"Will do. Thanks, Jerry."
I climb into the driver's seat and sit there for a moment, bags on the passenger seat, hands on the wheel.
Just one glance back toward the front.
He's gone. Already inside, probably. I don't know why I expected anything different.
I grip the steering wheel and force myself to breathe.
Just errands, I remind myself. Just another morning in Everwood.
But my hands are shaking, and I know, deep down, in the part of me that's been aware of Bo Gates since we were kids racing bikes down Main Street, that nothing about this morning is just anything.
He's back.
And I have absolutely no idea what that means.
Chapter 4
The Guilty Heads-Up
Bo
The sun hasn't even crested the ridge yet, but I'm already standing on Rick and Melodie's front porch with a thermos of Pearl's coffee and a stomach full of dread.
I should've done this yesterday. Right after Tyler's call. But I drove around Everwood for an hour instead, windows down, trying to convince myself I could just... watch from a distance. Keep things simple.
Nothing about this is simple.
The door swings open before I can knock. Melodie stands there in barn boots and a fleece jacket, hair twisted up in a clip, looking surprised and happy to see me.
"Bo Gates." She smiles, warm and immediate. "You're up early. Falon mentioned you got in yesterday."
"Yes, ma'am." I lift the thermos slightly. "Brought coffee. Thought maybe I could... talk to you and Rick for a minute?"
Her expression shifts, and curiosity and concern coat her eyes. "Of course. Come on in. Rick's in the kitchen, pretending he’s fine."
I follow her inside. The house smells like toast and woodsmoke, familiar in a way that makes my chest ache. I've been here a hundred times. A thousand. And every time it takes me back before my parents passed. Life was different then.
Rick's at the table with his casted leg propped on a chair, flipping through his stock’s latest vaccine records. He glances up when I walk in, eyes sharp despite the early hour.
Next to him, I notice a feed order and a farrier appointment he's trying to reschedule, according to the handwritten notes off to the side. I don’t have the heart to tell him I overheard Falon on the phone yesterday doing exactly the same thing, and that it’s already done. That’s between her and him, and I’m not getting in the middle of that.
"Bo." He nods. "Melodie said you were back in town."
"Yes, sir." I set the thermos on the counter. "I, uh... I wanted to talk to you both. If that's okay."
Melodie pours three mugs of coffee without asking, slides one toward me, then settles into the chair beside Rick. She doesn't say anything. She knows I'll start when I'm ready.
I wrap my hands around the mug. The heat grounds me.
"Tyler called yesterday." I meet Rick's gaze, then Melodie's. "He asked me to keep an eye on Falon."
Melodie looks tired. She's heard this song before.
"Kevin Bennett," Rick says. It's not a question.
"Yeah." I nod. "Tyler said he's back in town. Said he's been... sniffing around."
