“Okay…” She could use a good surprise right about now. Especially if it could keep her distracted from her own thoughts.
“We’ve got a whole week off.” Her son beamed.
“A week off?”
“For good behavior.” Kade nodded. His buddy rolled his eyes.
“Since when does the military give extra time off?”
Her son struggled to offer a casual shrug. Josh had developed a sudden interest in a non-existent piece of lint on his jeans.
“All right.” She crossed her arms. “Spit it out. What’s going on?”
“Well,” Kade ran a hand across the back of his neck, “I may have explained to my CO that there’s a serious threat at the ranch, and that my widowed mother is home alone all day.”
“And that worked?” She let her arms fall to her sides.
His arm still hanging from behind his neck, Kade chuckled. “Yeah, surprised the hell out of me too.”
Just then the back door opened and in walked Clint—the reason she’d barely gotten any sleep at all last night.
“Morning.” He held his hat in his hands. “I, uh, thought I’d check in before heading back out to work. Do, uh, you need anything?”
Her tongue seemed stuck to the roof of her mouth so she settled for a shake of her head. At that moment, Clint’s phone dinged with a text. He glanced down, frowned, and slid it back into his pocket.
“Something wrong?” she asked.
Clint shook his head. “Nothing serious.”
“Is it about, you know, the fire?”
“No.” Clint seemed to relax at her question.
Had he been having as rough a time of it as she was? Somehow she was going to have to find the strength to talk to this man without sounding like a babbling idiot. But now with an audience wasn’t going to be the time.
“I’d better get back to work.” He cast a glance in the boys’ direction. “If you two are looking for something to keep you out of trouble, I never turn down a helping hand.”
The two looked at each other a moment, seemed to have some silent communication, almost like an old married couple—though Alice suspected in many ways military teams were indeed like old married couples when it came to having each other’s backs—and then stood straight. “We’re all yours,” Kade offered.
Clint placed his hat on his head, and dipped his chin at her. “You let me know if the sheriff has anything else to say.”
She figured if communication was going to happen, now would be a good time to put everyone at ease. Sucking in a deep breath, she flashed the brightest smile she could muster. “I will.”
Was it wrong of her to wish the sheriff would call sooner than later so she’d have a chance to hear that deep timbre again?
The back door snapped shut as the three men strode away from the house. Clint’s mind had been reeling from yesterday’s kiss with Alice. If he’d gotten any sleep last night, he hadn’t noticed. But at the moment, whatever he was feeling needed to be pushed aside.
“So what’s really going on?” Kade matched Clint’s quick stride.
Clint glanced over his shoulder, making sure they were out of earshot of the house. “Text was from Carson. His phone’s going crazy with alerts. Security cameras picked up a truck parked by the east pasture line shack and two guys making more noise than a high school brass band.”
“And you didn’t tell Mom because…?” Kade’s voice held more curiosity than accusation.
“Your brother didn’t want her anywhere near this. Said to grab you two if you were available. We all know if she heard, she’d be storming off beside us.”
“Mom is a bit of a pistol,” Kade said. “She’s also tough and smart.”
Didn’t he know that? “So you want her to come?”
