She put the phone on speaker. “Hi.”
“I just wanted to let you know that Danielle has reserved town hall next week for a debate. I imagine you’re going to find out, but I don’t know when she’s going to tell you.”
“Oh.”
“Yeah. But I keep an eye on the schedule.”
“Well, thanks. I don’t think Danielle has my number, so I wonder how I was supposed to find out.”
“I wouldn’t be surprised if you were supposed to find out when it got posted around town. Or went up on the community board online. Somehow, I don’t think she wants this to be fair, exactly.”
“Well, thank you, Millie,” Jessie said. And then her face took on a determined look. “I’ll be ready.”
She ended the call and looked directly at Flynn. “I’m going to need your help preparing for this. You know the kind of person your sister is.”
“So do you. I have a feeling you’ve got this.” He was irritated, though. That Danielle was taking every opportunity to be as underhanded as possible. Maybe William was wrong. Maybe the town ofRustler Mountain wasn’t the problem. Maybe the problem was people like Danielle, people like Sheriff Lee Talbot, who had conspired with Butch Hancock all those years ago to betray Austin Wilder so that he would look like a good person. A hero. Even though he was taking bribes and doing all manner of unsavory things.
Maybe the whole town just needed the opportunity to see who they all really were. All of them. From Danielle to Jessie Jane.
“You’re going to be amazing,” he said. “I know it. And I’m going to help you with whatever you need.”
Because for a while there, he had been Team Revenge.
But at this point, he was unapologetically Team Jessie Jane.
Chapter 12
He walks with me most days. He never asks me for a thing.
—Belle Martin’s Diary, May 1868
She had glitter all over her face, and in her hair. She was wearing a prairie dress, which wasn’t her normal garb for the shows, but it seemed to fit the new routine tonight. All she could think of was the fact that Flynn was in the audience. It made her heart beat just a little bit faster. He had watched her perform earlier, and she was almost certain she had done better because he was there.
Don’t go getting attached to him.
She reallydidn’twant to do that. Because that was the whole reason she had put off sex in the first place. Not wanting to be vulnerable. Not wanting to get …
To get to the point she wanted something she couldn’t have.
Enjoying his company was one thing. Getting overly emotional about it was another.
“Your man is here,” West said as he walked by her.
“I know.” She responded as if she hadn’t just been thinking about him. As if she hadn’t just been wondering.
She had butterflies in her stomach, which was unlike her. But maybe it was okay that he gave her butterflies.
Just maybe. She mounted her horse and took a deep breath.
“Don’t drop me,” she said to West.
“Don’t dropyourself, sis.”
“You’re so encouraging.”
“Hey. I’m here as backup. But you’d better not need the backup.”
“Oh blah blah blah.”
