Chapter 19 #3
When she rounds the corner from the hallway, she comes upon a sight that would normally have filled her with joy but now does the opposite.
Kody is wrapped around Andy’s legs as he pats her back with his free hand.
The other hand is wrapped up in a sling that stretches across his chest. He looks tired and bruised still, but definitely better than the broken man she’d last seen in the hospital just days prior.
His eyes light up when he sees her standing there.
“Hey there, dream girl. I’ve missed you.” The smile he gives her is so familiar. It should comfort her, but instead it’s like a knife twisting in her chest.
She crosses the entryway and joins her family in their embrace.
* * *
An hour later, Andy’s parents leave to drive into town to pick up groceries and Andy’s prescriptions from the pharmacy.
Kody runs outside to play, leaving Jo and Andy to awkwardly stare at each other in the living room.
The fight they’d had the night before Andy’s accident hangs heavy in the air between them.
It strikes Jo that she hasn’t even told him about the other notes.
Their conversations had strictly been about his recovery and how Kody was doing. It was now or never.
She goes into the bedroom and finds the three notes in her bedside table where she’d hidden them. She then rejoins Andy in the living room, sitting next to him on the sofa, gently so she doesn’t aggravate his injury.
“Man, I hope mom and dad get back soon. I could go for one of those pain pills right now.” His voice and expression are equally pinched. If she didn’t start now, she’d lose the opportunity to talk to him without his parents lurking nearby.
“Andy?” Jo asks quietly.
He cracks an eyelid and turns his head toward her slowly. “Yes?”
“We’ve got a lot we have to talk about.”
He breathes out a long sigh. “What’s going on, Jo?”
“We never finished talking about the note. Or, I should say notes. I’ve gotten two more.”
That statement snaps his eyes right open. “Two more? What did they say?” His tone remains casual, but she recognizes the worry in his eyes.
She continues, “I know who sent them, and I know why they did it.”
If she’d been expecting his shoulders to relax after this revelation, she’d have been disappointed. If anything, Andy tenses up even more.
“Shayne, the new wrangler. I let him go this morning.” Jo reaches for her phone and brings up the picture of Andy and Lila.
The split on her screen looks like a lightning strike is happening between the two of them.
She keeps her eyes trained on his face while he squints at the photo.
He’s doing his best to keep his face expressionless, but there it is, the flash of recognition.
“Do you know this woman, Andy?” Jo asks.
“Did Shayne show you this? Because he asked me the same question a couple weeks ago, and I told him the same thing I’m going to tell you now. I don’t know her. I must have met her in a bar and sang a song with her. It’s a small world. What does any of this have to do with the note?”
Jo frowns. “Well, obviously Shayne sent them. He convinced himself—and believe it or not, Paige—that you had something going on with his sister. He thinks that my wedding ring used to belong to her. He must have started sending the letters so he could, I don’t know, scare us into giving him my ring.
It’s not even a very smart blackmail because I doubt that ring is worth that much. I told Paige—”
“Jo, I’m exhausted.” Andy’s skin looks even paler than it did just minutes ago. The skin around his mouth is drawn tight. “Can we talk about this later?”
“No, Andy, we can’t talk about this later. This has to happen now. You have no idea how eaten up I’ve been all week about this. I need you to tell me everything now. If you slept with her—as much as it will hurt—I need to know so I can stop spinning myself in circles with all these what-ifs.”
Andy stays silent. He looks as if he’d rather be anywhere else but here, on this sofa, with her. If it wasn’t so painful to get up, she was sure he’d already be gone.
“Jo, six years ago I was in a photo with a random woman, whose brother is clearly deranged. This is why social media is going to be the downfall of our civilization. You and Shayne think this photo holds more weight than the words I’m telling you.
Me. Your husband. I’m telling you it’s nothing, and that’s what you should believe,” he says, jabbing his finger into his chest and then wincing.
“Anyways, I don’t know why we need to have this conversation now.
You’ve already dealt with it. Shayne’s gone.
End of story.” She could choose to believe him, but there it is again, the same feeling she’d felt when she’d confronted him about the first note.
He won’t meet her eyes because he doesn’t want her to see that he’s petrified.
Jo stares long and hard at her husband. “Where did you get my ring, Andy?”
Andy sighs again. “Are you really going to ask me if I stole your wedding ring from some girl? I can’t believe you’re even entertaining such a fucked-up idea.”
“Don’t put this on me, Andy. Just answer the question. Where did you get my ring?”
Andy scoffs. “This is ridiculous. I saw it in an antique store. It was a spur-of-the moment decision. You don’t even wear the ring that often, why does it matter where I got it?”
Jo sputters. “Of course it matters. All of this matters, Andy. I—”
Suddenly, she hears a car door close. Andy’s parents are back.
Now she’ll now have to wait until they go to bed to continue this conversation.
Andy’s eyes have closed again, and he’s slumped against the couch.
She wants to shake him or slap him until he looks at her and tells her the goddamn truth.
The certainty she’d felt earlier about his innocence and this being some horrible hoax or misunderstanding is wavering. She feels sick.
“Mommy?” Kody’s voice sounds strangled. Jo didn’t even hear her come in.
She quickly glances towards the living room entrance, ready to comfort her daughter.
At first, Jo is so taken aback by what she sees that she thinks she must be dreaming.
She blinks her eyes rapidly to make sure what she’s seeing is real.
Kody is being held tightly by a blonde woman who Jo has never seen before.
Kody’s eyes are wide and terrified, and she reaches for Jo desperately.
Jo snaps out of her stupor—she flies out of her seat and lunges towards the woman.
“Don’t come any closer. I don’t want to hurt her, but I will if you make me.
” The woman’s voice is cold and distant.
She might as well be telling them it’ll be a forty-minute wait time for their table.
Jo can’t see any kind of weapon on her, but that doesn’t mean she isn’t hiding something in her long jacket.
“Andy, do something,” Jo says without taking her eyes off the woman. There are two of them, they could easily overpower her. Even though Andy’s wounded, there’s no way he’s going to let some ice queen threaten his child.
“Yes, Andy. Do something,” the woman hisses. Jo’s head snaps back to her. The woman’s eyes are flashing.
“Kody, keep your eyes on me, sweetheart.”
Kody dips her head in a quick nod, her eyes spilling over with tears. Jo glances back at Andy again, but he’s just sitting there, gaping like a fish.
“Who are you? What are you doing in my house?” Jo asks.
“Andy, why don’t you answer that question?” the woman says, her voice has shifted back to its disaffected tone. The way she shifts between enraged and icily nonchalant so quickly is terrifying.
Jo refuses to take her eyes off the woman again and calls out to Andy without looking at him. “Andy. Tell me what’s going on.” Silence.
“Andy, what the fuck is going on?” Jo says again, louder this time, then flinches when Kody cries out. She needs to get a better hold on her emotions.
“Laura,” Andy whispers. “Her name is Laura.”
“Why don’t you join your husband back on the couch, Josephine?” Laura says, putting a particularly drawn-out emphasis on the word ‘husband.’
Jo doesn’t want to. She wants to do the opposite of sit back down. She wants to claw this woman to shreds. But she does what the woman says. She puts one foot behind the other until she feels the soft firmness of the couch behind her. She sits and then nudges Andy with her elbow.
“Laura is the wife of—” Andy starts
“Was the wife of, you mean,” Laura interrupts
“Laura was married to Ben Lobek. We knew each other through Ben.”
“That’s real rich, Andy. I’m sure Ben would appreciate that,” Laura says, her voice dripping with sarcasm.
Ben Lobek. The name rings a bell, but Jo can’t put her finger on why. Then it hits her. Lobek. They owned a ranch outside of Billings. They’d done business with each other once or twice. Andy had traveled to Billings on several occasions over the years.
“Tell her the rest,” Laura taunts. Her grip on Kody must tighten because Kody lets out a small noise. Jo’s vision starts to darken at the edges.
“Get your hands off my daughter,” Jo says, her voice as sharp as a blade. “If you touch her again, I’ll kill you,”
Laura ignores the threat and shifts her attention back to Andy.
“Andy, I gave you ample time to tell Josephine about us.” It grates painfully on Jo every time Laura says ‘Josephine.’ “I sent you helpful reminders. I even hand-delivered one, that’s how thoughtful I am.
You chose to ignore them. This is your fault.
” The notes. Laura sent the notes. Jo’s mind races.
“Laura, this is madness. Why don’t you and I go have a conversation outside—” Andy starts.
“No!” Laura screeches and Kody lets out another sob. “No! Do not argue with me. Do not ignore me. I’ve been ignored for long enough. You’ve ruined my life, and now it’s your turn.” Jo’s heart squeezes painfully. She has to get Kody out of here.