Cowboy Protector. Margaret Daley

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СКАЧАТЬ felt it every time the door has opened.” Her friend looked around. “I’m due a break. I’ll join you for a few minutes while you eat. Your usual?”

      “Of course. I hate change and what I eat for breakfast I can control.” So little else was totally in her control.

      “Be back in a minute then.”

      As Olivia made her way to the counter, she stopped and gave her last customer his check, then she proceeded to the kitchen. Her long brown hair was pulled back in a ponytail while her blue eyes always held a touch of regret. That look of vulnerability spoke to Hannah on a level that prompted her to tell Olivia her story. She couldn’t, of course, but the words had been on the tip of her tongue several times in the past couple of weeks when she realized she would have to move on soon.

      “You look lost in thought.” Olivia placed before Hannah a plate with one egg over easy and some whole-wheat toast with honey on the side. “And those thoughts are sad ones.”

      She smiled. “Who me? I’m heading off to a new adventure soon.”

      Olivia slid into the seat across from her. “I don’t know how you do it. Picking up and going someplace new every few months. You seem to thrive on change whereas I don’t.”

      She wished that really were the case. Hannah studied that sadness that gently etched her friend’s features with pain. “Is that what you think?”

      “Yes, or why would you do it? You could stay in one place. There’s a need for experienced home health care providers in Billings.”

      To stay alive, Hannah wanted to confide to Olivia. “What’s changing for you?”

      Her friend bent forward, peering at the near-empty tables around them. “I’m pregnant.”

      “You’ve never mentioned a man in your life. Is there a husband? Boyfriend?”

      That pain magnified Olivia’s gaze even more. “I haven’t spoken to my husband in months and he doesn’t even…” Tears glistened in her eyes, making the powder-blue color stand out more.

      “Know that you’re having a baby?”

      Olivia nodded.

      “Is it his?”

      Her friend bit her lower lip, a tear leaking out and running down her pale cheek. Again she gave a nod.

      “Oh, honey, I’m so sorry. Why haven’t you told him?”

      “I can’t contact him. I can’t…” Her words came to a spattering halt. Fear chased away the pain for a few seconds. She quickly darted a look around the diner. “My husband didn’t want a child.”

      Hannah straightened, all thoughts of her now-cool egg fleeing. “Did he abuse you? Are you running away from him?” She held her breath almost afraid of the answers.

      “No, he never hurt me like that. He wouldn’t. He isn’t that kind of man.” She peered toward the customers still in the diner. “I’m gonna move, too. I want to settle in a smaller town before the baby comes. I love children and hope I can do something with them. I’d rather do something other than be a waitress. I’d better get back to work.” Olivia slid to the end of the booth and started to stand.

      Hannah laid her hand over hers. “Don’t leave just yet. I think you need a friend right now. Let me be that person. Where are you from?”

      “Chicago.”

      “Does he have any idea where you are?”

      Olivia shook her head.

      “And you can’t give him a call?”

      “I won’t force him into a life he doesn’t want.”

      Hannah wanted so badly to help Olivia as best she could, to be a friend because she had so few since her plight five years ago. “It sounds like you still love him.”

      Her tears swimming in her eyes, Olivia bowed her head. “Yes, but it’s too late for us.” She lifted her gaze to Hannah’s. “It’s best this way. I live my life and he lives his.”

      “Is that what you want?”

      “It doesn’t matter what I want. It’s irrelevant.”

      Hannah could identify with that. Nothing she wanted was possible for her now.

      Olivia rose. “I’m moving on to a new adventure as a wise woman once said to me.” A smile peeked through the sadness. “I won’t forget you. Who knows? Maybe one day we’ll run into each other.”

      “Yeah, maybe.” Hannah wouldn’t ask Olivia where she was going, and she wouldn’t tell her friend where she was going. But before Olivia walked away, Hannah added, “You take care of yourself and your baby. I know you believe in the Lord.”

      “Yes.”

      “Then believe He’ll take care of you.” And Hannah prayed that were the case although in her own situation she had her doubts. She’d believed once, but now she felt abandoned, left like the Israelites when they’d wandered for years in the desert.

      After Olivia returned to her waitress duties, Hannah quickly ate her cold egg and toast, got a refill on her coffee to go, then paid her check and left before she confessed why she moved around a lot. She hurried around the corner to Saul’s apartment and let herself in. The older gentleman sat in the living room with his coffee on the end table next to his lounge chair.

      He dropped the newspaper he was reading, shaking his head. “It’s just not safe anymore. They still haven’t discovered who killed those three young women. Such a shame. I wish they would assign the story to Violet Kramer. She’d get to the bottom of everything. I’ve been impressed with her reporting lately in my hometown paper. But I guess there’s nothing this old bag of bones can do to change anything, especially since little information is being given out about the murders.” Saul folded the Missoula Daily News into a neat pile, then stuffed it in the trash can by his side.

      Hannah shrugged out of her heavy overcoat and hung it up in the hall closet before sitting on the couch across from him. She’d heard Saul grumbling every time a murder went unexplained. He was a big mystery buff and wanted to solve each case. “I’ve read that the police like to hold back clues to help them apprehend the killer. That’s probably why we aren’t getting much on the crimes.” Personally she’d had her fill of anything having to do with murders.

      “Yeah, I’m sure you’re right.” He beamed with a grin. “Your interview yesterday must have gone great. Austin called this morning when he couldn’t reach you at your apartment. He figured you were here working. He wants you to call him.” Saul dug in his shirt pocket and withdrew a slip of paper. “This is his cell number. He told me you could reach him anywhere with that. I hope it’s good news. I tried my best to convince him and Caroline you would be perfect for the job.”

      “Thanks.” Hannah rose, took the note and retrieved her purse on the table in the hallway to get her cell.

      Staying in the foyer, her back to Saul, she punched in the numbers and waited, hoping it was good news. She needed to leave Billings soon. She’d been here too long. When Austin СКАЧАТЬ