Homeward Colorado (Hart County #5)

Prologue

Then

I leaned into Grace’s side and whispered, “What about him? He’s cute, right?”

She glanced at a sophomore guy drifting past on a skateboard. “I give him a five out of ten.”

“Harsh. What about that guy?”

“That’s Mr. Miller, dork. He teaches geometry! Ew!” Grace elbowed me, and I cackled so loudly a few other freshman girls turned and stared as they crossed the parking lot.

“Okay, okay. But you’re making this really difficult. How am I supposed to find you a date for our first homecoming?”

“You don’t even have a date, Piper.”

“I am not the issue here.” I twisted on the bench, crossing my legs. “How about Trey Finley? I saw him checking you out in the hall.”

“He’s a second-year senior and wolf-whistles any time a girl bends over to pick up a pencil.” Grace stuck out her tongue, and I did the same back.

“Older guys are hot, though,” I said. “Come on. You have to have a crush on someone. Zach Kirby? He’s cute.”

But good-girl Grace was having none of it. “Nope. I have too much homework for boys.”

I groaned, almost falling off the bench, which made her laugh. “Fine then,” she said, giggling. “Who’s your crush?”

Guilt zinged in my stomach.

I tapped my chin, pretending to think. “Mr. Miller. He’s totally an eight out of ten. That tweed blazer? Yum. Think he’ll be chaperoning at the dance?”

Grace sighed. “Piper Landry. I know you’re kidding, but seriously. What am I going to do with you?”

Being best friends with Grace O’Neal had never been a conscious choice on my part. It had been as natural as breathing.

Her family had lived across the street from my family for our whole lives. Grace was there in all my earliest memories. In all the good things about growing up in Silver Ridge, Colorado, our small mountain town.

In the bad things, too. Like her mom dying and her dad taking off. Or when my mom was on a bender and I had to drag her home from some dive bar.

Good times.

There was only one thing I couldn’t tell Grace, and that was the identity of my real crush.

My stupid, impossible, embarrassing crush.

What would Grace think if I confessed my obsession with her oldest brother, Grayden? A man who was eleven years older than me and my own brother’s best friend?

I was beyond pathetic.

“How about we forget about the stupid homecoming dance,” she said, “and go get cherry limeades.”

I nodded sagely at her. “You really are a genius.”

“Thank you for acknowledging that.”

We both grabbed our backpacks. Grace tugged me away from Silver Ridge High and down the sidewalk, heading toward Main. My arm looped with hers.

It was a Monday afternoon, with the rest of the week looming ahead of us, but at least we were together.

A few minutes later, we had a corner table at the coffee shop with glasses of icy cherry limeade in front of us, extra cherries.

I wrapped my lips around the straw and took a sip. “I have so much math homework to get through tonight it’s not even funny. Quadratics are evil.”

“I can help you later. If you can explain what the heck is going on in this book.” Grace dug out a worn copy of The Giver, our current assignment for Honors English class.

“Deal. But just to be clear, you’re still the super-smart friend, and I’m the wild one. When we get to college, you’ll be dragging me to class and I’ll be dragging you to bars.”

She stirred her drink around and around in the glass, barely smiling, just staring at the crushed cubes floating on top.

“Sorry,” I said. “Didn’t mean to bring up college. I know you’re worried about the financial aid part.”

We’d been dreaming of going off to school together in some city, but at the same time, neither of us knew how we’d pay for it.

“No, it’s not that. It’s about my brother.”

Heat raced over my skin. “Yeah? Which one?”

Grace had a framed picture of her three older brothers in her room. There was Grayden, the intense one. Ashford, the grumpiest one. And Callum, the golden retriever goofball. All of them tall, athletic men, all known to females throughout Silver Ridge as extremely hot and extremely eligible.

But Grayden was the only one who made my gaze linger and made longing stir in my chest.

“It’s Callum. He’s talking about enlisting.”

My lips flinched into a frown. This wasn’t a surprise, since Grayden and Ashford were already in the Army. But still.

I took another sip and swallowed. “When?”

“I don’t know. Maybe soon.” Then she added in a whisper, “Piper, I’m scared.”

“Hey. It’s okay. It is scary.”

I wasn’t sure if she was scared about the two of us being entirely on our own, because my mom certainly didn’t count as an authority figure. Or if she was afraid of having three brothers in the service and the risk that one of them wouldn’t make it home.

I understood both fears. My brother Teller was a soldier too, and the O’Neals were like family to me.

“Everything will be alright.” I put my hand over hers on the table.

She tilted her head, lips curving sadly. “If anyone could make me believe it, it’s you. You’re the best. I love you.”

“Love you too.”

Yep. It was settled. I could never in a million years confess my dirty thoughts about Grayden to her. Grace would be horrified. So would Teller, though for different reasons of course.

We finished our lime-aids, then walked the couple of blocks back to school to get our bikes. I had homework and chores to take care of. With Teller stationed on the other side of the country, if I didn’t clean up my house, nobody would.

Maybe Grace would, though. She was kind of elf-like. All cute and short and helpful.

Wind streamed through our hair as we biked home. “Dinner at 6:30?” Grace asked when both our houses were in sight. “Callum has work, but there’s leftovers from that pot of spaghetti he made last night.”

“Yum. Definitely. See you then.”

Grace and I had still been in elementary school when Grayden left for the Army. Teller—who was ten years older than me—hadn’t been far behind, eager to join his best friend. Then Ashford enlisted a few years later.

Callum had graduated from Silver Ridge High last year, and now he was waiting tables at a diner on Main Street. But it didn’t surprise me much that he wanted out of Silver Ridge, like the rest of them.

Sucked to know another of our brothers wanted to leave us behind, though.

Of course, they had good reasons. They wanted to make something of themselves, more than they could in our small town. And they sent money to us every month. We were proud of them. Teller had just joined Special Forces, making him an elite Green Beret.

Yet Grayden was the one we all looked up to the most. There was just something about him. Grayden had acted all grown-up even as a teenager. Taking care of his siblings, always gentle and watchful with his intense, sad eyes.

His broody stare, which seemed to go right through me, as if I wasn’t even there.

Then, the last time he came home on leave, I finally noticed how incredibly, absurdly sexy he was.

He was twenty-six. I was a freshman in high school. What was wrong with me, having a crush on him?

What are we going to do with you, Piper?

An excellent question.

The lights were off when I stepped inside my house. I dumped my backpack by the couch and marched straight to my mother’s bedroom. The door was cracked open, and the smell of vodka hit me from across the room.

“Mom?” I called out. “Are you up yet?”

A groan came from the pile of blankets on her bed. “The hell does it look like, Piper? I was out late.”

Yeah, no kidding. She’d stumbled home when I was making myself breakfast before school, even though her shift had ended at midnight.

Sunlight filled the room as I yanked the curtains open. “Time to get up. It’s almost five. You can’t be late again. You already got your final warning.”

She grumbled and cursed at me, but I finally got her moving and into the shower. Then she was out the door with barely enough time to make it. I prayed she wouldn’t do something stupid like stop for cigarettes on the way.

With a sigh, I turned to the dirty dishes in the sink. After that, I would tackle my homework before heading to see Grace for dinner. Best part of my day.

I was halfway through my first algebra problem when there were heavy footsteps on the front porch and the door burst open. Hell. What was Mom doing back?

I got up and rushed down the hall toward the door. “Mom, you’re definitely going to be—”

But it wasn’t my mother standing just across the threshold. It was Grace.

Tears tumbled down her cheeks, and they kept falling. There was something about the way she was looking at me. I knew. I knew.

“Who?” I asked, voice thick.

Which of her brothers wasn’t coming home? They weren’t deployed right now, but things happened. We both knew the stories.

She could hardly get the words out. “It’s Grayden.”

No.

Oh please, no.

Guilt and fear and nausea rushed through me all at once. I hurried over and crushed Grace in a hug. Her head fit against my collarbone. She’d always been small, but I’d shot up during our middle school years. Made me feel like I was the big sister, though I was only six months older than her.

“I’m sorry,” I kept saying. “Oh God, I’m so sorry, Grace.” All the while feeling sick over the secret grief I felt. The tragic, foolish hope I’d carried in my heart.

“But it’s not…” Grace hiccuped. “It’s not what you think.”

“What? What do you mean?”

She pulled back enough to wipe her face, even though the tears hadn’t stopped. “Ashford called. Callum answered it on speaker, and I heard them talking. That’s how I found out. Something happened with Grayden.”

“But he’s alive?”

She nodded, lip trembling. “He’s alive. He’s not hurt.”

Relief crashed over me, so strong I could hardly breathe.

“But Ashford said… Piper, he said Grayden was arrested.”

“Arrested? Are you sure?”

Her eyes were glazed. “Ashford was notified by military police from where Grayden’s stationed. They say Grayden killed another soldier in a bar fight on the base. That’s all we know so far.” She choked out the words, “But he confessed.”

I was shocked speechless.

This couldn’t be real.

“There might’ve been some mistake,” I said, my pulse racing. “Or there’s a reason. Like self defense. Teller probably knows important people as a Green Beret. Maybe he can help.”

But if Grayden had confessed, did that mean he was guilty?

Something vicious clamped around my chest and squeezed.

Grace put her head on my shoulder. “What if he doesn’t ever come back to us? Why does this keep happening? Everyone leaves, and they don’t come back. My mom, my dad…”

“I don’t know why, G,” I murmured, hugging her again. “But we have to stay positive. It could all turn out okay.”

Yet even as I said them, my words rang hollow.

I thought of Grayden’s sad, serious dark eyes. The brave tilt of his chin in that photo of him in uniform.

Grayden was a good man. I knew it down to my bones. But what if that wasn’t enough?

Maybe a good man could still fall so far he wouldn’t make it home.