“Hey.” I shoved the phone back in my pocket. “Listen, the cat is back.”
Her eyebrows rose.
“You have a cat?”
“Not one I'd recommend you petting, and if you can hear it purr, you're probably already dead meat. Literally.”
I gestured to the prints with a toe, careful not to disturb them. Her eyes widened as she appeared to comprehend what it meant. Then I snapped a picture and sent it to Justin with a thumbs-down emoji.
Mark: Get back here before I have to buy myself a dog. Or at least send Atticus.
Stella grimaced, then shivered as she stared into the trees across the parking lot. “So that means a run by myself is not an option.”
“I just wouldn't recommend going alone while it's wandering so close. Once Atticus is back, you can run with him. He'll keep you safe.”
She shifted, warily eyeing the prints. I motioned inside.
“Let me change and we can go together.”
Stella was quiet for most of the run until we slowed to a walk not far from the parking lot on our way back. My concern over the cougar washed away with the exertion. If I didn't hear back from JJ, I might borrow Thor, a Rhodesian Ridgeback, from Ellie, Maverick's other daughter. That dog would scare off an African lion.
“Who is that?” Stella asked.
She froze. Her panting slowed to hard breaths. She had her hands on her hips as she inclined her head toward Adventura, where two people climbed out of a small, eco-friendly car. A cluster of trees mostly obscured the view of us from where we stood on the road. Such a hippie car meant only one person.
I forced a smile, but couldn't help a sudden tension all the same.
“My brother.”
Stella started to walk again but eyed me as if I had a weird look on my face. I tried to act like nothing unusual had happened. JJ and Lizbeth hadn't come around much since their wedding, which was probably for the best. I loved them both for different reasons.
And that was a bad thing because some love was strictly forbidden: like my twin brother's wife.
“Oh,” Stella said.
Lizbeth and her bright red hair appeared out of the passenger seat. JJ glanced over his shoulder as we turned into the parking lot, then waved. A bright smile from Lizbeth and a little squeak of surprise followed. She jumped a little, waving.
“Mark!”
I pasted a smile on my face and hoped they wouldn't be able to tell it was a tiny bit unpleasant. Seconds later, Lizbeth had run up to my side and wrapped her arms around me, sweaty clothes notwithstanding. My heart beat a little too hard, and I prayed she wouldn't notice. Instead, she stepped back, a woman full of sunshine, sparkles, and moonbeams. She turned to Stella with a bright smile, her hand stuck out.
“Hi! I'm Lizbeth.”
“Stella.”
“Good to meet you. Jim said he liked you, which is high praise.”
Stella blinked as if she couldn't comprehend Lizbeth's words. I didn't blame her. Dad didn't say much, but after working as the county sheriff for decades, he read people unusually well. It was the real reason I'd taken Stella by. I'd wanted him to meet her, even briefly, just to get his thoughts. He'd texted me later and said, She seemed nice.
Which really was high praise from Dad.
“Oh.” Stella managed a similar smile. “Thanks . . . I think.”
Lizbeth beamed further. She loved making friends. JJ jogged over. If the smile plastered across his face meant anything, married life had been good to him so far. We collided in a hard man-hug, and it felt really good to see him again.
“Mark,” he drawled as he stepped back.
“My favorite hippie JJ.”
He socked me in the arm and I instantly felt better. I put a hand on Stella's shoulder to introduce her, then almost regretted it. We'd had a strict, silent, no-touch policy since she'd arrived. Aside from me grabbing her hand yesterday to help her off the four-wheeler, we hadn't touched skin again, and that had felt like an afterthought. This was on purpose. And she didn't flinch away, which felt like progress, so I left it there.
“JJ, this is my friend, Stella. Stell, this is my hooligan brother that I've probably talked too much about.”
JJ smiled warmly, extending a hand. I expected a little bit of a glazed-eyed stare from her. Quick, startled blinks. Something. Girls always had reactions like that to JJ, with his high cheekbones and long hair pulled away from his face. He was a handsome god amongst men, particularly on the rocks.
Stella just smiled with the same casual warmth and took his hand.
An unexpected sense of relief followed. With Stella here, everything would be different. For maybe the first time since Lizbeth wandered—or, more aptly, crashed—into JJ's life, I wouldn't be the third wheel. The one that ignored their making out or giggles or snuggle sessions while I desperately tried to bury myself in the business.
The one that also hid how he really felt because reality was disastrous.
Even if Stella was only a friend, that went a long way. Separating from JJ had been harder than I'd expected. Like peeling apart the sticky parts of two pieces of smashed duct tape. Something was going to get shredded. With over thirty years of our life side-by-side, there was a chasm without him. One that no amount of mountain man life could ever fill.
And maybe there'd even been an empty spot with him around.
Lizbeth hooked a loyal arm around JJ's waist and leaned into him. He took her weight and rested an arm across her shoulders with a smile. His fingers toyed with her hair that fell like glimmering strands of fire.
Lizbeth's gaze focused on me, then her jaw dropped.
“Mark,” she cried, “did you trim your beard?”
I tugged at it a little. “Yeah. Needed it.”
Her eyebrows rose. “Looks nice. And a haircut?”
“I'm not a caveman.”
“I thought you were going full
