“I didn’t go. I’ve turned into a farmer.” He smiled, remembering the way Andy showed him how to plant the lettuce seedlings and the time he’d spent with Mike and the goats, mucking out stalls and feeding the noisy, insistent animals. His statement was closer to the truth than he’d ever imagined it would be.
“No shit. What happened? I thought you and the guy from your unit were going to head to the lake for a few weeks.”
“He wasn’t ready to leave, so I decided to stay.” He didn’t need to explain why Jake wasn’t ready to go. Emerson knew his background and despite the fact that he hadn’t served in the military himself, he had a better idea than most people of what it was like. Some of the jobs they’d done in the past had pushed the boundaries way past safe and squarely into the gray area. Operating in the shadows just outside the law was one of the things the security company could do particularly well. They got paid to do things the cops couldn’t—not exactly illegal things, but not safe things either. And Emerson was responsible for all of it.
“Is he going to be okay?”
Liam thought for a moment about his first glimpse of his friend when he climbed out of the tractor and the way he’d looked that morning at breakfast. It was a two steps forward, one step back kind of thing but at least there was forward movement.
“I think so. The farm seems to be good for him.” He paused for a minute, considering the truth of his words. Whatever else might be going on with Andy, she’d built a safe place for the vets to start to heal the wounds it was harder to see. “Jane said you wanted to talk to me?”
“I did. It might be nothing, but word on the street is that Giacometti is moving men around.”
“Makes sense. He’d need to consolidate power before the trial.”
Liam didn’t have any illusions about the trial ending Giacometti’s operation. The best they could hope for was to knock it back a couple of steps, make it less profitable for them to do business. It was a never-ending battle. He didn’t know how the law enforcement guys handled it.
“It sounds like he’s reorganizing. Rumor has it Gustaf is back in the country. I don’t have independent confirmation but I thought you’d want to know.”
Liam and the crazy Serb had a history that went back to one of the first jobs he’d done for Southerland Security. He’d been one of the major reasons the drug deal Gustaf had been overseeing went south. There’d been speculation the fuck-up was the reason for Gutafs’s relocation to the manufacturing operation in Mexico, but for all Liam knew that could be nothing more than bullshit talk. Either way, it was interesting to know the asshole was local again, although Liam doubted the other man remembered him. They’d spent all of four minutes in each other’s company. Of course, most of that had been looking down the barrel of a .45, which kind of made an impression.
“Any indication he’s looking to eliminate witnesses?” He wouldn’t take a chance bringing that kind of danger to Andy’s doorstep.
“No, nothing I’ve seen. I’ll let you know the second I hear something. If I hear something. My sense is that he’ll work on closing possible leaks in his operation rather than taking a chance going after targets outside.”
“Good to know.” He waited for a moment, trying to figure out how to phrase his request. Emerson wouldn’t give him the shit Gabe would, but the other man was so perceptive he was practically psychic. In the end, he opted for direct. It’s not like it mattered to Emerson either way. “Hey, I was wondering if you could get your brother to look into Andy Stuart for me. She owns the farm Jake’s at and I’m having a hard time finding any information on her through the normal channels.”
“You think there’s something going on?”
“No, nothing like that,” said Liam, feeling the quicksand closing around him. He’d been crazy to bring it up in the first place. There were other ways to find out about Andy’s past and her gratitude phobia. Ways less fraught with peril.Like asking her.Okay, so maybe not less fraught, but definitely less crazy stalkerish. “Forget I asked. It’s nothing. I checked out the place before I came but I assumed the owner was a guy.”
“And she’s not,” said Emerson, not bothering to hide the interest in his voice.
“Nope, not a guy. Hey, thanks for letting me know about Gustaf. Bump me if anything else comes up, or when you think it’s okay for me to come back in.” He didn’t want to leave the farm. What he wanted to do was leave the conversation before things headed any further south.
“Sure thing,” said Emerson.
Liam didn’t give him a chance to ask any more questions. He said his good-byes and got off the phone, feeling like an ass for fumbling the Andy thing with his boss. Smacking the center of his forehead with his palm, he closed his laptop and then the door to the cottage before heading to the house and what he hoped was more of Millie’s baked goods.
––––––––
TWO SLICES OF homemade cherry pie later and Liam had stumbled on a genius of an idea. Aside from getting him out of her hair, he had no idea what Andy had been thinking when she sent him to help Millie. The older woman wouldn’t let him do anything but eat. Not that he minded. She made truly spectacular pie. And cake and cookies and bread. But if he didn’t find something to do quick, he was going to have to roll himself back to the cottage for a nap. Thankfully, he’d realized halfway into the second piece that there was another person who might know about Andy and her past. Someone less inclined to whack him with something heavy.
“This is delicious, Millie love,” he said, carrying his plate to the sink. He went all out and pressed a smacking kiss to her soft cheek. “If I eat any more, I’m going to have to buy bigger pants.”
“There are worse things,” she said, giving him a wink that made him question her intentions. For just a moment, he saw the twenty-year-old she’d been reflected in her brown eyes faded slightly from all the years in between.
“Hey, I was wondering,” he said, refilling his coffee mug. “What’s Andy’s story?”Might as well dive right in.He had a feeling direct would work better with Millie than dancing around the subject. “I offered to pay her for my lodging while I was here and she went a little nuts.” Nuts might be an overstatement but her reaction definitely wasn’t normal. “It has to be hard keeping everything going on what the farm brings in.”
Millie let out a snort. “My husband used to say farming was hungry work. You do it because you have to or because you love it or some combination of both. But no one does it for the money.”
“Sourwood makes a difference for the people who stay here. I want to help, not be another burden.” He waited a moment, judging his next words carefully. He needed Millie to know his intentions at least were honorable, even if he wasn’t. “I want to help Andy. Maybe get to know her better. Keeping all this going can’t be easy for her.”
“It’s not, but I don’t think easy is what she’s looking for.”
“Why not?”
The older woman’s face softened, the lines around her eyes easing a bit. For a moment, he thought she might take pity on him and tell him what he wanted to know.
“That’s not my story to tell. You’re going to have to ask her.” She covered the leftover pie and put it in the refrigerator. When she turned back around, she pinned him with a gaze that held the weight of every one of her seventy-some years. “There’s something you need to remember. Everybody on this farm has done things they aren’t proud of.” Her expression made it clear she included him in that number. “What matters more than what you’ve done is what you did after to make it right. Andy has done more than enough, but I don’t think she knows it. Or she won’t let herself believe it. Either way, it’s her story to tell if she wants you to know.”
Liam sucked in a breath, not sure what to say and even more confused about what Millie meant. He had a hard time imagining what Andy could have possibly done that was anywhere close to the stadium-sized crowd of skeletons he had in his own closet. Giving Millie a nod and a smile, he headed for the door. Seeing as how he was doing so great at getting people to avoid talking to him, he might as well go for broke and see what Jake was up to.
