She dropped him off at the dark and dreary motel. He gave her a rather clumsy hug, then clambered out, her headlights providing him with a reasonably well-lit path to the office door.

Back at Cord’s place, she saw him and Eli still talking. They told her J.P. had gone home and Carly had left with Tina and Mitch. They asked her to join them and she did, accepting a glass of wine. Eli let her know that he appreciated Russell’s unexpected willingness to get involved with one of the patrols. “I hope I made that obvious.”

Cord nodded.

“Is there anything new he was able to add to the Christine Fletcher situation?” Eli asked next.

“Nothing yet. Oh—I forgot to tell you both. Russ and I talked about Christine’s husband earlier today. We assume he was her husband and my father, although my birth certificate just says ‘Father Unknown.’” She grinned wryly. “Something else Carly and I have in common.”

“We should learn more on Friday night when Eddie’s here.”

She and Cord walked him out to his car, then Cord suggested he and Shallie go for a ramble with the dogs.

“I hope he can find himself more of a life,” Shallie said. “But this evening was a good start.”

They returned to the ranch house, said good-night at the foot of the stairs, dogs hanging around them. When Cord reached for her, she moved into his arms. His kiss was everything she’d longed for, everything she’d learned to expect from him. “I’m falling for you,” he whispered.

She wanted to respond that she’d fallen for him a long time ago and that she’d had to put it aside, had to escape. Because he hadn’t fallen for her back then, but for Reba… Things were changing, though. She felt more and more sure of it. Her life had taken a different direction, away from him and from this town. But she was back—back where, twenty years ago, she’d hoped to be.

CORD, NOT SLEEPY at all, went downstairs to sit on the porch with a final beer; the dogs, of course, joined him.

This was a night of reckoning, he told himself. He knew he was falling in love with Shallie. He’d told her the truth about that. He just wasn’t sure what would happen next.

They’d make love soon. Very soon. He was convinced of that. He decided he should just enjoy the building excitement, the anticipation. Or try to, despite his frustration. It wasn’t as though he could draw on past relationships for guidance. Reba? Hardly. Jenna? That marriage was a disastrous mistake and it didn’t bother him not to have stayed in touch. He still felt used by her.