Page 38 of Chasing Liberty

She grabbed Lacey’s arm then, a little too roughly, and leaned in closer, forgetting to remain calm, cool, and collected. “You’ll get the money but if you try and destroy anyone in my family, you’ll see why I’m not one to be messed with.”

Lacey jerked her arm out of the tight grip and snorted. “Oh my, protecting her family? How sweet. We’re a lot more alike than you thought, huh, sweetheart?”

“Don’t come here again. Stay away from my family. Do you hear me?”

“Don’t worry. The money will set you free and you won’t see us again.” A sadistic smile spread over Lacey’s lips.

“Us?”

Lacey grabbed a hat from her backpack and pulled it down over her head then pushed on a pair of dark sunglasses. Her effort at being incognito.

Liberty read the ballcap, the same one the woman had worn the first time they had met. “Are you a baseball fan?”

“Huh?” Lacey seemed caught off guard by the question.

“Your hat. Phillies. Are you from Pennsylvania?” Liberty remembered Wyler saying that Billy thought the license plate of the mysterious truck was from Pennsylvania. “Were you loitering on Sagebrush Rose land?”

“Liberty!” It was Honor and she was coming straight for Liberty.

Liberty ignored Honor’s wave and turned back to Lacey, but she was gone.

Where had she gone?

She made a circle around a group that were waiting for their turn at darts-on-a-jackass and searched everywhere for Lacey. She couldn’t have gotten far. Liberty took off at a slow jog and made her way all the way to the barn and still found no sign of the woman.

Breathing heavy, she took refuge under the shade of a tree. Her heart was still pounding from the encounter.

What was Liberty missing? Could it have been possible that it was Lacey in the truck that Billy saw? If that were the case, then it was possible that she’d started the fire. But Billy said he saw two people. Did Lacey have a partner in crime?

“Liberty?” Honor’s voice broke through Liberty’s thoughts.

Her sister was marching toward her with determination furrowing her brow.

“What are you doing?” Liberty quickly tried to pull herself together.

“Running after you. I’m not a kid any longer and I’m carrying around another human. She sits on my bladder like it’s the best seat in the house.” Honor leaned against the tree and heaved in a breath

Liberty crossed the short distance. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing’s wrong. I just had a discussion with Freedom. She told me that you and Wyler are back together.”

“Of course she did. Did you come out here to give me a lecture?” Liberty couldn’t handle another behave-yourself-Libertydiscussion. She started to brush past Honor.

“No lecture. Only to tell you that I’ve missed you,” Honor said.

Liberty stopped and swung around. “I didn’t mean to—”

“Liberty, I didn’t want for things—”

They both blurted at the same time, which brought them both laughter.

“You go ahead,” Liberty offered.

“No, you go ahead,” Honor said.

“Okay.” She cleared her throat as if she was preparing the state of the union address. “I just wanted to say that I’m sorry I meddled in your business with Cave. I shouldn’t have gotten myself involved. You must know that I did it out of a good place, not to make things more difficult for you.”

Honor nodded, looking out into the pasture where the sun’s rays turned the tall reeds into golden rods. A hummingbird stopped to feed on the nectar of aromatic wildflowers. “You’re right, you had no right to intervene, but looking back now I don’t know if Cave and I would have ever gotten here without a gentle push. I want you to know that the prying bothered me, but something else annoyed me even more. You left Sagebrush. No word. No reason. You’ve always been flighty, but there’s a point when you need to start thinking of how your actions can make people feel. We agreed, and made a pact, that you’d never do that. Ever. Not without telling me first.”

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