“How long? What, you got dizzy when you were driving? You should have called me and I’d have come over.”
“Yeah, about that.”
He stopped himself short. What was he going to say to her? She’d come over every day until that night he’d bolted on her at the honky-tonk.
“I’m sorry about the other night,” he finally said, fighting for words that were there but he had a hard time forming.
“You were upset,” she said quietly. “You could have called to say you were sorry, even though there wasn’t a need.”
“I wanted to see you.”
“But you’re not—”
“I’m not going to get woozy while I’m driving. I’m fine.”
He wasn’t fine. He was a mess. But it had nothing to do with the bump on his head.
She fluttered her fingers. “Woozy is not what I’m worried about. I’m worried about that big crash that happens when you get woozy while you’re driving and then you hit a big tree.”
“Don’t worry. I’m not going to sue you.”
She offered him a smile. “That’s a relief. My days are already filled with the Hollywood guy and his soon-to-be-ex right now. At least sit down so I know you’re not going to fall down and hurt yourself again.”
He did as he was told, not because he felt dizzy at all. He was just tired. Tired of the way he felt deep in his heart a longing for something he didn’t have. Of wanting something, or someone who was ten feet away from him and yet, felt so far out of his reach.
Katie continued to stare at him. “Are you okay? Do you want me to drive you home?”
“I want some answers.”
She frowned. “About what?”
“You and Julie used to go riding together your last year of high school, right?”
“Yeah. Lots of people did. There were a few of us who would go down to the Lone Creek Ranch after school. Sometimes on weekends. After a while, Julie and I just kind of went riding together.”
He carefully chose his words. “Did you see Julie outside of riding?”
She shrugged and then thought a minute. “A few times. We saw each other in class, but we mostly hung out at the ranch.”
“Was she seeing anyone?”
Katie blinked. “I…don’t know. She never mentioned anything.”
“Never? You spent all that time together and didn’t talk?”
Katie laughed. “You really want to hear about all the things that Julie and I talked about?”
Did he? He was beginning to think he didn’t really know his sister very well, which was shocking since he’d always considered them close.
“Yeah, I kinda do.”
Her mouth dropped open and she stared as if she didn’t understand. Hell, he didn’t understand a lot of things. He mostly didn’t understand how his little sister could get pregnant at eighteen and then take off.
“We talked about stuff that teenage girls talk about. You know, makeup, the boys we knew, and clothes, and boys, and more boys. Stuff like that. You know just teenage girl stuff.”
“Did she ever tell you why she left?”
Katie shook her head. “Those few months before she left, I was dating Bruce. He started working at the ranch. I didn’t see her because I was with him.”
He nodded but it still didn’t make things clearer.
“Who else was working at the ranch then?”
“Levon,” she said with an air of sadness. Levon had died over the winter when a disgruntled ranch hand had been hell-bent on destroying Tabby and her horse, Tenterhook, over an ownership dispute. “Some of the other hands. And of course, Hunter.”
“Hunter Williams?”
Katie laughed as if it were an inside joke between her and Julie. Then she shrugged. “Yeah. I do remember Julie talking about him. A lot.”
“What did she say?”
Katie frowned again. “What is this all about?”
“Just answer the question. What did she tell you about Hunter Williams?”
“This is starting to sound like an interrogation.”
He drew in a deep breath. “No, just a conversation between two friends.”
“She talked about him. We both did. He’d started coming out to the ranch to shoe the horses. Julie and I used to say we needed to schedule our time for when he was there. We both thought he was, you know, good looking.”
“You thought he was good looking?”
She frowned. “You sound like you’re jealous.”
Maybe he was. But he was still a little angry. Maybe even a little crazy after what he’d seen in that file.
“Did they…ever go out on a date?”
“I think she mentioned they’d gone out a few times, but I didn’t know any details.”
“You rode together all the time and she didn’t give you any details?”
“Caleb, you’re not making any sense. Just ask me what you want to know. If I know what it is, and if I know the answer, I’ll tell you.”
“Did you know she was pregnant?”
As Katie sat down next to him, her mouth dropped open. It was clear Katie hadn’t known anything by the look of shock on her face.
“No. I knew she liked Hunter. But we never talked about that. And I never asked because I never had any reason to suspect.”
“It’s funny you would offer that type of information when I didn’t ask you if you suspected.”
“You’re trying to get at something and I figure you thought I had the answers. I don’t. I’m sorry.”
“Me, too.”
He got up from the pew and looked around the chapel, feeling as if he were in an episode of the Twilight Zone.
“All this time we’ve spent together. You should have told me, Katie.”
“Told you what? That Julie had a crush on a farrier in town?”
“What else haven’t you told me? I need to know.”
“I don’t know anything else. I mean it. I was so busy with Bruce and graduating and getting out of Sweet that I…I guess I wasn’t paying attention.”
“Seems everyone was getting out of Sweet then. Well, I’m not. This is my home.”
He started walking toward the chapel door as his head began to swim.
“Caleb, I don’t know what else I can say that would help you.”
He turned to look at her. “If you
