Maybe those echoes from the past were why seeing Molly wrapped around that mutt had shocked a memory loose.
From when he'd been fifteen. West would've been all of thirteen, sleeping with a baby calf in a pile of hay in the barn. Grandma Mackie had been worried about him, looking for him when he'd been missing from his bed.
And then she'd smacked West across the face when he'd dared to tell her he was staying in the barn with the newborn calf that had lost its mama.
Cord rubbed a hand down his face.
He wasn't Grandma Mackie. And he wasn't his dad either.
But that still didn't mean Molly could sleep in the drafty mudroom on the floor.
The phone rangas Molly was scrubbing the last dish from lunch. The farmhouse didn't have a dishwasher, and her hands were pruny from the hot water.
Cord hadn't come in for the noon meal. Wasn't he hungry? And cold? The barn wasn't heated. But he was working hard, like her, to outrun his demons. His seemed to live in this house.
The ringing phone offered a distraction.
And raised her heart rate.
The last time she'd answered her cell phone, it had been Toby's voice coming through the line, delivering a sinister threat.
But Toby didn't have this number.
Still, her hand shook as she picked up the corded receiver from its wall dock. Who even still had a landline? "Hello?"
There was a pause, one long enough that her heart flew into her throat.
"Who's this?" came a male voice, one she didn't recognize.
Not Toby.
Her muscles went weak and she sagged against the wall, still holding the receiver to her ear. "Molly."
"I've been dialing this number for years and never heard of a Molly. Pretty sure I didn't mis-dial. Where's Cord?"
The connection was awful. Tinny and full of static, as if the caller were far away.
"Is this West?" she asked.
There was another pause. "Now you've got me at a disadvantage. I don't suppose my brother brought home a girlfriend?"
He actually sounded hopeful.
"Sorry to disappoint. I'm working here temporarily."
"Well, shoot. I thought maybe he'd done something good for himself for once."
It didn't sound as if he was smiling as he said the words. What had happened between the brothers to cause the tension she'd seen in Cord?
She shook away the curious thoughts. "I'm—I'm sorry about your grandma."
There was a pause. "Thanks. Is Cord around?"
"He's been down at the barn all morning." She stretched the phone cord to glance out the window. No sign of his truck. "I can give him a message. Should he try to call you back?" Was that even allowed?
"He won't." The teasing had completely disappeared from West's voice. "Thanks anyway."
"Wait." She was afraid he would hang up. "Should I tell Cord... how are you doing? Do you need anything? Can we take care of anything for you over here?" She'd never had a close friend in the military. Didn't know if there might be loose ends in the States that needed managing. It seemed like the right thing to ask. Someone needed to care for him, right?
