Page 11 of Black Ice
“You’re not wrong,” she said. “Neither is he. Winter excursions require winter gear and equipment. Dale Cotton doesn’t subscribe to the ‘takes money to make money’ theory. We both had to step up. He restores furniture and I found a job that pays.”
Wyatt hated that Evie was sacrificing herself. “Wow.” Eleven years ago her working in any capacity at the casinos would’ve broken their friendship. He was a different man now.
“I’m sorry,” she said, her gaze on the snow blowing across the glow of light from the parking lamp overhead.
“Don’t be. You have good plans for Cottonwood Adventures. If this is what it takes, consider it a phase.” But why did the universe have to plant her here, in the casino targeted for a big robbery. A robbery he was knotted up in.
“You must hate me.”
“Please.” He snorted. “The opposite seems more likely.” Her reaction to him earlier was plenty of proof. “You were fuming from the moment you recognized me.”
She punched his shoulder. Hard. Confirming his assessment. “You left without a word. Not one letter or phone call.” She rubbed her reddening nose. “I had to hear everything from the paper.”
It would’ve been easier if she’d shouted at him. The aching emotion in her quiet voice was too much. “I had to leave.” Unlike her, he didn’t have a good explanation for his choices. At the time, he’d thought not saying goodbye to his best friend was the only way to go through with it. Staying wasn’t an option and leaving wasn’t all that he’d hoped for.
“What did you hear in the paper?” He regretted the question immediately. He wasn’t fishing for compliments, he wassupposed to be getting her out of harm’s way without tipping her off.
“Local boy joins the Army and becomes a hero, that kind of thing,” she replied.
“I’m surprised they bothered.” Uneasy, he adjusted the vent shooting hot air at him. “My branch of the Jameson family tree wasn’t exactly popular.” His mother had gambled the family into such a deep hole they’d lost the house and everything that had once been good inside it.
Evie had been his lifeline, his last tether to a better reality. Evie’s father had talked to him about enlisting, about creating a fresh start and building a foundation his mother couldn’t touch.
It was go… or be consumed by her weakness. There were nights—plenty of them that first year—when he wondered if Dale had ever told Evie about those talks, about the advice that pushed Wyatt out of Deadwood toward a better life. Probably not. Dale would’ve expected Wyatt to explain and he’d never found the words.
Evie’s place was here. For a time, Wyatt had been convinced his place was here, by her side, helping her take Cottonwood Adventures to the next level.
“You were my best friend, Wyatt.” Her voice was barely audible over the blowing fans and he wondered if she meant for him to hear the words at all. “My heart broke over you. I…I don’t think I can go have coffee or a drink because deep down a part of me wants to forget the last eleven years of silence.” She sucked in a breath and bit her lip. On the exhale she faced him. “For as long as you’re in town, can we just pretend wedon’tknow each other?”
“Evie—” It would be safer for her and yet, he resisted. He couldn’t just ignore what might be his only chance to make up for his mistakes.
“I mean it,” she said. “Eleven years is a lot of time and distance. We’re different people now, really. You’ve been all over the world and I’ve been right here. Call me a coward, but I’ll only get hurt if I try to reconnect with you right now.”
She was no coward. Just the opposite. “I should tell you?—”
She cut him off. “Don’t tell me anything. Just be yourself, be the town hero. Do whatever you’re here to do, just do it well away from me.”
If he’d been surprised to see her dealing poker, he was absolutely shocked now. What she proposed was for the best on several levels. With the storm coming in, and the robbery in the offing, staying away from her simplified everything. This way Cordell couldn’t drag her into his plans. “You’re sure that’s what you want?”
“It is.”
How could he argue with her? She deserved to dictate terms now when he’d never given her a shot before. “You’ll go home and ride out the storm there?”
“That’s the plan,” she replied.
A plan that kept her away from the casino without him blowing his cover by telling her the whole sordid tale. Agent Pickering could get herself out to the Cotton place if she wanted clarity about Evie and Cordell.
“Promise me you’ll stay home through the storm?”
She ran her gloved hands over the steering wheel, not meeting his gaze. “I promise.”
He gripped the door handle. “I loved you, Evie. We were only kids, but still. I know I hurt you, the way I left, but I’ve never wanted anything less than the best for you. I swear it.”
3
Evie was grateful for the quick flash of cold air as Wyatt got out of her car. It cooled her cheeks and eased the sting of tears in her eyes. “I loved you too,” she whispered to the empty car.
She’d thought she was all cried out when it came to Wyatt Jameson, but she found a supply of tears ready to spill over at the next opportunity. Which was not here while the man was clearing her windows. Driving home in the snow would be bad enough without tear-blurred vision and sadness.
