It was difficult to meet their eyes. Probably the most difficult thing he'd done since being jailed. The breeze carried a slight whiff of leather and horses, punching him withmemories.
The brothers were unsmiling, their eyes hidden in the shadows thrown by their Stetsons. Again, Dan wished for his hat. What had happened to all his things? He'd left a room full of clothes and a computer behind when he'd been incarcerated. The Hales had probably trashed itall.
"Go ahead," he said when the silence becameunbearable.
Gideon raised oneeyebrow.
"You're here to collect, right? I don't have your ten K, so you'll have to take it out of myhide."
Matt's narrowed eyes slid to Gideon. "Guess he figured usright."
Gideon didn't crack a smile. "Guess hedid."
"Well? Get it over with." He closed his eyes, bracing for the inevitable punch. Maybe they'd go for the midsection, not theface.
Nothinghappened.
He cracked one eye open to see them staring athim.
"We aren't here for revenge," Gideon said.Dummy.The name he hadn't called Dan reverberated in the air,unspoken.
Dan stood straight. What were they here for,then?
He was too proud toask.
"Come back to work at the Triple H," Matt said. He almost sounded...exasperated?
Dan knew his mouth must be hanging open. Catching flies, his grandpops would'vesaid.
Surely he'd heardwrong.
But then Gideon shifted slightly. "We're offering you your jobback."
Okay, so he hadn'tmisheard.
"Why?"
He couldn't imagine any scenario in which they'd want him back. Was this to punish him? Get him out to the Triple H and then tell him it'd all been ajoke?
Or was there some otherreason?
Neither one answered hisquestion.
"You got a better offer?" Gideonasked.
He didn't. And all three of them knewit.
If he stuck it out, did he have a chance at paying back his enormousdebt?
A throat cleared from nearby, and Dan turned to see his parole officer. Was the tiny kernel of hope he'd just experienced about to be quashed? Had Gideon and Matt even cleared it with theofficer?
Apparently theyhad.
"The choice is yours," the officer said. "You should consider that returning to a place that contributed to your state of mind before is likely to be more difficult than starting fresh somewhereelse."
In other words, the guilt could eat himalive.
But would there really be a fresh start if he walked away from the Triple H? At least on the ranch, he knew the score. The guys would watch his every move. The foreman, Nate, his former best friend, would never forgive him. He'd barely make more than minimum wage, plus room and board. He'd never make it out of the hole he'd dughimself.
But going back was the right thing to do. Even if it meant he'd never make it out of TaylorHills.
And he was done courting Lady Luck. It was time to buckle down and doright.
For once in his sorrylife.
