Page 17 of The Cowboy's Unshakeable Love

“What kind of accident?”

“A stupid one.”

“Come on, you might as well tell me.”

“Why?”

“Why not?”

She pursed her lips. “Because I’d rather just let it go.”

“Let what go?”

She let out a short laugh.

“I know I’m being a pain in the ass, darlin’, but Callie seems to think that it might not have been an entirely accidental accident. Why is that?”

“Because she’s had a problem with Jamie for a while now.”

“Who’s Jamie?”

“She’s one of the moms at school. Her daughter’s on the squad, and Jamie’s one of those moms who tries to live vicariously through her daughter. She doesn’t always agree with me. And things got worse a couple months ago whenher husband filed for divorce. He’s a decent guy. Since they separated, he’s come to a couple of practices and to camp – to watch his daughter. Unfortunately, Jamie got it into her head that he’s taken a shine to me. He hasn’t of course – that’d be ridiculous – they’re a good ten years younger than I am. But Jamie’s had it out for me for a while.”

“And what did Jamie have to do with your accident?” Travis asked with a scowl. He didn’t like where this was going.

“Not a thing. I mean, she was there – but so was the whole squad, and at least half the parents who were chaperoning. It was just … everyone rushed together, and I was … I fell somehow.”

He glanced over at her. “Were you about to say that you were pushed?”

She shrugged. “Everyone was pushing and shoving, we were caught up in a whole crowd of people. Everyone surged forward at once and …”

“Do me a favor, darlin’?”

“What kind of favor?”

“Don’t bullshit me?” He knew it was a risk to talk to her like that, but he was hoping it might just startle her into telling him the truth.

It didn’t startle her, but it did the trick. Her shoulders slumped. “Okay, but whatever I tell you, you mustn’t under any circumstances repeat it to Callie.”

He didn’t say anything – he wasn’t going to make a promise he didn’t know he could keep.

“I mean it, Travis. I don’t want her to know. It’ll only cause more trouble. Are we clear?”

He thought it about for a moment before he said, “We’re clear.” That didn’t mean he was promising anything – just that he was clear about how she felt.

She didn’t say anything for a while. By the time he turned off the road and into his driveway, he couldn’t take it any longer. Just when he was about to ask again what had happened, she spoke.

“I wasn’t bullshitting you that everyone was pushing and shoving. I just … Jamie was doing more than that. She fought her way past people to get closer to me, and she …” She let out a short laugh. “She had this crazy look in her eyes. I asked if she was okay, and she didn’t even answer me. She just got behind me. When we got close to the railing, she shoved me into it, and I fell. Have you ever been surrounded by stampeding humans? It’s the scariest thing on Earth.”

Travis scowled but didn’t comment.

“It was scary enough being carried along with them, but when I went down, I thought I might be trampled to death. Jamie appeared above me, and I thought she was going to help me up, but she … She stomped on my leg. I’m sure she didn’t mean to break it – It’s not what you’d expect under the circumstances. I’m sure she only meant to hurt me. But my leg was at a weird angle against the railing, and my bones are brittle.” She laughed. “One of the many joys of getting older, is that I have osteoporosis. So …”

Travis was gripping the steering wheel so tightly that his knuckles had turned white.

“Travis?”

“Be right with you, darlin’.” He needed to calm down before he spoke. He was furious that some woman could do something like that to her. That any human being would do that to another.

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