Page 24 of Cowboy Heat

It’s Monday and has been a week since her attack there, and Mimi thinks her mind is blocking the memory because of the trauma. I don’t know Alice well enough to have an opinion on any of it. I just want whoever is going around shooting people to be caught.

Though yesterday in the church parking lot, I heard Deputy Myers say they don’t have a lead.

“They’re probably waiting for Guidry to find ’em,” says June Cole, sitting done up and pretty in front of me at Waylon’s Café. Alice’s attack has been the talk of the town. Not a day has gone by since when I haven’t been asked about it. “Everyone knows he’s the one who’s going to punish whoever did it. I wouldn’t be surprised if the sheriff is just twiddling his thumbs, waiting for Guidry to do it. Less effort and paperwork on his front.”

We’re eating coffee cake and drinking coffee because June works as a teacher at the community college that’s caught between the city and Robin’s Tree. It’s small, but she has three classes. She’s finished two today and has one more this afternoon. She’s already planning on going to the Branch after it’s done. That’s why her hair is flattened smooth and she has a lowcut blouse underneath her business blazer. She’s thirty-four and in need of a husband who doesn’t bore her to bits—she’ll tell you if you give her enough time.

I don’t know why she keeps trying at the Branch. It’s not like there’s much excitement there.

Then again, there’s been an uptick of attendance since Alice’s attack.

And since Beau Montgomery came to town.

Though, as far as I’ve heard, he hasn’t been to the bar yet. He’s shaking up the town just by existing in it.

“I was half expecting Guidry to come question me by now,” I say thoughtfully after seconding her theory. “I was the one who found her, after all.”

June makes a noise of distaste, and it’s not at her drink. “Given his obsession with you, yeah, that’s surprising.”

I roll my eyes. “Everett Guidry isn’t obsessed with me, and I’d appreciate it if you’d stop saying as much.”

June isn’t convinced. “That man has been hovering around you since, well, you know when. I mean, I know he isn’t that much older but still, he started hanging around you when we were only teens.” She waves her hand like she’s brushing off my objection. “And now you don’t make a move in this town without Guidry knowing. That’s certainly notnotan obsession.”

I feel my face harden then my shoulders tense.

Anger at a whole lot of things bubbles to the surface.

June, my longest friend, knows she’s overstepped. She raises her hands in a show of self-defense. “I’m just saying be careful is all. If Guidry isn’t looking at you, then don’t go looking at him.”

Guidry is the last person I’d go looking for, but I don’t say that.

The moment passes; June drinks her coffee. I think we’re going to end our conversation altogether when she starts, eyes on the window behind me. “Please tell me that good-looking guy wandering the sidewalk is none other than our newest Robin’s Tree resident.”

I turn fast, maybe a littletoofast. Sure enough, Beau is across the narrow Main Street, heading to, I assume, the communal parking lot at the corner.

I’m off the bench seat in a flash. “It is, and I need to talk to him,” I say, grabbing my purse. “Buy my coffee, and I’ll order you a drink tonight. Deal?”

June laughs but nods. “Deal.”

“Have fun teaching adults about Ulysses,” I call over my shoulder, making fast work of exiting.

“Have fun chatting with Mr. Hopefully Eligible Bachelor,” she returns.

My face heats as I push out into the humid afternoon. The weather is on the hotter side too. Beau doesn’t seem to mind it, wearing a dark shirt and jeans in lieu of something breezier. Then again, Beau doesn’t seem like the breezier type.

I catch up to him before he can cross the street to the communal lot.

It isn’t until he looks me up and down that I wonder if running after him was the best choice, given the last time we talked on the phone, he declined my offer for finishing off the ranch tour.

“I have some things I need to do first,” he’d said. “I’ll let you know when I’m ready.”

Now Beau smiles at me. It’s polite but not necessarily genuine.

“Hey, I saw you from the coffee shop,” I hurriedly explain, pointing back behind me. No doubt June is watching us from the window. I angle my body so she can’t see me slightly panicking at the awkward meeting. “I thought I’d—well, that I’d come say hi.”

Bless him, Beau doesn’t look totally offended. “Hey.” His voice is as deep and smooth as I remember. Not that I was thinking about him often over the past week.

No. Not at all.