Free My True Cowboy by Shelley Galloway

stuck, glucose meter read, insulin shot given, Hank’s favorite TV shows had been watched, and he was in bed, Susan’s neighbor came knocking on the door.
    â€œAm I interrupting anything?” Betsy asked as soon as Susan greeted her at the door.
    â€œJust an old rerun of Law & Order .”
    Looking over her shoulder, Betsy grimaced at the television. “Oh, my word.”
    Susan glanced at the screen. On TV were two detectives leaning over a particularly gruesome-looking dead body. “What?”
    â€œIf that doesn’t turn your stomach, nothing will,” Betsy said as she walked on in and closed the door behind her. “Susan, you are completely incorrigible, girl. Turn that off.”
    Dutifully, she did just that, then turned to her friend. “Is there a reason you came over? Or were you just needing someone to boss around for a while?”
    â€œI needed some advice, actually. Do you mind listening to me for a little bit?”
    Betsy looked younger than usual, with her outfit of black yoga pants, loose violet-gray tank top and worriedexpression. Most of her makeup had been washed off, and her usually spiky hair was brushed back.
    Getting to her feet, Susan walked to the kitchen. “I’ve got a bottle of wine. I’ll open it.”
    After pouring two glasses, they bypassed the living room and sat together on the padded window seat in the breakfast nook. It was the farthest sitting area from the bedrooms. Though it wasn’t likely that they’d wake Hank up, Susan didn’t want to chance it. Hank needed his sleep.
    And she, well, she needed girl time like nobody’s business. “So, what’s up?”
    Betsy leaned her head back against the window as if she had the weight of the world on her shoulders. After a sigh and a sip, however, a new resolution lit her eyes. “So, do you remember that night I went out clubbing while you stayed home?”
    â€œI do. That’s the night you went to the honky-tonk, right? The one where Cal Riddell was supposed to be at?”
    â€œThat’s the very one.”
    â€œAnd, did everything go okay?” Susan started thinking all about worst-case scenarios. Had Betsy danced with Cal and fallen in love?
    â€œIt went better than that. Susan, I think I fell in love.”
    â€œWith whom?” Even as she asked the question, her stomach knotted. Even though chances were slim that Betsy had even met Cal, Susan found herself bracing for the worst possible news.
    â€œGene Howard. Do you know him?”
    â€œNo.” She exhaled, feeling almost giddy. When Betsy’s eyebrows rose, Susan said, “I mean, no, I’ve never heard of him. You know I don’t know too many people under eighty.”
    â€œHe’s dreamy.”
    Betsy’s comment teased a smile. “Dreamy, huh? Now,that’s a description I haven’t heard in a while. How dreamy is he?”
    Betsy fanned herself dramatically. “Dreamy enough to make me think of diamond rings and honeymoons.”
    â€œAfter a meeting in a bar? Don’t you think that’s kind of sudden?”
    â€œOf course. I know it’s crazy, but he’s just so great. Plus, he’s from Amarillo.”
    â€œFrom Amarillo, huh? What does he do?”
    â€œSomething to do with selling to supermarket chains. It’s a good job. Marrying a guy like that would be perfect. I’d be set for life.”
    Marrying a guy for his money seemed awfully cold, though Susan couldn’t deny that a tiny part of her understood Betsy’s motives. Bills and hunger did have a way of coming to the surface in every relationship. “Do you have plans to see him soon?”
    â€œActually, I do,” Betsy replied with a grin.
    Susan sipped her wine and studied her friend some more. Maybe it was because she was so out of practice dating, but she couldn’t fathom what had spurred the visit. “What’s wrong?”
    Setting her glass