It took all of Suzy’s self-control not to let the food in her hands drop along with her stomach. This was the woman who’d hurt Duke, who’d done horrible things that made him run away and never look back.
Who he was convinced drove from Texas to Wyoming and vandalized his property.
And here she stood in all of her beautiful glory, wanting to talk to Suzy. Words escaped her as she struggled to figure out the right move.
Tears blurred Chrissy’s blue eyes, and she sniffed them back. “I’m sorry. It’s just…I don’t know anyone here and Duke won’t speak to me. I don’t want any trouble. I promise. Please, if I could have a few minutes of your time, I’d really appreciate it.”
A sliver of sympathy snaked through her suspicion. Besides, what harm could come from sitting down and having a conversation? Maybe she could get some answers from the other woman and find out for certain if she was responsible for the destruction from yesterday, or if they’d set their sights on the wrong person.
And someone else was out to get Duke and his sister.
8
Suzy took a sip of her coffee and winced. She’d forgotten to add the cream before sitting down at a corner table with Chrissy. The black liquid was like acid on her tongue, but she forced herself to swallow.
She opened the box of doughnuts. “Are you hungry? Would you like one?”
Chrissy shook her head and pressed her hands to her flat stomach. “No thank you. I’m such a bundle of nerves, I don’t think I could eat a darn thing.”
Suzy couldn’t help but smile at the twang in Chrissy’s voice. The same southern drawl she loved to hear from Duke.
Clearing her throat, Chrissy darted her gaze around the room like a cornered animal. “I’m sorry again to intrude. I just don’t know what else to do. I feel so stupid driving all the way up here without a plan. Turning back now would be such a waste, not to mention a bit of a hit on my pride. When I overheard you mention Duke’s name, I took it as a sign from the Lord himself to introduce myself. You said you work with him?”
“Well, kind of,” Suzy said, measuring her words carefully. “I work for the security company he and my brother own. They used to ride together on the rodeo circuit.”
“That damn rodeo.” Tears filled Chrissy’s eyes once more. “That’s when things took a bad turn for me and Duke. Has he told you about me? About us?”
“Not really,” Suzy said. “He’s more of my brother’s friend than mine.”
That wasn’t a total lie. Even if she’d spent countless hours with Duke the last few months, and he had recently mentioned a few concerning details about the woman in front of her, he hadn’t said much.
Just enough to make her nervous as hell about where this conversation might go.
Sighing, Chrissy plopped her elbow on the table and settled her head in her hand. “Typical. Here I am pining away, and he doesn’t even mention me. I swear, men can be so dense sometimes. So heartless.”
Although she may agree, Suzy kept her opinion to herself.
“When he left town years ago, he told me he’d be back. That he’d marry me and we’d start a family just like I always wanted. He said to be patient, returning home to visit when he could and helping me with bills I couldn’t pay. He said once he made it big, he’d buy us a ranch on a big patch of land and we’d raise our kids.”
Thank God Suzy didn’t have any coffee left in her mouth or she’d have spit it out. “You have kids together?”
A far-off look took Chrissy somewhere else. “Not anymore. That dream died a long time ago. Afterward, Duke’s visits become less and less frequent, but I never gave up hope. Never stopped planning for that future we’d wanted. Then…” She lifted her hands then let them fall to her lap.
Suzy’s heart shattered. Duke was tight-lipped about his past, but she’d never imagined he’d been through so much. That he’d lost a child.
But how could he paint this woman across from her in such a vile way? Chrissy lost something, too. And that kind of pain changed a person. If Duke didn’t understand that, maybe he wasn’t the man she thought he was.
“I’m so sorry,” Suzy said. “About everything. But I don’t understand how you and Duke ended up in this place. With him refusing to speak to you and you surprising him after not communicating in so long. What made you think now was the time to come and see him?”
Chrissy shrugged. “I can’t say, really. The last time I saw him was on the road, when he was bull riding still. We…talked.” A shy smile told Suzy that wasn’t all that happened between the two and her stomach revolted. “I thought we’d finally found each other again. But then poof. He was gone and I was left broken hearted again. Cowboys aren’t always the best at saying goodbye.”
Suzy snorted and shook her head. “They always find a reason to leave, don’t they?”
“So you understand?” Eyes lighting up, Chrissy edged forward on her seat. “You’ve loved and lost, and I pray to God whoever it was didn’t hurt you the way I’ve been hurt. Left you broken and a shell of the woman you used to be. That’s why I’m here. I’m done wallowing in self-pity. I’m done fooling myself into believing there could ever be anything between me and Duke, but to do that I need to look him in the eye and find out what went wrong. Then I can put everything behind me for good.”
“Does he know that’s what you want to talk about?”
Chrissy pinched off a bite of a doughnut and popped the pastry in her mouth. “I don’t know. He’s not the same person I used to know. He’s cynical and cold. Distant.”
