Montana Hero (20 page)

Four hours later,
Kat shook two aspirin tablets into her palm and tossed them back with a big chug of water. Talk about a frustrating morning. Her meeting with Flynn and the Sheriff needed to be postponed when a deputy hit a deer and rolled his car.

Flynn had asked her to issue an alert on Social Media about the dangers of animals on the road. Spring meant migrations and mating season. Drivers needed to be more cautious than usual.

Since no one answered the phone at the Zabrinski house and she hadn’t gotten a call back to the message she’d left on their machine, Kat continued to work as if nothing had changed.

Even though everything had changed. She’d slept with Flynn. Her boss. Not the biggest deal in the world. They were two consenting adults with a mutual need who happened to work in the same office. For a short time.

Oh, well, she told herself.

But in truth, just being in the same building with him made her heart rate go up. Thinking about his touch made her breath catch in the back of her throat. She’d enjoyed every minute of their passion—even the awkward getting to know each other part. He’d made the process so easy. She couldn’t even say how. She’d simply felt okay about being naked in his presence.

Trust,
she thought.
Flynn Bensen is the kind of man you can trust.

Too bad I can’t trust myself not to fall in love with him.
As much as she tried to think positively and advocate for research for a cure, she didn’t hold much hope that the terrible disease that destroyed her mother’s mind would be eradicated by the time Kat reached her mother’s age.

And no way in Hell was she going to inflict the sort of pain she’d been dealing with most of her life on someone she loved. Bad enough her son couldn’t escape what was coming. She refused to add Flynn to the casualty list.

She’d spell out the harsh reality of her probable future at the first opportunity she got. If he wanted to explore a physical relationship with her for as long as she stuck around Marietta, she’d be game. But that was as far as it could go. No love words. No long-term commitment. No happily-ever-after.

A heavy sadness threatened to bring on tears, but, luckily, a call came in a second later. Another accident. On the highway a few miles north of the town.

As the paramedic team scrambled to roll out, Kat prayed for everyone’s safety. But, secretly, she hoped the calls continued. She wanted to be too busy to think.

‡

E
ven though it
was Saturday, Brady woke up early, his internal clock primed for what he had planned. His mother believed he had a problem with impulse control. He was about to show her that wasn’t true.

He’d been thinking about this plan for over a week, ever since the day of the play when Robert Zabrinski, his real grandpa, got all mad and worked up when Brady told him the truth. Every day, Brady waited, hoping someone from the Zabrinski family would contact his mother. But no one had.

Mom kept Brady filled in on what was happening so he wouldn’t feel bad about what he’d done. She said she’d called the Zabrinski house a couple of times and left messages. She’d shown Brady the letter she mailed with copies of her birth certificate and the check from Big Z’s Hardware. She told them she wasn’t looking for money or anything else. She wanted to know the truth, for Brady’s sake.

The only reply came as an email from a lawyer with the same name saying the family was taking the matter under advisement and would be in touch, but Mr. Zabrinski categorically denied having an affair with Grace Adair.

Grandma’s name before she married Grandpa Lloyd.

Brady knew what that meant.

Mr. Zabrinski was in denial, as adults liked to say.

Mr. Zabrinski needed a little reminder of what was important.

Brady had considered several different scenarios to bring public attention to this problem. In the end, he’d chosen the one with the highest possible success rate and lowest possible danger.

Was there risk?

Yes. Nothing good ever happens if you’re afraid to take chances, GG used to say.

He’d discussed his options with his friend, Robby, at their sleepover. Robby’s dad was a big hiker. It wasn’t hard to sneak one of his maps. Getting to the mountains was the biggest obstacle, until Brady overheard some eighth-grade boys talking about the new zip line that was hiring kids this weekend to help set up the course.

Brady wasn’t old enough or big enough to get hired on officially, but he knew enough about the zip line plans from talking with Tucker that he was confident he could bluff his way into a bus ride to the site. He could even lie and tell them Tucker invited him to come along. But, first, Brady had to convince his mother he had plans for the day.

Luckily, she’d been very distracted for the past week. She’d tried to quit her job, but the Sheriff insisted on her giving her boss, Flynn Bensen, two weeks notice to help him fill her position. Even with the whole Zabrinski mess on her mind, Mom said she felt obligated to stick it out.

Something else was bothering her, too, but Brady didn’t know if it was the idea of moving again or what? All he knew for certain was if he told her he was spending the day doing Minecraft with Robby, she’d believe him.

By the time she checked in with Robby’s mom, Brady would be
lost
in the mountains, waiting for Search and Rescue to find him. A ten-year-old kid wandering alone in the mountains would get people like his grandfather thinking and hopefully realize what he’d miss out on if something bad really did happen to his grandson. Brady even composed a note he planned to leave along with a general map, in case something went wrong and people weren’t searching for him in the right place.

He got up and dressed in layers as he’d been taught. Even though it was officially Spring, Brady knew the weather was colder in the mountains. Luckily, Mom had taken him to play in the snow a couple of times this past winter, so he had the right gear, including a practically new pair of waterproof hiking boots.

He tugged on a second pair of socks but when he shoved his feet into the boots, he found they barely fit. Mom kept saying how big he was getting, but Brady hadn’t realized his feet were growing, too. Probably because Mom always bought his shoes one size bigger.

He frowned and peeled off the extra socks.

Still snug, but tolerable. He stuffed the spare pair of socks into his pack in case his boots leaked.

See, Mom? I’m thinking ahead.

His stomach made a gurgling sound. He was hungry but he felt too excited to eat. And it didn’t help that he got a sick feeling every time he thought about how upset his mom was going to be when she learned he was alone in the mountains. He didn’t want to worry her, but he had to do something to get his grandfather’s attention.

He was doing this for Mom, too, because he knew how important it was to her to find her real father. But, mostly, he was doing this for GG. She’d never forgotten her first love and she always felt bad about not telling him he had a daughter.

“I didn’t fib, exactly, Brady,” she told him one day when Mom wasn’t around. “He wasn’t in a position to marry me. I just couldn’t do that to him—turn his life upside down when we couldn’t ever be together. I think I did the right thing, but I guess I’ll never know.”

With a sigh, he checked the rest of his gear and provisions—granola bars and string cheese he’d been hoarding from his lunch all week. He’d add an apple or two on his way out the door. If Mom asked why he was taking his backpack, he planned to tell the truth.

“I know how much you hate me spending the whole day inside. I promise to get some fresh air.”

Lots and lots of fresh air.

*

“I love it,
Flynn. The place reeks of potential,” his brother said, snapping photos with his high-end digital camera as he prowled around the exterior of the home Flynn planned to make an offer on.

“Are you sure that isn’t cat piss you smell? I was told the previous owner was a big animal lover.”

Flynn had been back to the place twice, bringing Tucker and Justin along once to reassure him he wasn’t making the biggest mistake of his life.

Not that there was any chance of that. He’d fallen in love with a woman who had one foot out the door and had no intention of returning his feelings.
That
had to be his biggest mistake yet. Even worse than marrying a woman who loved him for the wrong reasons. At least with Darla, he’d had the illusion of love—something he now identified as the dynamic his parents had shown as he was growing up.

Not surprising he was so damn inept when it came to picking women.

“Can we see the inside?”

Ryker had returned from a trip abroad a day earlier. Apparently he was still catching up on all the news, including the bombshell revelation that his future father-in-law, Bob Zabrinski, may have had an affair that produced an illegitimate child named Katherine. Flynn wasn’t sure his brother had made the connection between Flynn and Kat.

“Sure. My agent gave me the code to the lock box because she’s pretty confident she has a sale.”

“What are your reservations?”

Where do I start?

“I haven’t been in Marietta long. I’d planned to spend a year getting familiar with the area before I bought.”

Ryker watched as Flynn punched in the code to retrieve the key. “True, but renting a room in a jewelry shop isn’t ideal. Believe me, I know. Those ladies are the salt of the earth, but they don’t know the first thing about privacy.”

Flynn laughed. “Plus, I’ve gained five pounds from all the treats they leave for me.”

Ryker threw a playful punch at Flynn’s midsection. “Oh, yeah, I can tell. All flab.” He rolled his eyes. “Have they tried to set you up, yet?”

“There’s been talk. I told them I’m too busy with work for a social life, but I’m sure the subject will surface again.”

Ryker walked across the living room to stare out the big picture window. “Wow,” he said. “Money shot. This is the reason you have to buy this place. That view will never get old.”

He snapped a few more shots, then looked at Flynn and said, “But you do have a social life from what I’ve heard. Bailey told me you were with Kat Robinson at the school play the afternoon all hell broke loose.” He grinned. “That’s how the family describes what happened that day, by the way.”

“Katherine’s my employee. Or was,” he amended. “She gave her two-week notice.”

“Why? Because of the so-called scandal? I hope not. The Zabrinskis are a close-knit bunch, and they’ve circled the wagons at the moment because for some reason Bob refuses to talk about the subject with anyone. He walks away any time someone brings it up. Mia told him his attitude made him look guilty as sin, but he said, ‘I am not the kind of man who breaks his vows. If you don’t know that by now, then that’s your problem, not mine.’”

Flynn gave a low whistle. “I kind of admire that. But, you can only ignore something so long. Kat’s a real person. If her claim has any merit, she may press for answers. DNA kind of answers.”

Ryker nodded. “That’s what Mia told him, but so far Bob’s stonewalling. He and Sarah flew to Denver for a few days to visit friends. They just got back last night.”

Flynn wondered if Kat knew that. When they’d spoken yesterday at work, she’d mentioned wanting to try to connect with Paul and Bailey this weekend to see if they could help her get an answer from Paul’s father. And, although she was still doing the research, someone told her a DNA sample from Paul might, at least, show whether or not Kat had any familial connection to the Zabrinskis.

“Are you seeing her? Kat?” Ryker asked.

Flynn didn’t answer right away. “I see her at work every day.”

Ryker made a sound of pure disgust. “A non-answer from you is the same as an answer. So, yes, you are seeing her. And you’re interested in her as a person. Someone you could
see
yourself with in…say…this house?”

Flynn’s jaw dropped. “You got all that from seven words?”

“No. I got that from this house. It’s not a single guy’s rustic cabin, which is what you were talking about building last fall when you came to visit. This—” He gestured expansively as he looked around the recently renovated kitchen. “—is a home worthy of a family. Maybe a wife and kid…and a couple more somewhere down the line.”