Page 192 of Cowboy Daddies

Not that he’d known that for a long time.

And when he had discovered what was going on, he’d done what he could to help her. But by then it had been too late.

Shit. He guessed that he might have quickly jumped to a false conclusion about that girl. Why would she be sleeping in her car, though?

“Why?” Jeb asked.

“Why did he arrest her? She was sleeping in her car in a public park. That’s illegal without permission.”

He knew that. “I meant, why was she sleeping in her car?”

“She said it broke down and that she didn’t want to pay for a motel since she might need that money to fix it.”

Ouch.

He didn’t know why that was a punch to the guts but it was.

“For fuck’s sake. And he didn’t help her to a motel instead of arresting her?”

“He did not. Like I said, Happy is enthusiastic. Now, I’m looking through his report wondering how the fuck this mess happened and what I’m going to do with this girl who likes swings and has shitty luck with cars.”

“Let her go,” Jeb suggested.

“Sure. I could do that. But it occurred to me that she’s down on her luck. Maybe she needs a job. A place to live. You have a job that is live-in. You have a son that also likes swings.”

“Are you fucking kidding me?” Jeb spat out. “You expect me to hire a stranger to take care of my child?”

“That’s what you do when you hire one of those nannies.”

“They’re vetted, Tex! It’s hardly the same fucking thing. That girl is completely bonkers.”

“And yet she was quizzing me just now about whether I knew Wyatt. If I thought he was all right. And what happened to his mama. I ran a background check on her. No priors. Not even a speeding ticket.”

So she was nosy? That didn’t mean anything. Most of this town were nosy assholes.

“I am not hiring her. End of story.”

Tex had lost his fucking mind if he thought he was going to do that.

Chapter Five

Casey couldn’t believe she’d been arrested.

Well, there was a first time for everything and if she was going to be arrested, it would be in a small town called Oddity.

How the hell had her life ended up like this? She thought she was a pretty good person. Yes, sometimes she made some questionable decisions. Who didn’t?

Coming to this town might be the worst one of all, though.

At least the sheriff had let her go without pressing any charges. He’d even helped her call a mechanic to tow her car, then driven her over to the garage so she could meet with him.

Miraculously, no one had stolen anything from her car. She thought the sheriff had looked a bit mad when she’d told him about Happy refusing to lock her car.

“What do you think is wrong with it?” she asked, unable to keep the anxiety out of her voice.

The mechanic, an older guy with some seriously big biceps, glanced over at her and her stomach tightened in dread.

Shit.