Page 91 of This Time Around
And why was I still dragging this out?The thought of telling him goodbye made me want to vomit and yet it was still the best thing I could do.Even if something between us grew deeper, he’d still leave.Joseph couldn’t even stay faithful in a small town of a few thousand.How could Cooper if he was globe-trotting the world starring in movies?
“I feel relieved.I’m glad it’s over and I can put it behind me.But we’ll talk more about it later.I know it’s late, I just wanted to hear your voice before I went to sleep.We can talk tomorrow.”
“I don’t think that’s best,” I said.My heart leapt in my chest and dropped with a thud.
“What?”
I repeated what I said this morning.“Your life is there, Cooper.There’s no point in returning.”
“There’s no point…” he mumbled it like he was speaking to himself, not to me.He cursed and then acted like he hadn’t heard me.“We’ll talk tomorrow.I’ll be there by dinnertime.I’ve got a meeting with Max and then I’ll be on a plane there.”
Had he not heard me?He had because he’d even repeated it.Which meant he was ignoring me.“Cooper.Listen.”
“Shit,” he said, his voice concerned.“Last night was too fast for you, wasn’t it?”
God.This man.He was always so concerned about me.“No.It’s not about last night.I liked it.”
I’d thought about little else today besides never seeing him again.And if I was willing to be honest, I still wanted more of it.I wanted more of him.It just wasn’t possible, or smart.
“Yeah, I did too.”His thick, warm voice enflamed my cheeks and made my pulse race.
In the distance, the echo of a gunshot sounded and I flung off the covers.“What the hell?”I asked, rushing to the window.It faced the back of my house and I peeled back the curtains.
“What the hell what?”Cooper asked.“If you don’t think I—”
“Gunshot,” I whispered, scanning the darkness.“It’s probably nothing.”It didn’t feel like nothing, though.Gunshots weren’t uncommon.Hell, I had six guns locked in a safe in the closet under the stairs.Joseph’s 9-millimeter was still in the nightstand on his side of the bed.We didn’t only use them for self-defense in case it was ever necessary, but to scare away the coyotes that’d get onto our property.
“Becca—” Cooper’s voice hit my ears.I’d forgotten I was on the phone with him.
“It’s nothing,” I repeated.“Just an odd time of night to hear one.Probably Whitman’s or something.”
Another blast sounded and this one was closer.“Shit.”I jumped from the sound, louder that time, but still didn’t see any spark of a shot going off that told me it was close.And hell, with the echo it could be coming from anywhere.
“I gotta go.”
“Was that another one?”
“Yeah, I gotta—”
“Rebecca, don’t you dare hang up on me or go getting yourself into trouble.”
I barely registered Cooper’s voice as I pulled the phone away from my ear and disconnected.
Midnight was too damn late for anyone to be out shooting anything.
As soon as I disconnected the phone, I dialed 9-1-1.
“9-1-1 dispatch, what is your emergency?”
“Yes, this is Rebecca Splendid and I’m hearing gunshots.It’s probably nothing, but it’s late, and I was concerned.”
And that second one wasn’t all that far away.The dispatch operator asked for my information and as soon as we disconnected, I threw on some clothes and at the last minute, I grabbed Joseph’s gun.
Just in case.
“Did you find anything?”I was running to the officers who had shown up within ten minutes of my call.
After I hung up the phone, I’d hesitated to run outside and get in my truck, searching my land for anything that might tell me if what I suspected was correct, but I held off.