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meant she’d hate him a little more than she already did, so be it. At least he’d sleep easier at night.
    A rap of knuckles sounded on the truck window and he opened his eyes to see Tony standing outside, a still-pissed expression on his face.
    Josh powered down the window. “Get in. We need to talk.”
    “I got nothing to say and we got bigger fish to fry anyhow.”
    “It can wait five minutes. Get in.”
    Shaking his head, Tony moved around to the passenger side of the truck. “Your business is your business, man. And mine is mine. How about we just agree to that and call it good?”
    Josh braced his boot against the side of the floor board and rested his elbow on his knee. “I owe you an apology.”
    Tony snorted. “Dude, if I would’ve known you were doing—”
    “There’s nothing going on with me and Carissa. I don’t know why I acted like I did.” He turned to look his foreman in the eye, much as it pained him. “She’s a hell of a woman and if you wanna...” He paused, not wanting to acknowledge what Tony undoubtedly wanted. “If you wanna go out with her or whatever, I won’t stand in your way. Just do yourself a favor and get your other shit taken care of first, okay?”
    “I talked to my lawyer this morning,” Tony replied immediately. Then he narrowed his gaze and studied Josh for a long moment. “She’s got you all torn up, doesn’t she?”
    “What? No. Hell no.” He shook his head and shifted again in the seat.
    “Bullshit.” Tony cracked a grin. “You can’t tell me there’s nothing—”
    “It was a long time ago, alright? It’s done and over.” Josh pinched the bridge of his nose and willed away the headache beginning to throb behind his eyes.
    Tony’s laugh echoed off the windows. “Couldn’t have been that long ago. She’s only been on the market since last summer.” He stopped and arched an eyebrow. “Unless... Shit, man. Tell me you didn’t.”
    Josh frowned. “What the hell are you talking about?”
    “You were doing her when she was with Fletcher?”
    It was all Josh could do not to reach across the cab and wrap his hand around Tony’s neck. “Get the fuck out of my truck.”
    Tony laughed again. “Okay, so you weren’t. When then?”
    It took a few seconds for Josh to tamp down his temper. He pulled off his ball cap and pushed a hand back over his hair. Christ. He should have just kept his mouth shut. “Before I shipped out, okay? She wasn’t living here yet. And this conversation goes no further than this truck, you hear me? No one knows and, far as I’m concerned, no one ever will.”
    “Wow. At least it makes sense now. For a while there, I thought you were reneging on that rule you and Fletcher made...” Tony shook his head, the grin still plastered on his smug face. He reached over and clapped Josh on the shoulder. “Don’t worry, dude. I won’t make shit more complicated and infringe on your territory. I mean, I wouldn’t wanna embarrass you by showing her what it’s like to be with a real man.”
    Josh gave a wry grunt. “A real man would’ve covered his shit before he took the dive.”
    The humor faded from Tony’s face. “Yeah, well, that’s irrelevant now, isn’t it?”
    “I don’t know. You tell me.”
    Tony pulled in a deep breath, focused on something outside the front window. “Probably.”
    “I got your back, you know that, right?”
    “I'm gonna need some time off, you know, if ...”
    “Not a problem.” Josh nodded, then angled his head toward the Henry estate, sitting high on the banks of the North Platte River. “Unfortunately we do have one in there that needs to be dealt with.”
    ***
    A lull in the hum of drills and buzz saws alerted Carissa to the sound of a vehicle door closing at the front of the house. Probably just one of the guys getting something from their truck, she decided, as she sat back on her feet and inspected her work.
    Her mom would be so proud. In fact, she’d chosen the Sweet Williams just