AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I already talked to Grandma Gin.They’re watching a movie.”
She shook her head.The move was enough to knock her bun halfway down her head.The knot of her rich brown hair had loosened throughout the day, and I’d gotten way too much joy watching it fall.
She crossed her arms and kicked a hip out.I yanked my eyes off the way her boobs hitched over her arms.Kenny had been off-limits for eternity.Nothing had changed—except my schedule and two little boys who kept me from dating, getting laid, and enduring all the trouble the two former activities caused.Kenny was my safe zone.
“I’ll shower.You grab the pizza, and I’ll meet you at your place.”Her brows crinkled.
There was something she wasn’t saying.“What do you need me to do?”
She worried her lower lip.“Nothing.I was thinking maybe I’d stop by the cemetery before I went to your house.”
She’d cleaned out Derek’s clothes and now she needed to let him know that she hadn’t forgotten him.Her intentions were written in the depths of her chocolate-brown eyes.The first time she’d told me that she talked to Derek regularly, she’d whispered it like she was confessing state secrets.She continued to trust me with that information, and I had a feeling she didn’t tell her family or her in-laws.
“Take your time.The boys will be thrilled no matter when you show up.”But I’d keep an eye on the time.Three months after Derek died, I’d had to carry her from his cold resting place.She hadn’t answered her phone, and she hadn’t been at home.I’d found her there.She’d gone there and cried for hours after she’d quit her job.Eventually, she’d been too cold to think clearly.Today she seemed fine, but when it came to Kenny, I didn’t take chances.
“Thank you.”She breezed past me, smelling faintly of Derek’s cologne, fabric softener, and herself: roses and vanilla.
I had no business inhaling, but I rented a bedroom in a welding buddy’s place in Williston.By the end of our shifts, we smelled like singed cloth, hot metal, and sweat.
“Canadian bacon pizza?”she asked over her shoulder.
“With pineapple.”
She spun, her eyes narrowed.“Don’t.You.Dare.”
I grinned, letting her know I would indeed dare.
With one last determined glare, she disappeared into the bathroom.
I waited for a few moments.The shower curtain rings clattered.The water kicked on.The cabinet under the sink where she stored the towels creaked open.She wasn’t breaking down where I couldn’t see her.Which was her right, but it’d only been four months since she’d announced there was a paraprofessional opening at the school.Three months since she’d gone to her first day of work.Derek died over a year and a half ago, but Kenny had only started resembling her former self since she’d mentioned the job opening.
I wasn’t leaving until I was confident she wasn’t breaking down in the shower.If she made it through the shower, then she might withstand the graveside visit.
Leaning against the wall, I closed my eyes.Sometimes I forgot that I needed a moment too.Derek and I had grown up next to each other.My grandparents, Bob and Ginny Pewter, had raised me on a ranch next to Bruce and Willow Barron.Keeping two boys the same age from hanging out was a futile effort, no matter how hard Bruce and Willow had tried.
My family ranch was defunct.Grandma Gin owned the land, but she’d leased it out just before I’d moved home to help her.She’d made the deal with Bruce and Willow, thinking Derek would be the one to carry on the ranch after his parents retired.
Bruce hated me because Cameron had ordered him to.Same with their sister, my aunt, Kira.Their children had picked up on that and instead of cousins, I had enemies.Other than Derek, only one other cousin talked to me, and I suspected he did it to piss my father off.Derek hadn’t.His conviction that I was his best friend had been stronger than any of his family’s hate.
I’d have done anything for Derek, and that included making sure his widow survived his death.
I enteredthe one bar and grill Coal Haven had to its name, The Rattler Brewhaus.Half family restaurant, half rowdy bar and future brewery if the rumors were true.Coal Haven was home to hole-in-the-wall bars that had little more than a pizza oven, but nowhere to get alcohol and food together.The key to Rattler’s long-term survival would be the hungry shift workers coming, going, and passing through on their way to the coal mine, the coal gasification plant, and the oil refinery.The rest of the town took advantage of not having to travel an hour to a bigger town for a perfectly seasoned steak that they didn’t have to grill.
“Look what the oil fields puked up!”The shout came just as I crossed the door and started past the hostess station.I recognized the voice.Holden Barron.The only other cousin who talked to me.He was friendly enough, but I didn’t know his motivation and remained cautious.He was still one ofthoseBarrons.
The rancher swaggered toward me.His jeans were still dusty from planting.He ran a cow/calf operation and farmed small grains like wheat and barley on the side.Like the rest of my estranged family, whatever he touched was golden.Holden’s pastures were full of cows that earned him three and a half grand a head.His grain bins were full, and when he needed some cash, he’d check the market and take a load to the elevator.
If I’d been able to stay in town, maybe I could’ve helped my grandparents’ ranch.Kept our family operation from folding.But between Grandpa Bob’s illness and his poor retirement planning, there hadn’t been much of a choice.By then, I’d had two young kids and had needed the job and the benefits I got from welding at one of King Oil’s sites outside of Williston.Splitting my time between here and Williston was all I could offer since my father had made it impossible for me to find work anywhere around Coal Haven.Besides, I wanted my kids to grow up in a place where they weren’t starting from behind just because some arrogant asshole said so.
Holden clapped me on the back.He was here with a couple of other guys.My half brother, Stetson, glowered at me from a table deep in the bar.He was a year older than me.Which had made my birth much harder for Cameron to explain to his wife.
The third guy at the table was an employee of Holden’s.Technically, my aunt Kira still ran the ranch, but she couldn’t do it without Holden, and they couldn’t do it without Colt.The man was older than Holden, gruffer, and not that friendly.Catnip for women with his short dark beard and intense gaze.He looked like my aunt could hire him to assassinate me as a favor to my father, but the only impression I’d gotten from Colt was that he wanted to be left alone, much like me.
I smirked at Holden before he caught wind I was in anything less than a jovial mood.He wouldn’t be making a spectacle out of greeting me the way he had if Stetson weren’t here.Holden and Stetson were close, but that didn’t stop Holden from pissing the guy off.
Holden and Stetson were friends and cousins, like Derek and I had been.A harsh pang of longing dimmed my smile.“How are ya?”
He adjusted a white and navy ball cap that was dustier than his jeans.“Good.Haven’t seen you for a while.”
