Chapter 8
Suzy took a sip of her coffee and winced. She’d forgotten to add the cream before sitting down at a corner table with Chrissy. The black liquid was like acid on her tongue, but she forced herself to swallow.
She opened the box of doughnuts. “Are you hungry? Would you like one?”
Chrissy shook her head and pressed her hands to her flat stomach. “No thank you. I’m such a bundle of nerves, I don’t think I could eat a darn thing.”
Suzy couldn’t help but smile at the twang in Chrissy’s voice. The same southern drawl she loved to hear from Duke.
Clearing her throat, Chrissy darted her gaze around the room like a cornered animal.
“I’m sorry again to intrude. I just don’t know what else to do.
I feel so stupid driving all the way up here without a plan.
Turning back now would be such a waste, not to mention a bit of a hit on my pride.
When I overheard you mention Duke’s name, I took it as a sign from the Lord himself to introduce myself. You said you work with him?”
“Well, kind of,” Suzy said, measuring her words carefully. “I work for the security company he and my brother own. They used to ride together on the rodeo circuit.”
“That damn rodeo.” Tears filled Chrissy’s eyes once more. “That’s when things took a bad turn for me and Duke. Has he told you about me? About us?”
“Not really,” Suzy said. “He’s more of my brother’s friend than mine.”
That wasn’t a total lie. Even if she’d spent countless hours with Duke the last few months, and he had recently mentioned a few concerning details about the woman in front of her, he hadn’t said much.
Just enough to make her nervous as hell about where this conversation might go.
Sighing, Chrissy plopped her elbow on the table and settled her head in her hand. “Typical. Here I am pining away, and he doesn’t even mention me. I swear, men can be so dense sometimes. So heartless.”
Although she may agree, Suzy kept her opinion to herself.
“When he left town years ago, he told me he’d be back.
That he’d marry me and we’d start a family just like I always wanted.
He said to be patient, returning home to visit when he could and helping me with bills I couldn’t pay.
He said once he made it big, he’d buy us a ranch on a big patch of land and we’d raise our kids. ”
Thank God Suzy didn’t have any coffee left in her mouth or she’d have spit it out. “You have kids together?”
A far-off look took Chrissy somewhere else. “Not anymore. That dream died a long time ago. Afterward, Duke’s visits become less and less frequent, but I never gave up hope. Never stopped planning for that future we’d wanted. Then…” She lifted her hands then let them fall to her lap.
Suzy’s heart shattered. Duke was tight-lipped about his past, but she’d never imagined he’d been through so much. That he’d lost a child.
But how could he paint this woman across from her in such a vile way? Chrissy lost something, too. And that kind of pain changed a person. If Duke didn’t understand that, maybe he wasn’t the man she thought he was.
“I’m so sorry,” Suzy said. “About everything. But I don’t understand how you and Duke ended up in this place. With him refusing to speak to you and you surprising him after not communicating in so long. What made you think now was the time to come and see him?”
Chrissy shrugged. “I can’t say, really. The last time I saw him was on the road, when he was bull riding still.
We…talked.” A shy smile told Suzy that wasn’t all that happened between the two and her stomach revolted.
“I thought we’d finally found each other again.
But then poof. He was gone and I was left broken hearted again.
Cowboys aren’t always the best at saying goodbye. ”
Suzy snorted and shook her head. “They always find a reason to leave, don’t they?”
“So you understand?” Eyes lighting up, Chrissy edged forward on her seat.
“You’ve loved and lost, and I pray to God whoever it was didn’t hurt you the way I’ve been hurt.
Left you broken and a shell of the woman you used to be.
That’s why I’m here. I’m done wallowing in self-pity.
I’m done fooling myself into believing there could ever be anything between me and Duke, but to do that I need to look him in the eye and find out what went wrong.
Then I can put everything behind me for good. ”
“Does he know that’s what you want to talk about?”
Chrissy pinched off a bite of a doughnut and popped the pastry in her mouth. “I don’t know. He’s not the same person I used to know. He’s cynical and cold. Distant.”
The description was the opposite of the man Suzy had gotten to know, but she kept that information to herself.
“If someone he knows and trusts would soften him up,” Chrissy continued. “Maybe he’d be more receptive to meeting me. Maybe having dinner or something. Then I’ll head back home and leave him alone for good.”
Crumbles of doubt peppered in with the pity she hated feeling for this woman. She hated to think Chrissy would tell such exaggerated lies, but the story she told made Duke look like a complete stranger.
But then again, how well did she really know him?
They’d chatted, flirted a little here and there, but he never talked about himself.
Never shared personal details about who he was before arriving in Hillmore.
Hell, even Lane admitted he had no idea why Duke had left the rodeo circuit and showed up on his doorstep.
No one knew what Duke was running from, but Chrissy had planted a seed of doubt about whether he was the victim or the villain.
“Oh my God, I’m starving!” Heather pressed her hands to her stomach to as she walked beside him on the sidewalk.
He checked his watch as he bypassed a duo of workers hauling lumber to the grassy patch in the middle of the town square. “Yeah, I’ve heard you complain about it all morning.”
“Well, come on. Who doesn’t at least have cereal in the house?”
“I did have cereal. It just wasn’t the kind you like.” He couldn’t control the hard bite in his words. Sleep had come in small bursts the night before. Closing his eyes either brought back anger at the fire, irritation at knowing Chrissy was nearby, or longing to have Suzy next to him.
“You had crap, old man stuff, and the milk in your fridge was spoiled. Now stop being so grumpy.”
Only Heather would wake up cheerful after dealing with such a shitshow the day before. He’d rather stew, stay in the ick for a little bit longer.
He smiled at the thought. Suzy had a way of making him look at life that he liked.
She made him happy, and damn it, he was tired of pretending he didn’t want more than friendship with her.
Besides, they were two adults. Lane shouldn’t be too bent out of shape if he asked Suzy out.
It’s not like he was some asshole trying to find a quick lay.
He wanted to settle down, see what could grow between the two of them.
“See,” Heather said. “A smile goes a long way. And you’re so much more handsome when you don’t scowl.”
Rolling his eyes, he grabbed the metal handle for the Cozy Crumb. Warm air rushed out to greet him, and he hurried to step in behind Heather.
Heather clasped her hands together and anchored them under her chin. “This place is adorable. What’s good?”
“I’ve never had anything that wasn’t delicious. Order whatever you want, and maybe I’ll grab some extras to take into work.” There might not be chocolate covered peanuts here, but anything else dipped in sugar would be a hit. Suzy’s sweet tooth was a secret to no one.
A flash of dark hair caught his attention at a table in the corner, and his stomach muscles tightened. Man, he must have it bad. Now everyone he saw reminded him of the one woman he couldn’t get off his mind.
The woman leaned to the side and revealed Chrissy sitting across from her. He worked his jaw back and forth as her eyes connected with his moments before the woman at her table turned his way.
Suzy.
What the actual hell?
“Is that….” Heather’s voice trailed off as she lifted a finger toward the table.
Suzy’s eyes went wide, and she shot to her feet. She waved, an expression he couldn’t quite read pinching her face.
Storming over, his cowboy boots beat against the wood floor. Ignoring Chrissy and her Cheshire cat grin, he kept his attention fixed squarely on the only woman who mattered to him. “What’s going on?”
Red colored Suzy’s cheeks. “I stopped in to grab food on my way to work and Chrissy overheard me talking to Millie about you.”
He arched one brow, curious as to why his name came up in conversation with the bakery owner, but that wasn’t important right now. “So you sat down and ate doughnuts with her?”
She winced, scrunching her nose in the most adorable way possible. “She asked to speak with me.”
“Hello,” Chrissy said, drawing the word into four syllables and waving her hand through the air. “What’s the problem, Duke? You won’t talk to me so no one else in this town’s allowed either?”
Heather hooked an arm through the crook of Duke’s elbow and rested a palm on his bicep. “Chrissy, what are you doing? Even you have to admit this is a little strange. To show up out of nowhere and now you’re talking to Duke’s co-worker?”
Shoving to her feet, Chrissy anchored her fists on her hips.
“So what? Now you think I’m up to no good, too?
No matter where things stood between me and Duke, you and I were always on good terms. It’s not fair that I have to lose both of you.
And Suzy was just being nice to someone who was upset and needed a friend. No big conspiracy going on here.”
In his peripheral vision, Suzy dropped her gaze to the floor and his heart sunk. Something was off, some kind of damage done that had her energy in a weird place. He’d get to the bottom of it, but first he needed to deal with Chrissy.
“Suzy, will you take Heather with you to the office?” he asked. “I’d like to have a minute alone with Chrissy.”
Chrissy beamed, and it took every ounce of self-control to not lose his patience and inform her this wouldn’t be a pleasant conversation.
“Are you sure?” Heather asked.
“Yeah.”
Suzy scooped up a pink box from the table. “I’ve got doughnuts if you’re hungry.”
“Starving. Let’s head out.” Heather placed a kiss on Duke’s cheek then slid her arm away from his. “Call if you need me.”
Suzy lifted her hand in goodbye then hurried out the door.
He stared after her, hating the wounded look in her eyes.
“She’s nice,” Chrissy said, honey lacing her voice.
But he knew all too well that Chrissy’s honey was often spiked with poison. “Leave her alone.”
Tilting her head to the side, her blond hair spilled over one shoulder. “I don’t know what you’re so concerned about. She knew you, and I wanted to pick her brain about how to get you to sit down and talk to me. Turns out, all you had to do was see me with Suzy.”
“I won’t be sitting, and I’m the one who’ll be asking the questions. Where were you last night?”
She turned her lips into a pouty frown. “Why? Miss me?”
“Not in the least,” he said. “From 10:00 pm to 11:00pm. I want to know your whereabouts.”
She crossed her arms over her chest. “In bed. I drove for a day and a half to get here and was exhausted.”
“Where are you staying?”
“The Tumbleweed. The cutest little bed and breakfast right off the square. You should really stop by and see it. I’d love to give you a tour.” Dipping her chin, she batted her long dark lashes.
“Any way you can verify that?”
She blew out an irritated breath and threw up her hands. “Maybe. I don’t know. If they have any kind of security system I’m sure you can see when I got there, and that I stayed in all night. What is this? Some kind of interrogation?”
He ran his tongue over his top row of teeth before he said something he shouldn’t. He thought back to his conversation with Suzy the night before and figure this was his best chance to get what he needed to say off his chest and put this situation to rest once and for all.
Scrubbing his palm over his face, he gathered his thoughts.
“No, not an interrogation but a glimpse into how I see you. I don’t trust you.
Not your intentions or who you’ve become as a person.
I thought I was clear when I told you things were over, if I wasn’t, I’m sorry for that.
But we were finished a long time ago and that will never change.
There’s no reason for you to be here. We have nothing left to talk about. ”
Tears hovered above her lashes, but they didn’t move him in the least. She’d always been an expert at calling them forward when needed. “You said you’d come back to me. That we’d start a family. I planned my entire future around you.”
“We were kids, Chris. So damn young. And so much has happened since then. We’ve both moved on.”
Her chin jutted up. “I didn’t. Never have and never will.”
He fought the urge to laugh. “You don’t think my sister’s told me about the other men you saw? The wild nights at the bar? You’ve dated plenty, and I’m pretty dang sure you were with some of those men when were still together.”
“You were gone, and I didn’t know if you’d come back. What was I supposed to do?”
“You’re right,” he said, lifting his palms. “You should have lived your life the way you wanted. Moved on and had fun. Hell, that’s still what you should be doing. What was between us is water under the bridge. I need you to go back home and forget about me.”
“But we’re meant to be together. I know it.”
He shook his head. He’d never get through to her. “No, you just don’t like not getting what you want. But you better get used to it because this is one fight you’ll never win.”
Her shoulders drooped forward. “I don’t want a fight, Duke. I only ever want you…want us.”
“There is no us. Hasn’t been for a long time. I’m sorry you drove all this way for nothing, but you should get on home now. Nothing’s waiting for you here.”
A single tear ran down her cheek, her eyes big and pleading.
He steeled his heart. She was trouble with a capital T. He couldn’t leave any room for misinterpretation. He started to walk away then stopped, faced her once more. “And I will be checking with The Tumbleweed. If you weren’t where you said you were, we’re going to have an issue.”
The corner of her mouth slid up. “Really? Why’s that?”
“Because if you came to town to hurt me or anyone I love, you’ll regret it.” Without another look, he stalked away. Leaving Chrissy behind him where she belonged.