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She took a shower and dried her hair, put on a nightgown, and sat down on the side of her bed. She picked up her phone and sent a short text to Parker.
It wasn’t answered. She tried again and her number had been blocked.
She put the phone down, tears stinging her eyes. If she needed to know how he felt, that was her answer. Obviously, he felt that she’d taken the lawyer’s part over her own daughter’s, and he was disgusted with her. He’d witnessed that kiss, as well. It must have been painful to him, because he’d thought that he and Katy had something going for them. That kiss had shown him that they didn’t.
She lay down and turned out her light. But she didn’t sleep.
* * *
Parker couldn’t sleep either. He was sorry that he’d blocked Katy’s number, but he’d thought they were headed for a good place together, and that wasn’t happening. He’d found her in the arms of this eastern attorney whom she’d vowed that she disliked. It hadn’t looked like dislike to Parker.
He got up and made coffee. It wouldn’t help him sleep, but it was something to do. He heard a vehicle coming down the road. It stopped and pulled into his driveway.
For an instant, he thought it might be Katy. But it was only his boss. Odd thing, to find the boss out driving at this hour of the night, he thought as he opened the door.
“Hey, boss. How’s things?” Parker greeted.
J.L. Denton came up on the porch, out of sorts and weary. “Got any coffee?” he asked.
“You bet. Come on in.”
The two men sat at Parker’s kitchen table sipping black coffee in a companionable silence.
“Okay, what’s this about some lawyer from back east sucking up to the man who beat that horse that the Blakes rescued?”
“Him.” Parker made a face. “Sleazy so-and-so. He’s ambitious. Bart’s former owner is rich and he has friends.”
“I have a few of my own. I called Beck and Thomas in L.A. They’re flying out here Monday. If the child’s mother will give custody of Bart to you, I’ll handle the rest.”
“That’s the thing,” Parker said quietly. “She was all hugged up with the lawyer when I went over there earlier. Teddie begged her not to let the man take the horse. The lawyer said the former owner would drop the whole thing if they’d have the horse put down instead.”
“What did Mrs. Blake say to that?”
“She told Teddie that it might be the best solution.”
“Damn!”
“I said that and a few other things. Right now, I’m pretty sure I’d like to go home to Montana and live on the rez and be a real Indian.”
“Baloney. You’d die of boredom in a week.”
Parker laughed, but it had a hollow sound. “I could always move to D.C. and work for that letter agency.”
“You’d die of stress in a week.” J.L. chuckled. “Stay here and break horses. It’s what you were born to do.”
Parker sighed. “I guess it might . . . what the hell is that?”
They got up from the table and went out on the front porch.
“I don’t believe it,” Parker said heavily.
It was a little girl with a flashlight, leading a horse. It was Teddie, crying and muttering to herself.
“Oh, honey,” Parker said, feeling her misery.
She handed the reins to J.L. and ran into Parker’s arms. He lifted her and hugged her, rocking her.
“She’s going to have him put down, I just know it. I can’t let her kill Bart,” Teddie wailed.
