Whipping her basket around, Dallas sped out of sight, down the next aisle. Hot blood filled her face, her ears burned, and she wanted to punch something. She’d really liked the guy. If she wasn’t already seeing not one, but two men, she might have taken him up on his offers to go out. Maybe even fallen for him. God, I’m so stupid! Gritting her teeth, she pushed her basket forward again. The lying, cheating, son of a... She needed to do something. If he was her husband, she’d want to know he was playing around.
Dallas spotted the jerk and his family two aisles over at the canned goods. Plastering a smile on her face, she walked up to the woman with an outstretched hand. “Hi, you must be Doug’s sister. He comes in Friday nights at The Cowboy. It’s wonderful to see that Doug hangs out with his niece when he can.”
Ignoring Doug completely, she kept her eyes locked on the woman, who said, “I’m not his sister. I’m his wife.” She turned with a confused look to Doug, whose face had lost its color.
Dallas now stared at Doug, and said, “You’re married? How dare you ask me out?” Turning to his wife, she said, “I’m so sorry, ma’am. Looks like your husband’s got some explaining to do about how he spends his Friday nights.”
Piper tugged on her arm. “Can we go see the toys now, Momma?”
“Sure, honey.” Without looking at Doug, Dallas moved off, heading to get a gallon of milk first.
Ice-cold now, with her gut in turmoil, her thoughts went to her own situation. How could she trust Cash or Ethan? Doug was just one of many unfaithful men she’d seen at The Cowboy. The bar was full of guys every weekend who were disloyal jerks. How in the hell had she forgotten that?
DALLAS GOT UP EARLY Saturday morning after a fitful night’s sleep. She fixed a cup of coffee and lay on the couch, hoping to come up with the right words to cancel the day Cash planned for the three of them. She admitted she was frightened—scared as hell to go further in her relationship with either Cash or Ethan. Doug had fooled her. He’d been a charming, persistent shit, like he didn’t have a beautiful wife and child at home waiting for him. The creep had been a wake-up call—a dash of ice water reminding her of a man’s true nature.
After fixing a second cup of coffee, she returned to the living room. Trailing her fingers along the buffet as she walked, she stopped at the photo of herself as a little girl of seven or eight. She stood in front of her mom, leaning against her, clasping her mother’s hands desperately, seeking comfort and shelter. Growing up, Dallas had always been fearful. Afraid her mother would die. Terrified her father would fall asleep and never wake up.
Her mother skipped meals when food was scarce, which was most of the time, and those awful commercials on TV talked about people starving to death. Now she knew when she’d tried unsuccessfully to wake her father, he’d been passed-out drunk, but back then, it had petrified her when he wouldn’t come around. Laying the picture on her chest, she held it for a moment, wishing there had been someone to comfort that timid, frightened child with too much knowledge of life’s perils.
Brushing dust off the frame, she gently placed it back where it belonged and continued on to the couch.
What if Cash and Ethan were fooling her, too? What did she really know about them? She hadn’t met any of Cash’s friends and didn’t run in his circles. All she had was his word for his history and his character. And what about Ethan? He’d definitely been a player. His mom was always fixing him up with the daughters of her social-climber friends, too. What happened to all those women? It was too big a chance to take. And how had she let herself bring a man into her daughter’s life? She’d lost her mind.
Without anything prepared, she typed the first thing that came to her head and broke the day’s date with Cash.
As soon as she tapped send, her stomach bottomed out. She’d lost something significant. Closing her eyes, she buried her face in the throw pillow. Her belly started a slow, deep burn as reality hit her. She wouldn’t see Cash anymore. The light that filled her heart ebbed away, drip by brilliant drip. It was her choice to cut him out of her life, but that didn’t matter. A dull ache settled on her chest. Her head knew that there couldn’t be a relationship without trust, yet her heart wanted the man who’d been caring and kind to her. That scared little girl inside of her feared being alone again.
She opened her eyes and stared at Piper’s souvenir from the train museum which sat where her daughter left it on the coffee table. Cash had given up his Saturday so Dallas could spend time with Piper. Reaching out, Dallas traced the steam engine replica with her fingertip and pictured him holding Piper high so she could touch the levers out of her reach. Dallas folded the little engine into her palm and hugged it to her breast. Her coffee sat untouched until it turned cold.
SUNDAY CAME AND DALLAS forced herself to be more upbeat for Piper’s sake, working on the house and laundry and even spending a little time playing with her. Naptime finally rolled around, and Dallas helped her daughter into bed. Though it was way too early, she
