They said you were a coward.
Was that what he was threatening to tell the town? But he wasn’t a coward. Not now . . . and yet . . .
He couldn’t have used that pistol if he’d needed to. He could hardly even hold the weapon without falling apart. Perhaps he hadn’t been a coward then, but it sure seemed he was now.
What would he have done if the man hadn’t left? If he’d gone after Ruthann again? He’d just stood there like a fool who’d never held a gun before. Useless and broken.
He had promised Ruthann that he would keep her safe. He’d promised Stuart.
But he couldn’t protect her.
Nate glanced at her now, her eyes studying the way ahead of them, her arm wrapped securely around his, and that pistol safely held in her other hand. It was as if she was the one protecting him.
He was grateful, and ashamed.
She deserved so much better.
Chapter Twenty-one
“I’LL SEND SOMEONE BYonce an hour,” Sheriff Young said as Ruthann walked him through the studio to the door.
“Thank you, I do appreciate that. Oh! Do you want to take that pistol with you?”
He shook his head. “Keep it. Nate earned that one fair and square. Perhaps you should take it with you when you leave the studio. Have him show you how to use it, if you don’t know.”
Ruthann nodded. It was a good suggestion, even if she couldn’t fathom carrying a gun in her pocket just to walk around the town where she’d spent her entire life.
Nor was she entirely sure Nate would show her how it worked, given the stricken look on his face when she’d pried the pistol from his fingers earlier.
“Thank you, Sheriff. Please give Penny my best,” she said.
“She’ll be around to visit again soon, I’m sure.” Sheriff Young bid her farewell, and after he stepped out into the growing dusk, she secured the door behind him.
In the shadowy studio, she paused at the bottom of the stairs. Nate had been strangely quiet ever since he’d chased after that man. His eyes seemed far away, as if his mind had gone somewhere else entirely, and while he responded to the questions she and the sheriff had asked, his voice was flat.
What could she do to help him? Ruthann thought on that as she climbed the stairs. It was hard to know when she didn’t understand specifically what bothered him so much to start with. He’d returned to Cañon City a different person than he was when he’d left, and it certainly had to do with the very little he’d told her about his time away. It was what caused that haunted sort of look in his eye she’d seen from time to time.
