Chapter Seven
I know Cole must be going crazy with worry. I don’t call him to tell him I’m leaving the barn. Instead, I walk half a mile down the road and bum a ride from the Humphreys’ neighbor Leo Highsmith, who gives me a lift back to my house.
I don’t know where to go or what to do. I don’t know what to do with the information I’ve been given. My word against the richest man in town won’t carry much weight with the local sheriff. He’d ask for proof, and I don’t have any.
Other than Winona, I don’t really have anybody in my life except for one other person. I need to see my daddy. For all his flaws and wrongdoings, he always listens when I go to visit him. I know I should be mad at him, and part of me will never forgive him for what he did. But I’m still his girl, and I drive fast, making the hour drive in forty-five minutes.
The Pecos County prison is one of the few that keeps evening visiting hours. I get there an hour before closing. It’s an unannounced visit. I’m not on the roster to see Harlan Smith, but the guard knows who I am. She’s always nice to me, and this time is no exception.
“Your father will be so happy to see you!” she says, and leads me into a room with block walls, high, narrow windows, and rickety tables. I take a seat in one of the chairs and wait, examining the scratches on the tabletop in front of me. It’s close to the end of visiting hours. There are only a couple of inmates with visitors. Across the room, one young man with a tattoo of a snake winding beneath the arm of his orange jumpsuit argues with a heavyset woman with half her head shaved. A few tables from me, an older inmate is playing checkers with a young man who could be his grandson.
The door creaks as it opens. My father walks in, and my heart constricts with the same pain I feel every time I see him here. So many missed opportunities. What would I have accomplished in the last three years if he’d not done what he’d done? What kind of relationship would we have outside the walls and razor wire of this prison?
The guard who escorts him in smiles before she leaves. The lady guards here are sweet on him, but it’s easy to understand why. My father is a handsome man, and even in prison he keeps himself looking dapper as he can. He keeps his salt-and-pepper hair styled and combed, and works out for at least an hour a day. Slap a suit on him and you could drop him in a boardroom anywhere this minute and no one would realize he was a con man who’d just come out of prison.
“Hey, Genie.” He leans over and gives me a kiss before sitting down. He’s the only one who calls me Genie instead of Gina. It started years ago when he got me hooked on reruns of I Dream of Jeannie. “Is everything okay? I wasn’t expecting you today.”
“I’m fine,” I say. “I just felt like seeing you.”
He stares at me for a moment. “You know, when I played poker, I learned that people’s faces and bodies say what they can’t.” He folds his hands and puts them on the table as he leans toward me. “What’s wrong, baby?”
I drop my gaze to my own hands, and realize they are in the same position as his. It’s weird how alike our mannerisms are. But his hands are clean and mine are still dirty from my time with Deacon.
“I’m scared, Dad.”
His hand reaches out for mine. “Has something happened?”
I don’t want to tell him. If I do, he’ll freak out with worry.
“Don’t ask me for specifics, Daddy. But I’ve gotten involved with someone and I’m not sure I’ve made the right decision. I’ve tried to do everything right. Since you came here, I’ve tried to hold it together. Even when I realized I couldn’t keep the farm, I managed to go on. I’ve tried so hard to control everything…”
“Let me guess. Cole Patterson’s back in town?” My father grins a bit at my surprised expression. “Come on, Genie. I’ve known since you two were in school that you were sweet on each other. It’s my damn fault you weren’t together before now. His daddy hates me more than life itself.”
Don’t I know it.
He rubs his chin thoughtfully as he leans back. He looks relieved, and I know it’s because he’s thinking now that it’s just boy troubles.
I wipe tears from the corners of my eyes and sniff. “It’s not an ideal situation,” I say. “We’ve spent the last few days together, but I don’t think we can overcome the past like I thought we could.”
“I’ll always hate myself for what I did to you,” my father says. “I never meant for it to go down like it did. I gave up poker because I realized gambling was an addiction, but I didn’t give up the urge to gamble. I just transferred it. Before I knew it, I was paying off one group of investors with money taken from a new batch. Each time, I told myself this would be the one that paid off.” He shakes his head. “I never should have approached Richard Patterson.”
He pauses. “Cole is different, though. And if he’s sweet on you despite everything, what’s the problem?”
“It’s complicated, Daddy,” I say.
“Life is complicated,” he says. “And risky. And risk is scary, especially when you’re gambling with your heart. But if this young man has come back for you…” He pauses. “Is that what’s happened, Genie?”
Despite all that’s happened, I almost laugh. The real story isn’t the kind a girl tells her daddy.
“Something like that,” I say.
“Do you love him?”
I feel like my heart has been squeezed, and I know I do. But I know to love Cole is to risk more than my heart. To love Cole Patterson puts my safety at risk, as well as the safety of the people I love.
“I’m getting used to not being able to have what I want, Daddy,” I say, and when he winces, I lean forward and take his hand. “Daddy, that’s not what I mean. I’m not blaming you. It just is what it is.” I close my eyes. “I’m sorry to put this on you. I just needed somebody to talk to.”
“And I’m glad you came to me,” he said, and then launches into the promise he’s made every time I come see him, which is that he’ll make it better, that he’ll make it all up to me, that he’ll never put a foot wrong again. I do what I always do. I tell him I believe him, because I do. I tell him I love him. We talk until the visiting hour runs out, and this time there are tears in his eyes when we part.
“Genie, don’t sell yourself short,” he says just before I walk out. “Cole Patterson would be lucky to have a gal like you, and he knows it. That’s why he came back. You’re the prize.”
I drive away from prison feeling glad I came to see him. In the perfect world, it would be as simple as it is in a Taylor Swift fairy tale and Cole would be my hero on a white horse come to take me away from this small town. But even if I was the kind of girl begging to be saved, I don’t think his horse could jump the hurdle of his daddy’s threats.
I am only certain of one thing as I drive the long road back to town: I can’t tell Cole. His daddy is right; he’s the richest man in town and there were no witnesses to Winona’s assault. I don’t even know it was Jeb or Boyd who hurt her. Cole is right; they run their mouths, but I can’t see Richard Patterson hiring them for something like this for that very reason.
I hear a ding and look down to see the red light indicating my gas is almost gone. Fortunately, I’m coming up on a convenience store and slide to the nearest pump. While waiting for my tank to fill, I decide to call the hospital and check on Winona. I expect to see a string of missed calls when I pick up my phone, but instead I’m greeted by a black screen. I groan in frustration. It’s dead, and I don’t even have my charger.
When the gas is finished pumping, I go into the store to pick up a charger. It’s a mom and pop store with a small dining area attached. The smell of fried chicken greets me as I walk in and I glance over to see a few diners watching television as they eat. I’m about to walk to the aisle to get the charger when words on the TV screen catch my eye. Up Next: Suspect Apprehended in Attack on Area Woman.
I walk into the diner, tapping my foot as I wait through a commercial for dog food and an ad pushing a reverse mortgage scam to old people. Finally, the news comes back on and I’m staring up at the mug shot of a man who looks familiar. He’s large with beady eyes and a thick neck. I catch my breath when the reporter confirms that the man, Gene Baylor, was captured on a security camera across the street from the feed store.
I grab the charger, pay, and rush back to my car. The phone is dead as a doornail and the empty battery signal doesn’t give me much hope that I can make a call before I get back to town. My worry now has turned to Cole. I had him confront Jeb and Boyd over what happened to Winona. I hit the accelerator and speed back to town. I wouldn’t even know where to look for him. I know I can’t go to his house. When I drive past the Humphreys’ farm, I slow down and scan the drive for signs of the Mustang, just in case he’s there looking for me, but there’s no sign.
All I can think to do is go to the hospital. He’ll know to find me there, and maybe I can borrow Robert’s phone to check on Cole.
As luck would have it, there’s an accident outside of town. A livestock truck has overturned, and although it’s empty, I’m still forced to wait until the road is cleared to continue. My phone is still dark, but maybe that’s a good thing. Even if I got in touch with Cole, what would I say?
It feels like forever before I reach the hospital. Just as I pull into the lot, my phone comes back to life, but there’s so little juice that I know as soon as I unplug, it’ll go dead. I leave it in the car and head inside. I’m on Winona’s visitors’ list, so this time I’m allowed to go up. Winona is awake this time, and Robert jumps up to greet me.
“Did you hear?” he asks. “I can’t fucking believe it!”
“Yeah, I saw,” I say. “I was at a gas station and they flashed his mug shot.”
Robert looks at me. “That’s impossible. The news on the arrest just broke.”
“I saw it an hour ago,” I reply, then glance up at the television, where there’s more breaking news. Only this time, I see the words Patterson arrested in assault, and the first thing I see is a shot of Cole riding a bronc.
I almost fall to the floor. Holy shit. What did he do? Did he attack Jeb and Boyd? Then there’s a shot of Richard Patterson, who’s identified as the father of rodeo star Cole Patterson. And this news report goes on to say the man taped attacking mounted shooter Winona Garfield has proof he was hired by a local businessman to carry out the assault.
It’s all happening too fast. I walk over to Winona. She’s staring at the television, grim-faced. Then she looks over at me.
“I think we both know why he did it,” she says.
“Richard Patterson came to see me at the barn,” I tell her. “He told me what happened to you was a warning.” I start to cry. “Damn… I’m so sorry.”
“Why are you apologizing?” she asks. “We’ve always known what an asshole Cole’s dad is. The news is saying they have text messages between him and this guy, though.”
“They’ll have more than that when I’m finished,” I tell her. “I’m going to the police.” I look at her hand. “I wasn’t able to ask earlier because you were out of it. What’s the prognosis?”
“Since surgery, better than they thought.” She nods at the bandaged limb. “It hurts like hell and I’m going to need PT, but something tells me a certain rich man is going to end up paying dearly in more ways than one.”
“I’ll see to it,” I tell her as I lean down to kiss her brow.
“Mind if I drive you over to the police station?” Robert asks.
“Do you think you can keep from kicking Richard Patterson’s ass if you see him?” I ask.
He just grins. “I was thinking I might need to keep you from doing that.”