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can’t say we don’t need one.”
    “That or an exorcism ,” Fae Lynn decided, as though I was still in Dallas and not sitting between the two of them. “Once she’s made up her mind, especially about him, there’s no changing her mind. Lord knows I’ve seen it before,” she sighed, annoyed.
    “You’re seriously going to be his lawyer?” Tally asked, concern marring her usually comically arranged features. I sighed and nodded.
    “I really am considering it. I need to get my mind off things. If nothing else , it’ll be entertaining. Barring any pulled punches from him, I think I’ll tell him yes. In all honesty, there’s nothing that would bring me more pleasure than to take Cash’s money.” Fae Lynn shook her head and a sugar packet at me.
    “You know people will think you have something to do with the reason he’s getting divorced,” Fae told me, serious. I frowned at her, offended.
    “Anyone that knows me knows that’s crap. I’m above that type of rumor.”
    “Anyone that knows you knows you have a soft spot for one Cash Stetson. You’ve been trying your darndest to ruin your reputation with him since you were sixteen years old.”
    I waved her off.
    “I haven’t. And this is strictly professional.” She and Tally sighed again, united.
    “I hate this. If he tries anything, I’m gonna hurt the piece of shit. He knows I can too,” Fae blustered , as I regarded her with a defensive eye roll. “He knows I work for the police department. I’ve had the training and I carry a gun. I’ll drop kick his ass into next Tuesday.” And she probably would. Fae Lynn was what one might call a “deputized dispatcher , ” which basically meant her husband was a police detective . I f something came in on the scanner that she wanted to chec k out, no one questioned her; if they did, she deferred them to Scotty.
    Tally and I left the restaurant and Fae Lynn and drove toward the ranch and the inevitable intervention everyone seemed to think I needed. No doubt my mother had heard the news by now, although no doubt hers was an elaborated version.

Chapter Eight
     
    “You did what?” Mama and Nonnie screeched simultaneously, the decibel level rising dangerously. I physically recoiled from the attack across Mama’s kitchen island. Stupid Cash. And masochistic me. 
    Now that the big jackass that had forever occupied a corner of my mind and a chunk of my heart had enlisted my help in matters of his own heart, the world wasn’t quite so stable. I was ignoring the questions Tally was doing a good job fielding, while I tried to come up with a plausible rationalization for actua lly wanting to help the guy who had driven me to give up cake and take up running . I couldn’t come up with anything good , so I just sat with my mouth shut.
    In the midst of all the frenzied chatter, my cell phone rang as I was getting ready to defend my defenseless position. I glanced at the screen and answered.
    “Yes ma’am?” I answered with a lilt, adopting a nonchalance I didn’t feel. I listened and shot to attention and my feet. Mama and Nonnie and Tally had already gone on point, alerted by my body language and tone. “We’ll be there in a minute.” I turned to them as I clicked off the phone, nodding at their questioning expressions. “Get dressed, black. Bring gloves. We’ve got twenty minutes.” I paused with a slight grimacing smile. “And we’re gonna need a dead animal.” 
    Tally grinned .
    “I’ll get the gl oves.” Without questioning me, Mama and Nonnie sighed and exchanged glances, getting up to take action.
    “I’ll get the cheese,” Mama offered.
    “I think the gun’s at my house,” Nonnie remembered, “Pick me up.” She gathered her purse and the sweet tea she had been nursing, grabbing a cookie from the plate on the table that Mama had no doubt baked for two very different reasons. One, to calm herself down after hearing Cash had come to see me and two, in an attempt to encourage me to