It's In His Heart (A Red River Valley Novel)

by Shelly Alexander

  Now it all made sense. That’s what she’d been doing on her laptop. That’s why she didn’t have to go back to a teaching job. That’s why she was here in Red River ruining his life, putting his future in jeopardy. All to make more money off her books.

  After Kim, he’d vowed not to get sucked in by another conniving female, but he’d done just that. He probably could’ve handled the situation a little more discreetly, but still, she had it coming. Ella had lied to him, manipulated him, and then knifed him in the chest. Almost literally. He’d felt the blood drain from his chest like his heart had been ripped out when he realized the extent of her deceit.

  He’d been crashing on Butch’s sofa the past week and intended to do so until Ella left Red River. He didn’t know when that would be; fall was still several weeks away. But he’d have to tough it out, because he wasn’t about to share a cabin with her anymore. If she didn’t leave soon, he’d see if she would buy him out and he’d rent a place. She obviously had the money.

  And he wasn’t about to return any of the half dozen calls from her that he’d let go to voice mail.

  So why did he feel so crummy about it all? About the way he’d talked to her, about the thought of her leaving and not sharing his bed anymore? Every night when he bedded down on his dad’s sofa, he felt a mixture of regret and anger, because no matter how mad he was at her, no matter how badly she’d betrayed him, he wanted her with him. In his bed. Every night.

  He dried another glass and slammed it on the shelf.

  Butch and Orland sidled up to the bar, and they both ordered the usual. Coop filled two frosty mugs with Budweiser and topped off the foam.

  “Still haven’t come to your senses?” Orland asked.

  “Excuse me?” Coop asked.

  “Ella,” Orland said, like just mentioning the name was self-explanatory. “You still haven’t talked to her?”

  “I have nothing to say to Ella Dennings,” Coop said flatly.

  “Sure you do.” Orland drew on his beer. “You got plenty to say to her. Some of it nice, some of it not so much. Either way, get it off your chest and move on, before it’s too late.”

  “After what she did? You think I should just get over it? Talk it out like she forgot to mention breaking an old fishing rod or something?” Coop tried to keep his voice calm but wasn’t exactly successful.

  Orland thought about it for a moment. “Yeah,” he finally said. “I do.”

  Butch just sat quietly. Coop figured it was because his dad wasn’t exactly an expert on getting relationships to work out with a happily-ever-after ending.

  “And what if I end up in court with her book being used as evidence against me?”

  Orland shrugged. “Maybe she should’ve asked before she put her . . . uh . . . experiences with you in her book for the entire world to read, but it’s not exactly her fault if you end up in court to begin with. That one’s on you, buddy.”

  “I didn’t force myself on Kim Arrington,” Coop hissed.

  “I believe you and so does everybody else in Red River, but that doesn’t matter,” said Orland.

  Coop tossed the bar towel over one shoulder and folded his arms across his chest. “Really? Then what does matter?”

  For the first time since the two old geezers sat down, Butch spoke up. “What matters is that Ella gave you the benefit of the doubt when none of your so-called friends back in Albuquerque would even speak to you.” Butch set his beer down on the bar and measured his words carefully. “Son, I’ve never talked much about your mother. Mostly because you didn’t want to hear it. But that was the easy way out for me. I’m your father and I should’ve made you listen. You’ve blamed your mother all these years, but I could’ve easily gotten her to stay with me, with us. I was just too selfish at the time to listen to her needs. She didn’t ask for much. If I’d thought of her a little more, she would’ve stayed. I realized that after I got over being angry when she left. It took me about a year, but I drove out to California to get her. It was too late.”

  Coop’s mind raced. “You . . . wait . . . you went to California to get her back?”

  “Yes, I did.”

  “But, when? I don’t remember that.”

  “You and Bradley went to baseball camp the year after she left. You were in El Paso for a week. That’s when I drove out there to win her back. I told her I’d start considering what she wanted, what made her happy. Promised her I’d change and start thinking more of her, take her on a vacation besides Red River, maybe even go to one of those romantic movies once in a while.”

  Coop was still trying to wrap his mind around it. “But she didn’t come back with you. What happened?”

  “She’d already moved on. Started over. She said if I’d told her that before she left Albuquerque, there might’ve been a chance for us. But I was too stubborn and selfish and I refused.” Butch took another long drink, letting the memories form into words. “Her heart was already too hardened toward me because of what I’d put her through. And because I let you believe it was all her fault. She didn’t want me anymore.”

  “It was her fault, Dad.”

  Butch shook his head. “No, son. You can’t dance a two-step alone. But I took the coward’s way out and let you believe that. She was the best thing that ever happened to me, and I let her go without trying to get her to stay and work it out. I was a fool. So everything that happened after that was my fault. Getting married again so many times, putting you through all that, that was my desperate attempt to forget that I messed up. The only good thing that came out of all my stupidity was you and Cal.”

  Coop just stared at his dad, disbelief spiraling around his head like smoke. “Why didn’t you ever tell me this?” Coop whispered.

  “I tried a few times, but you’d get mad and storm out. I guess I didn’t really know how to make you listen, or maybe I just didn’t want to. But it’s time you hear it anyway, because the best thing that’s ever happened to you is packing up her things as we speak to leave town. Probably for good.”

  Coop tried to wrap his head around that. So much wrapping in such a short span of time was making his brain hurt. “Ella’s packing? To leave?”

  “That’s what I hear,” Butch said as he downed another drink from his mug.

  Orland added, “They’re having a going-away party for her right here at Joe’s. You’re not invited, by the way, since it’s supposed to be a happy occasion and all. But you didn’t hear that from us.”

  Coop pulled into his usual parking spot behind the cabin, but Ella’s new SUV was gone. His chest tightened, and he stared at the back door. What if he was too late?

  Atlas whined, easing his head over the console from the backseat, and licked at Coop. Coop looked at him and chuckled. “You missed home, huh?” He scratched Atlas’s head. “So do I,” he said and looked at the cabin again.

  He should go inside, but he was afraid of what he would find in there. Or not find. If Ella was already gone, he didn’t want to face how royally he’d screwed up.

  Reluctantly, he got out of the truck and opened the back passenger door for Atlas, who bounded out and made for the cabin like a flash of lightning. As soon as Coop’s boot connected with the first step, Winston’s deep bark rumbled on the other side of the door.

  Relief surged through him. Ella was still in town.

  Atlas jumped and barked at the door while Coop unlocked it. When he finally pushed it open, the two dogs tumbled across the floor like two long-lost soul mates that had been separated for an eternity. Coop laughed.

  They were inseparable, and Atlas had moped around for days without Winston. Kind of like him without Ella.

  Atlas and Winston obviously loved each other. And Coop loved Ella.

  The realization hit him square in the chest and knocked the air from his lungs.

  He glanced around the cabin and rubbed at his chest, try
ing hard to catch his breath. When Ella moved into the cabin a few months ago, she didn’t have a lot of belongings with her. Several suitcases of clothes, a few small boxes of personal possessions that she didn’t want to put in storage, her weapons, which he was well acquainted with, and her laptop. But she’d obviously been packing, giving the cabin an empty, lifeless feel.

  He set his keys down on the counter, and an envelope with his name scrawled on it caught his eye. He picked it up and ran his thumb over Ella’s looping handwriting. So creative and artsy-looking, the letters so large and flowing that just his four-letter nickname covered the entire front of the white envelope. So her.

  She’d left her imprint on his heart the same way she’d scrawled it across the envelope. He lifted it to his nose and breathed in. Her scent wafted around him, and he closed his eyes to let her image dance under his eyelids.

  Shaking himself back to reality, he inserted a finger under the lip of the envelope and tore it open.

  The deed to the cabin—signed over to him, notarized, and already filed at the Taos County Clerk’s Office. Three weeks ago.

  Attached was a note in Ella’s handwriting.

  Dear Coop,

  It’s yours. Bradley would’ve wanted you to have it, and so do I. For what it’s worth, I didn’t use you for material to put in my books. But you did inspire me to love again, something I wasn’t sure I could do after losing Bradley. Please don’t let my mistake rob you of finding love again either. You have so much of it to give when you find the right person.

  Take care of yourself,

  Ella

  A small lump remained inside the envelope. He turned it over, and the small gold necklace he’d given her for her birthday slid out and dinged against the counter. He hadn’t had more than a few minutes to shop when he found out it was her birthday at the very last moment. He’d driven to the nicest gift shop in Red River and picked out this petite charm. The simple gracefulness of it matched her. The shape represented his heart, which she had conquered like it was the spoils of victory.

  The landline rang, jarring his thoughts. He grabbed for it.

  “Hello.”

  “Coop, it’s Angelique. Got good news for you.” Her voice beamed with victory.

  “Okay,” was all Coop could say.

  “Kim Arrington just dropped the criminal complaint and the civil suit against you. It’s over, buddy.”

  Coop stood rooted in place, frozen in time.

  “Coop? Are you there?”

  “Uh, yeah, yeah, I’m here. That’s great news, Angelique, really.”

  “Okaaaaay. Then why do you sound like you just got a death sentence with no stay of execution?”

  Jesus, criminal defense lawyers. So melodramatic. “No, I really am happy. You’ve done an amazing job for me. I’m just in shock, that’s all.” He tried to gather his thoughts. “When . . . how did all this happen?”

  “I had a little chat with her attorney and reminded him what a weak case they had, especially since she changed her story.”

  “I thought all kinds of crap would hit the fan at full speed after the book scandal made the news,” Coop said.

  Two days after he’d confronted Ella, he had to call Angelique with his tail between his legs and confess the truth. After she ripped him up one side and down another, she made some comment about being impressed that his sexual prowess was good enough to end up in a bestselling series of erotic novels. Then she told him to stop being an idiot and to start thinking with his brain instead of his prick. Every warped female in the world would want a chance to get in his bed now. And when crazy groupies thought there was money to be made, they’d line up to take a shot at him.

  He shuddered at the thought, and not just because he didn’t want to be accused of anything else he hadn’t done. When he thought about getting in bed with a woman, Ella’s face was the only one he could picture in his mind.

  “Why didn’t Kim and her attorney try to use it against me?” Coop scrubbed a hand over his jaw.

  “Oh, he wanted to, pal. But your new girlfriend’s offer to testify as a character witness in your defense stymied that strategy.”

  Coop’s conscience prickled. “You mean Ella?”

  “Yep.” Papers shuffled in the background.

  “She’s my ex-girlfriend, and what are you talking about?”

  “Uh, I thought you knew.” Angelique hesitated. “She called me. Offered to testify that the, uh, things in the book didn’t actually take place in your office, but in a cabin you own jointly. It was the deathblow to Kim’s case. Her attorney knew they couldn’t win, so he talked some sense into her.”

  Coop inhaled and rubbed his eyes with a thumb and index finger. Ella had stepped up for him.

  “I talked to my connection down at the police station, and they said Kim came in with her attorney.” Angelique’s voice got a little singsong tone to it. “She was sporting about a two-carat diamond on her left hand, and was all fake-weeping and clinging to her new dentist-fiancé. Said they didn’t want the pain of going through the ugly details in court. They just wanted to get on with their new lives together.”

  “Poor schmuck,” mumbled Coop.

  “Yeah, looks like she found herself another sugar daddy that she doesn’t have to sue for attention. My friend at the precinct said her fiancé followed her around like a lovesick puppy.”

  “Sounds like a match made in heaven,” Coop said.

  “So, my friend, case closed. All we have to do now is get your license back. I’m drafting a letter to the state board as soon as we hang up. Oh, and Kim sent you a message through her attorney. She said to tell you ‘no hard feelings.’ Funny, huh?”

  Yeah, hysterical. “That’s the best news I’ve heard in a long time, Angelique. Thanks.” He looked down at the deed in his hand.

  “Sure thing, bud. Just keep your nose clean, would you? You got seriously lucky this time. Not heeding my advice about sleeping with your roommate could’ve come back to bite you in that nice little ass of yours that she wrote about.” More papers shuffling from her end. “It’s not my place to tell you this, but I’m a nervy Italian so I’m going to say it anyway.”

  He smiled to himself. Nervy females who didn’t think twice about putting him in his place were growing on him lately.

  “You kind of made yourself a target, ya know? If you’ll exercise better judgment when it comes to your love life, you won’t need me again. Find yourself a nice girl and settle down. Sorry it didn’t work out with Ella, by the way. She seemed to really care about you, and you two obviously had a lot of, uh, chemistry together.”

  “What about you, Ang, are you interested?” he joked.

  “Not even a little,” she bantered back. “Seriously, it’s not like you don’t have the goods to make it happen.”

  “You’re one to talk,” Coop said playfully. And she was. Angelique Barbetta was a thirty-year-old beauty of Italian descent. Dark, exotic looks, long legs, knockout figure. Yet she was still single. A highly intelligent attorney with a killer instinct, most men were probably scared to death of her.

  “I’m seeing someone, actually. Another attorney here at my firm. I think he might be the one. We’ll see. He’s an Italian that moved here from New Jersey, so my mom’s already planning a huge Catholic wedding.”

  “That’s great, Angelique. I hope it works out. Just invite me to the wedding.”

  He heard her nails clicking against a keyboard. “Okay, enough about me. I gotta go, so I can actually do my job. I’ll let you know when I hear from the board. Oh, and I might see you up in Red River sometime. I’m about to close on a vacation property up there.”

  “Will do. We can hit the slopes together this winter. Does your boyfriend ski?”

  “Yep.” The clicking got faster.

  “All right, Ang. See you soon.”

  “No
t if I see you first, Wells.”

  He laughed and hung up the phone. Now he had everything he’d thought he wanted just two months ago. Full ownership of the cabin, no criminal record, no lawsuit pending against him, his career and his life back, and, most of all, no woman in his life. Everything he thought he wanted before Ella Dennings showed up on the doorstep soaking wet and nearly blinded him with pepper spray.

  So, why did he feel like dirt?

  Refolding the deed, he returned it to the envelope along with the necklace. Coop picked up the phone and dialed a number he hadn’t even thought of dialing most of his life. It rang a few times, and then an older female voice answered.

  “Mom? It’s Coop.” He heard her stifle a gasp, and he hesitated. “How are you?”

  “I . . . I’m good, honey.” Her voice shook. “How are you?”

  “I’m good, Mom. I just wanted to talk to you. You know, hear your voice. It’s been a long time.”

  And for the first time since he was ten, his heart opened to the prospect of forgiveness and love.

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Ella sat in the waiting room at Ross’s garage while he finished the maintenance on the Xterra. She opened her e-reader, but shut it off again after staring at the same page for fifteen minutes without reading a word.

  She’d hoped Coop would stop by the cabin when he’d cooled off. Or at least call. Ella didn’t want to leave things so . . . so fouled up. And that’s exactly what it was. “F’ed” up in the worst possible way. Even if he couldn’t forgive her, she’d wanted to at least talk one more time before going their separate ways. And Ella had a few things she needed to say to Coop, some of which he probably wouldn’t want to hear because it involved words like “double standards.” But, no. Nothing.

  It was over.

  And, really, what had she expected? Coop wasn’t the type to fall in love or get entangled in a long-term commitment, but he’d been willing to try with her. He hadn’t said he loved her, but he’d shown her in so many ways, and she’d let him down. Now she’d have to pick up the pieces of her own broken heart all over again, because she’d fallen so hard for him.