by Vanessa Vale
I held up my hands to tell him I was backing off, then leaned against the wall outside the bathroom to wait.
He came out a minute later. “As your lawyer, I’m telling you you’ve got a problem with Mandy. She’s not going away, and based on the phone call from her lawyer that accompanied the letter in my briefcase, she’s batshit crazy. I guess he’s been paid so far in cash but is doing this for the big payout when she wins.”
I had no idea what he’d done in the crapper, but he came out all business, even if he walked back to the gurney at the pace of an eighty-year-old. I didn’t like anything he said. Mandy had been crazy enough to lie to me because she wanted my cash and was now back. That meant she was probably crazier than ever.
“I’ll do whatever it takes to protect Claire.”
“Mandy’s her mom, and she’s threatening to exercise that right. She wants custody.”
Like that was ever going to fucking happen.
I’d met Mandy when I was in Helena at the police academy. I’d been twenty-four, and she’d lived in the same crappy apartment building. She’d been a hot fucking mess, to put it nicely. Drugs. Random men. Shouting matches with them at all hours of the day and night. It had been annoying, but I’d been angry and dealing with having to walk away from Sarah. If I wasn’t at the academy, I drank. Often I’d pass out. Black out even.
One morning she’d been in my kitchen making me eggs. Said we’d fucked. I hadn’t remembered a thing, but with how out of control I’d been, it hadn’t been all that surprising. Horrible and a stupid fucking mistake since Sarah had been the only one I’d wanted. The fact that I’d been one of Mandy’s random hookups had been the wake-up call I’d needed for the way I’d dealt with a broken heart. I’d dumped all the whiskey down the drain, carted the empties to the recycling, and gotten tested for any and all STDs. I’d been clean, but three weeks later Mandy had knocked on my door and told me she was pregnant. With my kid.
It had taken a while—a fucking understatement—to come to terms with the fact that I was going to have a baby, and not with Sarah as I’d always imagined. I’d broken up with Sarah because I’d had to, but it hadn’t gone down easy. And then I’d fucked it up even more.
Mandy hadn’t been the model pregnant woman. She hadn’t changed her ways at all. Partying. Men. When her actions had endangered my unborn kid, I’d stepped in. She’d lost her shit, and I knew if I was going to get her out of the picture, I needed to use every bit of what I’d learned at the academy to my advantage. I took pictures. Video of her less-than-motherly behavior.
She’d had the baby without ever having called me. I’d shown up at the hospital and overheard her tell a friend I wasn’t the father and she’d been playing me all along. We hadn’t even fucked like she’d said. It was then I pulled out my evidence, called Kale, and forced her to terminate her rights and give me full custody. Fifty thousand also sweetened the pot. She’d walked out of that hospital less than twenty-four hours after having Claire, paperwork signed, and never looked back.
I became a daddy to a baby that wasn’t mine, officially confirmed later by a paternity test. But one look at newborn Claire and there had been no going back. I hadn’t cared whose DNA she carried. I’d thought she was mine for months, and I was keeping her.
I’d finished the academy and returned to The Bend with a newborn. My child.
Five years later Claire thrived on the ranch. I might not have been the sperm donor, but I was her father. Only Kale, my brothers Sawyer and Thatcher, and Alice, our housekeeper, knew the truth.
I hadn’t heard from Mandy in all this time. “She’s not here for custody. She never wanted Claire. Hasn’t been involved in her life one fucking bit. Why now?”
He looked to me, shifted, and winced. “Cash, probably.”
I sighed, ran a hand over the back of my neck. It was the Manning money she was after. The family ranch was huge. Me and my brothers were set for life between the land and the inheritance from our parents. But we worked for a living. Mannings were never idle.
“If she knows where to find me, even through you, she knows I’m chief of police. Not the best person to extort.”
He dropped his head back on the stiff pillow. “I didn’t say she was smart, but she does have Claire’s DNA.”
“I’ll pay her if it keeps Claire safe and happy.”
Kale shifted. “Yeah, well. You did that once and she’s back. Her lawyer sent papers that outlined that you’re not Claire’s biological father and she’ll fight for custody.”
“Unless…”
“Unless you pay her more. Child support.”
“How does she have money for a lawyer?” I wondered.
His head rocked back and forth in a pseudo-headshake. That made him close his eyes for a second. “She doesn’t. Like I said, he wrote a letter, nothing more. Maybe a hundred bucks. The real payout’s from you.”
I laughed and ripped the curtain back a little more. “I’m the one supporting the child. Jesus,” I muttered. Claire was mine. She deserved a life without Mandy in it. She’d only ruin her. I couldn’t even imagine my sweet blonde-haired child with that crazy bitch. I thanked God often I’d gotten her away from that woman. Claire was off to kindergarten in the fall. Smart as a whip. My little cowgirl. The only thing she might be missing in her life was a front tooth and a mama.
I ran a hand over my face. Sighed. “I’ll call Mandy. Go see her tonight and make it clear she has no case.”
“The bachelor auction’s tonight,” he reminded me. “Not sure whose wrath is worse, Mandy or Alice.”
It was my turn to grimace at how my housekeeper would respond if I didn’t show. Kale had practically grown up on the ranch with me and my brothers and knew Alice well. “Fine. I’ll call her instead. Make a visit some other time.”
I’d been informed the on Wednesday I was to be in the fundraiser that was at the community center tonight. Alice had volunteered me along with Sawyer and Thatcher for the event. Kale was one of the bachelors as well, but he obviously was out now. The event and cause were a good one, but I wasn’t interested in dating. I had a kid, and I wasn’t bringing just any woman around Claire.
I thought of Sarah O’Banyon. Long blonde hair that I used to capture with my fingers. Full lips that turned pink and swollen from my kisses. Small breasts that fit my palms perfectly. A pussy that I’d sunk into and found heaven on earth.
I’d thought she would be mine, every inch of her… until her dad threatened me. Told me I was a punk, partying and drinking, not giving much of a shit about anything since my parents had died. All of that had been true. Sarah had deserved more, he said. Her older sister, Lynn, had been dating Bunky at the time, and her dad had used her as a comparison. They were married now, and if what the rumor mill said was true, it was far from a happy marriage.
Bill O’Banyon had wanted Sarah to go to college and make something of herself. Something better than to be with a little shit like me. His words had hit their mark because he’d been right. I had been a little shit. But not to Sarah. She’d been the only person to see past my wild ways to my hurt. To my grieving.
I’d been man enough to stand up to him all those years ago, defending what Sarah and I had, until he said he’d cut her off and not pay for her college.
I’d laughed because with the Manning money, I could give Sarah anything she ever wanted.
Except her father himself.
And that was where I’d stopped the fight. I’d had to walk away. It had been a fucking nightmare, lying through my teeth to her, breaking both our hearts because her dad was a dick. Because he’d tossed out the one ultimatum I couldn’t fight.
I’d lost my parents in a plane crash when I was fourteen. I knew what it was like without a father. I wanted to be Sarah’s family, but she needed more than me.
So I’d walked. Let her go to college. I’d gone to the academy with the hopes of being worthy of her love.
Until Mandy and then Claire.
When Sara
h had returned from her first year at college, I’d had a newborn. To Sarah and the entire town, I’d moved on. No one wanted the truth. They’d assumed. I’d hoped, perhaps stupidly, that Sarah would come to me after she saw I’d pulled my shit together. But she hadn’t.
I’d wanted Sarah, but Claire was my child.
After all this time, Sarah was the one I wanted… and I wasn’t sure if that said how sad of a fucker I was or if what I’d felt for her was the only real love I was ever going to know.
“The only way to get out of the auction is to be like me.” Kale lifted his non-IV’d arm to point at his head. “Avoid a cow.”
“I’ll deal with Mandy,” I said on a sigh. “And show up for the auction. I have to go track down a loose cow before anyone else gets hurt. Then I’ve got to pick up Claire from her school’s summer camp.”
“Tell her Uncle Kale will take her to the library next week.”
I huffed out a laugh at their usual date activity. “Maple had puppies. I think you’re low on her list right now.”
He gave a look of mock horror. “My favorite girl blinded by puppies? I’ll stop by then. She can show them off. Might even pick one for myself. My papers and other things are still in my truck. Graham said he’d get it towed and have my briefcase at the station for me. Can you check on that? Because I don’t want it going to the junkyard before it’s cleaned out.”
“Anything else? For a guy laid up because of a cow, you’re pretty needy.”
He gave me the middle finger. Yeah, he was going to be fine. I gave him the bird right back and left the ER. I had shit to do, including tracking down a damned cow.
3
SARAH
* * *
Friday afternoon
* * *
I pulled the flatbed tow truck over to the side of the road just past where the older pickup had stopped in the field. It was clear it had missed the turn and gone straight into the alfalfa, taking the wire fencing and a post with it. Even from where I sat, I could see the front axle was bent so bad one of the tires was facing sideways. The front bumper was at the base of the ditch, ripped off when the truck had hit nose-first.
Before I turned off the engine, I noticed on the dash that the tow truck’s temperature gauge was a little high. Closing my eyes for a second, I mentally swore at Roy and my dad for ignoring the coolant. I pushed open the door and jumped down from the seat, grabbing my work gloves.
Graham Armstrong was the deputy on scene. The only one, in fact, who remained to wait for me. He approached, offering an easy smile. I’d gone to school with his younger sister, who had the same red hair. “Surprised to see you here,” he said. “You don’t usually go out on calls.”
I frowned because while he was making only small talk, he’d struck a nerve. It was true. While my father called O’Banyon Auto Shop a family business, all I usually touched were the books. My father wouldn’t let me touch the cars, whether on an accident like this or in one of the three repair bays in the shop. At least, not if he was around. I did, on occasion, without him knowing, when one of the guys who worked for him wasn’t available. These days it was only Dad and Roy, the other mechanic.
I’d graduated with my business degree but had stayed in Bozeman for my accountant certification, finally returning to The Bend at twenty-three. Now I ran my own bookkeeping business, handling the paperwork for a number of companies in town. This included tackling the billing, accounts, and all things behind-the-scenes for my father. I used modern software and a computer, although Dad gave me his paperwork usually in a shoebox or a stack of bills and invoices on his desk. He didn’t care about the business aspect and it showed. He relied on me for it. Always had since I was in middle school.
Even though I was a number cruncher, I knew my way around an engine. And a tow truck. I’d been able to fix a carburetor when I was eleven. My friends had compared me to Mona Lisa Vito, the wife from the film My Cousin Vinny, who knew everything about cars. I’d always wanted to be like my dad and be a mechanic and run a shop. Since winters were long in Montana, I’d spent a lot of free time reading, learning, and puttering. Even now I had my own tools in the one-car garage connected to my house to work on things, like my vintage Jeep and my neighbor’s lawn mower.
I wanted to run the shop with my dad. Take it over when he retired. He’d always been resistant to the idea, which annoyed me. He’d been pushing me off, again and again. Fortunately my accounting business was busy and my bank account filled, which kept me from grumbling too much. He was stringing me along, and up until now I’d been okay with it. Lately I’d been unsettled, ready to hash it out one way or the other. Especially since Roy was a no-show. Again.
But even if I wanted to strike out on my own, I couldn’t open a repair shop in such a small town, especially if my father was the competition. He needed me. He just didn’t want to admit it. Doing so would mean I’d been right… that while I’d always wanted to go to college, I also wanted to fix cars.
I tipped my sunglasses up onto the top of my head. “My dad’s at Sturgis. Gets back later today or tomorrow, I think.”
Graham nodded in understanding. The huge motorcycle rally in South Dakota was a motorcyclist’s annual mecca and one my dad never missed. He’d been gone all week. “Where’s Roy?”
I tried not to frown. “No idea. I’m guessing still in bed.”
I filled in for him often enough. Knew he was a hard partier and a hard drinker. I’d have fired him a while ago, but my father didn’t see an issue. Except he didn’t know I covered. It was the only way to get my hands beneath a hood at the shop and the only way the place was going to stay in business.
“You told your pop that?” The question indicated that Graham knew my dad and his personality. Gruff and old-fashioned. Stuck in his ways. Stuck in his ways about me.
I laughed, tugged my second glove on. “Hell, no.”
When I argued that was what I wanted to do with my life, he’d tossed up his hands and pointed out that my sister, Lynn, had listened to him. Found a better life than a blue-collar mechanic’s daughter.
Lynn was married to Tom Bunker, known around town as Bunky, and had two kids. She was miserably unhappy, but she was also shallow. She stuck it out because her husband was rich and she liked expensive things more than a loving spouse.
Turning, I set my hands on my hips and checked out the wreck. I was done talking about my screwed-up family dynamics. “What happened here?” I asked, although it was pretty obvious.
Graham pointed and I turned to look in that direction.
“The cow?” One dark cow stood eating grass on the side of the road. Only prairie and big sky was behind her.
“It was Kale Bradford versus the Hereford.”
I glanced back at the truck. “Looks like the Hereford won. Is Kale okay?” I hadn’t seen the guy in a long time. Not since Huck and I had dated, as they were best friends.
“He’s fine. A little beat-up.”
“The truck’s not,” I said. “That axle damage is enough for any insurance company to total it.”
Graham scratched the back of his neck. The sun was warm, and it felt good to be away from my desk and balancing a spreadsheet. “That’s my thinking.”
“I’m on it. I’ll get it loaded up so you can do something besides stand on the side of the road.”
He gave a shrug, then checked his watch. “The bachelor auction’s tonight. Gotta go spiff up.”
I spun on my booted heel and eyed the guy up and down. “Some woman’s going to empty her bank account for you.”
He blushed as red as his hair, then swiped his fingernails over his uniform shirt as if buffing them. Graham was a nice guy. Sweet. Caring. He’d make a fine husband, but not mine. I’d been off men for a long time. Too long. My friends said I had cobwebs on my vagina. Sadly it had been a while.
“Maybe I should buy myself a guy,” I said to him, joking. Although if I was going to get back in the dating game, this was one way to do it.
; “The Mannings are up for sale.” His chin was tipped down, and he gave me a cautious look. Butterflies danced around in my stomach at the mention of the Manning boys. My mind went to one in particular.
Tall, blond, gorgeous. He had a quick smile that could make any woman hand him her panties. I knew that for a fact.
“Huck Manning had his chance and walked away,” I said, frowning. Graham knew exactly what I was talking about. So did everyone in town, even though it was old news. “I think Claire Manning’s proof of that.” I shrugged and tried to play it off. “Thatcher and Sawyer aren’t hard on the eyes though.”
“If that’s all you’re looking for, check out this face right here.” He pointed at himself.
I burst out laughing, and so did he.
Carefully I worked my way down the embankment to Kale’s truck. While the driver’s door had a dent, it opened easily. Papers were strewn across the bench seat, and I pushed them away to climb behind the wheel. I needed to get in to put the vehicle in neutral so it would roll when the winch pulled it onto the flatbed. I grabbed the gearshift and got it into the right gear, but the papers caught my eye. I collected them all into a pile to stick back into the briefcase that had obviously opened in the crash. The top paper looked like a legal document—Kale Bradford was a lawyer—but it was Huck Manning’s name that caught my attention.
I had to take a guess, since they were best friends, that Kale was Huck’s legal counsel. I shouldn’t have snooped at something that was probably confidential, but when it had Huck’s name on it, I didn’t give a shit.
I skimmed it quickly, then started over, this time reading it slower. It was a letter from some lawyer in Helena for his client, an Amanda Oglethorpe of Helena. He stated that while Huck wasn’t Claire Manning’s biological father, he was currently the legal guardian of her. Amanda Oglethorpe was intending to take Huck to court for her maternal rights to be reinstated.
