mouth next. “I think it was Sheriff Tate.”

  There was a twenty-minute break before the horse auction would get started. I’d excused myself after Jenna had dropped the Sheriff Tate bombshell. I don’t know for sure if I believed it was him, and we certainly had no actual proof that it was, but I’d had no doubt Jenna believed it.