Nora piped up, “Put him on speaker!”
I did, and Kane’s voice boomed out: “Evening! Did you guys eat yet?”
“No,” I said, flicking the turn signal as if it mattered on private gravel. “Still driving. Why?”
“Oh, Kori made enough lasagna to feed two small armies, and she wants company. Lana’s here too. You in?”
Nora was already chanting, “Yes! Yes!” in the back seat, so I relented. “Guess we’re in. Give me fifteen minutes. We need to stop off at the house and let Scout out to pee.”
“Bring him with you,” Kane offered. “He can play with Moosey.”
“He would love that, but he’s been feeling under the weather since last night.”
“Okay then, but don’t be too long, and don’t bringany dessert. Kori made a pie. The crust is so hard it could break a window, but I’ll eat it and be happy,” he said, before hanging up.
I rolled my eyes at Nora in the rearview. “At least she didn’t burn it.”
She let out a laugh—a bright, tinkling sound like wind chimes—at our inside joke about Kori’s legendary inability to bake anything without setting off smoke alarms. The sound caught me off guard; I hadn’t heard genuine joy from her since breakfast.
∞∞∞
Inside the main lodge, the noise was already at maximum volume. Kori was in the kitchen, wielding a wooden spoon as a scepter, and Lana was pouring cheap wine into jelly glasses, while Kane sat on the couch with his boots up, arguing with the TV. The warmth was nearly suffocating after the crisp freeze outdoors, and the air smelled of basil, scorched cheese, and family—an acquired taste, but I’d learned to crave it.
What I didn’t expect was to see Caleb—the apple fritter customer from this morning—perched awkwardly on the couch beside Jake. He’d traded his work clothes for a collared shirt that he tugged at like it might strangle him any second.
I froze. My hand was still wrapped around Nora’s coat sleeve, the static from her hair arcing up my wrist.
Kori spotted me and flashed a smile. “Our last guest!” She ran over, hugged me, and then bent down to Nora’s level. “You’re just in time for lasagna and salad. Are you hungry”?
Nora nodded, shrugged off her boots, and then followed Kori into the kitchen. I turned to see Jake staring, before he tried to cover it with a cough and a muttered, “Hi.”
“Hi,” I echoed, feeling awkward as our pharmacy meeting played in my mind. “Didn’t expect to see you here.”
“Neither did I,” he said as I looked at Caleb. “That’s Caleb, my brother.”
“We’ve met.” The look that crossed Jake’s face was one of confusion. “He came into the bakery this morning,” I explained.
Kane called us all to the table, and as we squeezed around it, Lana poured us each a glass of the wine she’d chosen for its “notes of being under ten dollars.” The entire spread was enough to feed a minor-league hockey team.
For a beat, it was normal: Kori cutting huge, steaming slabs of lasagna, Kane heckling the salad’s lack of bacon, Nora narrating her day’s injustices. But as the adult conversation centered, the topicinevitably shifted.
Kane set his fork down. “So, Jake says there’s reason to believe the Moorheads are setting us up. That missing cattle thing isn’t just bad luck.”
“Who are the Moorheads and how do you know?” Nora asked, around a forkful of lasagna.
Jake looked everywhere but at me. “The Moorheads tried to poach our cattle again. Found two breaks in the fence this morning. They left a message, too.”
Kane frowned. “What kind?”
“Threat. Personal. They want me to back off, or they’ll do worse next time.”
Caleb groaned. “Small-town drama. Don’t let them rattle you.”
Lana snorted into her wineglass.
I watched as Caleb cleaned his plate with perfect military precision, then muttered something to Jake, who shook his head. Only now did I notice Caleb’s hand, bandaged in white gauze. There was a blood bloom coming through near the knuckle.
I started to ask about it, but Nora interrupted, tugging my sleeve. “Can I go play with Moosey?” she whispered, meaning Kane’s massive, half-wolf dog.
