Chapter Twelve
Chapter
Twelve
Bay nodded to Trev as he closed the door to the cab.
“Thanks for the ride. I wanted to make sure Brooke could get to the theater on
time. They’re starting dress rehearsals in a couple of days, and that means
Brooke’s got to work a lot. I don’t know what happened with Shane. I’m
surprised he hasn’t called.”
“Yeah, I’m worried, too,” his boss admitted. “Beth said she
saw him but didn’t know he was leaving the ranch. He’ll turn up. He seemed
upset this morning. Anything happen?”
Bay was at a loss. Shane had been cold and distant. Was he
that upset that Rachel was staying with them?
A voice in Bay’s head told him it was definitely his fault.
He’d called his brother out in front of Brooke, and worse in front of Max and
Rye and Rachel. “I might have mentioned I thought that Shane might have fibbed
about why we left our last job. I don’t think he took it well. I didn’t mean to
insult him. I left when he wanted to.”
Trev joined him on the sidewalk that led to the Feed Store
Church. They were picking up a shipment of organic feed. One for the ranch and
another they would deliver out at the sanctuary. Trev seemed real high on Nell
and Henry’s newest venture. He’d said something about every creature deserving
a second chance. “This is about Kingman?”
“It’s about something Shane claims he saw and then something
he heard,” Bay admitted. “Shane watches a lot of TV. And he reads a lot of
fiction. Sometimes I think he should be a writer.”
Trev’s expression went serious. “What does he think he saw?”
He shouldn’t have said a word, but Trev was starting to be a
man he looked up to, and he could use some advice. “He saw some metal when he
was unloading something and thought it might be guns.”
“We all have guns on a ranch. They’re necessary,” Trev
pointed out.
“Not like rifles or even pistols. I think Shane got it in
his head that maybe Kingman was running guns.” He waved the thought off. “I
shouldn’t have said anything but last night I mentioned I thought he made up
the story to get us out of there. He wasn’t happy on that ranch. I wasn’t
either, but I can ride things out in a way Shane can’t.”
When times got tough, he sank into
his work. It was why he drew so much when he was out at the Kingman Ranch.
Trev’s head shook. “Shane has ridden out things in a way
most people can’t. He chooses not to now that he’s an adult and he can decide
what he will and won’t put up with.”
“I didn’t realize you knew that much about our childhood.”
It made Bay a bit antsy.
“I don’t bring men into my home who I don’t vet. Well, I
didn’t vet you at all. My partners use a firm in Dallas. I’m sorry if it makes
you uncomfortable, but I have a file on you both. My process is to interview
potential employees and then have McKay-Taggart run a trace on them. You did
what you could for your brother, you know.”
Sometimes he didn’t. Sometimes he remembered all the times
he sat at the dinner table while Shane was stuck in their room. He’d done his
best to steal and hide food to supplement what his mother would give Shane, but
there were nights his brother went to sleep hungry. Damn it. It didn’t matter
whether or not he lied. He owed it to Shane to leave when he wanted to.
And if Shane wanted to let Brooke go? What the hell would he
do?
“Did I? Sometimes I wonder.” He needed to man up and talk to
his brother about what went down the night before. He needed to figure out if
he was pissed at him for calling him a liar or if he was worried about what Bay
had said about how he felt for Brooke.
He’d been so damn sure they were on the same page.
“You were a kid and she was your mom. You did what you
could. You need to let that go, but what you shouldn’t underestimate is what
Kale Kingman is capable of. You don’t get that much money and power without
being willing to play dirty.”
Trev was being hypocritical. “I don’t think you would say
the same of Stef Talbot.”
Trev’s head shook. “Stef inherited that money. He didn’t
make it himself. And I would bet he would tell you his father was pretty
ruthless when he was younger. Also, it’s not the same. Kale Kingman runs a good
portion of Wyoming. He’s not happy simply having his ranch. He wants power, and
to get that he needs way more money than a ranch can provide. I’ve always
wondered where he got it.”
Well, that was a reaction he hadn’t expected. “I don’t want
you to think we know anything for certain, Trev. We know Shane thinks he saw
something and then he overheard the foreman and one of the veteran guys talking
about taking care of the newbies.”
“There have been several accidents on Kingman Ranch,” Trev
mused. “And I happen to know Kingman likes to hire people without ties to
family. That would make them easier to handle if he needed to.”
“I don’t know exactly what they said.” Because he hadn’t
really listened to his brother that night and then they’d come to Bliss and put
it behind them, but one way or another it looked like it was coming back to
bite them in the ass. “I find it hard to believe they were going to kill us.”
Trev held up a hand. “Well, it seems I have more of an
imagination than you do. I think I’d like to talk to Shane.”
Maybe Trev taking him seriously would help. Though it still
might be a problem. “If he’ll talk. I said some things last night that he’s mad
about.”
“You mentioned that,” Trev allowed. “He told you he was
upset?”
“He’s not talking, and that’s the problem. I can’t tell if
he’s mad about that or mad because Rachel is staying with us or mad because I
basically told the Harper brothers last night that we’re going to marry their
sister.”
Trev snorted at the thought. “It’s the first one. Shane
wouldn’t be angry about Rachel needing a break. He’s a damn sweet kid. He’ll do
everything he can to make her comfortable. And he obviously wants to marry
Brooke, though I worry he doesn’t think he’s worthy. He’s absolutely pissed
that you made him look like a liar.”
“I didn’t mean to.” But there was something soothing about
Trev’s certainty. He could handle apologizing to his brother. He didn’t know
what he would do if Shane didn’t feel the same way about Brooke.
She was the one. He would have told anyone in the world who
asked that he didn’t believe in the one, until he laid eyes on her. He
was struggling to think about her leaving, to think about what she might need
that he couldn’t give.
“I’m sure you didn’t, but I can bet he feels embarrassed.
Especially if he wasn’t fudging the truth and he honestly believes he saw
something.” Trev seemed to think for a moment. “Has anything odd happened to
you lately? Any new people coming around asking questions?”
“No,” Bay admitted. “The only people I talk to are the other
hands, and now we talk to the cast and crew at the theater. They ask a lot of
questions, but nothing too weird.”
Mostly about ranch life, though a couple had figured out he
was an artist and asked about his work. Honestly, they talked to Shane more
because he walked in and started helping fix things. His brother had learned a
lot of skills along the way. He’d fixed some of the lights and rewired the
sound board. He’d repaired the wooden stairs that led to the stage.
Shane was comfortable in this world.
Bay didn’t want to screw it up for him.
“I’m probably being paranoid, but that’s what happens when
your wife buys a house that used to be the home base for a drug dealer and the
cartel shows up when you least expect it,” Trev admitted. “I’m sure it’s
nothing, though I don’t like the fact that we had a break in and your truck was
rifled through. What if someone’s looking for something?”
“Like what? I don’t know what they would be looking for if
this is about Shane seeing something. I would think they would come after
Shane.” He didn’t like that thought, but none of this made sense. Shane
couldn’t put a memory in a safe.
Trev sighed. “Like I said, I’m being paranoid. But I’ll talk
to him, try to figure out exactly what he saw. Until then we need to get that
feed. Did Long-Haired Roger say when he would get the tires in?”
Long-Haired Roger told him the whole damn thing was falling
apart. “It could be a week or two. We have a little more damage than we
originally thought. Have to get a new alternator. That didn’t have anything to
do with the vandalism, but it still has to be fixed.”
“Or you could bite the bullet and get a new one.” Trev
started walking toward Stella’s. “I know it’s pricey, but Stef keeps talking
about how much money you’re going to make off this gallery showing. Apparently
he’s got some big spenders coming out, including the guy who runs the
collective the G belongs to. Not that Jack Barnes cares much about art, but his
wife does.”
Yeah, he was getting nervous about that, too. What if
nothing happened? At one point he wouldn’t have cared. It wasn’t like he sold
his work often. Every now and then he had a piece that Shane decided would
catch someone’s eye and they would sell it or show it to Stef. Otherwise, he
gifted most of his bigger pieces and didn’t think much about it. It was a
compulsion, a deep-seated need to make the art. He didn’t need it to hang
around.
Except the pictures of Brooke.
But now he needed the money, and Shane was acting like it
was all nothing more than a waiting game. What if Brooke came and no one bought
a thing and he had to deal with the fact that all her expectations were
shattered?
Shit. This was how Shane felt the night before. Embarrassed.
Ashamed.
He needed to talk to his brother.
Wait. Where were they going? “I thought we were picking up
feed.”
“I texted Pastor Dennis and he’ll put it in the trailer. I’m
picking up some lunch for Nell. Hal’s making her favorite corn and black bean
burritos today, and Henry asked if I wouldn’t mind bringing a couple in since
they can’t make it to town.” Trev stopped in front of the door, and Bay’s heart