Blame It on the Cowboy

by Delores Fossen

  “I was hoping we could meet for coffee and a chat. I called the café,” Helene said, “but Bert said this was your day off.”

  “It is, and I’m kind of busy right now. Besides, I’m not sure we actually have anything to discuss. Unless it’s about you not filing those charges against Chucky.”

  “You heard. Yes, it’s true. I’m not filing charges, and he’s agreed to leave town.”

  “You paid him?” Reese asked.

  “I’d rather discuss that in person,” Helene answered. “I’ll tell Logan this, of course, but I also wanted you to know that Delbert called me last night. He said he wasn’t going to have charges filed against your mother, either, that he was going to take care of the matter himself.”

  That meant Delbert was going to pay Vickie off. Reese didn’t especially care if a rich, cheating man was willing to pay hush money, but it wouldn’t be the last of her mother’s demands.

  “I know it’s hard for you to understand,” Helene went on, “but a reputation is a delicate thing, and sometimes it’s worth any price. I understand why Delbert’s doing what he’s doing.”

  That might have prompted Reese to say something along the lines of wishing them both luck and that there was no need for a chat over coffee, but there was a knock at the door, and when Reese threw it open, Jimena was standing there.

  “I have to go,” Reese told Helene, and she ended the call before the woman could say another word.

  Jimena did something similar to Reese. She started talking before Reese could get out her first question. “I had the hottest night with Logan’s friend Jason. Can’t wait to tell you all about it.”

  Reese was well aware that Jimena had left the engagement party with Jason. Was also well aware they’d started groping and kissing each other before they even made it to his truck. Under normal circumstances, Reese would want to hear a few PG-rated details but not now.

  “Your date update can wait,” Reese told her.

  “And so can a few other things.”

  “No. I need to tell you about Chucky.”

  “Later. For now, get your grandfather’s watch and come with me,” Jimena insisted. “We can talk while we walk. And hurry. I have to be at work in an hour. I have an asshole for a boss who’ll fire me if I’m late.” Jimena chuckled as if this were some kind of joke. Well, the asshole for a boss part was a joke, but the rest of this wasn’t.

  Reese shook her head. “Where are we walking, and why do I need to bring the watch?” She froze. “Oh, God. Does Vickie know about the watch?”

  “If she does, she didn’t hear it from me. Just get the watch and come on. I have a surprise for you. And FYI, I’m not going to spill anything juicy until you get it so the longer you fart around, the longer it’ll take for you to hear what you want to hear.”

  Reese doubted that was a bluff, and since she really was anxious to hear what had happened between Chucky, Jimena and Vickie, she hurried to the coffee bag where she’d hidden the watch after wrapping it in foil.

  “Is someone going to try to steal the watch?” Reese asked.

  Jimena shrugged, and with that as her only explanation—which, of course, was no explanation at all—she started out the door and down the stairs. Reese put the watch in her jeans pocket, grabbed her purse and hurried after her.

  “All right, start talking,” Reese insisted the moment they were outside. “Did you really pay off Chucky?”

  “I did,” Jimena readily admitted. “I figured it was time you had one less dickwad in your life. Can’t do anything about the mother-dickwad, but you’ll never have to see Chucky’s boney ass again.”

  Reese was stunned. “You paid off Chucky? Where did you get the money?”

  “From Elrond,” Jimena said in a discussing-the-weather kind of tone. “I blackmailed him. Told him I’d give Logan pictures of Helene and him having clown sex.”

  “But Helene had clown sex with Greg,” Reese pointed out.

  “Well, she had it with Elrond, too. He let that slip when he was talking to me.” Jimena stopped, paused. “Do you have any idea what they do with those big red clown noses?”

  Reese huffed. “No, and I don’t want to know.” She had to lower her voice when she realized this wasn’t a conversation she wanted others to hear, and they were passing people on the street as Jimena led her heaven knew where. “Where did Elrond get the money to pay you off?”

  “From Helene. He blackmailed her, and he stole my threat. Sheez, the man can’t even come up with his own blackmail idea.”

  Reese’s head was hurting now, and she rarely got headaches. “So, let me get this straight. You blackmailed Elrond. He blackmailed Helene, and you gave the money to Chucky to get him to leave? Why didn’t you just spend the money on yourself?”

  Jimena looked at her as if she’d laid an egg. “I couldn’t let Chucky keep pestering you, and besides, it wouldn’t have been right to keep dirty money.”

  It was hard for Reese to fault that logic, especially since it might work. Might. And that might was only temporary. “Chucky will just be back when he runs out of money.”

  Jimena smiled. “No, he won’t, and here’s the kicker. I altered copies of the clown sex photos. I erased Elrond’s face and put in Chucky’s to make it look as if Chucky’s got his nose where it doesn’t belong—if you get my meaning.” She winked.

  Yes, Reese did get her meaning. “So, you’re blackmailing Chucky because if he comes back, you’ll give those pictures to his wife.”

  “Yep. Easy peasy, huh?”

  Nothing about this was easy or peasy—whatever the heck that meant. Jimena might need a flowchart to keep up with who was blackmailing whom and why. Plus, there was the other matter that Reese wanted to discuss.

  “Chucky called Logan last night, and he said Vickie stole something from your desk,” Reese put out there. “Chucky thought it was something she could possibly use to blackmail you.”

  Now it was Jimena who stopped. “Hmm. Well, I did have both sets of the clown sex pictures in there. Copies, mind you. I have the originals in a password-protected storage cloud.”

  Sex pictures that wouldn’t shed good lights on Helene or Chucky. Her mother could be planning to blackmail both of them.

  Again, a flowchart might be needed.

  “Are you sure Vickie couldn’t have taken something else from your desk?” Reese asked. “Maybe something she could use to hurt you?”

  Jimena paused a second, giving that some thought, and shook her head. “There were some other sex pictures of Elrond and me, but if she plans to blackmail me with that, she’s barking up the wrong tree. I don’t care who sees my sex pictures.”

  Reese put herself in a con-artist frame of mind to see if she could figure out how this might work for her mother. It didn’t take her long to come up with an angle. “Jason. If Vickie thinks you’re trying to have a relationship with Jason, she could hold on to the pictures to try to cause some trouble between you two.”

  “Oh, you mean because Jason wouldn’t go for sleeping with a woman who had sex with the man who had sex with his best friend’s ex.”

  Heck, they needed a flowchart for that, too. “I don’t know Jason that well, but it could be an issue for him. He could see being with you as some kind of disloyalty to Logan.”

  Jimena made a sound of agreement. Followed by a sound of annoyance. And that’s when Reese knew that Jimena did indeed have a thing for Jason.

  Damn.

  Reese wasn’t sure how her mother pieced together stuff like this, but Vickie always seemed to be one step ahead of them. And speaking of steps, Jimena quit walking, and she pointed to the sign in the front of the jewelry store.

  Watch Repairs.

  “I called ahead,” Jimena said. “They don’t usually open until ten, but we’ve got an appointment. Don’t wo
rry about the cost. I milked a little extra money from Elrond.”

  It was a wonderful gesture. Not milking money from Elrond—Reese didn’t care much for that. But with everything going on, she was surprised, and pleased, that her friend had thought of this.

  So, why couldn’t Reese make herself go into the shop? She held her ground even when Jimena opened the door and tried to usher her in.

  “All right,” Jimena finally said. “What’s this about?”

  Reese shook her head. “I’m not sure I can put it into words.”

  “This is about Spenser. He broke the watch, and you don’t think you deserve to have it fixed because of what happened to him.”

  All in all, that was an accurate assessment. Was that it? Reese did a quick soul-examining and realized that it might be.

  “Of course that’s malarkey,” Jimena went on. “You love that watch, and it should be fixed so that it’s the way it was when your grandfather gave it to you.”

  Reese did a little more soul-examining and realized Jimena was right. A broken watch wasn’t doing service to her grandfather’s memory. The brokenness was only a reminder of Spenser, and that was something Reese could do without. Or rather it was something she wanted to do without.

  They went inside, and the repairman, Jeff Latchwood, motioned for them to come to the back counter where he was working. Reese knew him from the café. He was a “well-done burger, no cheese, with pickles on the side” kind of guy.

  He took the watch from her, holding it with what she thought might be reverence, and he gave it a good examination. “Yep, I can fix it, but I’ll have to order a crystal to replace the broken one. It might come in right away, or it could take up to two weeks. I’ll give you a call as soon as it’s done, and you can come in and pick it up.”

  Reese’s heart sank. Not the feeling she’d hoped to get so soon after all that soul-searching and the revelation of why she did indeed want this fixed.

  “While I’m waiting on the crystal,” Jeff went on, “I’ll give it a cleaning and make sure nothing else is broken inside.”

  “Sounds good,” Jimena declared, and she got Reese out of there probably before she could change her mind. Which she was about to do.

  “Two weeks?” Reese repeated. “I wasn’t sure I’d be in town that long.”

  “Well, now you have to be.” And Jimena smiled.

  Reese frowned. “Did Logan put you up to this?”

  “No.” She seemed sincere about that. “Why?”

  “Because he asked me to stay.”

  “Then maybe he’s not an asshole, after all.” Jimena’s gaze flew to the time on her phone screen. She took off. “Shit. Gotta go. I don’t want to give Logan a reason to fire me. Bye!”

  That sounded as un-right as something could sound coming from Jimena. To the best of Reese’s knowledge, Jimena had never cared whether or not she got fired. And she’d never before sprinted toward work even when there was imminent threat of being fired. Reese hoped that didn’t mean Jimena had gotten her heart set on keeping this job because Logan would almost certainly hire someone more qualified.

  Reese looked back at the jewelry shop, considered returning to say she’d changed her mind, but then she saw Helene walking toward her.

  Apparently, Logan’s ex wasn’t giving up on having that chat with her because Helene waved and called out to her. “I’m so glad we ran into each other. I really do need to talk to you.”

  Reese got that, which made her believe this wasn’t “running into each other” coincidence. Helene had probably tracked her down, and that meant Logan had perhaps told her about Vickie’s latest break-in, the one that might or might not involve clown sex pictures of Helene.

  “I need to get back to my apartment,” Reese said. That was a polite way of saying she really didn’t want to talk to her. But Helene was evidently determined to do this because she fell in step alongside Reese.

  Because Reese wasn’t sure how much the woman knew about Vickie’s theft, she just stayed quiet and let Helene take the lead. And Helene jumped right in.

  “For the record, I didn’t cheat on Logan because I was dissatisfied with the sex,” Helene blurted out. “I wasn’t satisfied with me. Strict upbringing, always following Daddy’s rules. Everything I’ve done in my life was for someone else.” She shrugged. “Well, except for having sex with a clown. I did that for me.”

  “All right,” Reese said because she didn’t know what else to say. It seemed creepy talking about sex with Logan’s ex. Actually, it seemed creepy talking about clown sex, period.

  “I hate that I hurt Logan,” Helene went on. “If I could go back and undo it, believe me, I would.”

  Reese did believe her. Those minutes of pleasure—if that was the right word—had cost her a good man. Of course, it had likely been more than mere minutes since Helene had been with both Greg and Elrond.

  Helene stayed quiet a second while the Starkley twins walked past them. The twins noticed, though, and judging from the lingering looks they gave Helene and Reese, it would soon be all over town that she and Logan’s ex were having a discussion. In the gossip mill, that would turn into a heated discussion. By the end of the day, it would be a catfight on Main Street.

  “I’m just going to come out and say this,” Helene continued after dragging in her breath. However, she didn’t just come out and say whatever was on her mind. She took so many breaths that she sounded asthmatic. “I want to offer you the chance of a lifetime.”

  That got Reese’s attention, though—as the daughter of con artists, she was always skeptical of chance-of-a-lifetime offers. Usually they were meant to screw the offeree while benefiting the offerer.

  “I want to set you up in your own restaurant or bakery,” Helene went on. “Your choice. I’ll front all the money, build it to any specs you want. I’ll even pay your employees until you start to turn a profit.”

  Reese stopped in her tracks so she could look at the woman to see if she was serious. She was. And because Reese was the daughter of con artists, she followed this through to the most obvious question of all—what was in this for Helene?

  And the answer to that was Logan.

  “That’s very generous of you.” Reese started walking again because she figured this conversation wasn’t going to last much longer. “And the only condition…wait, there are two conditions. One is that the restaurant and or bakery can’t be anywhere near Spring Hill. The second condition you want is for me to agree to never see Logan again.”

  Judging from the way Helene suddenly got very interested in studying the cracks on the sidewalk, Reese was spot-on. “It’s a really good offer. It could set you up for life.”

  “Yes, it could set me up to be the kind of woman who accepts bribes,” Reese argued. “Not exactly what I’m going for in life.”

  Helene stayed quiet a moment. “So, your answer is no?”

  “No times a gazillion.”

  “I see.” More of those quiet moments while she looked at anything and anybody but Reese. “I guess this means you’re in love with Logan, then.”

  Reese opened her mouth to answer another “no times a gazillion,” but she suddenly found herself studying sidewalk cracks, too. She couldn’t be in love with Logan.

  Could she?

  But then she remembered this chat had zilch to do with love. It was about Helene trying to control a situation she’d lost control of months ago.

  “It means I’m not for sale,” Reese settled for saying. “When and if I leave Spring Hill, it will be my decision and under my own terms.”

  Oh, mercy. She’d actually used the if word when it came to leaving. In the past, there’d definitely been no ifs involved. And Reese could thank Logan for that.

  “Well, I had to try, didn’t I?” Helene said.

  Now Reese used he
r “No.” And then she added some more. “Do you really think you can win Logan back by getting me out of the picture?”

  Helene shrugged. “I suppose you’re right. I could just wait this out since I believe this is a rebound relationship for Logan.”

  The rebound comment felt like a sucker punch, but since it might be doused in truth, Reese stayed quiet. Helene didn’t.

  “But waiting’s not exactly my style, you know?” Helene added.

  Reese had to shake her head. She didn’t know. Helene had dated Logan for eight years. That was a long time, and it had no doubt included plenty of waiting to see when they were going to the next level.

  “Does that mean you’re giving up?” Reese asked her, but figured she wouldn’t get a straight answer. That’s why it surprised her when she did.

  “Yes,” Helene said. “I think I need to do something drastic with my life to make some changes. I have a bucket list. I think it’s time for me to start checking things off. I’ve always wanted to have a one-night stand. A no-names-allowed kind of thing.”

  Reese nearly choked on her own breath, and at first she thought this was Helene’s way of getting in a dig at her, but the woman didn’t give any indication that she’d just summarized Reese’s life four months ago.

  They finally reached the Bluebonnet Inn, and so that Helene wouldn’t follow her in, Reese stopped and turned to her. “I wish you the best.”

  Helene blinked as if surprised by that. “Logan said pretty much the same thing. I thought he was lying. Hoped he was lying, because saying that meant he no longer had feelings for me,” she amended.

  The look on Helene’s face implied she’d said too much. She checked the time on her phone. “I have to run.” She turned as if to do that, but then stopped, as well. “You won’t mention our chat to Logan, will you?”

  “No.” Reese didn’t have to think about it. Logan didn’t need to know that his ex had tried to pay her off.

  Helene made a sound as if she didn’t quite buy that, but she headed off, anyway. Reese didn’t waste any time going into the Bluebonnet Inn and up to her room. She didn’t want anyone seeing her watch Helene make her exit because the gossip would spread about that, too. By the time the story was done, Reese would have been rushing to call Logan to tell him about the encounter.