Clearly, he was losing his mind. Had he imagined the whole thing? Stress could do that to a person, and God knows Baz was dealing with stress. He was attempting to keep JJ from picking up on it, but he was anxious about the baby. More specifically, the health of JJ and the baby. Every time they went to the doctor, he feared the worst. He had no idea why, but sometimes fear wasn’t logical. They were both healthy, the doctor had assured him.
Baz reached his truck and pushed the cart near the back wheel. He opened the back door and began transferring the things into the truck.
A car pulled up behind his truck, and he flinched, turning to see who it was. Turned out to be a man waiting for someone to back out of a space close to the door.
“You’re losin’ it, Buchanan,” he muttered to himself.
After returning the cart to the rack that held them, he walked back to his truck and closed the back door. He opened the front to get in and noticed the flowers the guy had been holding were sitting in his seat. There was a card.
He snatched it up and opened it. A note was scrawled in neat little block letters: YOUSHOULD’VESAIDYES. MOLLY’STHELOVEOFYOURLIFE,REMEMBER?
Baz stepped back and searched the parking lot. He saw a woman getting into a car a couple of aisles over. She could’ve been Molly based on her height and build, but she was wearing a ball cap, so he couldn’t see her hair. Before she got into the car, she turned toward him and smiled.
Fuck.
It was her.
An SUV pulled forward, blocking his view. When it finally moved past, the car and Molly were gone.
How the fuck had she found him?
Chapter Twenty-Four
Atticus had never been on a datebefore.
Although Carson hadn’t come out and said that was what this was, it was obvious. Atticus had met Carson at the diner for dinner, then halfway through the meal, Carson suggested they go to the concert in the park. Evidently, it was an event that took place every Friday night in August. Atticus wouldn’t say it was really his thing, but he had a good time, then accepted Carson’s invitation to go to Moonshiners to grab a drink.
Now, here they were, nursing beers at a table near the wall while half of Coyote Ridge paraded through the place, greeting people they knew. It was too loud to hold a conversation, but that didn’t stop Carson from making small talk. Atticus kept up, listening as Carson gave him the scoop on the people he knew. Most of which were family. Atticus didn’t even attempt to memorize all the names this time. He’d forgotten the others already, so he figured it was pointless.
“That girl there … that’s Honor. She’s secretly datin’ Luca. You know him.”
“If it’s a secret, how do you know?”
Carson chuckled. “Theythink it’s a secret. But it’s all over town. Evidently, someone saw ’em makin’ out at the bookstore.”
Interesting.
“That’s Jaxson,” Carson said, nodding toward a tall cowboy in the corner. “He’s my oldest brother.”
“Is he married?”
“Nope. But he’s got a thing for one of the sisters who run Dead Heat Ranch. I don’t know which one. Not sure I wanna know.”
Atticus grinned, but as soon as it formed, it fell away as Slade approached their table.
Please, God, don’t let him stick his nose where it doesn’t fucking belong.
“Carson,” Slade greeted with a terse edge to his tone.
“Slade. You know Atticus, don’t you?”
Atticus glanced at Carson. Was he imagining that, or had it sounded like Carson was taunting Slade?
“We work together,” Slade said, only glancing at Atticus briefly.
Carson leaned back in his chair, regarding Slade carefully. “I heard y’all shared a hotel room.”
This time Slade did look his way, but Atticus couldn’t tell what he was thinking.
