The Cowboy Lawman

“If you want to go to church tomorrow, I can pick you up.” He offered as they pulled into her drive and parked.

She didn’t answer right away. He shouldn’t have offered. If people saw them showing up to church together, the rumors would definitely fly. He figured she had to be thinking the same thing.

“I’m not sure.”

“You’re not sure if you want me to pick you up or if you’re ready to go?”

“Both.” She reached for the door handle. “It isn’t easy, being this angry. I’m afraid I’ll go to church and the message will be directed at me, telling me to forgive myself, forgive God. Or, worse, forgive Nolan Jacobs.”

“That’s a whole lot of forgiving.”

She sighed and the door opened a few inches. “I’m going to find the leak.”

“I figure you probably will. But don’t get yourself hurt.”

“Little late for that.” She stepped out of the truck.

Slade followed her to the front door. She stuck her key in the lock and turned the knob. As she pushed the door open she turned to face him.

“I’m going in with you.” He reached past her and pushed the door the rest of the way open.

“Slade, Nolan Jacobs is a free man. Do you really think he’s going to show up here and ruin that for himself?”

“He might, if he thinks you have information that could put him back in jail. Or if he thinks you have that money.”

She stood in the doorway, blocking his entrance. “I’m good, Slade. You have to go.”

“Right.” He backed away from the door. “Mia, be careful.”

“I will. And you be careful, too.” She gave him an easy smile, the way she used to.

He wished they could go back in time, just for a little while, and remember what it was like to be young and think the world couldn’t hurt them.

She’d be tough, a fighter who rode hard and played hard.

He’d be the guy in love with Vicki, knowing they would be together forever.

Instead they were facing each other as if those other people were strangers, that other life a dream. And dangerous thoughts were going through his mind. The most dangerous of all—what would it be like to kiss Mia Cooper?

In all the years growing up together, they’d never kissed. Not even when they played Truth or Dare. He figured if he ever tried, she’d knock him down.

He’d been Reese’s best friend. She’d been Vicki’s best friend.

Now they were both alone. He didn’t know what that meant but he couldn’t let the thought go. Fifteen minutes later when he stopped at the house where Caleb had spent the night and he saw his son running out to greet him, the thought was still there.

He got out of the truck and met Caleb at the edge of the Martins’s drive. Mrs. Martin came out to tell him the boys had had a great time. Slade thanked her and picked up his son to put him in the backseat of his truck.

“Dad, I missed you.”

“Missed you, too, Cay.”

For some crazy reason, “missing” made him think of Mia again. He hadn’t realized until she came home that he had missed her.

Chapter Three

The doorbell chimed early Sunday morning. Not exactly sunrise, but Mia hadn’t been up long. She had a cup of tea, her computer and a shady spot on the back patio. No one would bother her on Sunday morning.

She left her tea and headed back inside through the house. Before opening the door, she peeked out. She didn’t know whether to be relieved when she saw the familiar car in the drive or run for cover.

A face peered in the window at her and she jumped back. Granny Myrna waved and then laughed.

“Open up, Sugar. I need a cup of coffee,” Granny Myrna yelled through the window and Mia nodded.

She clicked the dead bolt, turned the lock and opened the door.

“You’ve got this place locked up tighter than Fort Knox. My goodness.” Her grandmother pulled off white lacy gloves and her Sunday hat. “I ran out of coffee and since you’re the only Cooper smart enough to live in town, I thought I’d come over here and bug you for a cup.”

“You also know that I don’t drink coffee.” Mia hugged her grandmother, slipping an arm around her waist as they walked to the kitchen.

“Well, I do know you have a coffeepot and I’m willing to bet you keep some coffee in the house.”

“I do have coffee.”

“Well, then, I’ll just make a pot real quick and how about some breakfast?”

“Gran, you don’t have to cook for me. I had yogurt.”

“That isn’t enough to keep a bird alive. No wonder you’re so thin.”

“I’m fine.”

They reached the kitchen, and Mia’s grandmother had coffee going in a matter of minutes.

“I already feel better just smelling the coffee.” Granny Myrna gave her the once-over. “You’re not dressed for church.”

“No, I’m not.”

“And why is that?”

Mia glanced away from her grandmother’s piercing look, the look that always saw far more than the average person.

“Gran, I’m not ready to go. I can’t fix my hair or put on makeup. I can’t...”

“Face your pain?” Granny Myrna got right to the heart of things, the way she always did.

“I’m not sure.”

“Of course, you are. You know that you’re angry. You know that you’re hurt. You called out to God and you think he didn’t answer. That’s understandable. What isn’t understandable to me is how the strongest young woman I know could sit in this house and give up.”