Chapter Thirteen
Cole was halfway across the gravel from the barn when he heard tires on the drive. He didn’t recognize the car. He peeled off his work gloves, tucked them in his back pocket, and folded his arms to wait.
The engine cut. The door swung open.
He clenched his jaw before it could do anything else. There was no mistaking her. Blonde hair, that particular way she carried herself. Callie. His stomach went hollow in a way that had nothing to do with wanting her back and everything to do with the memory of what she’d cost him.
She had a white paper bag in her hand, the Clifton Diner stamp across the front in red. She walked toward him with that tentative smile he remembered, like she already knew he’d soften.
“Hello, Cole.”
He kept his arms folded. “What are you doing here?”
She tilted her head. “I told you I’d see you soon.”
“I figured that meant Thanksgiving.”
“I changed my mind.” She lifted the bag slightly. “I got your usual.”
The smell of it reached him on the breeze. He didn’t move. “I’m not hungry. You made the trip for nothing, Callie.”
He turned toward the house.
“Cole.” Her voice cracked just enough on his name. “Please. Could we just talk?”
He stopped. Turned back. “About what?”
She closed some of the distance between them, her eyes steady on his. “About whether there’s any way to make this work. Whether there’s anything left worth trying for.”
The air between them sat heavy and still.
Cole’s jaw tightened. He dropped his head for a moment, then raised it slowly and closed the distance between them until he was close enough to see the uncertainty in her eyes.
“There’s nothing to make work, Callie. You came back because I’m seeing someone and that bothers you. That’s the only reason you’re here.”
“You didn’t tell me it was serious.”
“I didn’t tell you anything. It’s not your business. You walked out too many times and I’m done with that.” He held her gaze. “You need to go.”
“Can you look me in the eye and tell me you don’t love me anymore?”
He stepped closer and let her hold his stare as long as she wanted. Her perfume reached him on the evening air, familiar and distant at the same time. “I don’t love you anymore.”
Tears rose in her eyes. “I don’t believe you.”
“I don’t need you to.” He turned and climbed the porch steps, each one creaking under his boots, and went inside.
He sat down on the bench by the door and listened to his own heartbeat settle.
Through the glass he heard her engine start and the crunch of tires moving back down the drive.
He knew she’d be back. Callie didn’t let go of things easily.
But he also knew, with a quiet certainty that surprised him with how solid it felt, that he wouldn’t take her back. He didn’t love her. He loved Aftyn.
“And she’s going to leave your ass too,” he muttered at the empty kitchen.
Later he sat in the recliner with the TV going, not watching it.
Her laugh. The way she tilted her head when something caught her interest. The weight of her hand in his.
He picked up his phone, thumb hovering over her name for longer than he’d like to admit, then hit call.
It rang out. He stared at the ceiling for a moment, then typed a text and read it back three times before he sent it.
Hey. Would you like to go out Saturday night?
He watched the bubbles appear and held his breath.
I’d love to. Where?
Diner, then Dewey’s.
I’d like that. I’m so glad you called.
I’m glad you didn’t turn me down.
I don’t think I could ever do that.
He felt something loosen in his chest. I like the sound of that. Callie came by the house today. I want you to know I had no idea she was in town.
I saw her. She came into the diner. She wants you back, doesn’t she?
Yes. But I promise you that’s not going to happen.
I believe you. I’ll see you Saturday. I’m sorry about how Sunday ended.
Don’t be. We’ll talk about it. I’ll pick you up around six. Have a good night, sweetheart.
It would be better if a certain cowboy was spending it with me.
Cole laughed quietly to himself. Better for me too. Night.
Goodnight.
He set the phone on the arm of the recliner and sat back.
He was glad he’d picked up the phone. More than glad.
He never wanted to stop seeing her and he knew it, had known it for a while now if he was being straight with himself.
He just needed to know how she felt. And the way she’d answered gave him something to hold onto.
****
Aftyn was still smiling when she plugged her phone into the charger. She’d been in the bath when he called and had been about to ring him back when the text came through. She sat on the edge of the bed and looked at the conversation on the screen.
How could she leave him?
“God, I need some help with this,” she said quietly. “I’m scared but I know what I want. I want to tell him I love him. I want to stay. You brought me to Clifton for a reason. Please let it be him.”
The rest of the week moved quickly. Callie didn’t come back into the diner. Connie mentioned spotting her going into a shop with a friend, but that was all anyone saw of her. If she was still in town, and Aftyn suspected she was, she was biding her time.
Saturday she kept it simple. Worn jeans, blue sweater, her boots. She planned on dancing at Dewey’s and she was looking forward to it, but mostly she was just looking forward to Cole.
At six on the dot, a knock at the door. She opened it and her eyes went straight past him to the snow coming down behind him, settling white on the brim of his hat and the shoulders of his coat.
“When did it start snowing?”
“About twenty minutes ago.” He smiled. “Can I come in?”
“Yes, sorry. I’m just surprised. I looked out an hour ago and there was nothing.”
“Darlin’, you lived in Colorado. Snow shouldn’t shock you.”
“It wasn’t doing anything an hour ago.”
He leaned down and kissed her, and she wrapped her arms around his neck, and he pulled her in close and deepened it, unhurried, like he had all the time in the world. When he finally lifted his head his lips were still close to hers.
“We could skip dinner.”
“We could,” she agreed.
“But we won’t.”
She laughed. “No. But that doesn’t mean there can’t be dessert after.”
The look on his face made her glad she’d said it. “I like the way you think.”
She reached for her coat, but he was already holding it open for her.
She slipped her arms in, picked up her purse, and they headed out.
Cole took her keys, locked the door, handed them back, and took her hand.
They went down the steps together, through the lot, and into the warm light of the diner.
After dinner they walked to Cole’s truck. He opened her door and leaned in and kissed her, and she cupped his cheek in her hand and let it last.
“Let’s go to Dewey’s for a while. But I want you to stay tonight. Will you?”
“Of course. I’ll need to pack a bag.”
“You mean you didn’t?” He raised an eyebrow.
Aftyn laughed. “Actually, I did.”
Cole chuckled. “Smart woman.”
They were heading toward Dewey’s when they passed the motel and Aftyn sat up straight.
“Pull in.”
“What?”
“Avery and Judd. Please, Cole.”
He glanced over. “You sure about this?”
“Yes.” She already had her phone out and was dialing Sam, who picked up on the second ring and told her he’d have a deputy there shortly.
Cole eased the truck into the lot and stopped a short distance from where Avery and Judd stood. They were wrapped up in each other and hadn’t looked up.
“Aftyn.”
“No.” She pushed the door open and stepped out.
She crossed the cracked asphalt with purpose, her bootheels sharp against the pavement. She could hear Cole behind her and then she didn’t, and she knew without looking that he’d stopped and was letting her have this. She walked until she was a few feet from her sister and stopped.
Judd saw her first. Then Avery looked up, following his eyes, and the color left her face so fast it was almost satisfying.
“Aftyn.” Her voice caught. Her manicured fingers tightened on her purse strap. “What are you doing here?”
“What do you think I’m doing here, Avery?” She kept her voice level. “You stole my money. You stole my identity. Did you think I’d just let that go?”
Avery pulled herself up, her silk blouse shifting with the movement. “So, you’re going to report me?”
The smirk that followed made Aftyn’s palm itch in a way it never had before. She had never hit anyone in her life. Her sister was testing that record.
Judd stepped closer, his frame cutting into her space. “You won’t do a damn thing.”
“Back off.” Cole’s voice came quiet from behind her, but there was nothing soft in it.
Judd turned with a sneer. “Who do you think you’re talking to, cowboy?”
Cole stepped out of the shadows and straightened to his full height, and whatever Judd had been about to say next died somewhere on its way out. His expression shifted from cocky to something considerably less certain, like a man who had just made a calculation and didn’t like the answer.
Aftyn stepped in until there was almost nothing between them.
“I already reported you. Aunt Ping hired a PI, and he’s been following you since you left Colorado.
And when you crossed state lines, you turned it into a federal felony.
That means prison, Avery. Not probation.
Prison.” She felt the vein in her temple pulse and didn’t try to stop it. “And I cannot wait.”
Avery’s perfectly shaped eyebrows shot up. “You wouldn’t. I’m your sister.”
“You are no sister of mine.” The words came out quiet and certain and felt better than shouting would have. “You don’t steal from people. You don’t steal from family.”
“We should talk about this.”
“There is nothing I want to hear from you.” She shifted her eyes to Judd, then back.
“I knew you two were at it. Do you actually think he cares about you? He doesn’t.
He’ll do to you exactly what he did to me.
” She looked at Judd then, letting him have the full weight of it.
“And you. You think she’s here for you? She’s here for your money. That’s all she’s ever after.”
“Aftyn—”
“Don’t.” Her voice dropped to nothing. “I’m done with you. You got probation last time. You won’t this time.”
She turned, found Cole’s hand, and walked away. Cole came with her, but she could feel him watching Judd over his shoulder, steady and unhurried, until they reached his truck.
****
Cole opened her door and she climbed in. He could feel the anger radiating off her and was quietly grateful none of it was pointed in his direction.
He got in, closed his door, and looked at her. Her hands were balled into fists in her lap.
“Are you alright?”