There was a moment of silence before she recovered and mostly repeated, “Well, I have not one thing to say to you, either.”

“Good, ‘cause I don’t wanna listen to you. But I got somethin’ to say that you’ll wanna know. Bernie McGrath is married. I don’t know if you’re lettin’ him bang you for the fun of it or if you see rings in your future. If you do, you got another game to play, scrapin’ his wife off. Word is, she’s a good Christian woman and she lets everyone know it. Don’t know her, don’t know how much of a challenge she’ll be for you. Do know Bernie’s pretty tied to Indiana so if your hopes are high and you pull that shit off, it’s you who’ll be packin’ boxes. And one more thing,” Mike added. “That check McGrath gave Rhonda will be burned tonight. He can try again and maybe he’ll succeed. We’ll see. Every member of your family threw down against her tonight and I’ve been gettin’ to know Rhonda pretty well. No way she’ll bear up against that pressure. By some miracle she does, she’s out on her ass and even her boys agree with that. Congratulations, you’ve brought a grieving widow low and ripped a family apart. But if you’re thinkin’ she’s your ace, you need a re-deal. McGrath’s phone call tonight tipped your hand, we all know the cards you got and you don’t got dick.”

He took the phone from his hear still hearing her hissed, “Fuck you, Mike,” but that was all he heard before he disconnected. Then he flipped the switch on the side to turn the ringer off and shoved it in his back pocket.

Then he looked at his woman to see she was grinning.

And seeing her grin, the clutch he hadn’t really noticed with all this shit going down that had a hold on his chest released.

“Wish you’d have let me do that,” she said through her grin.

Mike grinned back. “Sorry, sweetheart. That was selfish of me.”

Her grin got bigger. Mike gave himself a second to take it in then his faded and he cut his eyes to Rivera.

“I’m guessin’ in Texas they teach you how to do a search,” he noted.

“Yup,” Rivera replied.

“We got a check to find,” Mike pointed out.

“Yup,” Rivera agreed.

“You know how to pick a lock?” Mike asked.

“Nope, but I know how to bust a door open and, you do that, it makes it harder to lock again,” Rivera returned.

Dusty emitted a low chuckle.

Mike looked at her. “Take that as permission?”

She threw her arm out behind her, inviting, “Have at it. I’ll take care of Moonshine and be in to help.”

“You want us to save the door bustin’ for you?” Rivera offered and Dusty emitted a much heartier chuckle.

“Uh…no,” she declined. “I’ll leave that to those with more experience. But give me ten minutes, I wanna watch.”

“You got it,” Rivera muttered then moved to walk from the barn.

Mike kept his eyes on his woman and said quietly, “Come here, honey, and kiss me. Fast. I got work to do.”

She led her horse to him, put her hand on his chest, tipped her head back and went up on her toes. He dipped his down and brushed his mouth against hers.

When he lifted up an inch, he held her eyes and his face was serious.

“I’m gonna make this okay,” he promised and her body leaned deeper into his.

“Mike –”

“I don’t give a shit what I gotta do, Angel, I’m gonna make this okay.”

She pressed her lips together. Then she ducked her head and planted her face in his chest beside her hand for a second. Then she tipped it back again, caught his eyes and nodded.

“Take care of your horse,” he ordered. “I’ll see you inside.”

“All right, honey.”

Mike lifted both his hands, cupped her jaws, brought her up to him and kissed her forehead.

Then he went inside to corral Dean, Fin, No, Rees and Kirby to find a check.

*

“Mike?”

He heard it from behind him but just barely. He was standing in the kitchen doorway watching the game of Junior Trivial Pursuit being played in teams at the kitchen table. He opted to be odd man out, a fortunate occurrence that everyone was too focused on setting up the game and getting their favorite colored pie for anyone to dispute.

He looked over his shoulder and saw Rhonda there.

The last time he saw her, she’d been curled up on her bed while Dean and Rivera searched her room. They’d found the check in her nightstand. Clearly she’d not made much of an effort to hide it.

Dean burned it himself, throwing the ashes into the fireplace in the living room.

“Can we talk?” she asked, shifting and motioning behind her to the living room.

Mike didn’t want to talk to Rhonda. He was pissed at her because of what she’d done to her family. Obviously Dusty in particular but watching Fin and Kirb struggle through emotions they should not be having three months after their forty-four year old father died in the snow was something he would not forget. And he was pissed because they wouldn’t either.

But he jerked up his chin, pushed away from the jamb and followed her down the hall.

She didn’t close the doors and she didn’t delay.

Her head tipped back, her eyes sought his and she asked straight out, “You got two kids, do you think I’m doin’ wrong?”

“Absolutely,” Mike replied immediately and watched her flinch.

She recovered and told him, “I’m tryin’ to do right.”

“You’re failing,” he returned and got another flinch.

She pulled it together and started, “If Darrin were here, he’d –”

But Mike interrupted her. “He’s not here, Rhonda.”

That got him another flinch.

She struggled that time and Mike gave her the time to pull her shit together but that was all he was giving her. He knew he was being a dick but she was a grown woman and she’d hurt people he cared about. This had gone on too long, it started ugly and got uglier and she was part of the reason for that. It was time for her to step the f**k up.

Then she said softly, “I got you and Dusty together.”

She wanted to score points and he’d long suspected that was the reason behind her visit with the diaries months ago. Dusty had told him Darrin wanted them together and Rhonda had taken that in.

“Actually, we were already together and what you did nearly drove us apart,” Mike shared and she blinked.