“Why?” They were having an important conversation and he suddenly wanted to take the wheel of her car? The man was confounding.
“Because I want you to start at the beginning and you have enough trouble finding your way around even when you’re not talking. I’ve never met anyone with a worse sense of direction.”
She started to argue, but he was right. Mill County was a maze as far as she was concerned. And she had no idea where his mechanic was located. So why not let him drive? She got out of the driver’s seat and switched sides with him. Sawyer pulled onto Main Street and headed in the direction of the highway.
“Start with his first call,” he demanded. The man was bossy.
“There really isn’t much more to tell. We’ve talked a few times since his initial message. The first time was when I came to Dry Creek Ranch. He wasn’t going to give up, so I figured what was the harm in taking his call. In any event, neither of us can figure out who’s behind this or why. He told me that at first he thought I had staged the entire scandal as a publicity stunt. But he quickly realized that the rumors were hurting me as much as they were hurting him. Together, we’ve been taking your advice and brainstorming who our possible enemies are.”
Sawyer hopped on the on-ramp, one hand on the wheel, totally at home driving her car. “It’s a supremely bad idea for you two to be talking on the phone. If it ever leaked the press would have a freaking field day. And inevitably it will leak. Everything does. Take it from me, leaks are my bread and butter.”
Of course, he was right. He was a reporter and knew how these things worked. But in this situation it seemed like her only hope was to team up with Danny to prove their innocence.
“Given that we’re both affected, what’s the harm in us working together to find out who’s trying to screw us? What else do we have to lose? Candace has already filed for divorce. The future of both our shows is in jeopardy. And our brands…Ha.” She laughed. “We can both kiss future endorsements good-bye.”
Sawyer turned to the side and pinned her with a look. “You’re kidding me, right? The entire world thinks the two of you are having an affair. Your phone calls…Come on, you’ve got to realize how incriminating it looks.”
Not if you’re innocent, she wanted to scream. But he was right. The court of public opinion had already deemed her a liar and a cheat, regardless of the truth.
“There’s got to be a way that we can communicate with each other. He might discover information that could help clear this mess up and vice versa. Shouldn’t we be in this together?”
There was a long pause. Gina could tell Sawyer was mulling the conundrum over in his head.
“Let me think about a safe way you two can talk without the tabloids catching wind of it. It’s your scandal, not mine. But until you have a truly private way to communicate, I’d suggest no more phone calls.”
He took the exit to Dry Creek. She recognized Mother Lode Road, where the coffee shop was. But when he turned off on a side street and drove for a few miles, she was in unfamiliar territory.
“Where are we?” The homes were close together with dirt driveways. In almost every yard there were a few goats, sheep, dogs, chickens, or a combination of all four.
A double-wide trailer in the style of a ranch house sat at the end of the cul-de-sac. Two tow trucks were parked on what passed for a lawn and a metal garage with four bays took up most of the property. In one of the inlets, she spied Sawyer’s Range Rover.
“This is Mama’s.” Sawyer parked under a shady tree in the dirt. “She owns the only tow service in town. Her son, Buck, is the local mechanic. You mind waiting while I check to see if my truck’s ready?”
“Sure.” It wasn’t as if she had anything better to do.
She pulled her hat down to cover her face. Today, she’d taken too many chances of being recognized. But what was she supposed to do—never leave her cabin? Even on the ranch there was Aubrey and Charlie’s construction crew. Wendy and Linda had told her to keep a low profile, not to lock herself away from all human contact.
She cracked the window for air, and watched Sawyer walk to the garage to the strains of “Save a Horse (Ride a Cowboy)” blaring from one of the car bays.
Ride a cowboy.
The thought had crossed her mind a time or two. Or three or four.
He returned a few minutes later and slid back into the driver’s seat. “Buck is waiting on parts, so no truck today.”
“It’s a good thing I waited.” It was a long walk home, she assumed, even though she didn’t have the foggiest notion where they were.
“Yup.” He reached inside his pocket and handed her his phone. “Put Danny’s number in there and I’ll call him to fill him in on the new protocol not to reach out to you anymore.”
So they were back to that again. He slid her a glance as if it was a test to see if she’d go along with him contacting Danny.
“You still think I’m lying, don’t you?”
“I believe you.” But his voice held a slight waver. Sawyer Dalton was nobody’s fool.
She respected him for that. It was the reason he was such a successful journalist. Despite her self-imposed banishment from the internet, she’d run a Google search on him. Sawyer had cred, writing for just about every respected publication out there. He hadn’t lied when he said he didn’t stoop to covering celebrity gossip. His stories were about wars, coups, corruption, and world leaders. And when he wasn’t traveling the globe, he was helping to run his family’s ranch.
Nope, Sawyer Dalton was no dupe.
