Chapter Twenty-Three
If someone could burn a hole in the floor from pacing, June surely would have.
She felt the weight of everything pressing down on her.
Guilt for putting the girls into a situation like this.
Fear of knowing that Trey Bishop was surely on her tail.
Every step she made across her bedroom floor was louder than the last.
She knew she was on her own in this—well, except for Seth. They’d barely spoken the day before. She didn’t know what to say. She couldn’t exactly entertain his suspicions about Asher. Not yet. Not until she had a better idea of what was going on.
She knew that no one else had shared her suspicions about the fire except him, which only made her feel even more confident that she had to be right. Seth had no reason to suspect Asher Burns, especially if he wasn’t still hung up on Hazel.
She couldn’t shake the feeling that she was right. She couldn’t tell Seth, though. Not without proof. She didn’t need to make anything worse for him than it already was—and if Asher Burns had burned down his barn, it would have meant one thing: it was her fault.
Every time she closed her eyes, she saw Asher Burns’ face. And then Trey’s. Pacing her bedroom floor, ignoring the groaning of the floorboards, she felt her resolve harden.
She needed answers, and she needed them now.
She rode out after breakfast while Seth started working on the barn. She did ask if he needed her help, but he said the only thing he needed was for her to go into town to get an order from Jack.
The streets of town were busy, busier than she’d seen them before.
Maybe those brides were already fulfilling some of their duties.
Glowing faces of women as they passed by in the streets in small groups.
They were shopping. Laughing. Getting ready to be wooed by their husbands-to-be, no doubt.
Some had groceries, and others had clothes.
They all had smiles.
June wished she could be so blissfully ignorant to the world and all of its monstrosities. But she couldn’t. She was a realist. She had seen more terrible things than most of these women could ever dream of.
She scowled at first, but then she sighed heavily. It’s not their fault. It’s no one’s fault. Only Trey’s.
Her lips curled up in an involuntary half-smile as she passed the general store.
It had only been a few days, and they had already made great headway on rebuilding it.
Nearly the entire skeleton of the building was now standing, fresh wood white against the dull backdrop of brown hills.
She could only hope that Seth could rebuild that fast; that enough people would surely help him get it built back.
Just as she started down the way, she spotted Etta and Ada standing near a rack of clothing just inside the dress store. They seemed to be talking in hushed tones—and serious. So serious that they didn’t see her as she walked inside.
June began to walk over to them, but something gave her pause her.
They looked… worried. About what, she couldn’t tell, especially considering how Etta had brushed her off about Asher.
So she lingered, being sure to keep out of sight.
She leaned against a nearby rack and listened as intently as she could.
“I just don’t know what to do,” Etta said.
“She’s been so distant lately, and she swears Asher Burns, the same Asher Burns in town, is Trey’s man.
I don’t remember seeing him ever, and she got really upset when I didn’t necessarily jump on board.
She doesn’t like Mr. Whitman, and I just—I don’t think she’s happy here. ”
Etta sounded nervous… almost sad.
June bit her lip and craned her neck to get a look at the two girls.
Ada took a moment to reply. “It really is like she’s got one foot out the door. You think she’s gonna leave?”
“I think she’s going to use this Asher Burns as an excuse to hightail it out of here,” Etta said quietly. “And I can’t really blame her, after everything that’s happened.”
June’s chest tightened. Part of her wanted to march right over there and confront them, demand to know why they think she’d ever leave them… but instead she turned away, her stomach churning.
Truth was, she’d never felt so isolated as she did in that moment. Quite honestly, she had felt isolated even after both her friends got attached to their new husbands so quickly. But now? They already suspected that she would just up and leave them behind.
After all the three of them had been through together… did they really doubt her so much?
June turned away and began pacing slowly down the aisle, feeling lonelier than she had ever felt. Memories she’d worked so hard to bury resurfaced in less than a second.
Etta and Ada had become her family. They were all she had.
All she’d had since her family…and that was a wound that had never healed, and had only been treated with the family she created in them.
The sacrifices she had made for them were out of love, but they were also out of needing to keep them a family—keep them together.
She had poured every ounce of herself into protecting the people she loved. Etta and Ada.
But they were right.
She did feel like an outsider. She always had.
For them to think she would use Asher or Trey at all as an excuse at all—that cut deep. For a moment, she considered giving in to the loneliness.
But then one thing came to mind.
Seth.
She wanted to go home. See him. Be with him.
There was something about him that was starting to completely entrance her.
He was the only man she’d ever met that she wanted to get to know; or that she wanted to get to know her.
No one had ever made her feel the way he did.
Frustration… but also a bit of exhilaration.
No one had kept her on her toes quite like him.
He was brooding and aloof, yes. But he was kind, generous, honest. And handsome. So, so handsome.
Her heart skipped a beat just thinking of the kiss they’d shared.
Things sure weren’t perfect between them, but she was beginning to believe with all her soul that it was worthwhile—whatever it was.
She straightened her shoulders, forcing herself to focus. Feelings later. Right now, I have a job to do.
She had to find Jack to place Seth’s order—and most importantly, get the answers she’d come for.
With a purposeful stride, she left the dress shop and moved deeper into town, her eyes scanning the saloon for any sign of Asher Burns or Trey.
No sign of either, but as she was passing the saloon, she heard the murmur of low, terse voices.
Not from the saloon—from around the corner, where the blacksmith’s shop was.
Following a hunch, maybe, or just a gut feeling, she rounded the corner cautiously.
And sure enough, there he was.
Trey.
And he wasn’t alone.
Her mouth went dry, the kind of parching fear that made it impossible to swallow, as her eyes fell on Trey Bishop.
He was standing next to Asher Burns near the edge of the street.
They were facing away from the busiest parts of town, as if they didn’t want to be seen.
The blacksmith worked right in front of them on what looked like a blade.
The two of them were talking—seriously from the looks of it—but quietly enough that June couldn’t hear them from where she stood.
Her pulse quickened and she darted back toward the saloon, hanging close to the wall before craning her neck carefully.
She peered around just enough to keep them in sight, but not enough for them to see her.
Her heart thundered against her chest so hard it hurt.
This is it. Proof she wasn’t just imagining things like everyone wanted her to believe.
But before she could decide what to do next, a voice behind her made her jump.
“June?”
Terrified, she spun around to see Ada and Etta standing a few paces away, looking shocked. “What are you doing here?” Ada asked, a little too loudly for June’s comfort.
Quickly, June launched herself off the wall of the saloon, putting a finger to her mouth. She gestured furtively around the corner.
Ada peered past her and then drew back with a sharp gasp. “Is that—?”
June barely managed to clap a hand over Ada’s mouth before she could get another word out.
“Trey,” June hissed. Etta went sheet-white.
June quickly tugged them both around the corner and back to the front porch of the saloon. She shushed them powerfully before letting Ada go. There was fear in both of their eyes; a fear June knew well.
Their panic wasn’t going unnoticed. Several passersby were beginning to slow, glancing curiously at the girls, then toward the corner, where the voices of the men were still humming.
“We gotta get out of here!” June snatched her friends’ hands and tugged them along with her as she ran back toward the general store.
Her suspicion wasn’t unfounded any longer. It was real. Asher Burns and Trey Bishop had made it to Fort Davis.
“We need to tell someone!” Etta said as she panted for breath as soon as the girls made it to the general store.
June nodded. “I’ve got to get an order from Jack for Seth, and then we will.”
“How about we just get Jack to bring the order to my house, and we all talk about this?” Etta suggested.
June sighed. Etta was probably right.
“You don’t gotta do this by yourself,” Ada reminded her. The way she said it caused June to stop almost immediately, and look at both of her friends fully. Their eyes were glazed in fear, their lips trembling, their faces pale. But they looked at her lovingly. Tenderly.
June took a deep breath. “You’re right,” she relented. “Let’s get word to Seth. I don’t want to do this without him. He was right about Asher Burns, and he deserves to know the truth.”
“For better or worse, right?” Etta said, mustering up a smile.
June shrugged. “Not so sure about that,” she said, trying to laugh it off. “He might still want to be rid of me, especially once he knows it’s my fault his barn got burnt down.”
Ada clutched June around the shoulder firmly. “Quit your bellyaching. Let’s get our hindquarters to Etta’s and figure out what to do before they find us sitting here in the middle of town. People are already lookin’ at us like we got six heads.”