Page 61 of Overdue for a Cowboy

“Thanks for this,” Dodge told him, wadding up the empty aluminum foil and taking a sip of the coffee. “I was hungrier than I thought. And the coffee’s good. I’m grateful for the caffeine.”

“You seem like you can use it.”

“Thanks.”

“Just speaking the truth. You kind of look like hell.”

Dodge leaned back against the cushions. “I kind of feel like hell.”

“Wanna talk about it?” Duke asked the question casually, but Dodge and his brothers all knew that question was a really a statement meaning, “We’regonnatalk about it.”

“I don’t know what to say.” Dodge scrubbed a hand over his dirty hair. “I really blew it with Maisie.”

“Yeah, it seems like you’ve gotten yourself into a fine pickle. Maisie Graham is a sweet girl. Seems like she deserves to have you be honest with her.”

“I know.”

“I think she’s been sweet on you for a long time now. It doesn’t seem quite fair to string her along if you’re not able to commit.”

“We’ve only been seeing each other a couple of weeks.”

“Yes, but I think she’s been waiting for you for years. And it’s been years since I’ve seen you laughing and smiling with a woman the way you do with Maisie. I love you son, but you’ve been punishing yourself for years too. Maybe it’s time you come out of exile and let yourself be happy.”

“I know.”

“You keep saying you know. So then, what’s the problem?”

“The problem is that I’m pretty sure I’m in love with her, and I want to be with her. I want to prove to her that I’m worthy of someone like her. But I’m so damn terrified that she’s either going to leave me…or die…that I’m struggling to take a chance on us being together.” He hung his head, his chin practically touching his chest. “Women don’t stick around for me. They leave or they get taken away. I don’t know if I can survive something happening to Maisie because of me.”

Duke rested a hand on his grandson’s shoulder. “Come on now, son, you know that’s just a load of horseshit. Julie and those kids didnotdie because they were with you. They died because some ass-wit idiot made the decision to get piss-drunk then get behind the wheel of a ten-ton semi-truck. What happened to your family was not your fault. I know they will always be with you, andrightly so, but you have to let the guilt of you somehow being able to save them go.”

“I know. I’m trying. For the first time in a long time, I want to try. But I think I already blew it. I told her I didn’t want to see her anymore, and then I all but forced her to go out with Pete Bishop. I told her he was a better man and better suited for her than I ever could be.”

Duke let out a rumbling laugh. “I’ll bet she appreciated that. Women always love it when you tell them what they should think or how they should feel.”

Dodge shook his head. “Yeah, she said about the same. It was an idiot thing to do. Then she called my bluff and rang up Pete and asked him out to dinner.”

“So that idea backfired.”

“In a big way. And all on me. I knew they were having their date at The Pig last night and I’m ashamed to admit that I went over to pick up some takeouts. I wasn’t flat out spying on them, but I was curious, I guess.”

“Curious or jealous?”

His grandfather did not mince words.

“Maybe a little of both. Because the hell of it was that they seemed to be having a great time. They were talking and laughing. And she looked amazing. I already know that Pete’s interested in pursuing her, and I just went and handed her to him on a silver platter.”

“I’m guessing Maisie has her own say in all this.”

“I know she does. And at first, I thought she was just going out with him to spite me. But I’m telling you, Gramps, she was having fun with that guy last night. She looked happy.”

“So, what are you going to do about that? Are you just going to let her go?”

“Hell no. I’m going to fight for her. That’s why I spent all night out here and why I’m planning to spend all day and tonight out here too—whatever it takes to fix up this bookmobile. This is her dream, and she wanted to win this competition and the grant money so bad. If I can give her that, maybe she’ll give me a chance to win her back. I’m just praying it’s not too late.”

Dodge clapped his hands on his knees. “What can we do to help?”

Dodge eyed his grandfather. “You serious?”

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