46. Colt
“Heard about that scene in town.”
I pause halfway up onto the saddle. When Fen tosses his head in annoyance, I let my boots settle on the ground and turn to face Theo. “When?”
“With Mary and Andrew.”
“Oh. That.”
“What did you think I meant?”
“With our Dove Bay resident.”
“What’s going on with you? You’ve barely spoken to me since December, asshole. Are you still pissed about Maria?”
His sudden burst of temper has me frowning at him. “No.”
“Liar. I had to tell you, man.”
“I didn’t blame you.”
“Are you sure?” His expression is the epitome of dubious. “Because the fact we’ve barely talked outside of work issues speaks louder than words.”
“You’re reading too much into stuff. What’s going on with you? Why are you bringing this stuff up?”
His nose crinkles. “Bea and I argued.”
“Oh.” I roll my eyes because that explains everything. Theo’s as good with feelings as I am. Usually. Unless Bea’s accused him of being a robot. “When?”
“When I went to check on her last.”
“She won’t answer the door for me, so you’re doing something right. She has no idea how head over heels you are for her, does she?”
“No.” He grits his teeth. “She doesn’t. But you have been acting secretive with me, Colt. Did you not want me to tell you that I saw Maria with another guy when I was in Saskatoon?”
I rub Fen’s ear when it flicks away a fly. “We weren’t official or anything.”
“I don’t understand where your head’s at. Last thing I heard you’re glum over losing Maria, next thing you’re married to the woman who killed Loki?—”
I grab him by the collar. “She. Did. Not. Kill. Loki.”
His eyes widen as he tries to shrug off my hold on him. “I know you gave her that alibi to keep her ass out of jail. I never understood why you protected her after what she did.”
“Theo,” I interrupt. “I get it. We’re friends. You can say shit to my face that other people wouldn’t get away with, but don’t push me too far. Zee is my wife. That’s what matters.
“This is why we haven’t talked much, isn’t it? You think I’m the one who’s been quiet, but when was the last time you came to the house for dinner? You’re avoiding Zee.”
He pulls a face. “I’m not breaking bread with a murderer. I saw what her actions did?—”
I tighten my grip on his collar then let go of him in a smooth move that has him jerking back a couple steps. “She didn’t hurt anyone. She didn’t set fire to our stables. She didn’t kill Loki. Hell, she’s the only reason Terry hasn’t put my ass in jail.
“You hear anyone in Pigeon Creek talking smack about her, I expect you to defend her as a courtesy to me. Understood?”
He rubs his neck, but I know that’s for show. Jesus, we got tossed around more by bucking broncos in our day than what I put him through. “If she didn’t, who did?”
I settle a measured look on him. “Clyde.”
Theo lets loose a snort. “Yeah. Right.”
“Yeah. Right.”
He gapes at me. “You’re not joking?”
“I’m not. What about this conversation is funny? I haven’t been talking to you because, to be frank, I don’t have anything to say.
“It’s not because of a woman, be that Maria or Zee. It’s nothing to do with Bea or Marvin. I’m not sulking with you like a child. We’re grown-ass men who’ve been friends long enough to know one another. I.e., if you think getting married turned me into a social butterfly, you’re mistaken.”
Turning away from him, I saddle myself on Fen’s back in a smooth rolling jump that I’ve perfected over the years.
“If we’ve done gossiping like teenage girls, get on your damn horse so we can start working.”
Though he frowns, he nods and I leave him to it, taking off for the northwest quadrant where we have four heifers still waiting to calf.
Five minutes later, once he’s seated on Esmeralda, he joins me out in the pasture. “I guess I just don’t know what’s going on. You didn’t tell me you were getting married and then you emailed to tell me you’d been detained.”
“Time was short.”
“What stopped you from talking to me afterward?”
“Theo, you were dealing with Bea.” I shrug. “Plus, it was a nonstarter of a conversation. I didn’t do it. Saw no need to bring it up. What did you argue about?”
“With Bea?” At my nod, he grumbles, “How Esmeralda has more capacity for feeling than me.”
“That’s no harsher than her calling you the Tin Man.” When he tugs on his collar, I grimace. “So, this is you practicing how to be more emotionally available? Can’t you do this with someone else?”
“Oh, yeah. Who? My brothers? My dad?” He narrows his eyes at me. “I was your wingman for four years in university and you can’t do this for me?”
“My wingman? Ha! I was yours.”
“Okay, so maybe you were,” he grouses. “Not my fault all the women want you.”
“They wanted you too.” Grinning, I nudge Fen with my knee to shift him a few paces away from Esmeralda when Horny Houdini looks too interested in her for my taste. “They wanted me and the Korhonen millions first.”
“Those dang millions.” Still, he smiles and the atmosphere feels lighter until: “How did you end up being married to a stranger, Colt?”
For a second, I don’t answer.
I let a thousand memories tumble through my mind.
A thousand that I never shared with anyone.
“She isn’t a stranger.”
Huh.
That ‘light’ atmosphere feels like laughing gas has been pumped into it.
My grin widens at how freeing it feels to admit that.
“What do you mean?” Theo asks, no small amount of confusion lacing the words.
“I mean she’s not a stranger.”
“Are you being pedantic? Sure, we were raised in the same town and went to the same school and know all the same people but?—”
I press my knees into Fen’s sides to still him. Theo gently tugs on Esmeralda’s reins until he’s next to me. “Listen, bud. You want to be more emotionally available, open your ears. I knew her a long time ago. Before the fire. We used to hang out when she was a kid.”
“That doesn’t make any sense.”
“No. It doesn’t. Why do you think I never told anyone? They’d either think I was a creep or that I was plain weird. Never mind the crap that comes from her being a McAllister and me being?—”
“You?”
“Exactly. She’d run away from home and hide in the stables. Figured that was the safest place from her grandmother. Knew hell’d freeze over before Juliette would come knocking on our door to see if we’d found her wayward grandchild, and we struck up a friendship.” I hitch a shoulder. “She’d lost her dad and I couldn’t get rid of her. When she talked, I listened. She had a sweet soul…”
“But you never let on that you were friends. Is that why you said Clyde did it?—”
I knew he didn’t believe me. He’d have given me the third degree if he had.
“I can see why Bea got mad with you. Look, Clyde was pulling an insurance fraud. There. Simple. That’s why he did it. I only just found out or I’d have reported him to the Mounties faster than Fen can hit thirty miles per hour.”
“Who told you it was Clyde?” His lips tighten. “Susanne?”
“She was there. She saw him do it. And, rightfully so, she knew no one would believe her. So many things left unsaid and all because of her surname.” If my gaze is pointed, so be it. He winces. “Before you ask why a man as rich as my father would defraud an insurance company, it’s because he’s been lying to us for years. When Uncle Clay died, he left the ranch under my guardianship. Not Clyde’s?—”
“That bastard,” Theo grinds out, finally angry about the correct thing.
“Precisely. He must have needed the cash.” I rub my cheek. “I’ve been looking into what happened ten years ago. Gathering evidence to?—”
“You want to have him arrested?!”
“Damn straight. I’ve set a forensic accountant onto it and I’m having the board investigated too, as well as the trustees of the family trust fund because he must have gotten to them somehow.”
“Blackmail?”
“I wouldn’t put it past him. Either that or bribery. If he can burn a herd of innocent animals alive, why wouldn’t he be capable of blackmailing an official or bribing them?” I grit my teeth. “I want him to rot in jail, Theo. If I never have to see him again, it’ll be too soon.”
“This is why you’ve been acting weird, isn’t it?”
“I haven’t been acting weird!”
“You have. You’ve dealt with all this stuff on your own.” He punches me in the shoulder. “Dammit, don’t you know that a problem shared is a problem halved?”
“What was I supposed to say?”
“What you literally just said, jackass. What the hell are friends for if not to help out when you need it?”
“I didn’t need help. I need the people I’ve paid to dig up the dirt on my asshole of a father to come through for me.” I sigh. “But thanks, man.”
His gaze is perturbed. “Do you not trust me or something?”
“No one outside of the employees I’ve hired to do this task and my wife knows about anything I’ve shared with you, Theo.” The tension in his shoulders lessens. “Not even Callan.” His eyes bug. “Exactly. I’ve kept this close to my chest because…” I rub a hand over Fen’s head. “…I have a feeling I’ve barely scratched the surface of Clyde’s sins and only God knows when we’ll strike the mother lode.”
“I hope it’s not a streak, huh? But a full-on gold rush.”
“You and me both, man. The fact that he’s gone missing, that he was the father of Marcy’s baby before she disappeared, that he mowed Lydia down… The gold rush seems to be underway already. Now, can we do something manly after all this talk?”
Theo scratches his cheek. “Helping heifers give birth manly enough?”
I snicker. “It’s good enough for me.”