Page 136 of The Cowboy's Unshakeable Love
Jamie started the engine and drove straight into the trees. Branches scraped along the sides of the SUV, but she didn’t seem to notice. She went slowly for a few hundred yards and then stopped.
“Get out!”
Retta just stared at her.
“I said getout!”
She opened her door, and Jamie came around and pulled her out again.
“This will do – you’ll never make your way back from here.”
Retta looked around and realized that she was right. This morning, Travis had been concerned about her getting from her SUV to the front door of the cabin. No way would she be able to make her way back to the road from here.
“You brought this on yourself, you know – you should have stayed away from him.”
She didn’t speak – she didn’t want to antagonize Jamie into changing her mind and shooting her. If she left, then Retta knew she stood a chance. Not much of a chance, but it was better than nothing.
~ ~ ~
Travis drove down Highway 89 faster than he ever had, his knuckles white on the steering wheel.
“She’s going to be alright,” Trip assured him.
He didn’t bother to answer. A ball of dread had formed in his stomach.
“I’m so fucking stupid!”
“Hey! No, you’re not. Why would you say that?”
“Because I was worried about Marty. I thought maybe … I dunno. Given everything that’s happened to the women around here lately, I thought that he might try something with Retta – to hurt her or to take her or … I don’t know. When he came and went, I thought I was just being paranoid. I wasn’t – I was just looking for trouble in the wrong place. It wasn’t him I needed to worry about – it was Jamie.”
“The wife? The one who broke Retta’s leg?”
“Yup. She has short black hair. It’s the only thing that makes sense – she’s come after Retta.”
Trip didn’t look convinced, but that didn’t surprise him. He knew it sounded crazy, but he also knew in his gut that he was right.
He hit the button to answer the call when his phone rang, and Zeke’s name came up on the screen on the dash.
“Talk to me.”
“She’s not here, Trav. Her vehicle’s still outside. Her purse and her phone are still on the table.”
“And her boot and crutches are here,” added Ty.
“They are?” Travis’s heart sank. She couldn’t have gotten far without them – at least, not under her own steam. Was he wrong? Had Marty come back for her? Would Jamie be able to carry her? He swallowed – or drag her?
“Is there any sign of … anything?” Trip asked.
“We’re going to take a look around,” said Zeke. “I’ll call you back.”
“We’ll be there soon,” Travis told him.
~ ~ ~
Retta watched Jamie’s SUV drive away. The taillights came on when she reached the road. She turned onto it and went back in the direction they’d come from. The woman wasn’t just crazy – she had to be some kind of clinically insane. There was no reason whatsoever for her to believe that Retta was involved with Marty. She pursed her lips. She knew enough about jealousy though to know that it wasn’t often rational. She’d seen the way it played out between girls on her squad over the years – it sometimes drove them to behave viciously toward each other. It wasn’t too much of a stretch to see that Jamie was just living out a more grown up – and dangerous – version.
She looked around at the dense forest. Suddenly all too aware of the pain in her leg and her head, of the deep scrapes and scratches all over her from being dragged over the ground likethat. She took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. She was still alive. The rest was just details – details that she’d get to later, after she figured out how she was going to get out of the trees and back to the road. How she was then going to make it back to Travis.