Laura came back with a frosted bottle for the cowboy, who raised it in a quiet toast before taking along pull. Cole’s beer arrived beaded with condensation, and he took a cold swallow, watching Aftyn turn her untouched wine glass slowly by the stem, the golden liquid catching the bar light.
“What’s going on in that head of yours?”
She exhaled. “I’m frustrated. I need her to know I’m here, Cole. I need to look her in the eye.”
“Confronting her at the restaurant wouldn’t have gone well for you.”
“I know that.” Her shoulders dropped. “But the next time our paths cross I’m not stepping aside. She needs to see me. She needs to know I’m onto her.”
“Yeah,” he said. “I reckon it’s time.”
And even as he said it, something hollow opened up in his chest. Once Aftyn faced her sister, there’d be nothing left keeping her in Clifton. He hadn’t expected that thought to land the way it did, with that much weight, and he wasn’t entirely sure what to do with it.
Chapter Twelve
An hour in, Aftyn was done. She’d tried to let the music and the noise carry her along but her mind kept circling back to the restaurant, to Avery sitting somewhere on the other side of that wall without a care in the world. She was tired of it. Tired of waiting. Though she did want to see her sister’s face when the moment finally came.
There was nothing quite like being stolen from. But your own sister doing it was something else entirely, something that didn’t have a clean word for it. The thing was, Aftyn would have given her the money. She’d had plenty before Avery found out about it, and she wouldn’t have thought twice about helping her. But Avery hadn’t asked.
Instead, she’d gone through the desk in the living room, gotten into the bank account online, and walked into the branch to close the savings account and drain it. The bank had refused to close the checking in case of outstanding transactions, so Avery had taken care of that herself, hitting ATMs wherever she found them until the balance was gone. She’d also taken everything from Aftyn’s wallet and put it neatly back inside her purse, clearly counting on Aftyn feeling the weight of it and not thinking to look. It had worked, at least for a while.
Aftyn knew she should have kept her purse in the bedroom. It had just become habit to hang it on the rack inside the door, and Avery had been staying with her long enough to know that. Things had beenfine until Judd came into the picture. Whatever was left of Avery’s better judgment seemed to have walked out the door with him.
Aftyn leaned toward Cole. “Can we go?”
“Of course.” He didn’t ask why. His hand slipped beneath her hair, warm against her nape, and he pressed his lips to her temple. “Let’s go.” He caught Laura’s eye across the bar.
Laura made her way over with a smile. “Another round, Cole?”
“Just the tab, please.”
“Be right back.”
Cole stood, pulled out his wallet, and handed Laura the bills when she returned with the tab, waving off the change. He took Aftyn’s hand as she hopped down from the stool and steered her through the crowd and out into the cold, where snow had begun to fall in thin, lazy flurries.
“Now it’s freezing,” Aftyn said, pulling her coat tighter.
“It’ll get colder before morning. Come on, let’s get home.” He tugged her hand, but she didn’t move.
He looked at her. “What’s wrong?”
She gave a small nod across the parking lot. Her jaw was tight. Cole followed her gaze and saw them, Avery and Judd, strolling hand in hand across the asphalt toward Dewey’s doors like they had all the time in the world and not a thing to answer for.
“Aftyn.” His voice was quiet but firm. “Not tonight. You let her know you’re here and she’ll run. You know she will.”
Aftyn looked at him and the fight went out of her shoulders because she knew he was right. Avery wouldn’t stay out of loyalty to a job or anything else. She’d be gone before morning if she felt cornered.
“I know.” She exhaled slowly. “I just want her to know she’s not going to walk away from this.”
“She’s not. Talk to Sam Monday morning. Let him handle it the right way.”
“Okay.” She watched Avery disappear through the double doors. “I should call Peterson too. Have him keep an eye on her.”
“Let’s head home.” Cole led her to the truck, opened her door, and once she was in he walked around and slid onto the seat. He nodded through the windshield. “There’s Peterson.”
They watched him cruise past without more than a glance in their direction and pull into a spot near the back.
“He followed them here,” Aftyn said.
