I shook my head, refusing to take that line of thought any further. It was just me and Wyatt now, had been for a long time, and with him moving to Ohio, the two of us were rarely here at the same time. I came more often than he did, but running the training camp for Three Bears Tactical meant I didn’t get to come very often myself.
I cleaned up my mess and then debated what to do with the rest of my day. I’d brought a few books with me and all the supplies to make some new fishing flies. Of course, there were chores to be done, too. The temps were still in the 50s here overnight, so I’d gone through a fair amount of the wood stores. It was only fair that I replenish it before I left.
That didn’t have to be done today, though; besides that new thriller I’d brought was calling my name. I got myself a drink and picked up the book from the coffee table. If I was going to waste the rest of the morning, I might as well do it in my favorite place. I went out the back door to the hammock that sat underneath a huge oak tree. When Wyatt and I were kids, we had a tire swing in this very spot, but a couple of years ago, I replaced it with something big enough for me to enjoy now.
Almost like he knew I was thinking about him, I’d just gotten settled in to read when my phone buzzed with a video call from Wyatt.
I grinned at the sight of my brother’s permanently grumpy face. We couldn’t have been more different. I’d taken after my dad and had his dark hair and eyes, while Wyatt had our mother’s lighter brown hair and hazel eyes.
Of course, that wasn’t the major difference. That was in our overall appearance. He looked exactly like what he was, a clean-cut cop who carried the weight of the world on his shoulders. I, on the other hand, had seen some shit as a combat medic and decided the world could fuck off.
“Hey, Wy, what’s up?”
“Not much. I just thought I’d check in with you and see how your vacay was going.”
“It’s good. See?” I lifted the phone so he could see where I was. “I’m just about to start that new Robert Hall book.”
“Is that the one about the disgraced cop?” he asked.
“Yeah, I hear it’s pretty good.”
“You read it first. If you don’t think it’s gonna piss me off, I’ll read it.”
As a law enforcement officer, he was a stickler for accuracy when someone wrote about the police. I swear he went on about how wrong another author was in his depiction of a hostage situation ad nauseam.
“I’ll let you know. How about you? What are you up to?”
“Nothing, absolutely freaking nothing,” he grumbled, and I couldn’t help but laugh.
“That’s what you wanted, wasn’t it? I thought the whole reason you took the job in that tiny village was because you were tired of all the chaos and mayhem of the big D.”
He sighed. “It was, but it’s so quiet. I had three calls this week. One, because a farmer’s goat got out and was harassing the ladies at the Episcopal church bake sale. Apparently, he has quite the sweet tooth.”
I was trying hard not to laugh, but then he said, “Then I had to go out to the senior center because two eighty-year-olds were fighting. One was convinced the other was cheating at bingo.”
“How do you cheat at bingo?” I managed to get out.
“Apparently, she had a lucky troll figure and kept rubbing it.”
“Oh, well, that makes perfect sense then,” I deadpanned.
“Whatever.” He rolled his eyes. “I did have to go out on a bomb threat this week, though.”
“Really? That sounds promising.”
“Yeah, well, it was trash from the middle school science fair. Seemed pretty suspicious though, at least until you actually looked at it and saw the remnants of a papier-mache volcano.”
At that, I lost the battle and burst out laughing. “Oh man, I’m so sorry.”
“Be careful what you ask for, I guess. Turns out Cedar Hollow is a very, very safe town.”
“Well, if you change your mind, Texas is always here waiting for you, brother.”
“I know. The people are just so freaking nice, though. I’d feel horrible to leave without giving it a chance.”
My phone beeped with an incoming call for Wolfe’s line. That was unusual. I was on vacation, and Wolfe wasn’t the kind to call just to chat.
“Hey, bro. Getting a call from my boss. I’ll call you later,” I said before accepting the call.
