Our adventure was a much-needed refresher to get us through the grueling next few weeks. Summer was the big concert time for outdoor venues, and we liked to maximize our dates during the season so we could have more time off at the end of the year.
We’d just finished up a bunch of dates around Colorado and were headed for my home state of Montana. We didn’t have a show tonight, and I’d been on the phone with my mother every night, trying to hatch something. I wanted her to finally meet Teagan. And while a surprise would have been fun, I knew my mother.
Surprises were the kind of thing that put me in the doghouse for years. Instead, I planted the idea that maybe we’d stop in before the show. She and Jenny had been planning for our arrival for the last week. We had an extra day because of all the trucks it took to get our equipment to the venues. And the Kettlehouse Amphitheater was a little harder to get to. The Blackfoot River roared behind it, and in the old days, it had been my favorite place to see shows. We’d played there a few times, thanks to me being in the band, and we usually had a damn good turnout.
Handily, my mom’s place was less than an hour away.
I checked my phone. Last night had been a late one, but I couldn’t settle. Even losing myself in Teagan in the middle of the night hadn’t helped for more than a handful of hours. I knew it was stupid to be nervous, but I really wanted my mom and Teagan to get along.
Melissa Dallas got along with everyone, but she was a force. She’d had to raise two kids alone when my old man died. I’d been fifteen and angry with it, while my sister had been a precocious preteen. Neither of us had made it easy on her. Add in running a ranch and it had been a lot.
She’d downsized the ranch in the last two years, focusing on just one animal. She and my sister were fiber freaks, and my mom’s alpacas had become the main source of income. When I saw how much she enjoyed them and harvesting the wool, I had dumped a bunch of money in her account and told her to finally do what she loved. I had more money than I could spend in one lifetime and letting her have her dream had eased some of the guilt I had for putting her through my stint in the Rangers.
They had a small seasonal shop space they shared with other crafters for the holidays in a nearby town, but they did most of their business online. But she didn’t want to get rid of the ranch land, which left a lot of open space for the little beasts. They looked cute as hell in pictures, but they could be mean.
I just hoped that surprising Teagan wasn’t like when I did it with my mother.
I rolled onto my side. She was curled toward the wall and had stolen all the covers as usual. The bit of strappy silk she wore to bed gave me a few ideas about how to spend the early hours, but I’d already taken enough of her sleep.
I kissed her shoulder and slid out of bed. I tugged on a pair of workout shorts and went downstairs to find something to eat. And maybe, if I was lucky, a moment alone with our head of security. Convincing him that my idea had merit would take some finagling.
The hallway was in its narrow form since we were on the move. As I figured, Noah was the only one stirring. He was reading some sort of report or document on his clipboard—the iPad wasn’t his deal like Lila’s—and the scent of strong black coffee perked up my sluggish brain.
“Got some extra of that?”
Noah looked up from his paperwork. “I made a pot. Help yourself.”
“Old school all the way.” I gave him a wry smile and pulled a mug down from the cabinets. They were all on hooks in deference to our constant state of motion. I poured myself a full mug. There was no way I was going back to sleep today. My brain was too wired.
“I’m assuming you need something.”
“Normally, I’d take offense to your living, breathing dickishness, but I need a favor.”
“Shocker.”
“Look, man. I used my big head this time when I made my plans.”
“So, this is a foregone conclusion.” He peered up from his pages for a second before resuming his scan of whatever data he’d collected. Probably was a list of our steps from our iPhones so he knew who walked to what end of the bus.
“No. I’m here to talk to you about a slight variance in our itinerary.”
“At least you didn’t ask for forgiveness after the fact for a change.”
I took his clipboard and tossed it on the counter. “I get it, we’re never going to be pals, but if you could remove the truck parked up your ass so we could have a conversation, that would be great.”
Noah leaned his hip on the edge of the kitchen sink. “We were pals once upon a time.”
“No, we weren’t. I was in your unit. You weren’t friends with any of us. If there was a lone wolf in the Army Ranger handbook, it would have your picture taking up a full page.”
Noah’s eyes narrowed, but he didn’t correct me.
“And we understood. You took part in covert missions we weren’t privy to. However, you were the one who kept everyone at arm’s length, not me—and definitely not the guys.”
His jaw worked a little, but again, he didn’t speak.
I didn’t have time to deconstruct the psyche of a black ops soldier today. There was a reason I’d
