LITMIR.BIZ

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her soon enough and he hoped by then she would have calmed down and realized he hadn’t meant any harm. Never did.

      Putting his foot down on the gas, he was surprised how good it felt to see the place again. Even broke a smile. The past couple of weeks he’d rather forget. They’d been tough. Real tough. Tougher than he wanted to admit, and strangely he’d spent a lot of the time thinking about his Uncle Beau, and his days in Missouri, something he rarely let himself do. He and the past just didn’t go.

      Levi waved as Cooper pulled up.

      ‘Hey, Coop, thought you’d be at the ranch for another few days. How you feeling? I bet you never thought you’d see this place again.’

      It was a good sight. A friendly face. Something he needed right now.

      Leaning out of the driver’s window, Cooper’s smile turned into a grin. His strawberry blonde hair, in dire need of a cut, fell over his eyes. ‘I hope you’ve been practising your pool, Levi, you owe me a game. What is it now? Eight-one down?’

      ‘Eight-two. And it would’ve been three if it wasn’t for the fact you decided to call it a night.’

      Cooper’s deeply tanned face lit up. ‘Levi, don’t push it. If I remember rightly, it was actually you who called it a night… or was it Dorothy, when she found out where you were hiding your butt?’

      Levi laughed. Couldn’t deny it. Knew what Cooper was saying held more than a ring of truth. Though his laugh was quickly replaced by concern. ‘I’ve spoken to Maddie. She told me. I’m sorry, but I guess it was a long time coming.’

      ‘What are you talking about?’

      Levi screwed up his face, beads of sweat pushing out between the creases. ‘You and her. You do know she’s left you?’

      Cooper closed his eyes then slowly opened them enough to squint at Levi through the rays of the Arizona sun. And the OxyContin began to hit and he rolled his tongue round his dry mouth. ‘Yeah, she came over to the ranch. She said a lot of stuff but I don’t think she was being serious. You know how she get sometimes when I mess up. She just needs a couple of days to calm down.’

      Levi let out a long whistle. ‘Coop, I love you man but get real, you’ve just pushed her too far this time. It’s like from nowhere you’ve stepped back to how it was a few years ago. Gone all crazy on our ass. You can’t expect her to go through all what she did before.’

      Cooper rested his head on the steering wheel. ‘I know she’s hurting but I got things going on, Levi.’

      ‘Like what, Coop? Whatever it is it’s in your head, because from where I’m standing, you got it made, bro. A great job. A great daughter and a great wife. Maddie, she’s one of the best… Look, why don’t you come across to stay with Dorothy and I? She’d like that. She worries about you like the rest of us.’

      ‘I appreciate the offer but I’ll just find a motel. Give me time to think and try to sort things out with her.’

      ‘And what about the job?’

      Rubbing his chin and watching specs of sand be blown on and off the car window, Cooper said, ‘What about it?’

      ‘You and Maddie. Won’t it be awkward the two of you working together?’

      ‘Levi, you’re taking all this too far but to answer your question, no it won’t. Why would it? Nothing’s changed. But if it’s really a case of her taking some time out from me, which I don’t think it is, well we’re both grown-ups. Both trained in the military just to get on with the job at hand. We still care for each other. Still respect each other. Want the best for each other and our daughter… I can’t see there’d be a problem.’

      ‘You’re serious aren’t you…? Coop, let me tell you something, brother… You’ve got a hell of a lot to learn about women.’

      And with that, Levi’s laughter soared once more, cutting through the Arizona air.

      ‘All this is funny to you, isn’t it?’ Granger’s voice broke through the banter. Silenced the moment as he stalked towards them. ‘It’s all one big joke to you, Cooper. Maybe I should’ve punched you harder. Knock some sense into you.’

      Cooper stared at Granger. He hadn’t seen him since the airport in Scottsdale. After that he’d headed out, taking the five-hundred-mile journey back to the ranch just outside Telluride, Colorado.

      He felt the vein in his temple throbbing as he clenched his jaw. A habit. Not a particularly bad one as his habits went. Absentmindedly, he rubbed the side of his head as he got out of the truck. Without bothering or wanting or needing to look at Granger, Cooper said, ‘I can think of a lot of things to call the last couple of weeks, but a joke sure isn’t one of them.’

      ‘And that’s my fault, is it? You’re a mess, Cooper. A total bag of mess. But like always you expect the rest of us to clear up. Look at your eyes… I see you’re back popping those pills.’

      Cooper shot him a stare. ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about. So let’s just drop it, hey?’

      ‘You’d like that wouldn’t you, Cooper? Drop everything. That should be your middle name.’

      Cooper shook his head and kicked up the bleached white gravel with his desert boots and felt the warm Arizona winds whip up the dusty ground and maybe it was just tiredness and maybe it was his own shame but he was pissed. Real pissed with what Granger had just said.

      ‘I don’t want anyone to clear up my mess. I never have done, never will do, and you of all people know that.’

      ‘Really? Try telling that to Levi and Maddie. They clear up your mess that often, sometimes I get them mixed up with the garbage men.’

      ‘Real funny, Granger. Look…’

      ‘Save it, Cooper, it’ll just turn out to be bull anyway. Oh, and Maddie told me the news about you two. I should say I’m sorry, but I’m not. She deserves better.’

      ‘I know that, but I’d appreciate it if you’d keep out of my business.’

      Granger sniffed loudly, emphasizing the words he was about to say. ‘I know you would but when it’s going to affect my business then it becomes my business.’

      ‘Nothing’s going to affect anything. What is it with everyone, huh? Just because Maddie and I are having… I don’t know… difficulties, that doesn’t mean it’s going to alter anything.’

      Granger’s blue eyes cut Cooper a stare. ‘I wouldn’t call leaving somebody difficulties. And if you think it’s going to be a bed of roses, you clearly don’t know women.’

      ‘So everyone likes to tell me, and maybe you guys are right, I don’t know women. But I do know Maddie, and I know she and I are going to be fine with it all. I’ll sort it out.’

      ‘You think you’ve got it all sewn up don’t you Cooper? The sun always shines out of your ass.’

      Cooper chewed the inside of his cheek. Even before Eritrea, he and Granger had been at loggerheads. Seemed like nothing had changed. Hell, he doubted it ever would. And he knew it wasn’t just because he’d screwed up with the last assignment. No, Granger’s problem was with him and him alone.

      There’d always been the snipes, and until recently he’d left it. Letting it ride. Always. Usually. Not this time. ‘What’s your goddamn problem, Granger? The fact that you didn’t get the plane back from Eritrea, or the fact that it was me that didn’t get the plane back?’

      ‘You know what my problem is, Cooper, so why don’t you do us all a favor and grow up.’

      Maddie, who’d now come outside into Onyx’s parking lot, stood back and watched. Listened.

      Cooper could feel the anger rising up. Something he felt a lot these days. He said, ‘You want me gone, Granger? Just say

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