Chapter Eight
Out of town media has already converged on the jail by the time I pull up, and I know it’s only going to get worse. I also know the statement I’m prepared to give the police is only going to complicate matters for Cole’s dad, and for Cole. This is not the kind of publicity Cole wants heading into the rodeo finals.
I’m not naïve; if I tell the cops the truth, the police record of what I say will make me—will make us—part of what’s becoming a big news story. But I don’t care. I should have known nothing good would come of getting together with Cole.
I walk up to the desk and tell the clerk I have information on the attack on Winona Garfield. It feels weird to know that somewhere behind the locked double doors of this building, the man who threatened me today is sitting in a cell. I wonder if Cole is with him. I imagine the three of them huddled together with a lawyer. Can I really blame Cole for coming to his father’s aid? At times like this, blood is thicker than water.
The detective who takes my statement isn’t someone I know. He’s courteous and professional and has the kind of poker face that would impress my father. If he thinks I’m lying, he doesn’t give it away. He questions me pretty vigorously, right down to the kind of vehicle Richard Patterson drove to the barn. He tells me that checks out, that Patterson was driving a dark-colored SUV when they pulled him over coming back from that direction. He tells me they’ll have someone go out to the Humphreys’ farm to confirm the tire tracks, for corroboration. He shakes my hand and asks for my contact information, in case he has any questions. Then he gives me his card and sends me on my way.
I’m quiet on the way back to the hospital to pick up my car. I don’t feel like I can cry in front of Winona’s brother; she’s suffered a lot more than I have. On my way home, it’s hard to see the road through my unshed tears, and when I pull into the drive of my small rental house, I feel a deep sense of loss as I realize how close I was to having what I didn’t think I wanted, to having Cole. I know my daddy is right and his was wrong this time; Cole and I could have had something. I also know my daddy was right when he said I was in love with him. In the void of his absence, the need for my cowboy lover’s presence screams to me.
Has it only been a few days since I left for the rodeo? It feels like so much more time has passed. I feel like things have changed, like I’ve changed, and I know he was right when he said even if we didn’t end up together, he’d ruin me for other men. He was probably joking, but I’m not laughing now.
I start to go run a bath when I hear a distinctive sound. I stop in my tracks, afraid to turn and look out the window, but I’d know the rumble of Cole’s Mustang anywhere. I hear him cut the engine, hear the car door open and shut. I hear my own pounding heart, or imagine I do.
I didn’t lock the door behind me. He doesn’t knock. Cole just walks in and shuts the door behind him. He pulls the hat from his head.
“Gina Louise,” he says.
He walks over to me, arms out, but I step away. “Cole…”
He stops, and then it seems that reality dawns on him. “You’re thinking this changes how I feel about you?”
“If it hasn’t yet, it will,” I say. “I gave a statement to the police. About your daddy. He came to see me. He threatened me.”
“He threatened you directly?” A pained expression crosses his face. “I shouldn’t have left you at that barn.”
“It’s not your fault,” I say. “You had no way of knowing your daddy was back in town, and I’m sure you had no way of knowing he’d do something like that.”
He takes off his hat and runs his hand through his hair. “I was out trying to find Jeb and Boyd when I found out they arrested the guy who hurt Winona,” he says. “He started talking almost immediately when he saw the video. They had him dead to rights and he wanted to get a better deal, I guess, so he told the police that…” He looks down, twisting the hat in his hand. “That my father…”
I can empathize. I understand his pain because I once stood where he’s standing now. I once had to face knowing that my father had hurt someone he loved. But this is worse. I walk over to him. I want to offer some words of comfort, even now, but he starts talking again.
“He’s been after me to quit the rodeo, to come back home and work in the business. Last week on the phone, I told him I was sick of him using the threat of disinheriting me to try and control my life. I told him I was going to live the life I wanted, that I was going to love the woman I wanted to love. I didn’t tell him it was you, but he knew. He’s always known how I feel about you. He’s always resented it on account of what your daddy did. He asked me to go look at the horse for him, and told me we’d meet to talk about the mare and everything else when he got back home this coming weekend.
“At the cabin, I was talking to a friend I ride with in San Antonio. His name’s Burke, and he knows what kind of fit my dad’s been having over everything. When I said everything would be over and done with by the weekend, I was talking about cutting ties with my dad if I had to. Now he’s made that decision for me.”
I turn away, taking in what he says. I walk over and sit on the sofa.
“You need to understand that the statement I gave the police is going to make things a lot worse for him, Cole.”
“Good,” he says vehemently. “That combined with what his hired thug did will be enough to put him away for a while.”
“It’s not going to be ugly just for him,” I continue. “The news is already flashing pictures of you right along with your dad. When it comes out that he hired someone to hurt Winona just to scare me… that’s tabloid ugly.”
“Yeah, my mom’s a wreck,” he says. “I can’t imagine what my dad is thinking now that he’s realizing that his money can’t buy him out of this mess.”
“You haven’t seen him?” I’m surprised.
“No. And I don’t intend to. I’m done with him, Gina Louise. He’s tried to keep me from everything I love all my life, from my riding.” He pauses. “From you.”
“Cole,” I say. “How do you think we can be together after this? It’s going to be a sideshow!”
“I don’t care.”
“Everybody’s going to talk!”
“I don’t care.”
He walks over and pulls me to my feet. “That night of the poker game, I used your daddy against you. I was wrong. You’re no more like your daddy than I’m like mine. You’re the strongest, straightest shooter I’ve ever met in my life. And I’ve done told Mama that she’d better be prepared to lose me along with Daddy if she follows in his footsteps and tries to control my life.” He tips my face up to his. “I didn’t know my daddy was back in town early. It’s probably a good thing I didn’t, because if I’d been at that barn instead of hunting down Jeb and Boyd, if I’d heard my old man threaten you… Well, I’d be the one sitting in that jail right now.”
His eyes flash with rage, and I believe him.
Cole pulls me to him.
“Marry me, Gina Louise.”
I’m stunned into silence. Then I laugh. “Cole, you’re upset. You’re emotional…”
“Horseshit,” he says impatiently. “If anything, what’s happened has made everything crystal clear. There’s two things that I’m capable of becoming—a national rodeo champion and a good husband. I’m not giving up either dream, sugar plum. Marry me.”
I can’t believe what I’m hearing. I feel like I’m on an emotional roller coaster. Inside, my heart is screaming yes!, but something is holding me back. Making this kind of decision without thinking about it feels like a gamble.
“I need a couple of days to think about it,” I say.
He looks surprised, and then he nods, and I realize I’m not the only one who’s been trained during our little exercise. Cole Patterson is learning that life can be unpredictable; he’s learning that not everything is his for the taking.
“You’re right,” he says. “We still have a few days left on our bet, anyway. You promised to do what I said, remember?”
I offer a weak laugh. “Yeah,” I say. “But if you don’t mind, I’d rather not cloud my decision making with sex. As much as I… as good as you make me feel, I need to be thinking about the bigger picture.”
“I understand,” he says. “I tell you what I’ll do. We don’t even have to go a week. You rest here tonight. After that, we spend the last few days together. By the end, you give me an answer, just like we agreed.”
I nod. What else can I do. I stand in the doorway, watching him go. The game is back on, and the stakes have gotten a lot higher.