AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Beef!” they said in unison and laughed.
“Favorite season?”
She chuckled. “You know the answer. It’s the same as yours. Spring when the grasses are that blinding green and the air smells of pine and fresh mountain air and all anyone can see is blue sky.”
Oakley did know him. “Smells like new beginnings,” he agreed.
They fell silent and he thought she might have fallen asleep.
“Would you have asked me out if Duffy hadn’t kissed me?”
“I was headed there,” he said quietly, and heard what sounded like a pleased sigh. “I’ve been wanting to for a long time. I wasn’t sure you were ready.”
“I wasn’t. But I am now. You should pick me up at the apartment on Saturday.”
“Good idea.” He had a thought. “Where are you now?”
“At the ranch. After you left, I couldn’t sleep so I drove out to the ranch. With the sheriff in the hospital, I’m thinking CJ might take advantage of no law enforcement being around. Don’t worry, I’m treading lightly.”
He laughed at that, not believing her and filling himself with worry. He didn’t want to think about CJ or how dangerous it was for Oakley to get out there. But he’d learned a long time ago that she was her own woman. He wasn’t about to mess with that.
“Six o’clock okay Saturday?” he asked, getting back to their date. He wanted it to be special. He was going to tell her everything. “I plan to feed you someplace other than the café in town if you don’t mind leaving Powder Crossing on this date.”
“Like I said, surprise me.”
“I’ll do my best. Get some sleep. If I don’t see you sooner, see you Saturday night. And Oakley? Be careful. If you need me, call and I’ll be there.”
He found himself grinning like a fool as he disconnected, but it felt good. He’d put this off for too long. Maybe it was seeing his father or maybe it was just time. All he knew was that he was ready to get on with his life. He hoped Oakley was, too.
He wished she wasn’t out at the ranch, though. Worse, she was keeping an eye on CJ and planning to try to keep CH4 from drilling out there. He might be able to distract her for a while with a date, but he didn’t know how to stop her from getting herself hurt or worse, killed.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
PICKETTHANSONWOKE,heart pounding. He’d had the nightmare again. He climbed out of his bed and went outside to stand under the stars and breathe in the freezing night air. The snowstorm had passed, leaving behind a good half foot of fresh powder. He’d learned that fresh snow absorbed sound, lowering ambient noise over a landscape because the trapped air between snowflakes attenuated vibration. And that was why it got so quiet when it snowed.
He’d never heard so much silence in winter or seen so many stars when the night was clear before he ended up here. Every day he was grateful for that, even though he’d been living a lie all these years.
He felt the chill begin to sink in, but at least it held the horror of the nightmare at bay. It always started the same way, racing through the snow toward the creek, terrified of what he would find beneath the ice. Shuddering at the memory, he moved back inside the small cabin where he’d been living since he was a teenager. The weathered log walls, the plank flooring, the single bed, his stack of books next to it. Everything he needed.
Climbing back into bed, he shivered under the covers for a few minutes. The cold that left goose bumps on his skin gave him the comfort of knowing it had only been a nightmare. A recurring nightmare since before she’d gotten shot.
The dream made little sense on the surface, but the feeling he woke with was that he’d let Oakley down. He’d failed her when she’d needed him the most.
He’d never paid much attention to his dreams. But this one scared him. This one felt like an omen.
Even now, wide-awake, he couldn’t throw off the image of Oakley lying on the ground, those beautiful green eyes lifeless. It was always the same. Always the face of Oakley Stafford, the woman he wanted with all his heart, but feared he could never have because he wasn’t the man she thought he was.
The only thing that was real was his love for her. He’d do anything to protect her—even from himself. But as he closed his eyes, his greatest fear was that he would be running through the snow looking for her only to find her too late, only to fail her when she needed him the most.
HERMOTHERWASwaiting for her when Oakley came downstairs the next morning at the ranch. “I just spoke to the lawyer.”
She started toward the kitchen, not in the mood for this. She’d gone to bed thinking about Pickett Hanson and woke up this morning doing the same thing. The sun beaming in her window had made her smile. She’d never gotten silly over a boy or a man in her life, but she now saw how it could happen.
All she wanted to do was keep this warm glow feeling. Talking about CJ’s lawyers was the last thing she wanted to do this morning. “I talked to him yesterday, just as you asked.”
As she started past, her mother grabbed her arm. “He said he’s worried because your so-called testimony sounded rehearsed.”
Oakley stopped to look at her mother, dumbstruck. “Of course it was rehearsed. It was exactly what you told me to say.”
