Page 50 of Dust Storm

“What’s with you and all your why’s?”

“Gifts come with strings,” she said as she smoothed her fingers down the lacquered leather.

“Not mine.” I pulled out of the space and headed toward the ranch. “I said that I did something easy to make it better for you. I never said I would take it easy on you.” I stretched my arm across the back of her shoulders. “How was the nail salon? Up to your big city standards? You feel pampered?”

She smirked, a wicked look lifting her lips. “Oh, it wasn’t pampering.”

“No?”

She cracked her knuckles. “It was reconnaissance.”

11

CASSANDRA

“Ithought you were working from Chris’s house,” Becks said as she waddled into the warehouse office. She was drenched in sweat.

I looked up from the notebook I was plotting in like a mad woman. “Sometimes,” I said as I shifted over to my laptop and added to the spreadsheet on the screen.

“The internet’s faster over there,” she said.

“Yes, however, there are children. I cannot work in the presence of mayhem.”

Becks looked at the time. “Early dismissal day?”

“Something like that.”

Becks’s smile was easy as she lowered into a chair and tossed her hair over her shoulder. “They’re not that bad. It’s not like they’re toddlers. Bree’s a teenager and Gracie isn’t far behind.”

“Even worse,” I said as my fingers flew over the keys. “I remember being a teenager. I was a hormonal psychopath.” I saved the file and turned back to her. “Why does it look like someone dumped a bucket of water on your head?”

She groaned. “I’m trying to make myself go into labor. I did a five-mile walk around the property.”

“Why on earth would you want to do that?” I shuddered. “Granted, I’m not sure what possessed you to get pregnant in the first place.”

Becks snorted. “My husband’s big di?—”

I lifted a hand and silenced her right then and there.

She laughed softly. “Time flies. Chris’s girls were seven and four when I first met them. It’s crazy to think that Nathan and I are older than Chris is, but his kids will be grown soon and we’re just starting.” She looked rather wistful as she laced her hands together on top of her stomach.

“You’ll be exhausted,” I said pragmatically.

“That’s an understatement.” She closed her eyes. “I’m hoping for an epidural just so I can take a nap before the baby’s born. I haven’t slept well in weeks.”

“How’s the water damage situation?” I said, recalling what she had said about a busted pipe flooding their house.

She sighed. “Nathan’s working on it. Hopefully, I’ll be back in my bed before we have another occupant. For what it’s worth, I’m sorry our spare bedroom is out of commission. You probably would have preferred that over shacking up with Chris and the girls. But, by the time it’s fixed, we’ll have a newborn.”

“We’renotshacking up,” I clarified as I searched my phone for an old contact who owed me a favor after I got their brand out of hot water.

“Right,” Becks said dryly. “Because you’re engaged to Tripp.”

“You’ve never been one to hold back,” I noted as I shuffled papers around. My train of thought had been derailed at the mere mention of his name. “Why start now?”

Becks cocked her head, ginger hair spilling down her shoulder. “Are you actually happy with him?”

“Of course.” The lie was bold-faced, but my façade was all I had left. I was crumbling on the inside. “Why wouldn’t I be?”

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