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He shrugged. “I saw you making out with her behind the barn last week.”

“We weren’t—” Cooper slammed his eyes shut. They’d tried to be so careful. He swallowed hard, not wanting to mess this up. And opening up to Ryan might mess things up badly. “I—Uh . . .”

“I see the way you look at her. And she’s into you. And I don’t want to know any more about it. But you know, she doesn’t want me to know for other reasons. Because she thinks I’m still a kid and I can’t handle it. But I’m not a kid anymore. I know things.”

“I—” Cooper forced himself to meet Ryan’s eyes. “I care about your mom. You’re right about that.”

Ryan looked almost relieved at Cooper’s admission. He stroked his filly’s neck. “She thinks I’m always going to be here, but maybe I won’t, you know? Someday, I might go away to school or another town or something and then she’ll be alone. With just the family. I don’t want her to be alone. She always thinks it’s better if it’s just the two of us, but it’s not really. I mean, I used to think so, but now I’m so busy and I think she’s just been lonely. And she seems happier lately. I think that’s your fault. In a good way, I mean.”

He hadn’t given Ryan enough credit. Not by a long shot. “Your life, kid, is gonna be great. And your mom’s life, too. Whatever she decides about her own happiness, about her own path, is hers to choose. You can’t choose that for her. Neither can I. But I want her to be happy as well. We just always want that for the people we love. Like you with Kholá. But her protecting you is what moms do. And that’s because she loves you first and more than anything.”

“But do you love her?” he pressed.

Cooper had almost forgotten how it felt to be fourteen and filled with wild optimism. With hope. To have everything show up in complete colors instead of shades of gray. But with a silent nod, he admitted it to Ryan. Because to say those words aloud before even saying them to her felt impossible.

So, he simply nodded. “But let’s keep this conversation between us, okay, Ry?”

At five nine, Ryan was already man-sized and still growing with that boyishness that reminded Cooper he had years to go before he fulfilled that potential. But Ry seemed to gather himself up with the responsibility of this private, very adult sharing with Cooper. And Cooper trusted him.

But even so, there was no keeping their secret forever. Or even much longer. If Ryan knew, maybe it was time to stop pretending.

*

The autumn festival in Marietta had gotten under way and the Hardesty clan was going en masse except for Liam, who had decided to stay behind to finish up the shelving in the new office upstairs. Even Ray, who had been undergoing a series of infusion treatments at the hospital for his cancer was feeling well enough to go.

“You sure you’re okay to walk around all night?” Cooper asked him. “We could rent you a wheelchair.”

“God, no,” Ray said proudly. “Anyway, I told Sarah I’d win her a prize tonight and I mean to do it. On my own two feet.”

“A prize, huh? What kind of a prize would that be?”

Ray laughed and blushed a little. “Don’t get smart. Anyway, Sarah’s got standards. It’s gotta be a substantial stuffed animal from a legitimate game and preferably a horse.”

“Oh, making demands, is she? That’s progress.”

“She’s a woman who knows her own mind.” A grin tipped his father’s mouth against his will. “Like her daughter. Progress on two fronts I’d venture to say.”

Cooper pulled on a down vest over his flannel shirt without comment.

Ray grinned and called Poppy over, and both puppies came wagging over to him. Ray bent to pick up the two of them who licked his face enthusiastically. The pups had been his saving grace the last few weeks, keeping him distracted from his treatments and cheering him up.

Ray put the dogs down as he gave Pippa a kiss on the top of her furry little head. “I’m gonna take these two out before we go. I’ll keep my ideas between me and the dogs. If that’s okay with you.”

“Yeah. That works.”

Cooper should have known he couldn’t hide what was happening between him and Shay from his dad. As he was gathering up his phone and wallet, the phone rang. Cooper answered it.

“This is Dominick Braehill over with the sheriff’s office.”

Surprised, Cooper shifted the phone to his other ear. “Yeah, Deputy. What can I do for you?”

“Well, I called you instead of contacting the Hardestys first because I thought maybe this information might be more pertinent or . . . to be more specific, of interest to you and your father.”

“Information?”

“Seems we got a match on the fingerprints I took at the break-in at the Hard Eight a couple weeks back. It didn’t come through initially on IAFUS as matching any known criminals in the database. But on a hunch, I expanded the search to cold cases in the central Montana area, and you’re not gonna believe what I found.”

His pulse kicked up a notch. “Please. Don’t keep me in suspense.”