With tears streaming down my face, I give up trying to scale the fence when my foot gets snagged and tweaks my ankle.That’s right, Paige, get more injured while you’re at it.
I lean against the fence to gather myself and then turn around. “Beau, please tell Rhett that I’m sorry, but I can’t do this. If he needs me for a dinner with Harlan, he can text. Otherwise, I’ll be here, okay?”
When he sees my face, he closes his eyes. “I’m sorry, Little Lewis. He didn’t mean to hurt you.”
I pull out my phone and text my best friend.
Can I stay with you? I’m at your house.
She responds immediately.
WHAT DID HE DO? I’ll be there in five.
After I wipe my face, that detached feeling I’m used to finally descends, and I shrug. “I’m fine. I’ll be by tomorrow to get my car and a few things from the house, okay?”
He watches me like I’m a wounded animal. “You’re not gonna try to sleep in the park again, right? Because Rhett will have my ass if you do that.”
“Let me remind you, Beau, that if I want to sleep in the park or cemetery or on a bench by the river, it’snoneof his business.”
That’s when Baylee screeches to a halt in front of her house. She’s beside me a few seconds later. “Who do I need to kill?”
Beau holds up his hands. “I’m just the messenger.”
She looks back and forth between us. “Where’s Rhett?”
I shrug. “At the ranch, where he’s been since last night when someone called him with an Amber-related emergency.”
Baylee growls. “I’m going to strangle that man. My mother spent all that money on the cabin, and he ditched you to go talk to that ho-bag?”
“It sounds so much worse when you say it like that.” I don’t mention that he had just come down my throat. I hook my arm in my best friend’s to make sure she doesn’t charge at Beau. “It’s fine. We all know this marriage is just for show. If Rhett wants to run off to talk to Amber, let him. Hey, let’s go order a pizza.I have, like, twenty bucks left to my name, and I really want to spend it on something with carbs.”
I’m dragging her back to the front porch when Beau joins us. “It wasn’t really like that, you know.”
I turn to look at him. “Actually, I wouldn’t know, because he sent you to tell me to stay at that cabin by myself for who knows how long. Which tells me exactly where I stand with Rhett. And that’s fine. I’m a placeholder, I get it. He literally could’ve married any girl in South Texas to do this job. But I have enough pride to not go where I’m not wanted.”
Baylee yanks me through the front door and turns to my brother-in-law. “Fuck you, Beau Walker! And fuck your brothers too!” Then she slams it in his face.
I love my best friend.
16
RHETT
I’m preparingto track down our biggest bull when Sheriff Reynolds pulls up our drive.
“It’s about damn time,” our ranch hand Wayne grits out as we trudge across the yard.
“I got this. Can you get my horse saddled and tell Jace to be ready to ride in ten minutes?”
“You got it, boss.”
Sheriff Reynolds is a grizzled old cowboy with a gray handlebar mustache and a kind smile. But one thing he’s not is a hardass, and that’s what I need right now.
He holds out his hand to me, and we shake. “Howdy, Rhett. Heard y’all are having problems again.” I explain the situation, and he sighs. “Any suspects?”
“Just the obvious ones.”
“The McAllisters?”
