Page 3 of Stormswept Colorado

As if I didn’t know that. My heart knocked against my chest.

“But we’ll look into it,” she promised. “Are you well enough to go on?” She pressed a hand to my face. “You’re clammy.”

“We can’t have her passing out onstage,” the tour manager said.

Their clipped tones had bolstered me. My team didn’t coddle me, and I didn’t need them to.

I’d been taking care of myself since I was sixteen. I’d tried to build walls around me, and sometimes the cracks showed. But I couldn’t afford to fall apart now.

“No, I’m going on. Someone get Ricky?” My makeup artist. “I just need a touchup.”

Cover it up, I thought.Paint it over so no one sees.

That photo meant nothing. My past was gone. Dead and buried. I wouldn’t let anyone see how much it really affected me.

ONE

Teller

February, This Year

My hometown wasmy favorite place on earth. Especially mornings when the sun lit the sky in gentle shades of orange and peach, when the birds were chattering in the pine trees beyond my porch, and the mountain air was that perfect balance of crisp and sweet. When everything was calm and easy.

This was not one of those mornings.

I shifted my weight, hands resting casually on my duty belt. “Jimmy, I still don’t see why you found it necessary to call 911.”

He pointed a finger at Rosie, the owner of Main Street Market. “Because that shrew won’t let me buy my toilet paper.”

Rosie crossed her arms. “And I told this old fool that the limit is two.”

“Last time I checked, this was a damned free country!”

“I’ve had a two-pack limit on toilet paper for years now, and you know it.”

I sighed. If this was a sign of my day to come, it was going to be a long one.

Rosie Alvarez ran a tight ship here at the market. But for somereason, she had an on-again, off-again romance with Jimmy Perkins, the man currently creating a disturbance in her store.

From the sounds of it, I guessed the two of them were currently in theoffposition.

I glanced at Jimmy’s cart. “Is there a reason you’re stocking up on toilet paper, batteries, and…geez, how much orange soda does one man need?”

Jimmy looked at me like I was dumber than something he’d scraped off his mud-crusted boot. “Storm of the century’s coming this weekend, Chief Landry. You’d best be getting the town ready. Not obstructing a man in his right to stock up on the essentials.”

“But that’s still no reason to call 911 claiming false imprisonment,” I pointed out.

“I can’t leave until I have my desired purchases.” Jimmy’s head waggled, making his gray ponytail shake. “Basically the same thing.”

I didn’t know if this dispute was a lovers’ quarrel, some kind of foreplay, or both. But either way, I wanted no part of it.

I closed my eyes, calling on those yoga breathing techniques in the videos Piper liked to send me. What was it? Something about a victorious warrior?

“Let’s just get this sorted out.”

After a few minutes of mediation, Rosie decided to let him buy three packs of toilet paper instead of two. Which, to me, wasn’t the best idea. Just encouraged him. But Jimmy had dropped the troublesome act and had a shine of affection in his eyes by the end of their negotiation.

Then Rosie swatted his behind as Jimmy left. “We’ll talk more about this later, Jimmy Perkins,” she said sternly. He winked.

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