Under Threat by B.J. Daniels (reading the story of the .TXT) 📕

know how you like daisies. I’m not giving up on us. Chase.”

It would take more than daisies, she told herself even as her heart did a little bump against her ribs.

Shaking her head, she pulled out the other small white envelope, opened it and read: “Just wanted you to know I’m thinking of you, Dillon.”

“I don’t believe this,” she said, and heard the front door of her building opening behind her. Spinning around, she half expected to see one or both of the men.

“Lucy,” she said on a relieved breath. As touched as she was by the flowers, she wasn’t up to seeing either man right now.

“Did I catch you at a bad time?” the barista asked, stopping short.

“Not at all. Your timing is perfect.”

“I saw you start across the street to get your coffee and then get called back, so I thought I’d run it over to you. Your usual.” She held out the cup.

“Thank you so much. I do need this, but I insist on paying you.” Mary looked around for her purse. “Let me get you—”

“I put it on your account.”

She stopped digging for money to look at her. “Lucy, I don’t have an account.”

The woman smiled that gap-toothed smile of hers that was rather infectious. “You do now. I just thought it would be easier but if I’ve overstepped—”

“I don’t know why I hadn’t thought of it, as many of these as I drink,” Mary said, and raised the cup.

“I hope you don’t mind. But this way, if you get too busy, just call and if we aren’t busy, one of us can bring your coffee right over.”

“Lucy, that’s so thoughtful, but—”

“It really isn’t an inconvenience. We haven’t been that busy and I could use the exercise. Also it looks like you’re celebrating something.” She motioned to the flower delivery.

Mary laughed. “It’s a long story.”

“Well, I won’t keep you. I better get back. It wasn’t busy but it could be any minute. My shift ends soon, and I have to get back on my search for a place to live.” She started to open the front door to leave.

“Lucy, wait. I have an apartment open. I haven’t put up a notice that it’s available. Christy was going to move in.”

“The girl who died.” She grimaced. “The one I replaced at Lone Peak Perk.”

“Is that too weird for you?” Mary asked.

“Let me give it some thought. But could you hold on to it until later today? Thanks.” And she was gone.

Mary sipped her coffee, thinking she probably shouldn’t have offered the apartment without checking the young woman’s references. But it was Lucy, who’d just bought her a coffee and run it across the street to her.

She turned to look at her flowers, forgetting for the moment about anything else. What was she going to do about Chase? And Dillon?

Sitting down at her desk, she picked up her phone and called her best friend, Kara, who had moved to New York after college. But they’d managed to stay in touch by phone and Facetime. It was the kind of friendship that they could go without talking for weeks and pick up right where they’d left off.

“Chase is back,” she said when her friend answered.

“In Big Sky?”

“He says he loves me and that he won’t give up.”

Kara took a breath and let it out slowly. “How do you feel about that?”

She sighed. “I still love him, but I’ve been seeing someone else. A deputy here. His name is Dillon. He’s really good-looking in a kind of nothing-but-trouble kind of way.”

Her friend was laughing. “When it rains it pours. Seriously? You have two handsome men who are crazy about you?”

She had to laugh. “Crazy might be the perfect word. They met the other day and sparks flew. I still love Chase, but when we broke up he didn’t stay and fight for me. He just left. What’s to keep him from doing it again?”

“And Dillon?”

“It’s too new to say. They both sent me flowers today though.”

“That’s a good start,” Kara said with a laugh.

“Chase sent daisies because he knows I love them.”

“And Dillon?”

“A rose to let me know he was thinking about me.”

“Mary! Who says you have to choose between them?”

“My father doesn’t like me dating either one of them.”

“Which makes you want to date them even more, knowing you.”

“You do know me,” she said, and laughed again. “How are you and your adorable husband and the kids?”

“I was going to call you. I’m pregnant again!”

“Congrats,” she said, and meant it. Kara was made to be a mother.

“I have morning sickness, and I’m already starting to waddle.”

Mary felt a stab of envy and said as much.

“Excuse me? If anyone is envious, it’s me of you. You should see me right now. Sweats and a T-shirt with a vomit stain on it—my daughter’s not mine.”

She laughed. “And I’ll bet you look beautiful as always.”

A shriek and then loud crying could be heard in the background.

“I’ll let you go,” Mary said. “Congrats again.”

“Same to you.”

She sat for a moment, idly finishing her coffee and considering her flowers before going back to work. A while later, she picked up her phone and called Chase. “Thank you for the daisies. They’re beautiful. If you have some time, I thought maybe you could stop by if you’re free. Like I said, I have your package here at the office. I can tell you how to find the place.”

Chase chuckled. “I know how to find you. I’ll be right there.”

Lucy looked out the window of the coffee shop and with a start saw Chase’s truck pull up across the street. Her heart squeezed as if crushed in a large fist. Had he seen Mary before this? Had they been meeting at night on the ranch? Jealousy made her stomach roil.

Chase had been hers. At least he had until Mary wrote him that letter. She was why he’d dumped her. To come back here to his precious cowgirl. She wasn’t sure at that moment whom she