What Morgan needed was for Young Tommy to leave, and for Jack to get out of his frozen clothes and into something warm and dry.
“He’ll be fine.” Young Tommy put on his hat and adjusted it as though he’d just received his marching orders. “Leastways he wasn’t out there long enough to freeze, but I tell you what, when Mabel called me, she was having a fit about you letting him walk over to her in this cold. That coat’s a good one and all, but, hell, nobody’s out in such weather unless they have to be.”
There was a tone in Young Tommy’s voice. Had Deputy Hartland been there, the tone, as well as the disapproving looks, would have been doubled. Giving Morgan the very real impression that Young Tommy, and Mabel, and probably everyone else in town was looking out for Jack better than he was. Those demerits were racking up against him.
Morgan opened his mouth to make it very clear that he hadn’tletJack do anything. That he’d said they’d go over to Mabel’s in the truck. That he’d not asked or encouraged Jack to walk there in subzero temperatures. Jack had made his own choice to freeze his ass off. All this brouhaha was Jack’s fault.
He snapped his mouth shut. Throwing Jack under the bus like that would take more asshole than he had inside of him to give.
“I should have planned better,” he said after a moment. “I shouldn’t have brought it up to Jack like I did, but I didn’t want to miss out on Mabel’s fine cooking, especially not her peach cobbler.”
Jack blinked at him.
With a nod, Young Tommy stomped out to the SUV, whose engine was still running, steam puffing up from the exhaust, heater presumably going full bore. He drove slowly away, sending up twin sprays of snow from his back tires.
“I’m sorry,” Morgan said. “I’d have taken you over there if I’d known how much you wanted that.” He nodded at the pan in Jack’s hands.
“I went to get it for you,” Jack said simply. “We could have it with ice cream.”
The thoughtfulness behind this, plus the—Morgan glanced at the sturdy thermometer just outside the front doors—yes, subzero temperatures that Jack had braved on his behalf, overwhelmed him. Jack was kind, unlike a lot of people in Morgan’s life, Bradley included.
“Thank you,” he said, meaning it in a way that felt genuine for the first time in a long while. “That’d be great. But first, let’s get you warm.”
CHAPTER 22
jack
It would have been the best surprise. That was why he’d decided on walking instead of starting the truck and alerting Morgan as to what he was up to. Wearing Morgan’s coat, he had thought he’d be warm enough to walk the seven blocks to pick up a delicious peach cobbler.
No and no. The snow had come up to his ankles, and the cold had wrapped itself around his neck, bare inside the oversized coat, like an icy noose. His nose just about froze off.
His hands had fared the worst as he’d marched along, especially when he’d stepped out of Mabel’s cozy home carrying the metal pan.
On a moving train, when it got cold or rained hard, he’d had Blue and Star to snuggle up to. Who knew Montana would be so freaking cold?
Only halfway home, he’d been thinking he might not make it and maybe he should turn around to go back to Mabel’s, when Young Tommy had pulled up in his SUV.
Now, back at the feed and grain, Morgan was glowering at him, as though he couldn’t figure out why Jack was so foolish. Or maybe he was thinking something else. At least he wasn’t scolding Jack.
“Thank you,” he said. “That’d be great. But first, let’s get you warm.” Then he added, “You can borrow some of my clothes.”
“Don’t need your clothes,” Jack said, though he couldn’t hide a shiver as he handed Morgan the cobbler and hung Morgan’s coat up on a hook. “I’m fine.”
“Damn it, you’re not fine,” Morgan said, his blue eyes snapping. He gestured with the large pan like it weighed nothing. “Go and put on something dry. Everything you’re wearing is damp.”
“You’re damp,” Jack said, pointing at Morgan’s slip-on sneakers and the puddle of melting snow that he was standing in. “You’re soaked to the knee.”
The conversation could have turned into an argument, and Jack didn’t want that. He was tired and he was cold. So he tried on a small smile, as if they were old friends, harassing each other for the fun of it.
“We’ll both change, okay?” Morgan shook his finger at Jack as though he were a young child who’d misbehaved. “Don’t argue with me. There’s plenty of clean sweatpants and even extra sweatshirts. Just do as I say for once?”
“You got it, boss.”
Jack went up the stairs first, conscious that Morgan was following him, still carrying the pan. Jack turned to take it from him, but Morgan shook his head, hooked his cane over his wrist, and planted his hand along the wall.
It was slow going, and he could hear Morgan struggling. Jack paused on the landing and finally just took the pan to place it on the counter.
Morgan raised his cane and thumped it at Jack. “Please go take a warm shower and change into warm clothes now. I can see you still shivering.”
