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Reese flexed and released her fingers, realizing for maybe the first time how good it felt not to have them wrapped around a phone.
She was taking deeper breaths now, too, realizing life was short and she wanted to breathe fresh air again. If she moved home, she could probably run her business from here and only need to make trips to Dallas a few days every month to handle things in person. She could also hire a manager to help run her small service company.
“Hey.”
Darren’s voice pulled her from her deep thoughts. She looked up at him only to realize he was studying her.
“What are you thinking about?” he asked.
He probably didn’t want to know all of it, especially the fantasy about him and the girls, so she said, “Changes that need to happen in my life if we’re able to—”
“Not if,” he interrupted. “When.”
She stared at him, loving that he believed everything would work out great. Her reality didn’t always go the way she’d planned. Still, his heart was in the right place, and she didn’t have it in her to disagree. “Okay,whenwe’re able to lock this bastard or bastards away.”
Darren clicked off the computer he’d been working on and led the way into the kitchen. “Coffee?”
“I’d love some,” she said, “but only if you let me help.”
The two worked together to put on a fresh pot. She rinsed out their mugs from earlier.
“It’ll be dark soon,” she said. “When did Buster say he was coming back?”
Darren glanced at the clock on the wall. “We have about half an hour.”
She nodded.
“I have bad news about Phillip Rhodes,” he said.
“Oh yeah? What’s that?”
“He just finished chemo recently,” Darren said. “I was able to track down one of his family members. The guy is a jerk for what he did to you. Apparently, he found religion five years ago and has been working the same job ever since. His mother said that he had to move in with her six months ago so she could care for him during treatment.”
“I hope he did get his life together,” she said. It didn’t change what he’d done to her, but she didn’t have it in her heart to wish cancer on anyone. “But it doesn’t sound like he would be strong enough to force someone to go with him.”
Darren took a sip of coffee. “No. He’s off the list. Which leaves Aiden Archer. He’s more of a mystery.”
“Which doesn’t mean he’s guilty,” she pointed out, frustrated they didn’t have a few more names to go on. It would be fine if Aiden was the one, but what if he wasn’t? Narrowing down the suspect list to one name was hard.
“I know,” he said. “We’ll find this guy. I promise.”
It wasn’t a guarantee that anyone could make right now, but she appreciated him for trying to offer some reassurance.
“I heard you typing,” she said, changing the subject.
“Ranch work is a whole lot of paperwork,” he said with a look that said he saw what she was doing.
“Do you still love it?” she asked.
“I love being here on the land,” he said. “You know how much I love the animals. The paperwork? That’s not my favorite part.”
“You never were one for doing homework,” she quipped. “Despite the fact you tested better than me.”
“It was busywork for people who couldn’t understand the material,” he insisted with a small quirk of a smile.
“Not everyone is a genius, like you,” she said.
“Some genius,” he countered. “I let the one person I truly loved get away without even trying to find you. How smart was I?”
