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the back over
the right woman.   Brent knew that.   He also knew that Makayla, in Eddie’s eyes
too, was that right woman.
    “What if she gives you an ultimatum?” Eddie asked, still
fishing, it seemed to Brent.   “What if
she demands marriage or she’ll leave you?”
    Brent hesitated.   The
very idea of losing Makayla, even in some hypothetical way, was a terrifying
suggestion.   “Then I’ll be getting married
sooner than I thought,” he said, and patted Eddie on his back.   “I’m out of here.   If you need me, don’t call me.”
    Eddie laughed, and Brent left.
    But Eddie exhaled.   Brent wasn’t fooling him. It was one thing to have a woman in another
town.   He still had that space he
cherished.   It was another thing to have
her under your nose, watching your every move, listening to women talk about
the good old days when they had you too.   Makayla was a special lady to Eddie.   She wasn’t going to take anybody’s bullshit.   Not even Brent’s.   And when it happened, when Brent messed up,
he was going to be waiting in the wings for his chance with Makayla.   Brent was more than his boss, he was his
friend, but all was fair in love and war.   The pickings were too slim in Jericho for it not to be.

 
    But Brent wasn’t thinking about love or war by the time he
got back in his truck.   He was thinking
about fly fishing.   Until he realized he
had left his cell phone on the passenger seat, and a message was waiting.    When he saw that the message originated out
of the Attorney General’s office in Augusta, he smiled and retrieved it.   Makayla almost always called him on her cell
phone, but every now and then she’d call from her office phone.   Apparently this was one of those times.   Until he heard the message.
    “Hello, Brent, this is Joan.”   Joan was Makayla’s friend.   “I
don’t know how to tell you this, and please don’t panic, but there’s been a
shooting here at the Capitol, in Makayla’s office.   Neal Grassley, I don’t know if you remember
him,” she continued, but Brent’s heart was already hammering.   And he had already shifted gears and was
taking off even before he heard the full message.   And even after he heard the full message he
was driving like a madman through the streets of Jericho.   He was driving like a man with nothing left
to lose going to see about the one and only woman capable, just by being in
harm’s way herself, of decimating him.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

CHAPTER FOUR

 
    She showered, put on her pajamas, and got into bed.   Not because she was still shaken, she was
surprisingly calm, but because Makayla Ross was grateful to be alive.   Four hours ago, when Neal fired that gun, she
thought for certain her life was over.   She had gone from her highest high to her lowest low.   But when she realized he had not shot her,
but had shot himself, she couldn’t help but feel relief.   And when the doctor declared that Neal,
although in very serious condition, was expected to recover, she rejoiced.   And phoned Brent.   And told him she was fine, that Joan was
wrong to worry him by calling him, and that he didn’t need to come to Augusta
at all.   He said okay, and she thought he
meant it, but apparently he didn’t.
    Because now, in the four hours it took him to journey from
Jericho to Augusta, she heard what sounded like a high-revved truck on her
driveway.   When she got out of bed and
looked out of her bedroom window, she saw that it was Brent.   And suddenly, just seeing him step out of
that truck, filled her heart with joy.   She had asked him not to come because it was such a long drive and she
was concerned for him.   He came because
of his concern for her.
    “He came!” she said like a kid, as she hurried toward her
bedroom door, her heart pounding with excitement.   But when she remembered how Brent loved to do
her whenever he showed up, no matter what the circumstance, she