Page 6 of The Unbuttoned Ranger (Texas Heat: The Heart of a Texas Ranger #1)
CaDee looked down at her sleeping son stretched out on the ripped vinyl seat with worn and ragged Tommy tucked under his arm.
She held her coffee cup between shaking hands, still trying to calm her anxiety after the altercation with Dante.
Her body ached but thankfully she didn’t have any serious injuries.
Mark and Albert were sitting on the other side of the table, looking very concerned, but allowing her a moment to gather her thoughts.
She set her cup down and swallowed against the constriction in her throat. “ Thank you for keeping Carsen safe.”
“ I still think we should call the police,” Albert blurted as if he ’ d been saving it up until the right moment.
“ He is the police so believe me when I say it won’t do any good.” she said quietly, scanning the inside of the diner. The place was empty outside of two men sitting at the counter, but she ’ d learned no one was to be trusted.
“ There has to be someone who can stop him,” Mark said in a lowered voice.
She didn ’ t respond. What could she say? She ’ d lived the horror of Dante for years. At times she felt guilty for hating him so much while she ’ d gained something so beautiful from their union. She pushed a curl off Carsen ’ s forehead.
“ What will you do, CaDee?” Mark stirred his coffee out of nervous habit.
“ We can never go back there. It ’ s not safe.”
“ What about your bag? With the clothes and cash.” Albert had become CaDee ’ s good friend too. They had the relationship she wished she would have found. “ We could go and see if it ’ s at your apartment. Maybe it’s on the fire escape.”
She shook her head. “ No. You two need to stay away from the apartment. Hopefully, he has no clue if you are involved. He has the bag. He ’ d never leave that behind.”
Mark slid her car keys across the table. “ We did exactly as you had asked for us to do if the time came. We drove it and parked it a block down.”
Albert reached into his jacket and took out an envelope. He laid it in front of her. “ This was everything I had at the apartment.”
She peered inside at the stack of money. “ I can ’ t take this.” She pushed it back toward the men.
“ You ’ ll need it,” Mark said firmly. “ Take it. If not for you then for Carsen.”
All the money she had was in the bag that was now gone.
“ I can ’ t thank you both enough for all your help.
” Her eyes filled with tears, and she blinked them away.
Their friendship had gotten her through a tough time and they ’ d been so good to Carsen.
She didn ’ t have much back at the apartment, but the freedom had been priceless.
“ Do you have plans?” Albert asked.
“ I-I don ’ t know.” Suddenly she had the weight of the world on her shoulders. What would they do now? She’d done a great job with an escape plan but not the future.
“ I have an idea. My Aunt Piper was telling me that she ’ s hiring someone to help around her farm. She can be a bit cantankerous at times, but she ’ s fair and will make sure you have what you need.”
“ I have no clue how to work a farm.”
“ I stayed there a few summers.”
“ You? On a farm?” Mark asked in surprise. “You never told me.”
“Honey, they make designer boots that are to die for.” Albert told CaDee, “You learn fast, and her farm is so remote it barely exists on a map.”
CaDee realized hiding in a metropolitan city wouldn’t work. Maybe starting over in the country with Carsen was their best choice.
“ I ’ ll call her first thing in the morning. I ’ ll text you her address.” Albert tapped away at his phone.
“ Would she even want to hire someone without any experience?” The idea seemed foreign to her.
He waved a hand through the air. “ Don ’ t worry, I ’ ll handle Aunt Piper. You just show up and I ’ ll make sure she ’ s expecting you.”
Her phone dinged and she read his message. “ Texas?”
“ You know, the state where everything ’ s big,” Albert said with a smile.
Texas. She rolled the thought around inside her head. What choice did she have? CaDee couldn ’ t allow her son to suffer because of her decisions. “ Please call your aunt.”
“ I will.” Albert assured her.
“ Thank you. Both. We should go. It ’ s risky for us to even be sitting here.” She scooped up the envelope and stuck it inside of her pocket.
“ I ’ m going to miss you,” Mark said once she had Carsen tucked into her arms and they were outside of the diner.
“ We ’ re going to miss you. One day, we will see each other again.” Although she spoke the words, she knew there was a chance she wouldn ’ t see her friends again. Now that Dante had found her and Carsen, they couldn ’ t take the risk of coming back.