“Carly.” Vance sets his hand on her shoulder. “This isn’t a problem for you to worry about.”
“But—”
“Wait, wait, wait.” Chance rubs his jaw. “Our father didn’t pay you?”
“It’s not that simple.” Vance looks at Carly. “The Bridgers have been paying everyone off to get their way for years, and I for one am sick of it. You people are not above the law. I don’t care how much money you’ve got socked away.”
“Mayor, I’m happy to right my father’s wrong,” Chance says. “I’ll talk to our lawyer and I’ll see if something can be arranged.”
“See, Daddy?” Carly smiles. Sort of. “You’ll get your ranch back and you won’t have to be mayor any more to make ends meet. You can go back to working your land, which I know you loved doing. Mom can get her hens back, and we can have fresh eggs, and—”
“Dude,” Miles interrupts, looking at Chance. “We can’t get at any of the money for a year. Remember what Sharple said.”
“You mean Shankle,” I correct.
“Whatever.” Miles rolls his eyes. “The guy might be an odd duck and probably sleeps with his briefcase, but he’s got the three of us by the balls. He was pretty clear.”
“Surely we can get enough out of the ranch trust to pay off the Vances,” Chance says. “Can you tell me exactly what happened, Mayor?”
“Why don’t you check your own damned records, Bridger? You’ll find a hell of a lot more than one bad land deal.” Vance turns. “Let’s go, Carly.”
“Daddy,” Carly pleads. “Please. At least sit down with them and talk this out. Talk to their attorney. Maybe we can—”
“We can’t.” Vance eyes his daughter.
Carly looks to me, to her father, to me again.
Does she want me to say something that can help? I can’t. I won’t out our relationship—if you can even call it that—here in the middle of town. In front of her father, who already despises me. It’s new. And different. Potent, because no matter how much I think I should stay away from her, no matter how clear Chance was about me leaving her alone, I can’t.
When she stripped down and waded into the spring with me, set my hands on her tits to lavish on, she became mine. There’s so much shit in our way, unbelievable baggage. I don’t want to add to it.
And I don’t want to get punched in the face again, this time on Main Street.
I don’t think Carly wants me to give the thing between us away, but clearly she’s hoping I’ll do something.
But what?
Damn it all. Now she’s pleading with those fucking green eyes. Pleading with me to fix this, and I want to fix it for her.
I want to fix everything for her.
But I don’t know what to do. What to say. I know nothing about the Bridger business, only that it’s worth billions. I open my mouth, thinking I’ll agree with Chance, that somehow we’ll pay Vance what he’s owed, but then I close it.
Because I don’t know if we can. I’m helpless all over again, just like when we learned about my mother’s disease. How it’s not fixable.
I can’t take away the horrors of Carly’s past. I can’t take away what Jonathan Bridger did to Chance, Miles, me, and countless others. My hands are fucking tied and I hate it.
I just don’t know shit, and I won’t make a promise to Carly that I’m not sure I can keep. God, I feel so damned useless. I’m letting her down, and that’s the last thing I want.
Her pretty smile morphs into a straight line, and her gaze falls on the sidewalk.
She steps toward her father. “Let’s go, Daddy.”
“Good call.” Vance glares at the three of us. “Carly won’t be back at work tomorrow. Or ever again.”
Carly gasps. “That’s not what I meant. I—”
“It’s for the best, little one.” Mayor Vance gently takes her arm. “Let’s go.”