Wrangled and Tangled (12 page)

“God, Abe, you’re so damn sweet beneath that gruff exterior. I love you. I really do. You know that, right?” Celia’s voice broke. “But I don’t belong there. I don’t belong here. I’m beginning to think I don’t belong anywhere.”

She was breaking his heart. A level of alarm set in. “Where are you? I’ll get in my truck and drive to wherever you are right now.”

“No. You have a life too. You have a chance to make it right with Janie.”

“Celia, that’s not why—”

“You never got over her. I feel guilty Hank and I had a part in breakin’ up your marriage.” The phone rattled and beeped twice. “Sorry. My cell is about to die. I’ll be fine. It probably is the Jim Beam talkin’. Thanks for listening. You really are the greatest. I’m lucky to have you.”

The line went dead.

“Goddammit.” He redialed her number. It immediately kicked over to voice mail. Maybe her battery had crapped out, but he wasn’t taking any chances. Abe dialed and counted the rings while he paced in the kitchen.

Kyle finally answered with, “What have I done to merit a phone call from Abe Lawson?”

“I need your help. Are you and Celia at the same CRA event?”

“Yeah, we’re in Taos. Why?”

“Because she just called me. She’s drunk, crying, depressed, her phone died and I’ve no way to get in touch with her. So I need you to track her down.”

Silence.

“Kyle?”

“Look, Abe, sending me ain’t the best idea.”

“Why the fuck not? I know you and Celia have your differences, but this is serious.”

“So am I. I suspect I’m the reason she’s actin’ this way.”

“What the hell? I don’t have time for cryptic bullshit. Explain that.”

Kyle sighed. “Without pissing you off . . . I don’t know if I can.”

“Try,” Abe snarled.

“Celia and I . . . fuck, we had a big goddamn fight earlier today, okay? It’s the second time this week we’ve gotten into it. She warned me if I show my face anywhere near her truck she’ll aim that shotgun she keeps under the seat at me and blow me straight to hell.”

“That’s a chance I’m willin’ to take.”

“Not me. Besides, I’m not your sister’s keeper.”

“If you’re partially responsible for her acting this way, then you better find her, Kyle, before I find you. And if you don’t get back to me within the hour, I’ll call the cops in Taos and have them track you both down. Hear me?”

“Loud and clear.”

Abe tossed his phone and braced his hands on the counter, trying not to panic.

“What’s going on with Celia?” Janie said behind him.

He whirled around. “Ah. Nothin’. I’m handling it.”

“Not very well.” Janie shuffled closer. She’d wrapped herself in his old terrycloth bathrobe. Something loosened in his chest. He’d forgotten how she used to slip on his shirts and steal his socks and how much he’d loved it. “Talk to me, Abe.”

Janie had always complained that Celia was a drama queen, and Abe wouldn’t put his sister in a bad light when she was so obviously hurting. “I was talkin’ to Celia, we got cut off and I called Kyle, who’s on the CRA tour with her, to check on her. He was a little reluctant. I insisted.”

“I heard. Is Celia still following him around like a puppy?”

Abe frowned. “What makes you say that?”

“Oh come on. You had to’ve noticed. The way Celia was always chasing after Kyle. She adored him.”

“I never noticed. All’s I remember is them fightin’ like crazy. Drove us all nuts.”

“It was one-sided. Kyle never gave Celia a second glance. To add insult to injury, he treated her like a pesky little sister just like you and Hank did.”

“Well, it’s a good damn thing he didn’t act on her signals or I’da strung Kyle up, family friend or not. He’s too goddamn old for Celia.”

Janie lifted a brow in that annoying, imperious way of hers. “Seven years is a gap when she was eleven and he was eighteen. But now that she’s twenty-four and he’s thirty-one? Not such a big age difference.” She stood on her tiptoes and tried to peer into the big soup pot. “Whatcha cooking?”

“Chicken noodle soup.”

“Homemade?”

“Yeah.” Abe dumped the noodles into a strainer in the sink. “Bet you thought I’d never learn to cook.”

“I figured you’d marry a proper ranch wife, who’d gladly whip up hearty meals for you three times a day and you’d never have to learn.”

“How long did you give me before I remarried?” he asked lightly.

“Six months.”

He shook the noodles with extra force. “I must’ve been a real asshole if you believed I’d need so little time to mourn our marriage, Janie.”

“At the time, I didn’t think either of us would mourn the end of it.”

You were wrong. I mourned that loss longer than I did the loss of my parents.
Not that he’d admit such a thing to her or anyone else. He said, “Watch out,” and carried the noodles to the soup pot. “We’ll be ready to eat in about five.”

“I’ll set the table. Where are you keeping bowls these days?”

“Middle cupboard.”

“I knew you’d change things back to the way your mother had arranged them after I left,” she accused.

“Another thing you’re wrong about. Lainie made changes when she moved in. I’ve never cared where the dishes were just as long as I could find them.”

She set the bowls on the woven placemats. “Were these Lainie’s?”

“The placemats? No, those are mine. Couldn’t stand the frilly ones so I bought some that weren’t so damn girly.” He plopped the pot in the middle of the table next to a box of crackers. His cell vibrated on the counter and he snatched it, growling, “You’d better have good news for me, Gilchrist.”

“I found her.”

Abe sagged into the chair. “Thank you. How is she?”

“Besides drunk as a damn skunk? Now she’s mad as hell too. She took a swing at me.”

“I hope you ducked.”

“Her aim is a little off, but she wasn’t exactly aiming for my face.”

Considering the snarl in Kyle’s tone, Abe held back his chuckle. Then he heard Celia in the background. “Is that Abe?”

Kyle said, “Yeah. Didja wanna talk to him?”

“Abe, you fucking bastard,” Celia yelled loud enough that Abe had to hold the phone away from his ear. “You called
Kyle
? I trusted you and you turned me over to this smarmy douche bag who can’t keep his dick in his pants! Do you know what he said to me?” The line crackled and Celia’s voice sounded farther away. “Omigod, Kyle Gilchrist you fuckin’ pervert, put me down right fuckin’ now or I swear to God I will kick your balls into your throat as soon as I’ve sobered up!”

“Try it, baby cakes, and I’ll give you another spanking.”

Another
spanking? What the fuck did that mean?

The phone clunked again and Kyle snarled, “You owe me, Abe. Big time. Celia is so shitfaced I can’t leave her alone so I’m takin’ her to my hotel. But since she ditched Mickey at the community barn after the event, now I gotta deal with that temperamental goddamn horse of hers too. Fuck.”

“Call me tomorrow and let me know how the night went.”

“I’ll tell you right now how it’s gonna go. She’s a pain in my ass and I’ll probably end up in jail for killin’ her. I don’t give a shit if she is your sister. You assholes better bail me outta jail if that happens.” Kyle hung up.

Janie stared at the phone. “Wow.”

“Yeah. Like I said, no love lost between Kyle and Celia. But at least I know she ain’t passed out somewhere alone.”

He filled the bowls and they tucked in.

“This is really good, Abe.”

“Thanks.”

“So Celia’s been barrel racing professionally for . . . ?”

“Three years. Not that me’n Hank had a freakin’ clue about that part of her life. She hid it from us.” His gaze zoomed to hers. “Did you know she’d kept up with her training?”

Janie shook her head. “But Celia didn’t confide in me much anyway. Is she any good?”

He shrugged. “Some natural talent. She works hard and ended up with a great horse. She’s gone a lot, which took some getting used to. Now me’n Hank are her biggest supporters, but when we found out about her deception . . .” Something jogged his memory. When it solidified, a niggling feeling of guilt surfaced. “Wait a second. The last time you contacted me before you came back to Muddy Gap was three years ago.”

“So?”

“So . . . was that the same time the incidents with this Dave guy escalated? Was that why you called me and asked if we could meet?”

“I don’t remember.”

Liar. “Janie.”

“What?”

“Look at me and tell me the truth.”

Her purple-hued irises flashed frustration. “Yes, that’s partially why I called you, okay? I was scared to death and I thought seeing you, hearing you say ‘pull yourself up by your bootstraps, Janie, and handle it like an adult’ would give me courage.”

“So you didn’t tell me what was really goin’ on that day we had lunch in Cheyenne. You acted like your life was perfect. In fact, you sort of rubbed it in my face. How happy and successful you were.”
Without me
went unsaid. It’d sliced him to the quick, hearing from her after years of no contact. Believing he’d heard longing in her voice over the phone had been the only reason he’d agreed to see her. He’d felt like a fool afterward, but seeing her had allowed him to make much needed changes in his own life.

“I lied about my life because I didn’t want you to think I needed saving again,” she said softly.

Instead of saying,
I’ve always wanted to be there to save you
, he snapped, “But it was perfectly okay for Renner to come to your rescue, like in the version you told me earlier?”

“Please. Can we just drop it?”

Back to the same old, same old within a couple of hours.

Only the clanking of spoons filled the silence.

She delicately broke a cracker and scattered the chunks in her bowl. “What are your after-dinner plans? Wanna veg out and watch a movie with me?”

“You’re more than welcome to watch whatever you’d like. There’s a ton of ranch bookwork to catch up on, so I’ll be workin’ in my office all night.”

“Oh. Okay.” She hid her disappointment and focused on stirring her soggy crackers. “I’m staying in Hank’s old room?”

“Unless you’d rather be downstairs in Celia’s room so you have your own bathroom.”

“I don’t mind sharing a bathroom with you.”

He checked the time. “Do you need anything else before I get to work?”

“I’m sure if my stalker tosses a Molotov cocktail through the living room window, you’ll hear it.”

“Funny. The doors are locked. I don’t have to warn you not to go outside, do I?”

She shook her head.

“See you in a couple hours.” He snagged a Coke and retreated to his office, locking the door behind him. While he waited for his computer to load, he unlocked the filing cabinet and took out his notebooks. He flipped through the loose papers until he found the assignment he’d finished after the last online class. Thank God he was only nine credits short of finishing his bachelor of science degree in agricultural business. Abe knew such stealth was ridiculous. But he’d been doing it for so long it’d become second nature. It was a miracle he’d kept his academic pursuits hidden from Celia, as well as Hank and Lainie while they’d lived here with him.

Abe had known at an early age his main responsibility would always be to the ranch, but he’d intended to go to college part time. Following his parents’ unexpected deaths, dreams of higher education became just that. He and Hank were left to raise Celia. To earn cash to keep them afloat, Hank had started bullfighting. Hank’s travel demands meant better money, but it also meant more work for Abe. With the weight of his ranch responsibilities, by the time he was twenty-three, he’d felt like an old man.

His friends always teased him about being so serious, working too hard. Heeding his brother’s advice to cut loose, he’d spent the weekend in Casper visiting his buddy Max. They’d gone to a fraternity dance, scoffing at the pirate theme, opting to wear normal clothes—jeans, boots and hats. The frat boys weren’t happy the ladies were clustered around the pair of cowboys, not the surplus of pirates, and tossed them out. Literally. Abe’s face had connected with several fists before his ass had met the pavement. A scrap of a woman, dressed as a serving wench, helped him to his feet, and fussed over him like she’d been personally responsible for his airborne ejection from the party.

It’d been years since he’d been the sole focus of a woman’s tender care and concern. He liked it more than he wanted to admit—and he milked it as much as he could. It wasn’t Janie’s unadorned physical appearance that’d immediately captivated him, although she masked her petite curvy body in formless clothes and hid her beautiful smile behind long straight black hair. Her thoughtful nature had drawn him in after she’d taken him to her efficiency apartment and patched him up. Those amazingly expressive purple-hued eyes and the hungry way she kissed him, and the no-holds-barred way she wanted him were just icing on the cake.