“Shopping for your mother.”
“Ah, sucking up already. Are you thinking of a spring wedding? Or maybe fall.”
I stuck my tongue out at her, taking the paper back. “Actually, Liam asked me to watch your mother make soup.”
Stunned, she trailed behind me as I headed to the vehicle. “He wants you to watch her make soup? Is he afraid she’ll do it wrong?”
I flung the door open and smirked at her. “Actually, he knows I can’t cook. Probably from all his years spying on me.”
“Ah, so he’s training you to become his new mommy.”
“That’s disgusting. If you knew what I was just doing to him?—”
She instantly plugged her ears, squeezing her eyes shut as she hummed to block out my words. “I can’t hear you!”
I got into the car, almost escaping when she decided she was coming along with me. “Don’t you have anything better to do?”
I shifted into reverse as she buckled up. “Not really. I’ve cleaned all the vacated cabins. There’s not much more I can do.”
“What’s it like? You know, going from having the ranch and all the work to renting cabins?”
“Honestly, it’s pretty shitty. I always knew I didn’t want to stay on the ranch forever, but becoming a maid wasn’t exactly high on my list either. Now I don’t know what to do.”
“You never went to college. Maybe you could do that.”
“Yeah,” she snorted. “If only I had an idea of what I wanted to do.”
A large explosion had me slamming on the brakes just as I reached the gate to the property. “Holy shit. What the hell was that?”
Krista waved it off. “Eh, it’s just Austin and Clay. They’re fishing.”
I followed her gaze to the river that cut between the Callahan property and Murky Falls Ranch. Austin and Clay were in a boat, and just as they tossed something in the river, another explosion sounded and water sprayed in the air.
“Are they fishing with dynamite?”
She shrugged. “Some kind of explosives. They’ve been doing it for years. Apparently, they were never very good fishermen.”
“And that doesn’t bother your father?” I asked, pulling out onto the main road. “Won’t they get in trouble with the county for using those in the river?”
“Bailey, this is Montana. We’re in the middle of fucking nowhere on the far western part of the state. No one even comes out here unless it’s to ski or pretend they’re ranchers. Do you think running to Sheriff Wynne will solve all our problems?”
“No, I guess not, but that has to be some kind of fish and wildlife issue.”
“After what happened to Clay, everyone steers clear of the Callahan family. You know that.”
“I know everyone else does. Wyatt’s fine.”
“Wyatt is just as bad as his brothers. He’s just silent and deadly, and he doesn’t get all creepy like his brothers do.”
“I’ve never had a problem with him. And yesterday morning, I was late for work, and when he found out what happened with Liam, he gave me the rest of the week off. Of course, I didn’t know that was his intention then. I thought he was just pissed at me.”
“Well, if he’s nice to you, you’re the only one in town.”
“Maybe that’s because I mind my own business,” I jested.
We turned out of the ranch and took the winding road into town, over the tracks and into the heart of the town. I waved to Bud, who was in his usual spot, pretending to sleep in a chair outside his drugstore.
“Do you ever think about leaving and going somewhere else?”
