The Reluctant Cowgirl by Christine Lynxwiler Page A

turned to walk over to the nearest table.
    “If you’re not lookin’ for trouble, ya need to get on.”
    He glanced back at the boy. “Why?”
    “People don’t come here to be interrupted by strangers.”
    He cut his gaze toward the table again. The boy was right. “Fine. Call me if you see her.”
    “You keep payin’ and I’d turn in my own mother.”
    Now why didn’t that instill great confidence in him?
    When Jeremy was halfway across the dim room, the singer finished up her song and stepped down off the stage.
    “Hey, handsome,” she called.
    He almost kept walking, but the opportunity was too appealing.
    “Hi,” he said softly, stepping over toward the light.
    She followed him. “You a cop?”
    He shook his head. Up close he could see that, like the bartender, she seemed to be in her early twenties. But her eyes looked much older.
    “In that case, you wanna have some fun later?” She coughed then tossed him what was, no doubt, meant to be an alluring smile.
    He shuddered. At one point, she’d been an innocent little girl like Beka. What had her life been like to lead her to this point? “Actually I’m looking for information.” He held up the picture of Lindsey. “Have you seen her?”
    “I thought you said you wadn’t a cop.” She pursed her lips in a pout and ran her hands down her faded, wrinkled purple dress. The plunging neckline showed her bony sternum and nothing else.
    “I’m not.” He offered her a twenty and his card. “Would you call me if you see her?”
    She snatched the money from his hand and he shoved her the card. She took it more slowly. “Sure. Why not?”
    Back in the car, he turned the air on high and stared at the graffiti-covered building. Had Lindsey really been here last night? Had she had Beka with her?
    After only ten minutes inside, the hopelessness of the club had permeated his clothes and his skin. And the memory of the singer made him sick. Was his little girl going to end up like that? Not knowing that her daddy was looking for her, longing to bring her home?

CHAPTER 6
    Crystal lay in bed waiting for the tap on the door she knew was coming.
    Tap. Tap. Tap. A dog barked. “Shh...” She heard Elyse say softly. Then, “Crys? You getting up for church?”
    Crystal put her hand over her eyes. “I don’t think so. I think the jet lag has gotten to me.” It was true. Even though she’d slept at a hotel near the airport last night, there’d been very little actual sleep.
    “You sure? I can wait if you want to go.”
    The longing in Elyse’s voice made Crystal’s stomach churn, but she pulled the covers up tighter. “You go on. I’ll get up and take a shower in a little bit and meet you at the house for lunch.”
    She sensed rather than heard her sister linger outside the guest bedroom door for a few seconds. “Okay. See you then.” Disappointment was obvious in her voice.
    When Elyse was gone, Crystal tried to relax. In New York, she’d gotten to where she barely even noticed Sundays, other than as a well-deserved day off. But here it was like someone had turned her conscience up to hyperdrive. She’d been lying awake for an hour, racked with guilt as she heard her sister getting ready for church.
    She was going to have to get a handle on that if she was going to stay here.
    “Or you could start going to church again,” she could almost hear her friend Tina saying. She turned over and pulled the edge of her pillow over her ears. Not that it helped, since the voice was coming from inside her head. But she knew it would take more than putting in an appearance at church to make things right between her and God. So that was that.
    She punched the pillow and closed her eyes. Now if she could just go back to sleep.
    ***
    “I can’t believe we’re leaving tomorrow.” Her mother turned toward the suitcase on her bed as she said the words, taking great pains with arranging the pair of jeans Crystal had just folded.
    Crystal glanced over at her tense