Lone Star Nights

Lucky couldn’t be sure, but he thought maybe her eyes watered a bit. Then she was back to her usual self. There was something comforting about that.

“I do have a favor to ask you,” she said. “That’s why I had the doc call you.”

Lucky nodded. “I’m here, and I’m listening.”

She patted his cheek. “The girls do like that pretty face of yours, but rust up your zippers a little. Or wear a bigger rodeo buckle. Might slow you down a bit so you can take time to enjoy something other than a woman’s secret place. Besides, some of those women you see don’t keep their places so secret.”

“Neither do I,” Lucky reminded her. Then he winked. It was a good use of what might be the last wink he’d ever give her.

“Don’t get fresh with me, boy. I don’t fall for monkey shit like that.”

He figured she was saying that just to take away the tension in the room. But then again, it was her normal, surly mood and one of her normal, surly sayings.

“Now, to that favor,” Dixie Mae went on. She took an envelope, one that had a couple of cigarette burns on it, from beside her on the bed and handed it to him. Her hands were shaking now. “I got nobody else to ask, but I need some help. And before you think about saying no, just remember this is my dying wish. A man wouldn’t be much of a man to deny an old dying woman her last wish.”

Yeah, a man like that would indeed have to be missing a pair. “I’ll do whatever you want. Anything.”

Lucky started to open the letter, but Dixie Mae stopped him by taking hold of his hand. “No. Don’t read it now. Save it for later. Let’s just sit here, take in the moment together.”

And she smiled.

Not that evil smile Lucky had seen her give before she’d thrown something at somebody, threatened them with bodily harm or cursed them out. This smile seemed to be the genuine article. She’d saved it just for him.

“Tell me about your ride today.” Her voice was a hoarse whisper, and her eyelids drifted all the way down.

Lucky’s own voice didn’t fare much better. “Not much to tell, really. The bull won.”

“The bull usually does,” Dixie Mae whispered. She smiled again, then both her grip and the smile began to melt away.

And just like that, Dixie Mae Weatherall was gone.

Lucky tried to hold it together. Tried not to give in to the grief that felt heavy and cold in his chest. He brushed a kiss on her cheek, gathered her in his arms, and Dixie Mae’s “boy” cried like a baby.

CHAPTER TWO (#ulink_8db7cb77-7b7f-5cc3-913e-b6d56a56b247)

CASSIE WEATHERALL FOUGHT back the tears. Fought for air, too.

Breathe.

She couldn’t actually say the word aloud. She couldn’t speak yet, but she repeated it in her head and hoped that it worked.

It didn’t.

Her heart continued to race, slamming so hard against her chest that she thought her ribs might break. Her throat closed up, strangling her.

This was just a panic attack, she reminded herself. All she needed to do was calm down and breathe.

That reminder still didn’t work so Cassie tried to force herself to think this through logically. She had enough adrenaline pumping through her to fight a bear. Maybe six of them. But there were no bears to fight here at Sweet Meadows Meditation and Relaxation Facility. Other than the grizzlies in her head anyway, though sometimes, like now, they felt worse than the real thing.

And speaking of her head, Cassie was no longer sure it was on her shoulders. Too much spinning. Wave after wave of panic. She couldn’t let anyone see her like this. Couldn’t let them know that she was broken and might never be fixed.

She went old-school and put her head between her knees. Of course, that meant sitting down, and while the path was good for walking and running, the small rocks dug into her butt and legs. Good.

Pain was good. Pain gave the adrenaline something else to battle other than the bears.

Breathe.

It was all about the breathing. All about taking in the right amount of air. Releasing the right amount, too. Cassie managed that part, but then the darkness came. The shaking. And her feet and hands started to go numb. That dumb-ass bear was going to win if she didn’t get hold of this right now.

She heard the sound of someone approaching, and Cassie struggled to get to her feet. Please, you can’t see me like this. But thankfully the footsteps stopped just on the other side of the path. There were thick shrubs between her and the person who’d made those footsteps.

“Miss Weatherall?” someone called out. Not a shout, but a soft, tentative voice.

Orin Dayton. The office manager at Sweet Meadows.

Cassie considered not answering him, but that would no doubt just prompt him to walk the twenty or so feet around the row of shrubs that divided her suite from the running trail. And then he would see her with her head between her knees, sweating, crying.

“Yes?” she forced herself to say.

“Uh, is something wrong, Miss Weatherall?” he asked.

“No. I overdid my run, and I’m a little queasy.” The lie was huge. So huge that Cassie looked up at the afternoon sky to make sure a lightning bolt wasn’t coming at her.

“All right,” he finally said. He used the tone of a person who wanted to believe the malarkey she’d just doled out. “A Dr. Knight from Los Angeles called a couple of minutes ago.”

Andrew. He was the only person other than Cassie who knew why she was really here at Sweet Meadows.

“I rang your room,” Orin went on, “but when you didn’t answer, Dr. Knight said to get you a message. That Dr. Stan Menger from a hospital in Spring Hill, Texas, is trying to reach you.”

Spring Hill. Her hometown. But Cassie didn’t know this Stan Menger. “What does Dr. Menger want?” Please not something that required her immediate attention. Not while she was battling a panic attack.

Orin paused again. “I’m afraid it’s not good news.”

Great. First, bears. Now, bad news. Since she’d already used what little supply of air she’d had left in her lungs, Cassie didn’t say anything else. She just waited for him to continue.

“There’s been a death, Miss Weatherall,” Orin said. “It’s your grandmother. Dr. Knight said you shouldn’t go home, though, that it wouldn’t be good for you right now. Dr. Knight said just to stay put and that he’ll take care of everything.”

But Orin was talking to himself because Cassie punched the last of the bears aside, got to her feet and ran to her room to pack.

* * *

DIXIE MAE DESERVED a lot better send-off than this. But considering she didn’t have a friend other than him in the tristate area, Lucky figured he shouldn’t be surprised there were only four people at her memorial service. Five, if he counted his brother Riley who’d dropped by earlier. Six, if he counted the sweaty-faced funeral director who kept popping in and out.

Lucky decided to count them both.

Dixie Mae’s driver, Manuel Rodriquez, was at the back of the room that the funeral home had set up. He was glaring at the flower-draped coffin, and the glare only got worse whenever his eyes landed on the four-foot-by-four-foot glossy picture that Dixie Mae had arranged to be placed beside her. No smile in this one, just a steely expression, as if she were picking a fight from beyond the grave.

Judging from Manuel’s glare, he’d likely been on the receiving end of too many of Dixie Mae’s fight-pickings.