“Something smells good.”
“Are you hungry? I baked. Huckleberry muffins and a Huckleberry pie.”
“I thought you said someone else bakes for your shop.”
“Norma does. This isn’t for the shop. This was busy work to keep my mind from running wild. After we saw the wild huckleberries growing on the ranch last week, I went to the grocery store and got a few packages of frozen huckleberries. I can’t wait until I can get some fresh fruit at the end of the summer. The pie still has some time to set, but the muffins are cooling.”
“How can I pass up warm huckleberry muffins?”
She smiled and then raced into the kitchen.
This was bad. He shouldn’t be here. She’d been crying when she’d called him so he’d rushed right over when he managed to get her calmed down enough to get her address.
But Tara was fine. She was just scared. And he was scared for her. He needed to leave before he began to long for the feel of having her in his arms again like this afternoon.
He hadn’t wanted to let her go. The way she’d clung to him as she trembled was all he could think about.
As she breezed out of the kitchen with a muffin placed on a paper towel, she seemed calmer than she had been when she’d opened the door.
“I am out of napkins. Can you believe it? I have a bakery and I have no napkins.”
“It’s a crime,” he teased, taking the muffin she handed him.
She laughed softly and then sat down on the opposite end of the sofa.
“How does your back feel?” she asked, giving him a guilty expression as if she’d had something to do with it.
“Hurts a little. The jaw feels a little more tender.”
She gave him a sympathetic look. “He was so crazy.”
“He was high as the Montana sky. Strong, too.”
“Have you ever had anyone come at you like that before?” she asked, glancing at him with an expression that told him she was almost afraid to know.
“Just once.”
“Was it in prison?”
They were in dangerous territory. He shook his head.
“It was almost as if Ox had superhuman strength,” she said. “It was unbelievable. I was so afraid for you.”
“Oh, he was human all right. And he was feeling no pain. That’s what drugs will do to you. I’m sure they’ll figure out what kind of cocktail he was on.”
“I didn’t recognize him at first,” she said quietly. “He’s…changed a lot over the years. My brother knew him.”
It was if it pained her to admit it. He understood.
“I know.”
Tara’s eyes widened. “You knew him?”
“Hunter saw him walking towards the back of your shop. Hunter…has a history.”
“I know. I was there in court. I heard his testimony.”
“So you understand why Hunter was so nervous about seeing him.”
She nodded. “What about you?”
“I didn’t know him except that I had seen him on the reservation. You’re right though. All these years of doing drugs have made him unrecognizable. I would’ve been surprised if you had recognized him right away. The drugs have done a lot of damage to him. Quite frankly, I’m surprised he’s still alive.”
She looked down, placed her hands in her lap, and started fiddling with her fingers. “I know my brother wasn’t perfect. I know he had a drug problem.”
Brody held the uneaten muffin in his hand. Somehow taking a bite, no matter how good it smelled, seemed less important than listening to Tara. So he awkwardly held the muffin and just kept his gaze on her.
“I blamed you for long time, Brody,” she said.
“You were right to. I was part to blame. I was the one who was in the fight that caused his death.”
“I saw what happened in the shop. I wasn’t there when Doug died, but I did see how easy it would be to kill someone when drugs are involved. I was afraid he was going to kill you. And then I was afraid…”
“What?”
“That you’d kill him.”
“I didn’t want to. I just wanted him to get away from you. I didn’t want him to hurt you.”
She lifted her gaze to him and he saw the unshed tears in her eyes. “Like you were trying to protect your sister.”
A lump rose up in his throat, nearly choking him. “I didn’t do such a hot job. I ended up in jail, and from what I understand, she’s still using.”
“She’s alive. There’s still hope.”
“I suppose. She has moments when she calls and she seems fine. Then I don’t hear from her for months. And then she calls in the middle of the night and she’s angry and looking for money. On those days, she’s just a shell of the person I knew as my sister. She’s an addict. It’s hard for me to say that, but it’s true. And I can’t save her. I tried. But I learned that the hard way that I can’t.”
“I’ve been thinking about all that testimony I heard in court after my brother died. I was so angry. I wanted to blame somebody. But it was self-defense, wasn’t it?”
He hesitated, but then he nodded. This conversation was a long time coming and one he thought he’d never have with Tara Mitchell.
“Doug made his choices. My sister did too. Only time will tell if one of those phone calls I get will be from someone who tells me she’s dead.”
Tara shook her head. “This all seems a bit surreal to me. I wasn’t there when you fought with my brother. The coroner said it was a freak accident. He hit his head when he fell, but it was during the fight.”
“That’s what made it manslaughter.”
“But if he hadn’t been high, if he hadn’t been like Ox was today…”
“We’d be having a different conversation I think.”
She nodded. “Life is strange. Just when you think you have things figured out, you get thrown off the bull into a pile of dung.”
Brody chuckled. “Did you hear that somewhere?”
“My mother used to say it. Sometimes I wonder if she
