“Can we getanyboot, boss?” asked Toby, coming up to him with very wide eyes.
“Any boot, any hat,” said Galen with a firm nod. “There are some higher end prices, and those boots are included, so be reasonable. And,” he added as a caution, “you’re going to be using those boots for riding lessons, and maybe even dances, if we can arrange any.”
As Maddy pointed Toby and Owen in the right direction, over at the end of the shelf of men’s cowboy boots, Bede had picked up a pair of oxblood-colored boots, tooled by hand. The leather looked soft, so buttery that Galen knew why Bede was practically stroking the toe of the boot in his hands.
It was an expensive pair, Galen could see even at a distance, more expensive than even Toby might pick out.
Galen knew he should say something likeGet something cheaper, but when he got closer to say that very thing, he saw that Bede’s fingers were hard around the boot-heel, his jaw tight, as though he was holding back a great big yelp of pain.
“Everything okay?”
Bede’s eyes flashed open like he’d just come up from a great depth beneath the water and very much needed air.
Galen had no idea what was going on and didn’t quite know what to say, when Bede took a sharp breath and said, maybe to Galen, or maybe to no one at all, “These are gorgeous.”
“Those are Tecovas,” said Maddy, coming up to Bede, completely fearless, like she simply did not care that Bede was a hard-core drug dealer who’d done a lot of time behind bars. “One of our best wranglers on the ranch favors those. You’re a twelve, right? Maybe twelve and a half with thick socks?”
Goggling after her as she went to get help reaching a pair in the right size down from the high shelf, Galen knew that Tecovas pretty much started at five hundred dollars a pair. His own pair of Ariats cost less than two hundred and fifty and he’d paid for them out of his own hard-earned money.
Before today, he might have made a comment about ex-cons getting handouts. Now, as he watched Bede put the blood-red boot down and reach for a plain, dusty brown boot with a flat heel and a square toe, a basic boot, nothing to write home about, he wanted to figure out the right thing to say to get Bede to take home the Tecovas.
“I’ll just get these,” said Bede as he tapped the sensible display boot.
“Here we are,” said Maddy breezily. She handed Bede a fancy box that looked just about as expensive as the boots. “Sit over there and try them on, will you? I’m going to help Toby narrow down his selections.”
Galen turned to look and saw that Toby had a dozen boots lined up in front of him as he sat on the small stool in front of the shelf of boots. Owen was laughing at him, and the two looked like they were having a good time.
They weren’t bothering anyone and, to anyone else, they probably looked like they were normal citizens. And maybe, in that moment, they felt more normal than they had in ages.
Galen turned his attention back to Bede, who seemed frozen with indecision.
“Go ahead,” said Galen when it looked like Bede wasn’t going to move a muscle without instruction. “Get the ones you want.”
Far be it from Galen to come between a man and a new pair of boots that were practically making Bede drool. Besides, it wasn’t Galen paying the tab, and Maddyhadbrought the pair over to Bede like it was okay that he was going to select a pair of boots that cost a bazillionty dollars.
The second after Galen saidGo ahead,Bede’s dark eyes flashed something at Galen, a signal, giving him a peek behind the mask that Bede always wore. Was it gratitude? Or was it something more? And would finding out break some unwritten rule about no fraternization?
Bede bent to unlace his work boots and slid his feet into the Tecovas. They went on easily, like he’d owned the boots for years. Like they were already a part of him, which was the sign of a very well-made boot.
Bede stood up and looked at the boots in the foot mirror and himself in the wall mirror. Galen looked, too.
In the slightly dusty blue jeans he wore, Bede’s legs became a mile long. His whole body pulled into alignment, shoulders going back, chin going up. He was more imposing now with his arched neck, pride tightening his jaw, the flash of dark tattoo above his shirt collar.
But before Galen could focus on what this revealed about Bede, Bede sat down and began tugging off the boots, laying first one foot across one knee, and then turning the other way.
“I don’t need those boots,” Bede said.
“Well, you actually do,” said Galen, suddenly finding himself in the odd position of convincing Bede to keep a pair of rather expensive boots, rather than encouraging him to take the plain brown pair. Why did he care so much?
“Why?” Looking at Galen with dark eyes, Bede placed his palms on his knees and seemed to be holding himself upright.
“Everyone who comes through the Fresh Start program gets a pair,” said Galen. “You need them for riding lessons and for when we go to the tavern in town. After you leave the valley, they’ll be a token of your accomplishments. Something to brag about to your fellow drug dealers.”
That last part slipped out. He shouldn’t have said it, as it was rude and certainly not behavior befitting a team lead.
Bede looked up at him, brows lowered, like he was going to stand up and punch Galen right in the face. Then he just snorted and shook his head.
“I don’t even know if I could go back to that kind of life,” he said. “Don’t think I want to, actually.”
