turn to leave, but she put a hand on his arm to stop him.
“Carey, is something wrong? Why are you leaving?” she asked calmly, not so much for her own benefit but because she could see something was really troubling him.
“Um, it’s just some problems back at the ranch. My younger brother is there and there’s been a…an incident. Kind of an emergency. I’m driving back now, and hope I get there without having to stop anywhere. Again, I really am sorry we didn’t get to spend more time together. I would really have liked to get to know you better.” He turned and walked toward the truck, turning back once sadly to see Amy still standing, watching him go.
“Carey, wait!” She finally called, running behind him. “I’ll go with you.”
“What? You can’t just cancel your trip. No, don’t be silly. Stay here and enjoy the rest of the drive.”
“Have you seen me on a horse? What part of that looks like I’m enjoying it? And I know for sure the horse isn’t loving it. We’ll switch off driving and you can get there faster if you don’t have to worry about being rested.”
“Amy, really, I appreciate it, but…”
“…but you don’t want me to go,” she finished for him, dropping her voice. “Oh. I see. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to intrude. Go ahead.” She stepped back and looked around awkwardly, embarrassed at Carey’s rejection.
“No, that’s not it!” He promised, coming back to her and putting a hand on her shoulder. “I just can’t ask you to get involved in this. There’s a…situation…back home. Someone’s already attacked the house, and I can’t put you in danger.”
“I don’t mind that, as long as you’re sure that’s all it is. If you don’t want me to go, I’ll butt out, but if you want to make it there before dark, I can help. I want to help.” Amy looked at him confidently, none of her former wallflower showing through anymore. Carey watched her face for only a moment, then nodded.
“Come on, throw your stuff in the truck. We have to leave in about five minutes. I’ll wait over here.”
Amy nodded, all business now that she was helping out, and ran to retrieve her things. Not even a nasty remark from Karen about how Amy was chasing after him and throwing herself at an “oppressor” could dampen her mood. She was glad to be getting off this rather difficult and disappointing cattle drive, no matter how desperate the circumstances that caused it, and the added benefit was that she would be spending this time with Carey.
By the time she returned, Carey was stepping into the driver’s seat of a rather large truck. She shook her head, jerking her thumb at the passenger seat. “Uh-uh, mister, you only had a couple of hours’ sleep. Let me start out first, and you can sleep in the back seat.”
“Amy, I just realized something. You have to have a CDL license to drive this kind of truck. I don’t think you’re going to want to manage it,” Carey said, wincing at having already promised her she could help out.
“For your information,” she began sarcastically, jutting out her hip and slapping her hand on her waist. “I happen to have a CDL license. And I’ve driven vehicles far bigger than this little thing. So slide yourself over there, get that sweatshirt under your head, and let me hear some snoring, cowboy!”
Amy flashed Carey a knowing look and climbed in the driver’s seat, leaving him dumbfounded as he resorted to getting in the back. He started to tell her how to use the GPS, but realized she probably knew how to work something as simple as that. After peeking over the top of the seat to make sure she was headed in the right direction on the highway, he laid back and closed his eyes for just a moment but sat ramrod straight when he felt how fast they were going.
“Amy! Slow down! You’re doing almost a hundred miles an hour!” Carey called out nervously.
“It’s okay, Carey, I have this. This is nothing for me,” she answered calmly, checking her mirror before crossing the centerline to pass someone in her lane. She moved back over and kept going, the wind rushing past the windows making a dull roar that followed them.
Within only minutes, a police car pulled out behind them, lights and sirens blaring. Carey began to sweat, aware for the first time that he couldn’t actually remember Amy’s last name from her paperwork. Amy pulled over and reached into her purse for her wallet, appearing as calm as if she were simply looking for a pack of gum.
“Hi, Officer,” Amy began, flipping through her wallet for her identification.
“I hope you have a really good explanation for the way you’re driving, missy,” the older deputy said with a drawling sneer.
“I do, sir. My name is Officer Amy McDade, Detroit PD,” she said, handing over her badge. “This passenger is Carey Carson, of the Carson Hill Ranch outside Hale, Texas. There’s been a shooting and attempted home invasion at his family’s ranch, and the only family member on the premises is a minor child, aged sixteen, in the care of some of the family’s ranch staff. The local sheriff’s department has already been on the scene but the shooter wasn’t apprehended. We have reason to believe he may be hiding on the property, and because the motive for the shooting was revenge, we need to get there in a hurry.”
The officer took her badge and looked it over, holding it up to the light, alternating between looking at the badge and the driver’s license, and looking at Amy’s sweet face. Carey sat still, his mouth open in shock.
“Lemme call this in,” the officer said, moseying back to his squad car. He returned only a few minutes later, handing the badge and ID through the open driver’s window. “If you’ll put on your hazard lights, ma’am, I’m to escort you to the county line, where the Cangor County sheriff’s deputy will take over. We’ll get you to Hale in no time.”
The officer returned to his car and put on his lights and siren, then flew around their parked truck, waving her on. Amy pulled back out onto the highway and followed the officer as closely as she dared.
“You’re supposed to be asleep, you know,” Amy said playfully after spotting Carey in the rear view mirror.
“Are you kidding? How am I supposed to sleep at a time like this? Why didn’t you tell me you’re a cop?” Carey asked in succession, surprised at every new piece of information he slowly learned about this woman.
“Was that information you needed?” She asked, a smile still playing at the corners of her mouth. “It just never came up, what with all the kissing and the touching and the tongues in each other’s mouths.”
“But tell me this…if you’re some bad-assed big city cop—pardon my expression, sorry—why are you out here trying to build your confidence up? It’s the cows that should have been afraid of you, not the other way around, right?”
Amy was quiet for a long pause, staring straight ahead at the yellow dotted lines on the road as they disappeared under the wheels of the truck. She finally got up the nerve to explain something she had told very few people. “Because I was shot, and now I’m pretty much worthless as a patrol officer. I work at a desk all day, despite being one of the most highly trained and highly decorated women on the police force. I needed to get out of my comfort level and do something risky, something I’ve never tried before.
“I tried skydiving but I didn’t really have to do anything there except fall. I’ve tried scuba diving but unless I wanted to actually get
