Chapter 8 #2
“Our pockets are full, and yours are empty. That should explain the expressions.” Jake winked at Declan. “Good to get out with you guys like that. The Stones are a great family.”
“They are, but the truth is we’ve got something special, too,” Declan affirmed, glancing into the rearview mirror to include Aiden. “Glad that High Water is working, or at least the parts we can control. Glad I get to do this with you both.”
“Me too,”
“Agreed.”
They poured out of the truck, about to head their separate ways, when a figure stepped into the porch light. Logan summoned them forward.
“Come on,” Declan quietly told his brothers. “If this is what I think…”
“Can I talk to you? All of you at once is damn intimidating, but what the hell.” Logan included them all in his wry examination. “May as well get it over with.”
“Here?” Aiden shrugged and sat on the steps. “What’s this about?”
Jake sat next to him and Declan leaned on the railing.
Logan stared upward for a moment. “When you guys found me, you didn’t ask any questions.
I appreciated that for a lot of reasons.
Not sure what to say, not sure how much to say.
” He met Declan’s gaze. “Still not sure on a bunch of it, but I don’t want anyone hurt accidentally because of me.
High Water is the best place I’ve ever lived, and I don’t want to screw this up, not for anyone. ”
Declan dipped his chin but waited.
The young man kept rolling. “Just to get this out there—I’ve never done anything wrong. And there’s no reason anyone would come after me, so I didn’t think being here was dangerous to anyone. I mean it. I wouldn’t have stayed otherwise.”
“Go on,” Aiden encouraged softly. “What’s the story you need to share?”
Logan swallowed big. “I never got tangled up in trouble, but my brother did. Dean is a whiz with numbers. He did the books for our old man’s yard care company, but then he found a job that paid better.
Way better. When I asked for more info, Dean kind of hemmed and hawed, but I finally got it out of him that he was working for a company that doesn’t play by the rules. ”
“Like?” Jake asked.
“Money laundering for one. I didn’t ask for any more details,” Logan said quickly. “And then Dean left the house, and I haven’t seen him since. That was last summer.”
“Doesn’t sound like the end of the story, though,” Declan said.
“I wish it was.” Logan sighed. “Early this year, he did something that pissed them off then ran.”
“Damn. I bet that didn’t go over well,” Aiden murmured.
“Not at all. We look a lot alike, Dean and I. A couple of the gang nabbed me and thought they could beat information out of me, no matter how much I insisted they had the wrong guy.” Logan met Declan’s gaze for a second then looked away, but the glimpse was enough to show the depth of the pain the kid still carried.
“They finally found someone far enough up the chain who actually knew Dean and figured out I wasn’t lying, so they dumped me in a ditch off the highway. ”
“Outside Heart Falls?” Jake asked.
Logan shook his head. “Highway 2. I moved west for as long as I could—at some point I lost track of what was happening and woke up here.”
“Christ. That’s a long haul.” Aiden shook his head admiringly.
It was impressive, and the entire story explained a lot, but Declan thought back to one other issue that Sydney had shared. Getting beat to hell explained the condition Logan had been in when he arrived.
It didn’t explain it all. “The scars on your legs?”
Anger twisted Logan’s face. “My dad had issues.”
“Enough said.” Aiden rose and extended a hand. “Thanks for sharing, but for me, I just need you to keep headed the direction you’re headed.”
“Agreed,” Jake offered another handshake.
“I want you to talk to Kevin, though,” Declan said quietly. Logan bristled, but Declan stuck to his guns. “It’s a lot, dealing with what happened to you, and he’s here to help. Let him do his job.”
Logan glanced over the three of them. “So I get to stay?”
“Hell, yeah,” Aiden offered. “You do all the shit jobs. You don’t get to leave.”
Jake snorted. “I’m off to bed. Night, all.”
Declan stayed for another moment, the quiet night sounds rising up in a summer symphony. The leaves on the saplings in the nearby coulee rustled peacefully as he rested a hand on Logan’s shoulder then headed them in the right direction. “Feel good to get it off your chest?”
“Sort of.” Logan glanced around. “Still figuring stuff out.”
“Says all of us, all the time,” Declan offered wryly.
Logan paused at the door of his room. “Sorry I didn’t tell you sooner.”
“You had your reasons, but it’s good to have people you can share your troubles with.” Declan offered another back pat. “Like Aiden said, keep headed the right direction.”
“I will.” Logan thrust out his hand.
Declan took it and used it to haul the kid in for a brotherly hug. “You’re doing fine.”
After all the massive highs and frustrating lows, it felt good to finish the day on a positive note. The only thing that dulled the celebration was the silent room and empty bed he crawled into.
He’d give anything to have Sydney curled beside him.
Over the next two days, Sydney spent a ton of time kicking her own butt. For a smart woman, she hadn’t thought things through very well.
She’d gotten away from the mishap at Greenlee’s far better than she deserved. Didn’t mean she’d stop her visits, but when something seemed off, she needed to slow down and use her head instead of blindly rushing forward.
Far more worrying was the growing urge to simply drive over to Declan’s and demand a change in their relationship. It was an impossible thought, and it irritated her like a bit of sand caught between two toes. It was always on her mind, but she didn’t have time to stop and shake out her boots.
Even if she did, she had the sinking feeling the scratchy echo would still linger.
“If you’ve given up on sleep, I need to warn you it’s not doing a thing for your beauty routine.
” Edison leaned a hip on the counter beside her in the clinic staff room and eyed her judgmentally.
He circled a finger in front of her face.
“You usually have that whole barely-out-of-grade school, peaches-and-cream thing going on, but right now, you need to change something up, sweetie.”
She didn’t have to look in the mirror to know he was right. “Working through a bunch of things,” Sydney informed him. “Nothing about the clinic, though.”
“Not worried about the clinic. I’m worried about you,” he admitted. “You’re a fantastic boss—at least when you’re not risking life and limb. And I’ve worked with you long enough to sense when something’s off.”
One thing Sydney disliked immensely were straight-up lies, so she avoided them whenever possible.
“Again, it’s not the clinic, and thank God you’re here because you’re a lifesaver.
” She glanced into the main foyer where Lexie was welcoming a client.
“Thank God for Lexie because she’s lightened my load immensely, and I think we’re doing more for the community. That’s a good feeling.”
Edison nodded slowly. “I’m glad to help.
But to casually throw it out, that gentleman I’m seeing isn’t only a great dancer with a sexy body.
He’s pretty easy to talk to, if that’s the kind of thing you’re looking for.
Or if counseling is the kind of thing that makes you immediately say hell no, you might want to consider why and talk to him anyway. ”
“Thanks for the advice. Now go get caught up on those vaccination records,” Sydney ordered, pushing Edison on the shoulder to rotate him toward the door.
“Getting my excellent advice out of range, but I’ll be back,” he promised. “Like a big ol’ boomerang of caring.”
Sydney snickered. “Boomerangs have a far higher rate of contribution to concussions and cranial impact trauma than most people expect.”
He stuck his tongue out as he left her to finish eating her lunch.
Edison was a smart cookie. Too smart, and his comments got Sydney thinking in the direction of her biggest dilemma. She wasn’t emotionally ready to make a decision about Declan, but her body had already voted, and her heart kept trying to call a referendum.
Her phone buzzed, and she answered it on autopilot, blinking to discover her grandmother on video chat. “Grandma?”
“Hello, darling.” Grandma Belinda’s bright smile lit up the screen, her dark brown hair now laced with silver. As she adjusted the camera angle, Sydney’s mother, Marie, popped into view. “You get a two-fer today. Have time to chat?”
“For a few minutes.” Sydney twisted to make sure the staff door was closed then propped up the phone so she could continue to eat. “Lunch break, so excuse me if I stuff my face.”
“No problem. Marie is visiting while Grandpa Nate is away, and we realized neither of us had talked to you in a while.” Grandma Bel smiled at her daughter. “She’s also wiping the floor with me at cards every night—but that’s nothing new.”
Her mom winked, but Marie’s gaze lingered on the dark shadows under Sydney’s eyes. “How are things in Heart Falls?”
“Busy,” Sydney admitted, “but getting better now that I have a second doctor in the clinic. It means the workload is getting lighter, and I’ll eventually have some of that mythical thing I’ve heard about called ‘free time.’ Good friends in the area, lots to keep me moving.”
“Good to know. Nice you found a new doctor. Immigrant? New resident getting rural hours?” her grandma asked.
Once again the truth was the only thing she could say. “Grandpa Nate recommended her. Someone he met…somewhere, but I can honestly say she’s fitting in really well.”