Beef Stolen-Off by Liz Lipperman

temples. “This is my father, Jerald Summerville. Daddy, this is Jordan McAllister and her brother, Danny.”
    At well over six feet tall, he towered over them as he extended his hand first to her and then to Danny. “I haven’t seen you around, Jordan. How did you know Rusty?”
    Jordan noticed the catch in his voice when he said the dead man’s name. “I was with him at the Cattlemen’s Ball on Saturday…” She stopped herself from adding “the night he died.”
    Jerald Summerville lowered his eyes, but not before Jordan was sure she’d seen tears welling. When he glanced back up, they were gone. “I loved that boy like he was my own flesh and blood, and he should have been…”
    “I’m sorry for your loss, Mr. Summerville. In the short time I spent with Rusty, I could tell he was a gentleman and—”
    “Call me Jerry,” he interrupted. “Rusty was the son I never had.”
    Jordan stole a look Carole Anne’s way in time to see the hurt flash in her eyes before she recovered and attempted a smile.
    “He would have been family if Carole Anne hadn’t gone and screwed things up with him.”
    “Daddy,” Carole Anne said, her voice unable to hide the hurt this time. “I did no such thing. If you remember correctly, it was Rusty who decided he wasn’t ready to settle down.” She grabbed her father’s arm and pushed him toward the front row. “Come on. Go sit down over there, and I’ll get you a drink.”
    “Make it a double,” he said, allowing her to nudge him to the front.
    When they were too far away to overhear, Bella shook her head. “That girl practically runs his company, and he still makes her feel like she’s not good enough.”
    Before Jordan could respond, she felt a hand on hershoulder. Turning, she came face-to-face with Cooper Harrison, decked out in his cowboy finest.
    “Where have you been?” Bella asked with a touch of irritation in her voice. “Lucas is already upset enough today without worrying about you.”
    “He didn’t need to worry. I said I’d have the food here on time, and I did. Traffic on I-35 was a killer, though. A tractor trailer hauling produce jackknifed near McKinley and spilled the entire cargo across the interstate. There were vegetables everywhere.”
    “Cooper, I’d like you to meet my brother, Danny,” Jordan said, trying to defuse the tension between him and Bella.
    Cooper accepted Danny’s outstretched hand. “Nice meeting you. I’m sure I’ll see you again.” He scanned the room, spotting Carole Anne up front now, waving furiously to get his attention. “I’ll talk to you later. Carole Anne is going to kill me for being late.” He started in the direction of his fiancée and future father-in-law.
    Just then, an older man pushing a wheelchair entered the room, and all eyes turned toward the back. Jordan took a step out of the aisle when the man started her way.
    Tall with a full head of gray hair and enough wrinkles on his tanned face to suggest he worked outdoors in the Texas heat, the man maneuvered past the people standing in the back. As he got closer, Jordan got her first look at the woman in the wheelchair.
    Olive-skinned with eyes nearly as dark as Rusty’s, she was dressed in a black suit with a matching pillbox hat, Jackie O style.
    When they reached Jordan, the man stopped. “Is she the one?” he asked, pointing to Jordan.
    Bella nodded. “Yes, Diego, she is.”
    The man leaned toward Jordan, sadness blanketing his swollen eyes. “My son would have liked you, I’m sure,” he said before fixing his gaze back on Bella.
    For an instant, Jordan saw the grief in his eyes disappear, momentarily replaced by something else. Was it anger? Hatred?
    “You were with him when he died?” Rusty’s father asked Jordan, finally breaking eye contact with Bella.
    “Yes, sir. I am so sorry for your loss.”
    “Thank you for that.” He leaned down to the woman in the wheelchair. “Maria, this is the reporter who was with Rusty Saturday