Black Hills

So he hauls me off like I’m some package he can drop off and pick up on his whim, again for my own good, and dumps all this in my lap. If I were less civilized, I’d kick his ass for it.”
    “You don’t look very civilized right at the moment.”
    She heaved out a breath. “Well, I am, so I can’t. Plus, it would be sinking to his Neanderthal level. I’m a scientist. I have a doctorate. And you know what?”
    “What, Dr. Chance?”
    “Shut up. I was dealing with all this, with him, with me, with it before this. Now I don’t know what the hell to think.”
    “He told you he loves you.”
    “That’s not the point.”
    “Then what is? You love him. You told me when you and Jean-Paul called it a day it was because you were still in love with Coop.”
    “He hurt me, Tansy. He ripped me to pieces, again, just by telling me why he did it in the first place. And he doesn’t see that. He doesn’t get that.”
    Tansy put her arm around Lil, drew her against her side. “I do, honey. I really do.”
    “I can even understand, intellectually. If I step back and look at everything he said, objectively, I can nod sagely. Yes, of course, that’s reasonable on this particular level. But I’m not objective. I can’t be. I don’t care about reasonable. I was so pitifully in love.”
    “You don’t have to care about reasonable. You only have to care about how you feel. And if you love him, you’ll forgive him, after he suffers.”
    “He should suffer,” Lil stated. “I don’t want to be fair and forgiving.”
    “Hell no. Why don’t we go inside? I can make Men Suck margaritas. I can stay tonight, thereby avoiding my own idiot man. We’ll get drunk and plot female world domination.”
    “That sounds so good. I could really use all of that. But he’s coming back. Until we’re secure here, that’s the way it’s going to be. I need to deal with it, somehow. Plus, I can’t get drunk on Men Suck margaritas—though you do make the champions—because I have to work. I have to work because some asshole hauled me off for two hours.”
    She turned, wrapped her arms around Tansy. “God, God, there’s a man dead, and his wife must be destroyed. And I’m standing here, feeling sorry for myself.”
    “You can’t change what happened. None of it’s your fault.”
    “I can think that, intellectually again. Not my fault, not my responsibility. But Tansy, my gut says differently. James Tyler was in the wrong place at the wrong time. And it was the wrong place and time because this maniac’s focused on me. Not my fault, no. But.”
    “When you think like that, he scores points.” Firmly, Tansy drew her away so their eyes met. “It’s terrorism. It’s psychological warfare. He’s pushing at you. For him, Tyler wasn’t any different than that cougar or that wolf. Just another animal to be bagged and used to get to you. Don’t let him get to you.”
    “I know you’re right.” She wanted to say “but” again. Instead, she gave Tansy another hug. “You’re awfully good for me. Even margarita-free.”
    “We’re the smart girls.”
    “We are. Go on home, and deal with your own idiot man.”
    “I guess I have to.”
    Lil checked on the injured fawn—treated, fed, and secured in an area of the petting zoo. If she healed clean, they’d release her to the wild. If not . . . well, she’d have sanctuary here.
    Time would tell.
    She spent another hour in her office. She heard trucks leaving, trucks coming. Staff heading home, volunteer guards coming. Soon, she thought, the security system would be finished and she could stop imposing on neighbors and friends. Now she could only be grateful for them.
    She went out, and spotted Gull immediately. “Gull, nobody expected you to come here tonight.”
    “I wouldn’t be able to sleep anyway. It’s better to be doing something.” He might’ve looked a little peaked yet, but his eyes were healthy enough to be lethal. “I half hope that son of a bitch comes around here tonight.”
    “I know it’s terrible, but because of you, his wife knows. She’s not wondering anymore. If you hadn’t found him, it would be worse. She’d still not know.”
    “Willy told me her boys came.” His lips pressed together as he looked off and away. “Her sons came, so she’s not alone.”
    “That’s good. She shouldn’t be alone.” She gave his arm a rub before she walked on.
    When she stepped inside the cabin, Coop was on the couch, his laptop on the coffee