I'm really glad you posted this today, as it's been a really difficult week for me: On Sunday, we had to euthanize our 14-year-old chihuahua (he had a heart condition, and crashed at the emergency clinic, and anything they did would have given us a day at best, and while we knew SOMEDAY this would happen, we hadn't expected it to be THAT DAY.).

I liked this chapter a lot. Love this Ham/Angie relationship. Love the tag line about Willie. Angie fits into this world very well, I think.

I finally had a chance to read this last night, and I really enjoyed it.

I especially like the glimpse into Ham's head.

Hello there,

So, I'm a bit sheepish to admit that when I read the last chapter I had to goolge "cannonball bed" because I didn't know what one looked like. Turns out I know nothing about furniture except comfortable and not comfortable or "gee, that's pretty."

I like this slow getting to know each other and the tiny details that help Angie piece together her picture of Ham, and then the re-arranging of the picture when she gets a new piece. Since you don't seem married to a particular pov in this story, I hope there's a little bit of Ham figuring out Angie while they're at the cabin, too.

Also, a typo slipped by you. "she knew that they both knew at least one of the reasons why there were here was on that first list." I'm assuming you mean "why they were here."

Thanks for the update.

Liz

Great chapter. Curse you for making me think Ham is hot! :)

I'd completely forgotten how much I loved Ruby until I read this. Great chapter. More, please?

Oh, I like this...especially this exchange:
“Don’t you ever,” he intoned in an ice-cold voice, “call this a ‘toy’.” As Angie’s face emptied of expression, Tyler dropped her hand and turned away to return the weapons to their stash. She was still standing there in shocked silence, not having moved a muscle, when he finished locking the grate and straightened to face her again.

“I scared you,” he acknowledged, and took a step closer, looking deep into her fearful eyes and not softening a bit. “Good. This isn’t a game, Angel. When you think it is, you’re dead.”

She followed him back to the makeshift compound in silence. Once they’d arrived outside the saloon she ventured in a shaky voice, “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it like it sounded.”

But I also liked the injected levity of the scene with Willie, who is difficult to write well, IMO. Too many malapropisms and he's completely without any credibility. Not enough, and he does come off "slow."

Brava!