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Unfortunately, the lab had been destroyed by whoever had been running it before the sheriff could get any evidence out, and Oakley hadn’t remembered so she couldn’t put CJ at the lab. Which meant that CJ was going to get away with whatever he’d been up to—along with the shooting.
Unless Oakley remembered.
CJ must be worried about that, which worried Pickett even more.
THEDRIVEHOMEseemed longer tonight, Oakley thought. Or maybe it just felt that way because she was so unsettled.
“I hate to ask,” Pickett said as they neared Powder Crossing where they’d left their rigs. “You have a plan, Oakley? One that you haven’t shared with us?”
After what had almost happened in the hallway, she was more aware of him than ever. She still hated that the meeting had let out before she’d gotten to find out what he was going to say, let alone do. She couldn’t help feeling disappointed.
She drove for a few moments without answering since she knew neither Pickett nor Duffy was going to approve, maybe especially Pickett. He’d been opposed to doing anything that could get them thrown in jail.
“I’ll do whatever I have to to keep them from drilling on Stafford Ranch,” she said.
“That does not sound like a plan,” Pickett pointed out.
“I’m with Oakley,” Duffy said. “We have to draw a line in the sand. Seems like the place to start would be to stop this new well.” Duffy was always up for disabling the equipment as a way to protest the drilling. He’d become quite good at it.
She could feel Pickett’s gaze on her as she drove. Just as she could almost hear his disapproval without him saying a word. He didn’t understand that there was no getting through to CJ and her mother. She knew it was a desperate move, what she was planning to do. So desperate that she had no intention of telling either of them.
Maybe it wouldn’t stop the drilling, but it would certainly make her intensions clear to her mother. It might also make the gas company realize that it was too costly for them to do business in this river basin before they destroyed it.
Not that she was taking this lightly. She could get arrested. Or worse, killed, she thought with a shudder.
“Can we talk about it at least?” Pickett asked. “Whatever you have planned, I want to know about it. Promise you won’t go rogue on me and not let me know.”
She smiled over at him and felt warmth rush through her.Oh, Pickett,she thought and then looked at Duffy, shaken by how much she loved both of these cowboys. She quickly turned back to her driving.
CHAPTER FOUR
THENEXTMORNINGOakley drove toward the Stafford Ranch through shafts of sunlight, her mind pinballing from her mother and CJ to Pickett last night in the hallway.
After returning from Miles City, Duffy had suggested that they pick up some beer and do what they usually did after a Dirty Business meeting. They would go out to the old water tower to talk and drink. Like it had been when they were younger, it was their favorite spot to kick back, dangle their legs over the walkway ledge and enjoy the privacy as well as the view.
They’d been doing this for years, but last night Pickett had begged off and so had Oakley. Usually, their bravery and determination would be buoyed by the alcohol, making it easy to agree that they had to keep fighting the gas company even though they all knew it could get them thrown in jail—if not killed—but that they weren’t going to let that stop them.
Last night it appeared that none of them was feeling it, except for Duffy. It was late enough that Oakley didn’t feel like driving back to the ranch, so she’d crashed at a friend’s house in town. She needed sleep in order to be ready to face her mother and CJ, but she couldn’t help replaying those moments in the hallway with Pickett. She hadn’t imagined that look in his eyes right before the meeting had broken up, had she? Would he have kissed her?
Those thoughts were enough to steal her sleep. She’d awakened this morning frustrated, aching to know what might have happened if the meeting had run just a little longer and she’d found out whatever it was Pickett had been about to do or say.
That was the worst part. Not knowing. Maybe it had been nothing. A spur of the moment mistake. Whatever it was, would it happen again? Only if she and Pickett were alone.
As she drove to the ranch, she tried to prepare herself. She knew that she couldn’t put off the family reunion any longer. Tilly was in Oregon with Cooper. That left her brothers Brand and Ryder, who, if she knew them, which of course she did, would have gotten up early and headed out to mend fence or move cattle to avoid both their mother and CJ.
She didn’t blame them. She had often done that growing up as well, but after her mother’s message, she knew postponing this would be futile. Anyway, she was anxious to know what was going on with her mother. This morning she would test the waters, all the while trying to keep from alienating either her mother or CJ. She needed to bide her time before she confronted her brother—without her mother around.
After parking, she headed for the house, a little concerned. If her worst fears were correct, then CJ had tried to kill her once. What would stop him from trying again to make sure she never remembered what had happened before he shot her?
There were new wooden ramps going into the house and a van parked out front. It appeared CJ wasn’t walking yet—if ever again. Not that her brother wouldn’t be dangerous—even in a wheelchair.
“Where have you been?” her mother demanded the moment Oakley walked into the house. She had started for the stairs, hoping to at least get a shower and change of clothes before what she knew would be a confrontation with her mother—if not her brother. “I thought after I left you a message, you would be here when we got home.”
She stopped on the lower stairs and turned back. “I spent the night at Amy’s. I wasn’t sure you’d be home yet. You didn’t mention what time you would be arriving.” She could feel her mother’s gaze on her.
Charlotte was still a beautiful woman with her long blond hair that looked grayer than Oakley remembered. Her mother wore it in a no-nonsense plait that was most often wound at the nape of her neck. Her eyes, like her daughter’s, were a deep emerald green, darker in anger, like right now.
“Welcome home,” Oakley said as cheerfully as she could manage. In truth, it had been nice having both her mother and CJ gone from the ranch. Things had run smoothly thanks to Tilly and their brothers. It had been almost peaceful except that they’d all known it was temporary.
