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“What the hell is his problem?”
I smirk. “That’s quite a long list. I keep telling him to give up but now he wants to be ‘friends’.” I use the air quotes and he grins.
“I’m guessing you didn’t have a friendly marriage or divorce.”
Scoffing, I reply, “Absolutely not. Very acrimonious. He was excessively nasty to me during the divorce. That’s why it’s strange that he keeps coming around.”
“Yeah. Is he bothering you?” Jude glares at Julius’s disappearing figure.
“No more than he ever has, I guess.” I shrug. I’m just really sick of dealing with him.”
“I don’t know how you married him. I think I’d be tired of him after five minutes. You must have a high tolerance for stupid.”
Smothering a snort, I lean over and smirk. “I believe that that is true.”
He grins at me. “I’m gonna hang around town today. Can I take you home after you’re done? Maybe buy you lunch?”
“That sounds really good. You don’t need to stay with me but I’d love to join you for lunch.”
He nods his dark head. “Alright. I’ll see you back here at noon.”
I smile and wave at him as he walks away. “I’ll see you later.”
My heart thumps wildly when he looks back over his shoulder and grins cheekily at me.
I can’t believe that he found me. That he wants to spend time with me. But I’m sure not gonna turn down him down when he’s giving me exactly what I want. Him.
Smiling, I turn to a customer when they come up exclaiming at the unusual beauty of the mobile. Time to work. I’ll worry about Jude and what’s going on with him later.
Way later. Since I soon find myself buried in happy customers asking about what each crystal is for.
CHAPTERNINE
JUDE
I don’t bother moving awayfrom Treaty’s booth. At least not too far. She’s not aware of where I am since I’m hidden from view behind the flap of another booth.
When the owner of Starry Nights told me that someone had been coming out to Treaty’s place and she went out to confront them, I almost lost my mind.
She’s a woman alone on a farm in the middle of nowhere and the fact that she’s so careless with the most valuable thing in the world, her safety, pisses me off so badly that it takes everything in me not to hunt her down and paddle her ass until it’s red.
As soon as I saw her ex there pestering her, I started to have a sneaking suspicion who the problem is. I just don’t know why. But I will. I call the sheriff and ask him to check out a suspicion of mine. He promises to call me back later as soon as he checks with an attorney. The only one in town and luckily a very trustworthy woman.
She doesn’t have her own office yet and she’s not taking a ton of cases but I know people and she’s willing to talk to the sheriff for me. I think that there’s something that Julius is interested in, but I don’t think that it’s my Treaty.
Doesn’t matter though. He’s done for. I will not let him threaten her and when I was walking up and heard the way he was talking to her, I almost punched his damned lights out. He obviously doesn’t respect her and the fact that she wasn’t surprised at all by how he talked to her was very telling. If I had to guess, I’d say he’s always talked down to her and treated her like shit.
My stomach roils when I think about her being castigated every day of their married lives. Asshole. He deserves to get his ass kicked for just that. If he’s attempting to scare her off her land for some damn reason, I will bury him.
I waited out the week to come into town to see how she was doing. It was hard but I wanted to give her a chance to miss me.
I smile when I think about the look on her face when I wandered up. I could see it. She missed me as much as I missed her. My cabin has felt too quiet, too lonely since she left with the sheriff.
The phone rings and I pick it up. “Yeah?”
“Okay. I talked to some friends and that attorney and there’s nothing concrete but there is some talk about oil on her land. From what I understand, a rep of the company has been out here scouting.”
“I’m guessing that they haven’t talked to her.”
