“Hey, if you’re not up to it—”
“I’m more than up to it,” he said. “I’m just trying to remember the last time I had a race.”
She shrugged. “Well, if you’re scared you’ll lose to a woman, then we can always go back to playing with your guns.”
“I’m not the one who’s scared,” he said. She was playing with him, she was making eyes at him and challenging him just for the fun of it. “If you think you can handle it.”
“I can handle it,” she said quickly.
“Where to?”
She looked around. “From here, to the end of the road and back again.”
“The yellow house?”
“The yellow house.” She smiled. “On your mark.”
“Really?” Lonnie laughed. “We’re just going to—”
“Get set, go!” Evelyn turned on her heel and launched herself down the road and away from Lonnie. He didn’t have the time to waste. As quickly as he could, he started after her, pumping his arms at his side, ignoring the slight twang in his knee, ignoring how these boots definitely weren’t made for running, and he was kicking up a lot of dust behind him. Suddenly the only thing on his mind was getting there first and beating her.
He ran toward the yellow house, almost catching up with her before she turned around and sprinted back toward her own home. Lonnie had to pick up the pace now, Evelyn was definitely quicker than she looked. He ran as hard as he could, pushing himself until his breath was coming in fits and starts, until he passed her and made it back to her front gate, leaving her behind in a cloud of dust.
He stopped and put his hands over his head, breathing in as deeply as he could, desperate to get air to his lungs as quickly as he could. Maybe he’d taken it a little bit too far.
Evelyn looked a little grumpy when she got back to the house, her mouth downturned, her eyes fixed on him. She actually looked a little… disappointed. There was a pang in Lonnie’s chest. He hated that he’d made her feel that way.
“Oh no,” he said. “Have I done the wrong thing? Should I have let you win?”
Evelyn laughed. “No, not at all.”
“But you look sad!”
“That was just an off day for me,” she said. “This doesn’t mean you’d always win. I nearly had you.”
“You did.”
“You can beat me in a footrace, sure,” she said. “But I am fast. I bet you can’t catch me.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, really.”
“I’ll give you a head start,” Lonnie said with a wide smile. She was toying with him with a very determined look in her eyes.
“Five seconds,” she said. “No more, no less, I don’t want you cheating or letting me win.”
“I wouldn’t dream of it,” he said. “Go on!” he added. “Five…four…”
Evelyn ran toward the back of the house, and when Lonnie got to “One”, he shouted it loudly and he heard her squeak as he gave chase. She was in the lead for a while, running down the garden, dodging past him, managing to keep out of his grip for a time. But she almost lost her footing and he caught her, reaching out and grabbing her arm. She stumbled and Lonnie stumbled with her, the two of them clattering onto the ground, rolling in the dirt, laughing so hard neither one of them could breathe.
They were laying side by side on the ground, tears blooming in their eyes, and rolling down their faces. Evelyn held her stomach as she laughed, and Lonnie laughed both at the situation they were in and at the sound of her laughter, possibly the most joyful sound he’d ever heard in his life.
But as the laughter faded away, leaving them both in silence, he found her eyes. They locked with his, and they stared at one another for a little while. He shuffled a little closer to her and she shuffled a little closer to him, the space between them so finite that all it would take was a little move from Lonnie and they would be kissing. And he so wanted to be kissing her.
But what if that was not what she wanted from him. If she didn’t want him to kiss her, it might just scare her off and since he had finally managed to get this close to her, that was the last thing he wanted.
Lonnie rolled away and got back to his feet. He helped Evelyn up and dusted off his clothes, walking back in the direction of the house. Evelyn followed him, the two of them walking a little closer than they were before, Lonnie noticed. He could feel something between them, an energy he couldn’t explain, and he wanted to do something, wanted to act on it, but he was scared. He was scared of losing what he had, and it was enough to paralyze him.
Chapter 16
Willard waited in the shadows of Evelyn’s house. He’d been there for some time, most of the day in fact, just waiting for her to come home. He’d heard noises outside, and braced himself for her to come in, but nothing came of it.
There was laughter outside, the sound of her voice, the sound of a man’s voice, a man he knew would have to be that new ranger they had wandering around these parts.
I told him to stay away, he thought. Clearly, he can’t take a simple instruction.
Willard let out a heavy breath, trying to calm himself down. He’d seen enough of Lonnie around to know he was a good for nothing, goody two shoes town boy, sticking his nose into things that had nothing to do with him. This was his business. His and Evelyn’s. It had nothing to do with some ranger who appeared out of nowhere.
He didn’t know Evelyn like he did, no matter how hard he tried. He’d seen the way she’d been mooning after him, the way she’d been falling all over herself just to spend time with him. It wasn’t right. Evelyn belonged to him; they were supposed to be together.
His hand hovered around the handle of his gun. He was shaking; the anticipation and the rage getting the better of him. He could finish it now if he wanted to. He could walk out there and challenge the man to a duel, or even just end it right now through the window.
Bang!
That’s all it would take and then Evelyn…
Willard shook his head.
Now, now, Willard, he thought. Steady as she goes.
He knew that Evelyn was his priority right now. No use in spilling his blood and sending Evelyn into a panic before he had a chance to talk to her. Because that’s all it would take. He knew that. He was sure that if he could just reason with her, then she would choose to come with him. They were meant to be together.
He knew he would have to deal with the ranger eventually. Then he would show him what he was truly made of. But for now he would have to live.
It’s only a matter of time, Willard thought as he continued to watch them through the window. Enjoy these moments, Lonnie, you won’t have too many more.
So, Willard continued to wait. He waited while more laughter rose up, while the snot-nosed daughter of the mayor arrived and had coffee with them, the three of them sitting out on the porch watching the sun go down.
How romantic, Willard thought.
But the sun faded eventually, and so did their evening together. The man left, and Willard’s blood began to boil at the thought of him touching her, at the thought of him kissing her. If the note wasn’t enough to scare him off, enough to get him to leave Evelyn alone, then maybe he needed to send a stronger message. Rose vanished after, disappearing off into the night, and leaving Evelyn by herself.
He waited as Evelyn opened the door to the house, locking it firmly behind her. He waited as she started to putter around the house, clearing up after her father, sweeping the floors, and he knew this would be his chance.
Willard snuck from the shadows of the house, the quiet corners he had been lurking in for most of the day and approached Evelyn. She was so stuck in her own world, so much in her own head that she didn’t even hear him approaching, didn’t know he was there until it was too late and his hand was wrapped around her mouth, his breath in his ear urging her to stay quiet.
“Shh,” he hissed in her ear. She tried to cry out. “If you scream, this will only get worse for you, Evelyn. Consider this a warn
ing.”
Suddenly, a searing pain burned through Willard’s hand and he let go. Blood was pouring from a now open wound on his fingers. Evelyn had bitten him.
She tried to bolt past him, but he stood in her way, blocking the path from the living room to the door. There was no way out unless she was planning to go through him.
“Now, now, sweetheart don’t go acting like that,” Willard growled. “You’re my woman after all, have been for some time now, you can’t have forgotten me after such a short time.”
“Don’t come any closer to me!” she barked. “Don’t you dare. If you come any closer, I swear I will scream.”
“Don’t overreact, my love,” Willard said, lowering his voice, knowing he needed to try a different tack if this wasn’t going to work on her. “Just calm down, I’m here to talk.”
“How long have you been here?” she breathed. “Were you here—”
“While your new love was outside?” Willard said. “Why yes, I had to suffer through all the laughing and giggling. I couldn’t ever picture you with such a goody goody, it didn’t seem very much like the Evelyn I know.”
“Well maybe you don’t know me as well as you think you do.”
Willard laughed. “I think I know you better than anyone else here,” he said. “I know that you still care for me.”
“You’re wrong!”
“I know that you want me back.”
“I don’t!”
“And I know you don’t really want to scream and alert the authorities, or your new man that I am here, because it means I’ll go to jail,” he smiled. It was a vicious sort of smile. He was sure he had her backed into a corner. But then she did something he wasn’t expecting. She opened her mouth and screamed.
Willard launched himself toward her, but Evelyn was quicker. She grabbed a book from a nearby shelf and threw it at him. She threw a chair, she threw whatever she could get her hands on, anything that would keep him away. There was a lot of noise. Willard didn’t know how long he had before someone would come along and see him here. If he was caught it would all be over, he’d never get her back.
“You want to know what else I know, Evelyn?”
The door to the house opened behind him and he turned to see Rose at the window.
“Rose, run, get Lonnie, get help, please!”
“Ask me what else I know, Evelyn!” Willard barked.
“What else do you know, Willard?” she obliged. “Because what I know right now is that you’re a few minutes away from getting caught and finally this nightmare will be over for me.”
Willard laughed. “You really think that’s true? You think I’m the nightmare?”
“You’ve been nothing but a nightmare to me, Willard,” she shouted. “You’ve been a dark cloud over my entire life, ever since you came into it. And the sooner you are out of it, the better. I’ve moved on. I have friends. I have Rose. I have Lonnie.”
“Oh, you really think you have Lonnie, do you?”
“Of course, I do!”
“Well, isn’t that sweet,” he said. “Because I’ve heard that dear old Lonnie doesn’t quite feel the same way about you.”
“What are you talking about?”
Willard laughed. If she wouldn’t willingly come with him before, this would surely be enough to turn her head. “Word on the street is that Lonnie isn’t interested in you at all.”
“I told you,” Evelyn said, her voice shaking a little. “Lonnie is my friend.”
“Oh no, Evelyn, you misunderstand me. I mean he isn’t interested in you as a friend or a lover,” Willard said. “He’s only using you to get to me.”
“You’re out of your mind!” she shouted.
“Am I?” Willard crowed. “Ask him. I dare you. Or ask the sheriff. He’s got a job to do here, Evelyn, and I’m the biggest, baddest criminal around. That boy wants to be a sheriff, what better way is there to become a sheriff than to capture somebody like me? And to get to somebody like me, why, all he needs to do is get close to somebody like you, somebody who was close to me in the first place.”
“You’re wrong,” Evelyn replied, but she didn’t sound sure. And that was all Willard really needed. If what he’d heard was true, then Lonnie would break her heart eventually anyway. But if it all turned out to be true after all, maybe he could get her back after all of this. He was the only man who would ever love her, he knew that for certain.
“I’m not wrong, Evelyn,” Willard said. “I’ve heard whispers all over, and I know exactly what’s going on in this town. You think that awful Miss Sylvia has the gossip and the hearsay, if you knew what I knew, your head would spin.”
There was a noise outside, horse’s hooves along the dirt. He realized it was time for him to run.
“I’ll come back for you, Evelyn,” he said. “And I’ll be waiting for you when you change your mind!”
“Don’t bother.”
“Oh, don’t be like that dear,” he said. “There is a new life for both of us just on the horizon, and I need you to be ready for when I come back. I’ve been preparing.”
And Willard ran, disappearing into the night.
Chapter 17
Lonnie checked every window, every door, locking everything tight and double-checking it before he left. Evelyn couldn’t bring herself to look at him the whole time he was there. Willard’s words had not left her mind. Could he really be using her? It didn’t feel like it could be true, it didn’t feel like it was in his nature at all. Lonnie was so sweet, so caring. Why would he use her like that?
As he was about to leave, he turned back to face her once more. “Are you–”
“I’m fine,” Evelyn snapped.
He reached out toward her, trying to place a caring hand on her shoulder, but she shrugged him away.
“Evelyn,” he said quietly. “I know you’re scared but—”
“I’m not scared,” she snapped. “I’m fine, will you just go?”
He looked hurt. Confused. Evelyn didn’t care. She needed to force herself to not care.
Rose stayed with her for a while after Lonnie left, making sure that she was okay. Her father wasn’t really any the wiser. He hadn’t been feeling all that well, so he had spent the day in bed. Even when Willard had been there, she wasn’t sure he’d noticed. He was so far gone. That just made her feel worse. Her father was in the house with her and there was nothing he could do to protect her. She truly was all alone. Especially if Lonnie really was using her, like Willard said he was.
She lay awake most of the night thinking it over. Lonnie was obsessed with catching Willard. He didn’t bring it up with her often but when they’d first met it had consumed him. She’d noticed it. She’d hated it about him. He’d not mentioned it so much recently, but after what happened with Billy, he’d watched her even more closely.
Maybe Willard was right.
This was something she never thought she’d think, but the signs were pointing to Lonnie being willing to use her just to get to Willard.
Evelyn barely slept that night. All she could really think of was Lonnie and how she was convinced she had made a friend, her first friend for quite some time in this awful little town, and it turned out he was just as bad as everyone else.
No.
Lonnie was worse. Because at least everyone else in town just let her be, Lonnie was actively using her to get to Willard, exploiting her. It was wrong. He was using her to get a badge.
As she walked to work the following morning, she ran it all over in her head again. She knew it all seemed a little too good to be true. After everything that had happened in her life, what was one more terrible thing happening to her. She didn’t deserve someone like Lonnie anyway, at least not someone like the Lonnie he had pretended to be around her—kind, caring, willing to look after her, and make sure she didn’t get hurt.
I was right all along, she thought.
Men are awful. And Lonnie is just another man after all.
As she walked to the stor
e, she saw Lonnie coming out of the sheriff’s office.
“Hey! Evelyn!” he called.
But she kept walking. She put her head down and walked as quickly as she could to the store, opening it and locking the door behind her. She didn’t want to face him right now. If she faced him, she’d probably hit him, or make a scene, and she didn’t want to give anyone in town any more ammunition against her. She would just have to wait it out. He’d give up eventually.
He was waiting for her when she finished that evening, and it just made her hate him more.
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