Page 35 of Dark Side of the River

Clearly, they remembered what happened with Leann differently, but still, Stuart had gotten hurt. Cooper didn’t want to ever do that again to his friend. He told himself that he had to keep his distance from Tilly.

As he drove toward the ranch, he felt as if he’d dodged a bullet. Not that this was over. He wasn’t as innocent as he’d wanted Stu to believe. He’d kept Tilly at arm’s length, but the truth was, if he spent much more time around her, he wasn’t sure he could keep doing it.

Earlier, he felt as if Tilly was almost daring him to make a move. It wasn’t as if he hadn’t thought about pulling her into his arms and kissing her. But he hadn’t, even though when he’d looked into her eyes, he’d been certain that was exactly what she wanted. Because she had feelings for him? Or because she wasn’t sure what she wanted?

Either way, the two of them together were trouble, something Cooper didn’t want or need.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

TILLYHADN’TBEENin her sister’s bedroom in a long time. As she opened the door, she was reminded of a time when their doors weren’t closed, let alone locked. When they could call back and forth from their rooms, laughing and teasing. When they would curl up together in one of their beds and talk late into the night about everything from their dreams to the boys they liked to their weddings and the kids they would have.

She hadn’t realized how much she’d missed those times as she stared at her sister’s messy room in the light of morning. Tilly liked her room neat, everything in its place. Oakley, however, seemed to prefer chaos. There were piles of clothes, magazines and clutter. It felt like she was trespassing, and for a moment, Tilly hesitated.

How could she ever find anything in here anyway? Or was she just afraid of what she’d find? Wading through discarded shoes, T-shirts, pajamas and books, she reached the desk. It was strewn with cosmetics, hair products, perfumes and jewelry. She opened a couple of drawers, but found nothing other than more of the same.

Except taped to one side of a desk drawer was a list. She realized what she was looking at. Her sister’s passwords. Tilly let out a laugh. So like Oakley. She could never be bothered to remember them. She used to have her computer password written on her hand because she was always forgetting it.

Tilly glanced at the list, knowing how upset Oakley would be if she knew. Fortunately, the password for her new phone was at the top. She put the list back where she’d found it quickly. The last thing she wanted to do was break her sister’s trust.

As she started to turn away, she caught sight of her sister’s bulletin board. It was covered with photos of friends, most making silly faces, most looking tipsy. But the photos, she realized, were old. Was she friends with any of those girls anymore?

She felt as if she’d missed a huge chunk of her sister’s life, when she saw the flyer. It was partially balled up on the floor next to her overflowing trash can. What had caught her eye was the company name CH4. She reached for the flyer, flattening it out on an empty spot on the bed. If not for the wordCH4, she might have thought it was a flyer for some band Oakley wanted to see in Billings.

But as she looked closer, she saw that it was indeed about methane gas drilling. She knew there were numerous organizations in the state opposed to the drilling, but this flyer wasn’t on glossy paper. Nor had it been produced by a professional designer. It had been printed on someone’s computer in black ink. The grassroots look of it made it seem all that more subversive and dangerous. Printed in large block letters was DIRTY BUSINESS. There were no data, no facts to back up whatever the organization’s claims might be. Instead, there was simply a date and time and the words NO MORE DRILLING.

The date was tonight at 9:00 p.m. Oakley had circled it and writtenCH4next to it. But nowhere could she find where the meeting was to be held. At one of the airport hangars? Seemed unlikely.

She stared it for a full minute before she pulled out her phone, then remembered that she wasn’t speaking to Cooper. Her face burned at the memory of last night. What had she been thinking throwing herself at the cowboy? She groaned. Had she really called him a coward? She reminded herself that now that her sister was awake, Oakley would tell Stuart who shot her. There was no longer any reason to look for clues, let alone go to some subversive meeting about methane well drilling. She really didn’t even need her sister’s password for her phone. The sheriff would get it from Oakley and he’d have whatever he might need to find and arrest her shooter.

Her phone rang. For a split second, her heart lifted at the thought it might be Cooper. It was her mother.

“I leave to go home and shower and change and your sister wakes up?” her mother demanded without preamble. “I’m so glad you called me, though, and grateful she’s going to be all right, but I had wanted to be there.”

“Has she told you who shot her?” she asked, looking at the flyer in her hand.

“No.” She heard something in her mother’s hesitation. “She doesn’t know. Or at least doesn’t remember. The doctor said, with her concussion, she might not ever recall the time before she was shot and fell from her horse. I have to go. The doctor’s here. I haven’t been able to reach your brothers. Please let them know if you see them.” She disconnected.

So it wasn’t over. Not yet. Tilly glanced at the flyer.Then, screwing up her courage, she called Cooper. He answered on the third ring. “Tilly, I’m kind of in the middle of something right now.”

“Oakley is awake, but she doesn’t remember anything from the hours before she was shot. I’m in her room. I got the password for her phone and I found a flyer for a group called Dirty Business. They meet tonight.”

“Great news that Oakley is conscious. I’ll call you back in a few minutes. I’m teaching Holly Jo about horses.”

In the background, she heard the girl grumbling. She disconnected, her heart still pounding. Cooper had sounded fine. She felt relieved. He’d probably forgotten all about last night. If he called back, then things between them would go back to the way they were. That was what she wanted, wasn’t it?

She looked down at the flyer clutched in her hand, needing to reroute her thoughts. She wasn’t up to going down that road this morning. DIRTY BUSINESS. Who were these people? She couldn’t imagine local ranchers being involved. These were hardworking people who ranched along the Powder River. If they were against the drilling, then they just wouldn’t allow the companies to drill on their property. They wouldn’t organize to stop all drilling. They’d figure it wasn’t their place to tell their neighbors what to do. They would mind their own business and expect others to do the same.

Except the drilling was hurting other people’s water supply, she reminded herself, remembering what her mother’s methane well had done to the McKennas.

She stared at the flyer again. It couldn’t be very many people. So who were they and where were they meeting? Somewhere secret. She still couldn’t believe that Oakley was involved. Or that she wouldn’t have said something to her if she was. Tilly could understand her keeping this from their mother and brothers, especially CJ, who wouldn’t mind if the entire ranch was covered in methane wells as long as it meant more money, especially if it hurt the McKennas.

Tilly couldn’t shake the feeling that Dirty Business was what had gotten her sister shot, no matter what the sheriff thought.

Her cell phone rang. Cooper? Her heart dropped as she saw that it was Stuart. She let it ring a couple more times, not really wanting to answer it. They would eventually have to talk. She needed to tell him how she felt, but she was dreading it. He would think it was because of Cooper.

In truth, it was, but it also wasn’t. The cowboy wasn’t interested in her. But he had made her realize why she and Stuart still hadn’t made love after their half dozen dates. His jealousy over Cooper had made her see that he was more serious than she was about their dating. In all fairness to him, she couldn’t keep seeing him.

Her phone rang again. What if it was news about her sister’s shooter? “Stuart,” she said as she answered the call. She couldn’t help still being put out with him after their argument the other night, but she knew it was a lot more than that. She needed to break things off with him, which felt odd since she hadn’t really thought of them as a couple. “Any news on my sister’s shooter?”

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