Page 55 of Nixon’s Promise

“Ready?” Mandy asked, bouncing back into the kitchen.

I hadn’t seen that in a long time, either. Her body language recently had been nearly as sharp as her words.

“Yep.”

“Are you cryin’?”

“No.” I tried to turn to hide from her scrutiny.

“He likes you,” Mandy announced.

“Who?”

“Nixon. I can tell.”

I grabbed my purse and we headed out the door. I wasn’t sure I wanted to ask how she could tell, but if Mandy was willing to talk, even if it was about Nixon, I was all for it.

“You know some of my friends talk about him?”

My step faltered and I almost tripped. “They do?”

“Yeah. He’s hot and Shauna’s mom went to high school with him. I guess she tried to chat him up when he moved back, but he shot her down. He’s like a legend around here. Everyone knows him and what he did when he left.”

Interesting. I wanted to ask more about Shauna’s mom and if she was still trying to “chat him up,” whatever that meant. Nixon and I had never defined what we were to each other or what it was we were doing. The thought that he could be talking, or worse having sex with other women, slammed into my chest.

“You don’t have anything to worry about,” Mandy told me. “He’s totally into you.”

I was so lost in thought on the drive to the grocery store that I hadn’t been paying much attention to my surroundings. I should’ve been. If I had, I could’ve warned Nixon. I missed something big and later on, it would prove to be a colossal mistake.

22

Zack was quiet on the drive back to the Swagger farm and Nix allowed the kid some time to gather himself. He seemed to have a lot on his mind, which was one of the reasons Nix had asked him to come home with him.

They were pulling down Nixon’s long dirt lane when he caught sight of a red pickup truck parked in front of his house. Out of practiced habit, he reached for his hip, remembering at the last second he didn’t have a weapon holstered.

“Who’s that?” Zack asked.

“No clue. Do me a favor and stay in the truck, yeah?”

“Yeah,” Zack agreed without argument.

Nixon pulled in front of his house, left the engine running, and swung out.

“Sorry to drop in on you unannounced,” the other man said as soon as Nix rounded his hood. It took a moment for recognition to dawn.

“Jonny Spencer. Damn, man, I haven’t seen you in a long time. Everything all right?”

Jonny looked beyond Nixon and his eyes widened when he noticed Zack in the passenger seat.

“Didn’t believe the rumors, but it seems they’re true. Swagger tied himself to a woman.”

Nix stiffened at the off-handed remark. “You come all the way out here to hen peck?”

“Nope.” Jonny’s gaze came back to Nixon and he smiled outright. “Heard Amanda Wilson got pulled over today. Also heard she’s tangled up in Dillinger.”

“How’d you hear that?”

“You’ve been gone a good long while, I suppose you haven’t kept up much. I’m a deputy.”