“Well, I hope he doesn’t meanthisone!” Howdy said, laughing at his own joke.
Glancing up, I met Billy’s eyes. “Yes, the old barn. I stumbled upon it a few days ago and it’s clear the whole thing is ready to collapse. The last thing I want is for some local teenagers to find it and do God knows what, getting injured on my land. It hasn’t been used since my grandfather was running this place. It’s about to fall, so let’s just help it along. There’s a company in Missoula that uses old barnwood for projects. Get with them as soon as you can and see about them coming out to take a look at the wood. They might want to tear it down themselves, which is fine by me. Saves me the cost.”
Now all five of them were staring at me.
“What?”
“How in the heck do you know about a company that uses old barnwood for projects?”
Tossing my pen onto the notebook, I said, “Julie. The breeder in Missoula? She mentioned it. They’re called Recycle Me Wood, or something like that.”
“Right, Julie,” Bubba said with a slight laugh. “The breeder.”
I stood, my chair sliding across the wood floor. “I’ve got some paperwork to do, so I’ll be at the house the rest of the day. Good day for it, with the weather like this. Text or call if someone needs anything.”
They all nodded.
As I headed toward the door, Billy grabbed my arm. “Can we talk for a minute in my office?”
I wanted to swallow the sudden lump in my throat. Instead, I nodded and headed in that direction.
Billy had been a friend of mine for as long as I could remember. It was always Bubba, Billy, and me. The three of us could read one another without even having to talk. And we always knew when something was off…
I walked into his office first, and Billy quietly shut the door behind us.
“Liam, is everything okay? You never take time off from work. Hell, you dragged your ass into work when you had the flu. Now you’re taking a few days off and missing meetings.”
I hated lying to Billy, and a part of me battled with myself on keeping this a secret.
“Um…I’m fine, it’s just been really busy, and feeling down and out I got behind on work. MaryAnne is already on my butt for dropping the ball on things.”
“Maybe you should get out, do something with the guys.”
I shook my head. “No time for that, Billy, you know that.”
He rolled his eyes. “When was the last time you went dancing?”
“Dancing?” I asked, confused.
“Yes, Liam. Dancing.”
“College, maybe? Emily didn’t like to dance.”
“Exactly. Listen, we’re all going out tonight to Red Hots. We can eat some greasy bar food, drink some beer, and do a bit of line dancing.”
“As fun as that sounds, Randy’s coming over for dinner tonight.”
He drew his head back in surprise. “Randy? Is everything okay?”
“Yeah, why wouldn’t it be?”
Shrugging, he said, “I don’t know. I know he’s your cousin, but he’s also a cop.”
This time, I reallydidlaugh. “And cops can’t eat or spend time with family?”
He smiled. “Guess that’s true. Are you checking up on Chad?”
“Hell no!” I scowled. “He’s married and living his own life.”
