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“Great idea.” He would do his part. He would agree with her. He would support her cause. Outwardly, he would do everything he could to play the role she wanted him to play.Friend. Even if he spent every minute in her presence internally tortured by desires he didn’t want. “We could call a meeting at the café,” he suggested, trying to distract himself from how her lips had pursed the way they did when she was deep in thought. He shouldn’t want to kiss those lips. “Louie and Minnie would be happy to help.” The owners of the finest eatery in Star Valley would be all over a cause like this.
“Yes! Good thinking.” She pulled the truck out of the parking spot and flipped a U-turn. “We’ll talk with everyone in town about the wild horses, about how important it is to protect them, and then we’ll try to gauge who in the crowd is opposed to having them around.”
“Exactly.” They could bait the people who had a vendetta against the wild herd into showing themselves. “And at the very least, we can inform everyone about what happened to Legacy and maybe even start our own patrols.” Hell, he wouldn’t mind riding up to the high meadow a few times a week to watch out for the horses. Aiden and Thatch would be on board too. “The police and the Bureau might not have the time to keep an eye on things but that doesn’t mean we can’t.”
“I love that idea.” Tess’s dark eyes were alight with the possibilities. “The more people we can get involved, the better.”
He couldn’t agree more.
She paused at the stop sign a few blocks from the elementary school. “If you don’t mind, I want to keep this quiet in front of the girls. I mean, I don’t want them to know Legacy got shot. It would scare them.”
Because of their dad. Because they knew Jace had been shot. The realization delivered a blow to his chest. To his heart. “No. I would never say anything.” And that was why he had to be a part of this fight. He had to protect all of them—Tess and Morgan and Willow. As long as there were unknown assailants wielding guns around here, he wouldn’t let them go near that high meadow alone.
“They’ll obviously find out Legacy is injured.” Tess’s mouth pulled into a grim line. “But I don’t want them to know there were people with guns up there. We can tell them she got hurt running away from someone who was trying to catch her.”
He nodded, physically unable to say a damn word. As much as they’d all recovered, as tough and resilient as they’d all been, the trauma of their loss would always be hidden beneath the surface. For all of them. Him included.
Tess turned the truck into the elementary school pickup lane and wound around to the front of the school. The girls marched out, Willow skipping and Morgan trudging along behind her. The younger girl made it to the truck first and climbed into the back seat of the extended cab. “Hi, Mommy! And Silas. What’re you doing here?”
“I was helping your mom with something,” he said as Morgan climbed in through the other door. Keeping his tone light and “normal” proved to be a challenge. “How was your day?”
“My day was great! I drew a picture of a butterfly in art class.” Willow proudly held up a colorful rendition of a butterfly sitting on a flower.
“Wow.” Silas turned around fully and inspected the artwork. “I didn’t know you were a professional artist.”
The girl shot him a toothy grin.
“Well, I had a terrible day,” Morgan announced, heaving a dramatic sigh as she slammed her backpack to the floor.
Uh-oh.That didn’t sound good. He’d spent a lot of time with Morgan and Willow over the last three years but his specialty was spinning them around or playing tag or admiring their drawings or making them laugh with goofy faces. He wasn’t exactly skilled at talking them through drama. So, he did an about-face and let Tess take that one.
“What happened?” The woman slipped the gear into park and looked at her daughter over the seat, giving Morgan her full attention.
“Callie Kline is what happened,” Morgan mumbled. “I wanted to play four square with the other girls at recess and she wouldn’t let me. She said I sucked at four square. Right in front of everyone!”
Sounded to Silas like Callie Kline sucked at four square and was trying to make herself feel better. But he’d best let Tess handle this.
“Did you tell the teacher?” she calmly asked.
“No.” The girl crossed her arms over her chest stubbornly. “I spit on her shoes.”
“What?” Tess raised her voice. “Morgan Joy Valdez, what on earth were you thinking? You actuallyspiton her shoes?”
“She was being mean to me!” The words dissolved into tears. “She humiliated me in front of everyone! They were all laughing at me.”
Silas didn’t blame the girl for spitting on the bully’s shoes, but he kept his mouth shut.
“And that gives you the right toretaliate? Tospiton her shoes?” Tess covered her face with her hands. “Oh my God. I have to go in and talk to the principal. Right now.”
“She deserved it!” Morgan wailed. “It’s not my fault! I shouldn’t be the one to get in trouble for the bad thing she did.”
From his side mirror, Silas watched Willow stick her fingers in her ears like she couldn’t stand the sound of her sister crying.
He would’ve liked to have joined her.
Tess sighed, her eyes suddenly appearing weary. “Do you mind sitting with them while I go in there?”
“Oh. Uh. Okay.” Silas peeked over his shoulder. Morgan was all-out sobbing now. What the hell was he supposed to do? This went way above his pay grade.
