With shaky hands, she drew out her phone and dialed her shrink.

Jonas answered on the third ring, sounding all professional. Over time, he’d become her friend as well as her psychologist, and one of the reasons she trusted him so much was that he gave her a hard time, she gave him one back, and neither of them ever took offense. They both knew that no matter how nasty a comment might sound, or how upset either of them might be for an instant, it meant nothing. Jonas didn’t pussyfoot around with her. That worked for Erin. In a clinical environment with a therapist who was always rigidly polite, she didn’t feel relaxed and couldn’t share her feelings. With Jonas, there were no holds barred.

Erin cut right to the chase. “I think I’m backsliding.”

“Erin? Is that you?”

Frustration turned her voice thin and reedy. “Of course it’s me. Who else could be backsliding?”

“Everyone in this town in one way or another.”

Jonas had a way about him that always soothed her. “I need to see you. Tonight, if possible. Name any time that works for you. I’ll be there even if it means missing supper. Dinner, I mean.”

“Six o’clock works. No need for you to miss supper. I’ll order a pizza from the restaurant downstairs. And I’ll grab a couple of beers from my fridge. We’ll eat while we talk.”

“Thank you for working me in. I’ll see you at six sharp.”

As Erin ended the call, it occurred to her that it was Saturday. How many psychologists made themselves available on the weekend? He’d probably charge her double. She’d pay whatever rate he came up with and be glad of it. At this point, she felt as if she’d fallen out of the white-water canoe and was drowning.

Chapter Thirteen

Erin finished her workday on the ranch as if she were killing poisonous snakes. At the back of her mind, she knew she was in a fever pitch, and if Wyatt was watching, she was only cementing in his mind all the reasons he’d listed for firing her. But she couldn’t make herself stop. She felt like a windup toy being controlled by an invisible someone who wanted to destroy her.

She didn’t shower or change clothes before she drove into town. If she went inside the main house, she was afraid she would see her uncle and unload both barrels on him. How could he consider letting her go without giving her warning? Wyatt was the foreman and therefore her boss, but Uncle Slade owned the ranch and outranked everyone. He could have taken her aside and expressed his concerns without using Wyatt as a middleman.

Jonas lived in the apartment above the Straw Hat and also worked with his patients there. As Erin walked through the restaurant, packed with evening diners, she felt so embarrassed she wanted to die. Almost everyone in town recognized her now, even if she didn’t always know them. And most people also knew that Jonas Sterling, the hometown shrink, saw all his patients in his upstairs living quarters. Gossip probably already abounded about her turning in her badge. Now she was fueling the fire even more by rushing upstairs as if demons chased at her heels.