The Cowboy's Claim (17 page)

“I’m not really that hungry. Actually, there’s something I want to talk about,” she replied. She moved to the coffeemaker and poured herself a cup, aware that she could be further complicating her life if she told him her fears.

“Okay, but are you sure you don’t want some breakfast? I can whip up a couple of eggs for you.”

She shook her head and instead took a sip of the coffee. He joined her at the table with his own cup of the fresh brew. He eyed her darkly. “If you want to rehash what happened last night, you already made it pretty clear where things stand between us.”

“No, that’s not what I want to talk about. I’ve been racking my brain all morning about this amnesia thing. I told you that I didn’t feel like it was necessarily related to the accident. I started wondering if I’d blacked out, if maybe I have a brain tumor or something terrible going on inside me.”

Nick looked at her in surprise. “Have you had something like that happen before? Have you blacked out? Missed time?”

“No, nothing like that,” she admitted.

“Dr. Spiro told me he’d x-rayed your head. I’m assuming he did a CAT scan or MRI. They would have found a brain tumor or something like that wrong with you.”

She nodded. “I agree, and that leaves the last thought that I have about all of it.”

“And what’s that?” he asked with curiosity.

“I’ve been thinking about the very last moments before I apparently left the café for the night. I remember serving the teenagers that came in late. I remember them leaving and clearing my section, and then I drank the iced tea that I’d made for myself earlier in the day.” She paused and looked at him, wondering if she’d lost her mind.

He raised his cup to his mouth and narrowed his gaze at her. He sipped the coffee and then set the cup back on the table. “So, what exactly are you saying? That somebody put something in your tea?” He looked at her dubiously.

“I know, I must sound crazy.” She wrapped her fingers around her cup, wondering if she was just a little bit out of her mind. “I just know that everything was fine before I drank that tea, but afterward, that’s when everything went blank.”

“But why would somebody do that?”

“I don’t know. Maybe somebody thought it would be funny,” she replied.

Nick’s eyes narrowed dangerously. “Something like that’s not funny. I think we should call Cameron and tell him what you think.”

She hesitated. “But, I can’t know for sure if that’s what happened.”

“Where was your glass of tea?”

“Where I always keep it, on the little two-top table counter closest to the restrooms.”

“So, anyone could have had access to it.” He pulled his cell phone from his pocket. “We should at least have Cameron check it out. Did they draw any blood from you that night?”

She checked her arms, since she couldn’t remember the hospital visit until she’d awakened the next morning. “No, it doesn’t look like it. And the glass I used will have already gone through the dishwasher.”

Garrett squealed in delight as his stacked containers fell over. He began the building process all over again as Nick dialed Cameron’s phone number.

As she listened to Nick explaining to Cameron why he was calling, she felt a little silly. Was she overreaching? Was the blankness really just a residual effect of the accident, or had somebody spiked her drink with some kind of drug?

“Cameron is going to check into some things,” Nick said as he hung up the phone. “He’ll get back in touch with you if he has any news.”

“Thanks, I don’t know if I’m crazy and sending him on a goose chase or not.”

“I’d rather err on the side of caution. If you think there’s a possibility that you were drugged that night then Cameron needs to know and he needs to find out who is responsible.”

She took another sip of coffee and glanced at Garrett, happily playing on the floor. Somebody glancing in the window would see what appeared to be a happy, domestic scene. It stabbed her in her heart and she had the sudden need to escape this place and this man.

She set her cup in the sink and turned back to face him. “I think it’s time for me to go home. It’s time for me and Garrett to get back to our normal life.” Being here with Nick felt almost as dangerous as everything else going on.

Nick looked at her in stunned surprise. “Surely after what you just told me you don’t want to go back to the motel today.”

“Nobody is going to spike my drink while I’m at home,” she replied.

“Stay here and rest. You’ve got nothing else to do and neither do I. You should use the next couple of days to heal,” he protested. “What if somebody did drug you?”

“If they did, then I’m on notice now to be careful and watch who is around me. I feel okay,” she replied. She refused to be swayed by his words. She needed to get away from him. Besides, she couldn’t stay here forever.

She shook her head. “We’ll be fine. I want to go home.”

“What are you going to do about a vehicle? You don’t have any way of getting around.”

“I’ll rent something for a couple of weeks. I’ll be fine,” she assured him.

His eyes narrowed slightly. “Is this about what happened between us last night?”

“Yes and no,” she admitted. “Nick, I can’t play pretend with you. We crossed a boundary last night that we shouldn’t have. We need to come to agreeable terms concerning Garrett, but we can’t let what happened last night happen again. It’s not fair to either one of us.”

“But, why can’t we?” He raised his voice to be heard above Garrett’s banging with a wooden spoon on several pans Nick had put on the floor with the containers earlier. “I don’t want you for just one night, Courtney. I want you and Garrett for all my nights and all my days.”

The past slammed into Courtney’s brain with the force of a hurricane. How many times had she heard him say that same kind of thing in the old barn where they’d spent so much time? How many times had he professed his deep love for her, made her believe they were going to share a future together?

“I can’t do it again, Nick.” Just saying the words made her heart ache with a sharp pain she hadn’t felt since he’d left town two years ago. “I just can’t go through the heartbreak of you again.”

“I should have called,” he said, his voice loud in the sudden silence as Garrett stopped banging on the pans. “I should have called you when I left here.” He lowered his voice. “I should have given you an explanation, but I was in such a bad place all I could think about at that time was my own pain and my own needs. I accept that. I accept that I was wrong, but I’m not the same man I was then. I’m not about to run anywhere anymore.”

She had waited so long to hear those words from him, had dreamed of him coming back to her...for her. But, the truth of the matter was that he’d returned to Grady Gulch because Sam had been arrested and Adam was in emotional trouble. The truth of the matter was it had been by mere luck alone that they’d reconnected at all. She was confused by him, by her own feelings for him.

“Nick, let’s just leave the past to the past. If you don’t want to take us back to the motel, then I’ll make arrangements for somebody else to come and pick us up.”

Although she appreciated the fact that he’d apologized, it didn’t take away the small seed of bitterness she’d harbored for the past two years. She’d had twenty-four months to curse his name. It would take longer than a week or two to figure out exactly where he fit in her life...if he truly fit at all. It would take her even longer to believe that he was in this for the long run.

“Fine, I’ll take you home if that’s what you want.” She could tell by his narrowed lips and clipped tone that she’d upset him. But, what she’d told him was the truth. Although she’d always love Nick, sometimes love just wasn’t enough.

It took nearly an hour to reload the crib and the high chair and all of the things they’d packed from the motel the day before.

“You want me to take you by Wally’s to see about a rental car?” he asked when they were all in his pickup and headed toward the motel.

Wally Simpson had the only car lot in town. He not only sold new and used cars, but on occasion he would rent to somebody when the need arose.

“No, that’s okay. I’ll call him when Garrett takes his nap this afternoon.” She noticed that Nick gripped the steering wheel tightly and that a tension wafted from him that whispered of suppressed anger.

What did he have to be angry about? She was the wounded party in all this. She was the one he’d left behind after promising to love her forever. She was the one who had been left pregnant and alone and had to deal with everything all by herself.

The rest of the ride was accomplished in a tense silence broken only by Garrett’s occasional gibberish. When they got to the motel, it took another twenty minutes to get the crib set back up where it had been and the high chair once again in place.

“Thank you, Nick,” she said when everything was inside and there was nothing left to do or say.

Garrett was in his high chair, munching on a cracker before she made him lunch, and Nick walked over and kissed him on the forehead. “Bye, son.”

“Bye-bye,” Garrett replied.

Nick walked toward the door but paused before leaving and turned back to her. “Remember, we don’t know if what happened on the highway the other night was an accident or if somebody slipped you a roofie. Please be aware of your surroundings, and don’t go anywhere alone.” His worry was obvious as he held her gaze intently.

“I’ll be careful, Nick. I promise.” She couldn’t help but be touched by his concern.

He nodded, but it was obvious he had something else on his mind, as he still didn’t turn to leave. He leaned against the doorjamb, his hat pulled low. To anyone else he might look at ease, but Courtney felt the tension that rolled off him, saw the way his muscles tightened beneath his black T-shirt.

He tipped his hat back, allowing her to see the simmering blue of his eyes. “Courtney, you weren’t the only one who felt left behind in the relationship we had in the past.”

She stared at him in stunned surprise. “What are you talking about?”

A muscle began to tick in his jaw as the visible tension rippled through him. “Every time you left that barn, I wasn’t sure if you’d ever come back to me. Every time you went back to your privileged life in Evanston with your parents, I wasn’t sure that I’d ever see you again.”

He drew a deep breath and continued. “You kept me hidden from your friends and family, from everyone in town for seven long months, like I was a dirty little secret you were too ashamed to admit to. You weren’t the only victim of all this. There were two victims in our past relationship, Courtney. I was one, too.”

He whirled around and before she could respond in any way he stepped out of the door and closed it behind him. Courtney stared at the wooden door, shocked by his words and by the edge of resentment that had laced those words.

The past and her own anger where he was concerned had been deeply ingrained in her over the past two years, and now she suddenly felt as if everything she’d believed to be true was in question.

Somebody may or may not have drugged her iced tea. Somebody may or may not have been in the woods in the park stalking her. Her son’s father had returned to claim his rights as a father, and now he’d somehow managed to make her wonder who had really been at fault when he’d left her behind and hadn’t looked back.

Chapter 11

C
ourtney awoke after a troubled night of sleep. She’d tossed and turned most of the night with visions of the past whirling around in her head. When she’d finally managed to pull herself out of bed, she felt as if she had a hangover of unsettled emotions.

After Nick had left the day before she’d contacted Wally Simpson, who had brought her a rental car. Thankfully her insurance would also help defray the cost of the unexpected expense.

She’d also called Mary to let her know she’d be in for work as usual at noon on Monday. Mary was pleased to hear she was feeling okay but insisted she give herself another day before returning to work.

For the rest of the night Courtney had played with Garrett and done everything in her power not to think about Nick. She’d gone to bed early but had been plagued by dreams that had made her feel as if she hadn’t slept at all.

Once she was up and dressed, she spent the morning on mundane tasks, feeding Garrett, cleaning the room and trying desperately not to think about what Nick had said to her the night before.

She wasn’t surprised when her phone rang and it was Cameron. “Sheriff,” she said in greeting.

“How are you doing, Courtney?”

“Much better today,” she replied.

“After speaking with Nick yesterday, I did a little checking this morning. Unfortunately no blood work was done when you were in the hospital, and since something like GHB or Rohypnol is quickly metabolized, no tests would help us now.”

“Maybe it was just a stupid idea of mine,” she replied, feeling guilty that she was taking his time away from the two unsolved murders he already had on his plate.

“I don’t think it’s just a stupid idea,” Cameron replied. “Mary told me that she watched you head out to your car and you looked like you were drunk, that you stumbled and wove, and she just assumed you were trying to dodge the rain puddles in the parking lot. Now I’m wondering if it was something more than that.”

“So, what happens now?”

“What I’d like from you is the name of those teenagers you served right before you left the café. I’d also like the names of anyone you can remember who was in the café for the dinner rush that night. If somebody drugged you and caused your accident, then I want to find who’s responsible.”

“I appreciate it, Sheriff,” she replied. “I know you have enough to deal with right now.”

“I don’t like somebody murdering people in my town, and I don’t like somebody drugging people in my town,” he said forcefully.

“I’m really not sure that’s what happened,” Courtney replied.

“I still intend to investigate it until we’re both satisfied with my findings. You just work on that list and I’ll pick it up from you sometime tomorrow. I’ll be in touch,” he said and then hung up.