Chapter 13
MOLLY
I had driven by the diner before, but hadn’t eaten at it yet. It was a standalone building with windows all along the front. A sign was at the curb with the name Sip N’ Serv and a large coffee cup, with neon that blinked on and off to mimic rising steam. It screamed vintage.
So did the rotating refrigerated pie display and the booths with green leather. The interior was warm with the scent of bacon and coffee lingering in the air.
Colt looked around and gave a chin lift indicating he’d spotted his brother. I looked that way and with a hand at my back, he guided me between the center tables and the booths beneath the windows.
We stopped at the back corner, where the booth was a large semicircle and doing a quick count, had five occupants, not just the two I expected. A man, taller than Colt, stood. Definitely a brother in a similar rugged, handsome way.
The men slapped backs in a quick hug, then Colt tugged me into his side. “Trig, Ellie, this is Molly.”
The woman who was beside Trig’s now vacant spot smiled up at me.
Her hair was dark like mine, but her eyes were a gorgeous icy blue.
She had on a knit cap and a heavy plaid shirt over a white tank top.
I couldn’t see the rest of her beneath the table.
“Hi, Molly! Finally, some more estrogen to balance out the testosterone.”
Trig took my hand and gave it a vigorous shake. “Glad to meet you. Heard all about you,” he said as he slid into his spot and slung his arm around Ellie’s back. He leaned in and murmured, not too quietly, “Sugar, you like all my testosterone. In fact, you seemed to like it when I woke you up with–”
She turned and put her hand over his mouth. I couldn’t miss her blush or the smile that couldn’t be hidden beneath her palm.
“Besides the newlyweds, these are a few of my other brothers,” Colt said. He pointed down the line. “Shep, Cam, and Bray.”
They were big men and the table was too awkward for all of them to slide out to stand and introduce themselves. I gave them a little wave as they offered a quick “hey” or tip of the hat. Out of the five brothers, four of them wore Stetsons.
Shep was the one who didn’t. He was the one that said, “Saw you at the grocery store the other day. Sorry I didn’t say hi.”
I gave him a small smile. “Same.” I didn’t remember seeing him and I doubted any woman with working eyes would not look at Shep twice. I must’ve been studying the chip options a little too closely if I missed him.
Colt nudged me to slide in so I was between him and Bray.
A waitress appeared at the table and set two coffee mugs down while holding up a steaming carafe.
“Hey, Mabel,” Colt said. “Coffee for me. You want some, pretty girl?”
I nodded and he flipped both cups over. Mabel filled them.
“You’re the new doc at the hospital,” Mabel said and I glanced up from the paper placemat that had the menu printed on it.
The older woman was maybe in her sixties.
Possibly seventies. Gorgeous gray hair cut in a no nonsense bob.
She wore jeans and a t-shirt that had a drawing of the neon sign on the front.
She had a pencil behind her ear, a half-apron with an order book in one pocket and straws in another.
Her smile was broad, genuine and I had no doubt she probably knew everything about everyone in town.
“I am.”
“My grandson’s friend was in there last week for a broken arm. Heard a new lady doc put a green cast on him. Even signed it.”
I remembered the case. “That’s right. How’s he doing?”
She waved a hand. “Fine. Boys bounce right back. Ask any one of these Wilder fellers about that.”
“Don’t go givin’ away any stories about Colt, Mabel. He wants to keep this one,” Cam told her.
I flushed when Colt winked at me. Multiple thoughts collided in my head at once.
I wasn’t sure what Cam meant by this one, as if Colt had taken a long string of women to breakfast in the past. Or one in particular that knew the brothers well enough for one of them to mention her in a roundabout way.
Also that Cam knew Colt’s intentions. I didn’t even know they’d talked since we ran into each other again yesterday. And what kind of secrets did Colt have?
Mabel zipped her lips with her hand, then asked, “What can I get you?”
She was looking my way. “Oh, um,” I glanced down at the menu. “Denver omelet, please.”
“White toast or wheat?”
“Wheat, please.”
She looked to Colt. “Usual, please. Thanks, Mabel.”
With a decisive nod, she made her way down the line of tables topping off people’s coffees on her way to the kitchen. Clearly, Colt ate here often.
“So, Molly, tell us all about yourself.”
I looked around Bray, which was kind of hard to do since he was so broad. “Shep, right?”
He grinned, set his hand over his chest that was covered in a navy long sleeved t-shirt. Across the chest it read Wilder Auto Repairs. He was the one who’d towed my car.
“Yup. The cute one.”
“Whatever,” Cam said beside him, rolling his eyes.
“You can’t call yourself cute. It’s gotta come from a lady,” Trig said. He glanced down at Ellie. “Tell Shep who’s the cutest, sugar.”
She rolled her eyes. As she was about to answer, Mabel came back with a huge tray ladened with dishes.
She set it on the empty table beside her and started passing the plates around.
I sat back as the table filled with all the food the Wilder boys seemed to eat for breakfast. Once her tray was empty, she said to me and Colt. “Your meals will be up real soon.”
Everyone dug in and seemed to have forgotten I’d been asked about myself. Colt hadn’t. “Molly’s the new ER doc at the hospital. Came from Cheyenne.”
He looked to me if he got that correct, which only showed how little we knew about each other. Clothed.
I nodded. “Yes. I saw the opening and thought it was a good fit.”
“Where’d you go to medical school?” Trig asked, then shoved a forkful of eggs into his mouth.
“Hopkins, in Maryland.”
“Molly’s also the medical examiner,” Colt added, his gaze directly on Trig.
Trig swallowed, then set down his fork. He glanced at Ellie, then back at Colt. All humor was gone. “And?”
It wasn’t just Trig who stopped eating. Everyone at the table paused.
“He had a stroke,” Colt said, then looked to me.
“I can’t share confidential information about a patient, even deceased.”
Colt jaw clenched for a moment, then he nodded. “I can. The fall didn’t kill him.”
I set my hand on Colt’s arm. “What are you doing?”
Colt lifted his chin. “Remember I said my brother’s wife’s father was Lance Mann?”
I nodded. He’d said that when he announced we had to leave the house.
“That’s Ellie.”
My gaze whipped to meet Ellie’s. “Oh my God. I’m sorry for your loss.” I smacked Colt. “Are you insane? The woman’s lost her father and you want to talk about his autopsy?”
Trig huffed. “There’s no love there, so don’t you worry your pretty head.”
“Hey, you worry about your own woman’s pretty head,” Colt countered, sounding very territorial.
Mabel stopped by with our meals and set them before us. The scent of cheese and green peppers wafted from my plate and made my mouth water. The hash browns next to the omelet looked crispy and deliciously greasy.
Ellie rolled her eyes as she stuck a piece of melon in her mouth.
“This pretty head can speak for herself,” she said to the men, then turned to me.
“It’s okay. I barely knew him. Hadn’t seen him in years.
I’d been living in Seattle and he asked me to come home.
Turns out, he’d made an arrangement to marry me to his crony in exchange for paying off debts. ”
I blinked. “Um, what?”
She filled me in on the rest and Trig beside her looked pained, like he’d eaten broken glass instead of eggs and bacon.
“Wow. Okay, that’s… crazy,” I said when she finished. My sister waffled between being a sociopath and a psychopath so I was familiar with family doing insane things. I wasn’t close with my parents, but they would never trade me for money. “Are you next of kin?”
Ellie nodded. “Legally. Technically.”
“Legally, I can share the details with you.” No matter what the man did or how much she hated him, he was still her father. “While he had broken bones from the fall down the stairs, it was the brain bleed that killed him.”
“Not Trout then,” Trig stated. I didn’t know who this Trout person was, but I assumed it was the one they thought might have pushed Lance Mann down the stairs.
“Not Trout,” Colt confirmed. “Death was from a medical cause, not murder.” He glanced at me. “Right?”
“Correct.” I nodded.
“There isn’t a murderer in Devil’s Ditch then?” Bray asked.
Colt took a swig of his coffee. “No murderer. I already called the paper with an update so the town can settle back down.”
I looked to Colt, then flicked my gaze to Trig and Ellie. “No murder. That’s a good thing, right?”
“It is,” Trig answered. “Just means that Conrad Trout–the guy who bought Ellie from her father–is just an asshole.”
“Unfortunately, I can’t arrest people for that,” Colt said. He sighed, then picked up his silverware and tucked into his breakfast.
The brothers grumbled, too, and returned to their meals, although Bray had already cleaned his plate except for a piece of toast.
“I don’t know when you work next, Molly, but you should come over,” Ellie offered.
Trig growled possessively but Ellie ignored it.
“I’ll get Lainey and Mrs. Wilder to come, too,” she added. “Girls’ night.”
“I’d like that.” I would. Making friends, though, with women in Devil’s Ditch was a little dangerous.
Ellie was a few years younger than me, but she seemed nice.
I didn’t know who Lainey was but I was wary of meeting Colt’s mom.
I didn’t know how long I’d be able to stay in Devil’s Ditch.
I had a feeling it was going to be hard enough walking away from Colt, let alone friends and more of his family.
Although, sitting with five big, brawny Wilder boys made me feel safe and protected, not even taking into account that the man who wanted me in his bed was the county sheriff. I just knew it might be too good to be true.