He pushed her hands off his chest and stared into space. “I love her. I have for a while. I didn’t love you at all. Being with you was like being a junkie waiting for my next fix. I could never match the previous high but I was sure the lows were going to kill me. Nevada isn’t like that. Every time I’m with her, I feel better and stronger. She gives everything.”
He turned in a slow circle, not sure where to go or what to do. “She told me she loved me and I left. What the hell was I thinking?” He grabbed Cat’s upper arms. “She said she loved me. What am I doing here with you?”
His car keys were on the small table by the drawer, where he always tossed them. So was his cell phone. He picked up both as he headed out the door.
He was halfway down to the parking garage when he realized he probably should have packed something, or closed the door to his condo. Whatever, he thought with a shrug. Cat would shut the door behind her. Or maybe not. Either way, he didn’t care. This wasn’t his home—he didn’t belong here. He belonged with his woman and, by God, he was going back to her.
NEVADA THOUGHT maybe she should get a pet of some kind. While the self-sufficiency of a cat was appealing, maybe a dog would be better. Some kind of mixed-breed rescue dog who could come with her to the job site. She logged into the Fool’s Gold Animal Shelter website with the idea of looking at pictures. Maybe staring into big, brown dog eyes would make her feel better. Eventually something would have to.
She missed Tucker. She wanted to be strong and brave and say that she was over him. That he’d been an idiot to leave, and if that was how he treated her declaration of love, then she was better off without him. It was possible that one day she would actually believe that, but today wasn’t that day. Today, or rather, tonight, she ached. The hole where her heart used to be endlessly reminded her of what she’d lost.
She clicked on the dog pictures, then just as quickly left the site. It wasn’t responsible to get a dog now—while she was grieving. She had to figure out how to deal with her loss. Then, when she felt better, she would decide if she was ready to take on the responsibility of a pet.
Very rational and mature, she told herself. Her mother would be so proud.
The phone rang.
She glanced at the clock and saw it was after ten. Had something happened to someone in her family?
She glanced at the caller-ID screen and her throat went dry when she read Fool’s Gold Police Department. She pushed the talk button.
“Hello?”
“Nevada, this is Chief Barns. No one is dead.”
She drew in a breath. “Good to know.”
“That said, I have a problem. I need you to come to the town square right away. No one’s hurt. Don’t worry about that, but there’s…a situation.”
“What does that mean?”
“It’ll be a whole lot easier to show you.”
With that, the line went dead.
Nevada had no idea what the police chief was talking about, but she wasn’t going to get any answers just waiting. She got up and pulled on boots, then shrugged on a heavy coat and gloves. It was barely above freezing this late at night.
She jogged through the quiet residential streets, grateful it wasn’t windy or wet out. As it was, her ears were freezing by the time she rounded the last corner and could see into the square.
Streetlights illuminated the benches, the bushes that were mostly naked this time of year and the police car parked just to the left. The floodlights that had been installed for the giant vagina shone up on the weird sculpture. They also showed a ladder, a man on that ladder and the sparks of a blowtorch.
Chief Barns stepped out of the shadows and walked toward her.
“I don’t understand,” Nevada said, confused by what she was seeing. “Is he—”
The man moved then and she recognized him. Tucker. Tucker? What was he doing here? Was he back?
“Seems to me some vandal is dismantling that eye-sore,” Chief Barns said cheerfully. “The good news is Cat believes in simplicity of assembly. It went together quickly and should come apart just as easily. In the morning, one of my officers is going to find that it’s missing. What a shame. There’s going to be a lot of paperwork with this one.”
Nevada could only stare at the man on the ladder. “You’re not going to stop him?”
“Why? I don’t see anything.”
“What will happen to the piece?”
The police chief shrugged. “Rumor has it the whole thing is going to a sculpture garden in San Francisco. I’m sure they’ll appreciate it more than we do here.”
The chief slapped her gloved hands together. “I need to get home. One of my boys is studying for a history test tomorrow and I need to ride herd. You have a good night.”
With that, she got in her police car and drove away.
Nevada walked slowly toward the statue. Sparks were flying, then one side of the giant vagina fell to the ground. She instinctively braced herself for the sound of metal crashing into concrete, only to realize there was padding in place to protect the pieces.
“Tucker,” she yelled.
He turned and looked at her, then turned off the blowtorch. He hung it over the rung and started down.