words could cut or the kind of scars they could leave. I’m sorry,”
There was a raw anguish in his expression that Patsy had never seen before. “Can you just explain why you seemed to hate me so? Was it because I’m not Native American?”
“Amazing,” he said, clearly startled by the question. “I wonder if you hadn’t figured that out long before I did. I began dating you, married you, for all the wrong reasons. You fit the image I thought I needed to go someplace. All those advisers I had around me concurred. They were ecstatic about our relationship. One day I just woke up and saw it as a betrayal of who I was. I blamed you for it, when the fault was my own.” For the first time he looked directly into her eyes. “Can you forgive me?”
Patsy thought of Justin, a man whose self-esteem was so strong, whose sense of family had never been tested. He would never struggle with who he was as Will had. And he was able to share his family and his strength with her. She’d never thought it possible, but she actually pitied Will for struggling to find a place in two sometimes incompatible worlds.
“Of course, I can forgive you,” she said eventually. “More important, though, can you forgive yourself?”
His smile was a mere ghost of the trademark Longhorn smile, the one that lit up his campaign posters and would no doubt seduce thousands of voters. “I’m working on it.” He moved closer and gently touched her cheek, his expression turning unbearably sad. “See you around, Patsy.”
“Yeah. See you around.”
And then he was gone and in the blink of an eye she was on her own again. This time, she vowed, she was going to make sure she got it right.
* * *
Justin got through the rest of the day cruising on automatic. His mind certainly wasn’t on work. It was fortunate for everyone that it was a quiet day. Everybody parked where they were supposed to and no one violated so much as the speed limit, much less any more serious laws. He spent most of the day catching up on paperwork.
“You still here?” Tate asked at six o’clock when he found Justin at his desk.
“Just killing a little time.”
“Until your date with Patsy?”
“How the hell did you know about that?”
“My wife saw her picking up a couple of steaks at the supermarket. Plus she wasn’t at work today and I saw Dani leaving the house a few minutes ago with Billy.” He grinned. “Doesn’t take a genius to add all that up, and I am a highly qualified sheriff. I make deductions a whole lot trickier than that all the time.”
“You’re also entirely too smug for your own good.”
“So why aren’t you at home getting ready?”
“How long can it take to shower and change?”
“What about stopping off to buy some flowers, maybe a box of candy? Women like those little touches. Trust me.”
“When I want advice on my love life, I’ll go to Grandpa Harlan. You may be a good cop, but he’s a grand master at mapping out a courtship strategy. Of course, he rarely bothers with notifying the principals of his intentions where they’re concerned. I’m just grateful he’s left Patsy and me pretty much on our own.”
“Once his wife mentions that those divorce papers got filed in court today, he might not be so reticent. I’d suggest you take advantage of the time left to you before he starts meddling.”
Justin nodded. “Good point. I’m out of here.” He glanced at the clock and muttered a curse. It was after six.
Tate grinned and said innocently, “By the way, I told Millie at the florist’s you might be by for a bouquet of flowers. She’s staying open till you get there.”
“Remind me to thank you one of these days.”
“Just make sure I get an invitation to the wedding.”
Justin was halfway down the block before Tate’s words sank in. Who’d said anything about a wedding? Certainly not him. To be perfectly technical, this would be his very first date with Patsy. No one proposed on a first date, not when the ink wasn’t even dry on the woman’s divorce petition. Even with all the tricks at Janet’s command it could be weeks or even months before the decree was final.
Still he couldn’t seem to shake the idea once it had been planted. Wasn’t that what the past few months had been leading up to? There wasn’t a doubt in his