“I tried your town’s website, but it isn’t user-friendly. They still have Harry listed as mayor.”
She winced. “Barren’s website has been a dead space for years. They tried, but then the boy who set it up left for college and never came back. Nobody offered to take it over.” Her gaze returned to his reluctantly. “I don’t mean to rain on your parade, Dallas, but there are also other issues to consider, like insurance against liability for injuries...” Her eyes held his. “This event won’t be as simple as you think. You’d be using town facilities. That brings up all sorts of complications—and I’m not involved,” she insisted.
Dallas fought an urge to grit his teeth. “Lizzie—Elizabeth—I’m not trying to drag you into the rodeo. All I’d like you to do is get me that guy’s name and number, a start, then I’ll take it from there.”
She slipped into her car. “I can try, but people talk, you know they do—my neighbor Bernice, for example. She might have seen you leave my house the other night—”
His mouth hardened. “There was nothing wrong with us having a meal together.”
She started the engine. “That may be fine for you, but I have to live among these people. I’d really like to hold my head up again.”
“And I’d like to do something for this town—for charity.”
“Then I hope you will.”
She moved to put the car in Reverse, but Dallas laid a hand on the open window. “Why are you rushing off? Is it me? I realize I invited myself over and convinced you to watch PBR, but it couldn’t have been that bad, could it? What’s changed?”
“I told you what changed.”
His grip tightened on the window. He glanced at the street, the few people who were walking on either side between stores and one cowboy in fancy lizard-skin boots dyed red who went into Earl’s Hardware. “One neighbor gets nosy, and that’s it?”
“It’s not just Bernice. Jenna told me she’d heard from her sister, who heard from their mother, who’d heard from Jack Hancock about our dinner. They’re harmless enough, but...” She looked at her hands. “You see what I mean?”
“Not really.” A muscle jerked in his cheek. He eased away from the car. “Is this about that afternoon in May? If you’re still peeved, Elizabeth—”
“No, but I have been wondering...” She averted her face. Her voice sounded tight and the question finally came as if she’d opened her purse and the contents had spilled out all over the street. “When you ordered the food from the Bon Appetit, did you tell Jack you were planning to eat with me?”
Now he was getting mad. “Why would you even ask me that?” So, this was what had been on her mind. “I didn’t say a word. I’m not one of your town gossips. The only thing on my mind is to pull off my rodeo—without your help—then take off for the circuit before I lose what’s left of my career!”
She merely nodded. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have asked.”
But she’d just had to know. Dallas didn’t respond. He started toward his truck and on his way made a split-second decision. Not that he was doing so just to get away from Barren. “In case anyone’s looking at my house and sees my truck there for the next few days, you can tell them I’m not here anyway, okay? You have my permission. I’m going to fly to visit my parents.”
“Dallas.” He could barely hear her calling out. Her car hadn’t moved before he was in his truck, slamming the door. “I really will try to get you that number.”
“YOU’RE HOME!” HIS FATHER bellowed the instant Dallas walked into the house where his parents lived in a neat suburb of Denver. After talking with Liz—Elizabeth—yesterday and letting his temper get the best of him, he’d welcomed this quick getaway to see his parents again.
“Surprise,” Dallas said. But then, enfolded in his dad’s familiar bear hug, instead of grinning he couldn’t help but frown. Never a small man, sandy-haired with gray-blue eyes, his adoptive father felt lighter, less substantial in Dallas’s arms. Had he lost weight?
Dad kissed his cheek. Joe Maguire was the most demonstrative person Dallas had ever known, always ready with a comforting hand on a shoulder, a kind word. He’d rarely raised his voice to Dallas, even when he’d probably deserved a tongue-lashing as a kid. “Why didn’t you tell us you were coming? Call beforehand? We would have rolled out the red carpet.”
Why? Because he’d wanted to see for himself, not hear some spin over his cell, what their true situation was without giving them the opportunity to prepare. “I decided spur of the moment.”
His mom hurried from the kitchen, wiping her hands on a dish towel. And huffing, he noticed, with every breath. Millie pushed Joe aside to pull Dallas into her arms. “Welcome, honey. We don’t see you enough.”
Their hug went on until Dallas finally eased away to look into her eyes. He wiped a lone tear from her face. She wore a soulful expression. “You doing all right, Mom? Really?” His father hovered nearby, likely prepared to cover for her as he had on the phone.
She looked down. “Of course. I told you. I hope you haven’t been worrying.”
He grinned. “That’ll be the day.” Dallas dropped his duffel bag in the front hall, then moved on into the living room, which looked the same as the first day he’d stepped inside this house. A skinny boy carrying the sum total of his worldly belongings in a plastic trash bag. A boy who’d
