Page 116 of Ride a Cowboy

“Good to see you too, Lorelie.”

“Don’t pull that crap with me.”

“I’ve been out of town. How did you know I was here?”

Lorelie pointed toward the front of the building. “Saw your bike parked in the lot. I’ve driven by here and your apartment every day for four days. Knew you wouldn’t run forever. Where did you go?”

“San Antonio. Do Joel and Oakley know I’m back in town?”

Lorelie shrugged. “I doubt it. They haven’t left the ranch since you split. They work from sunup to sundown, barely eat, hardly speak, and look like someone killed their best friend.”

Sadie winced to hear how badly she’d hurt them.

“So you know why I’m here?” Lorelie asked.

Sadie had never backed down from a fight. And while she was tired as hell and her heart wasn’t in this one, some small part of her was raring to go. “You shouldn’t have put in so much effort. This is none of your business.”

“Bullshit!” Lorelie said, her voice too loud. Sadie saw her dad’s head pop up from the back of the room. The afternoon crowd was low, so he’d decided to take a break to play a quick game of pool with a customer.

Sadie leaned over the bar. “Can you keep your voice down? I’m not interested in giving the gossips anything to wag their tongues about today.”

Lorelie glanced around, chagrined at having drawn so much attention to them. Even though she was angry, she obviously understood why Sadie wouldn’t want the world to know what had gone down. “Joel and Oakley are like brothers to me. I love those two idiots. And you hurt them.”

Sadie nodded. It wasn’t like she could deny it. It was the truth. “How did you find out?”

“I was with them the other night. Here.”

Sadie was typically very aware of who was in the bar when. It spoke to her distraught state of mind that she hadn’t even seen Lorelie that night. Of course, it wasn’t that surprising. Whenever Joel or Oakley were within a fifty-foot radius of her, her line of vision tended to go fuzzy around the edges, the only things in focus being them. “Oh.”

“Yeah. Oh.” Lorelie leaned her elbows on the counter. “They were pretty upset after talking to you, so we left early. Once I got them in the truck, I made them tell me what the hell was going on between all of you.”

“Then you should know that I called things off.”

“Which brings me back to my previous question. What the hell is wrong with you?”

Sadie closed her eyes, unable to shield the misery. She’d been living with a perpetual stomachache for days. “It can’t work, Lorelie.”

“You’re wrong.”

Sadie placed her palms on the lower counter behind the bar, using her hands to hold her upright. She was exhausted beyond belief and seriously considering curling up in a fetal position in some corner of the room for a few years. “It’s done now. I’ve told them it’s over and it is. We just need some time to move on and in a few weeks, we’ll realize we dodged a bullet.”

Lorelie shook her head. “I used to look up to you. Used to think you were so cool. I mean, you always seemed to have your shit together. You were self-confident. You knew who you were and you never let anyone’s opinion keep you from doing what you thought was right or what you wanted to do. I guess that was all just a lie.”

“Lorelie. You don’t understand.”

“Apparently I’m not the only one. Joel and Oakley don’t get it either. So make us understand. Because you look every bit as miserable as them. Every bit as brokenhearted.”

“Look, I get it. Okay!” This time it was Sadie’s voice that was raised, but she didn’t care. “I know I was wrong to get involved with them. Wrong to let it go on so long. I know that I hurt them. And I’m sorry about it. More than you know.”

“So unhurt them.”

Sadie grinned sadly. “Just like that?”

Lorelie gave her a small why-not shrug.

“I can’t.”

“They’re in love with you. God, Sadie. I can’t get one decent guy to fall for me. You’ve got two who would lay down their lives for you and you’re throwing them away.”

---