Chapter Five
Evan
Present Day
The walk from the ranch to the station wasn’t long, but it gave me time to replay the conversation with my father.
He hadn’t yelled. He hadn’t demanded I leave him alone.
He hadn’t even raised his voice. Instead, he’d smiled—actually smiled—and said it was good to have me home.
He’d even offered to let me use the private jet to head back to London for a “break.”
That was the tell. My father didn’t share his toys unless he wanted something. He was clearing the board, and I was the biggest piece in his way.
With Bella he might have shown his temper, because it worked. She saw him as someone who needed to be appeased. Managed. I’d never had that level of patience with him.
A pickup slowed as it passed me near the feed store.
The driver lifted two fingers from the steering wheel in a lazy salute.
Word traveled fast in Firebrook Valley. By tonight, half the valley would know the Holliston son had come home and that something was brewing between the families again. It always was.
My father was attempting to manage me. He was playing nice like a man negotiating a merger he intended to have the upper hand in. I wondered if he knew I saw him like a toddler who’d done nothing to deserve running a billion-dollar company.
And the offer to take a break from the family drama? If he wanted me gone that badly, I wasn’t going anywhere.
The police station smelled the same as it always had: plug-in air fresheners fighting a losing battle against damp wool and old coffee.
Marlene was at the front desk, red nails clicking on the keyboard, hair fresh from whatever miracle she had at the salon on Thursdays.
She glanced over her reading glasses, unimpressed by the suit, the watch, the whole package.
“He’s in the back, Holliston,” she said before I could open my mouth. “Try not to track mud on the carpet. I just vacuumed.”
I gave her a half-smile. “Wouldn’t dream of it.”
She squinted at me like she was deciding whether I deserved the benefit of the doubt.
“Your father already stopped by this morning. Something about wanting to reface Town Hall and being told it wasn’t necessary.
The Burkes did a fine job of it two years back.
Tim’s been rubbing his temples ever since your father stormed out. You owe him a beer.”
“Story of my life.”
She waved me through without another word.
In Firebrook Valley, billionaires didn’t get special treatment.
I got the same ribbing I’d received since I was seven and tried to sneak a chinchilla out of the pet section of the hardware store because I thought it looked sad.
Apparently freeing pets that were for sale could be considered stealing.
My bad.
I pushed open Tim’s door. Chief Halvorsen now. He looked up from paperwork, his professional mask dropping the second he saw me. His chair scraped back. Arms out, he rushed me in a move that once upon a time would have been a tackle. This time, he delivered a rib-cracking, back-slapping greeting.
“About damn time,” he said, pulling back but keeping one hand on my shoulder. “Thought you’d forgotten the zip code.”
“Hard to forget a town that taught me how to drive a tractor.”
Tim snorted. “You taught yourself. And anywhere else, taking it without permission would have been a crime.”
“I brought it back.”
“Dented.”
“I was fourteen.”
“You drove it straight through the softball field fence.”
“I was still figuring out the gears.”
He laughed, waving for me to sit. I chose the seat in front of his desk, smiling because I could only imagine the characters who’d sat there before me. From Mr. Tills, who drank too much but only on Tuesdays, to my belligerent father.
Tim leaned back in his chair, studying me. “It’s been a long time.”
“I’ve been busy.”
“Internet shows you running a little wild.”
“Internet also says Bigfoot is real and likely in our mountains.”
Tim snorted. “That one’s still under investigation.” He took a sip from a coffee mug, eyes never leaving mine. “Ran into Nora earlier,” he added casually. “Heard you did too.”
News travels fast. “We spoke briefly in the parking lot.”
Tim’s face tightened. “How’s she doing?”
I lifted and dropped a shoulder. “She was on her way to break the news to her father.”
A twinkle lit Tim’s eyes. “How’d she look?”
I kept my expression neutral. “Like Nora.”
Tim chuckled softly but didn’t push. He took another gulp of coffee that looked like battery acid. “I saw you in a news clip,” he said after a moment. “Aid trucks rolling through a war zone. Guy they interviewed mentioned your name as the one who made it possible.”
I shrugged. “I was a cog in that wheel.”
“Look at you, still fixing the plumbing while everyone else is busy arguing about the color of the curtains. Only now the plumbing is a field hospital, and the argument is a civil war.”
My jaw tightened. I gave him the smile I used when people got too close. “You’re reading too much into it, Chief.”
Tim didn’t push but he did smile at my reference to his promotion. “Maybe,” he said. “Or maybe I’ve known you long enough to know which bullshit to believe and which to dismiss.”
I’d have debated that point, but he did know me that well.
He leaned forward. “Can’t believe Bella trusted you to handle your father.”
That earned him an eyeroll. “Outside of my family, some people accuse me of being competent.”
He barked out a laugh. “I didn’t say she was wrong to.” After a beat, “How’d he take the news?”
“He wasn’t shocked, which means he knew.”
“And?”
“He wasn’t fazed by it. Not disappointed. Not upset to not have been included at all. But he would like me to leave.”
“That’s not fucking good.”
“You don’t need to tell me that.”
“So, you’re staying.”
“Of course.”
“Good. I don’t want a repeat of last year.”
“Hey, it wasn’t my father who did the punching.”
Scratching his chin, Tim conceded, “That was the shocking part, but he did earn that punch by involving Nora. Can’t say I wouldn’t have socked him myself if he’d brought that energy here.”
I nodded. “Completely understandable.”
“He seems to have adjusted to the idea of Brady and Nora dating,” Tim added, watching for my reaction.
No, I wasn’t going to let myself feel one way or another about that. “As he should. It’s none of his business,” I said tightly.
“Brady’s a good kid,” Tim added. “Kind. Nora could do worse.”
My hands fisted on my lap. “She sure could.”
“You seem a little tense.” Tim smiled slightly. “Maybe let Brady handle the family peace for a while.”
I laughed harshly. “Brady’s kindness is a liability when my father is like this. He’d get eaten alive.”
Tim didn’t argue. He knew I was right.
I added, “Bella and Drew deserve their shot. So do Brady and Nora. I’m tired of my family being out of control. While I’m here, I’ll do my best to put an end to it.”
Tim studied me a long moment. “Don’t do anything that lands you in a cell.”
“Have I ever?” I asked, then raised a hand. “Since you’ve been in charge, I mean.”
Smiling, Tim said, “Considering I was in on half the trouble you caused, I suppose we’re starting with a clean slate.”
“Yeah, or someone might find out who gave me the keys to that tractor and dared me to take it for a spin.”
Tim laughed again. “It’s good to have you back, Evan.”
“Hope you’re not waiting for me to say I’m happy to be back.”
“You’re a good man, Evan Holliston, no matter what the internet says.”
Ignoring the jab, I said, “I’m only here for Bella and Nora.”
“Don’t you mean . . . for Bella and Brady?”
My jaw tightened. My eyes shifted to the window before I could stop them. “Yeah,” I said tightly.
He didn’t call me on it. Didn’t have to. Needing out of the conversation, I stood and said I had somewhere to be even though I didn’t.
Outside the station, the valley was quiet, the mountains a stunning backdrop to the scene. It should have been one of my favorite places, but despite how many people I cared about there it was the same town I’d stopped returning to because no matter how much things changed, my family didn’t.
My mother still wanted nothing to do with the town, still resenting it more than a decade after divorcing my father. Not that I could blame her. No one liked the side of my father Firebrook Valley brought out in him.
Bella was still dancing around my father’s moods.
And Brady? My gut clenched. He was too young to understand why our mother had made a good choice when she decided to leave. Bella and I had made sure he was always protected from the ugliness of it.
Ask him and he’d probably say we had a great family and our home in Firebrook Valley was the anchor that held us together. Neither Bella nor I had the heart to enlighten him to the reality.
Blissfully fucking happy.
Universally likable.
Loyal and kind.
Nora really could have chosen a lot worse.