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he was the
one who had to put up with his sorry ass after Cassie had left the
last time. His was the shoulder Luke had leaned on after he tried
to drown his sorrows the same way his father had for so many years.
Cole had just barely kept Luke out of jail for the subsequent bar
brawl and public intoxication. Thank God his daddy, Wiley Jackson,
had been Sheriff at the time, or Luke might well not be sitting
behind this desk or wearing the badge he was now.
     
    Cole's father hadn't thrown him in jail,
instead he sat him down for a conversation Luke needed to hear.
"You need to get your shit together boy or you're gonna wind up
just like your daddy," he said. "You can choose the side of the law
you want to be on right now. If you keep this up, you won't have
that choice." He went on to suggest that Luke go to school, and
maybe consider law enforcement as a career like Cole planned to
do.
     
    "You gonna sit there eyeballing me or you
gonna tell me what's on your mind, Slick? Cole said and took a
large swallow of his coffee then asked, "This about what happened
at the Bluebird last night?"
     
    Heat crept up Luke's neck and he cleared his
throat. "No, it's not about that."
     
    "What then?" Cole asked and sipped at his
coffee again.
     
    "You hear Cassie's back in Bowie?"
     
    Cole groaned and sat up straighter in his
chair. "Yeah, but I was hoping you hadn't."
     
    Luke picked up his coffee cup and went to
take a sip, then remembered he hadn't gone into the kitchen to fill
it and set it back down. "I ran into her yesterday on the road to
the Double B. Her truck broke down."
     
    "And?" Cole pinned him with curious green
eyes. "Did you give her a Texas howdy when you passed by?"
     
    No, he didn't give her the finger. "I
stopped to help her. Didn't know it was her at first."
     
    "So what happened? How's she look?" Cole
asked curiously and then grinned. "That wart on the end of her nose
grow a hair?"
     
    Luke chuckled then ran a hand through his
hair and admitted, "No wart. She looks the same fucking way she did
ten years ago, just better." God he hated admitting that. It would
have been so much easier if she'd come back toothless and
two-hundred pounds heavier, and actually did have the wart that
Cole joked about.
     
    But she hadn't...Cassie Bellamy still looked
like a beauty queen, and had the sassy mouth he loved to kiss. And
she still lit that fire inside of him that no other woman since had
been able to ignite.
     
    "Not good man. How'd she act? She spill on
why she left?" Cole leaned forward and propped his forearms on his
thighs.
     
    "Didn't say a fucking word and treated me
like I had a communicable disease."
     
    Cole shook his head and twirled his cup
around in his hand. "Not good at all...you ok?"
     
    "Not really." Luke forced out a laugh. "We
have unfinished business, you know?"
     
    "What'cha gonna do?" Cole drawled.
     
    "Finish it." Luke told him with finality.
"Once and for all."
     
    "Luke, you know that's not a good idea.
She's not worth your time, man. You always get into trouble when
she's around."
     
    "Trouble or not, she needs help out at the
ranch, while her Daddy's down. I'm taking my vacation time to help
her," Luke told him firmly then asked, "Can you cover for three
weeks?"
     
    "You know that's not a problem. The problem
is I'm not particularly thrilled about what you plan to do with
your vacation time. Why don't you go on that Alaska fishing trip
you wanted to take? Just get out of town for a while. She'll be
gone by the time you get back."
     
    "I'm going on a different kind of fishing
trip, buddy." Cole smiled at his friend, ignoring the concern that
pinched between his brows. "There'll be plenty of time later for
that Alaska trip. This is a once-in-a-lifetime kind of opportunity
to get my head right for the future, and put the past to bed."
There were a lot of things he'd like to put to bed, and the past
was just one of them. Now all he had to do was convince her it was
a good idea.
     
    "Your