Page 54 of Double Bucked

I can see her choosing her words. When she addresses the crowd, it’s with a clear, sharp voice.

“My father was a cold man,” she says. “Hardheaded. Stubborn. But he believed in me, and he pushed me every day to do better. Be better. Be more. For better or worse, he made me the woman I am today. So. Thank you for the thorns, Daddy.”

She turns and stares at the casket. There’s a hush as she touches her fingers across the top of it. For a second, my heart pounds, and I’m afraid she’s going to open it. But then she quietly walks away and returns to her seat beside James. He offers her a handkerchief, and she uses it to clean her hands.

An old biddy, Mrs. Bridges, sits with her husband in front of me. She whispers too loudly as she leans toward her husband, “Not a tear shed. She knows who did it, I’ll tell you that.”

I nearly launch out of the pew, but Grandmimi fixes me in my spot with a glare that could tame a wild cat. I thread my fingers together and stay put.

There isn’t much more to the ceremony after that. The pastor says his peace, and then the organ kicks up, and everyone stands as they move to carry Mr. Preacher out. I watch as Arris Dagney goes to stand by the coffin, and then so do a few other members from the Benefactors’ Society. I know these men. Have worked around the ranch while these men were milling about. Have heard the things they said about their “friend,” Mr. Preacher—how they gossiped like hens about him losing his marbles in the end. How they picked at the carcass of his reputation like vultures before it’d even gone cold.

It doesn’t seem right that, at the end, there ain’t a single person up there carrying his coffin that had a lick of sympathy for the man—devil though he might’ve been.

I can’t help it. I get to my feet and approach. Their eyes turn to me warily when they see me getting closer.

I clasp my hands together. “Mind if I lend a hand?”

I’m about ten years younger and fifty pounds stronger than any of the men there. They should welcome the help. Instead, they look at me like I’ve lost my damned mind.

Abernathy, a thick-necked man with boots that never have and never will see a lick of dirt on them, looks at me with skeptical eyes. “We’ve got this, boy.”

Boy. As in: South of the Railroad kid. As in: you’re not one of us. As in: you’re lucky we even let you through those church doors, you ho-dunk piece of?—

“Let him,” Claire says suddenly, her voice breaking free.

Her face is placid and expressionless, but she has a command in her voice that no one can ignore. Arris can’t argue with Preacher’s daughter, not today. He doesn’t look happy about it, but he nods at me. “Grab a handle.”

We bury the old man behind the church.

Claire doesn’t shed a tear. Not once. But her bottom lip blows up as though she’s been stung by a bee.

When it’s all said and done, she gets swallowed in the sea of people offering their condolences. Maybe hoping for a Preacher handout. I head back to check in on my grandparents. Turns out, they don’t need a ride back; they’re going to catch an early dinner with their friends. Good for them.

Me? I’m exhausted.

I get into my truck and take off my hat, setting it on the dashboard. I rake my fingers through my hair. I let out a sigh. Deep sigh. It feels good. I’ve got my peace.

…For about three seconds.

Then my passenger-side door opens and shuts. Claire hops in beside me, fixing her dark sunglasses over her face.

“Drive,” she says, like some starlet in a heist movie.

I don’t budge. “What’re you doing here?”

Claire snaps her seatbelt into place. “I can’t go back to the ranch. Not yet. Besides. James is driving me fucking crazy.”

Speak of the bitch, and he’ll appear.

As if summoned, the back door opens. James—the giant he is—has to crouch down in order to climb in the back of my truck.

“Claire.” He snaps on his seat belt. “There you are.”

Claire scowls at me, as though this is all somehow my fault. “Here I am.”

“Here you both are,” I counter. “Now, get out.”

My truck doors open a fourth time. This time, it’s Jade. She blinks when she closes the door behind her and sees the other seats already taken. “Oh!” Jade says. “It’s a party in here, isn’t it? No one saw me, did they? I had to leave before Arris notices. That man truly knows how to spoil a good time.”

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