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“Is he still going to have Mitch come to Bozeman for a week before school starts?” She’d heard Averil mention that several times. They’d even discussed taking a weekend girls’ trip to Vegas while Mitch was away, since it would be Averil’s first opportunity in ages.
“Not if he doesn’t pay me.”
Mitch came up sputtering and splashing, and Jane smoothed the wet hair out of his face to keep it from dripping into his big brown eyes. “This kid deserves more.”
“Cash never was big on responsibility. I should’ve seen the warning signs before I married him.”
“How were you to know everything would turn out the way it did? He made it through college. That shows some dedication and hard work. What went wrong after that?”
“Being a full-fledged adult—and marriage. He hates being responsible for anyone else.”
The sliding door opened and Charlie stepped out of the house wearing chinos, topsiders and a golf shirt. “Where’s Mom and Dad?” he asked his sister.
“At a doctor’s appointment,” Averil said. “They haven’t been home all afternoon. Why?”
He shaded his hazel eyes against the sun and dipped his head when he noticed Jane. His medium-blond hair was starting to recede in front at the temples, but he was still generally handsome, with a decent build and a ready smile—the quintessential real estate agent. “Mom wanted me to get something out of storage for her so Dad wouldn’t have to.”
“Hi, Charlie!” Mitch yelled, excited to see his uncle even though Charlie’s appearance at his parents’ house certainly wasn’t a novelty. It seemed to Jane that she saw Charlie every time she visited.
Charlie mustered a smile for his nephew. “Hey, bud. You having fun?”
“I’m swimming! Watch me!” Mitch said and stuck his face back into the water.
“Looks like you swim at least as well as Jane does,” Charlie teased when he came up for air.
Jane scowled at him. She wasn’t in the mood to joke around. She was too mad at him for what he’d done last night. “I swim better than you do,” she grumbled.
“Mommy, I have to go pee!” Mitch cried, and Averil jumped up, grabbed a towel and scooped him from the water.
As she hurried into the house with her son, Charlie helped himself to the Doritos Averil had carried out earlier, as well as Jane’s iced tea. “How was Glacier?”
“Incredible. If you’ve never been, it’s definitely a bucket list item.”
“When’d you get back?”
“Yesterday.”
“And rushed right over to see Talulah?” She and Charlie hadn’t interacted at Hank’s Bar and Grill last night, but he’d obviously seen her with his ex-fiancée.
“Why wouldn’t I?” she said, challenging his statement.
“Because she’s not a nice person,” he said simply.
“According toyou.”
He popped another chip in his mouth. “I have reason to feel the way I do.”
“Is that why you threw a rock through her window after I dropped her off last night?”
He lowered the bag. “What are you talking about?”
She rolled her eyes. “You know what I’m talking about. I can’t believe you’d do such a thing. That could’ve hurt her much more than it did.”
Tossing the bag of chips back on the table, spilling several in the process, he walked closer to her. “Talulah got hurt last night?”
Jane blinked in surprise. Was he playing her? “Yes! When you threw that rock through the window, she was hit by a piece of glass. She had to get seventeen stitches.”
His eyebrows shot up.“What?”
