Looking for Trouble

by Victoria Dahl

Alex glanced at Shane. “His sister seems nice.”

  “Yeah, they’re not a lot alike as far as I can tell. She’s always been a hard worker. Quiet type. Polite.”

  “Right,” Alex muttered, then cleared his throat against a memory of her very politely saying please, please. “Anyway, you seem calm about it.” Shane had been hot-tempered in his youth, quiet until you pissed him off.

  “I let it all go last year.”

  “What do you mean? The money?”

  “The money,” Shane murmured, his eyes turning toward the jagged Tetons. “Yeah. But not really the money. When Gideon Bishop left me this little plot of land and gave everything else to that damn ghost town... Fuck, it was just another slap in the face. You remember how cold he was after Dad disappeared?”

  “Well, he was right about Mom being unstable,” Alex said.

  “He was. But that should’ve been more reason to reach out to us. To help.”

  Alex grunted in agreement. One day they’d been a stable, nuclear family. Mom and dad and two rowdy boys. The next day they’d been free-falling. A dad who’d run off, a mom who could barely take care of herself, and grandparents who considered her nothing more than trash with two brats to support.

  “When our grandfather died and thumbed his nose at us in the will... Shit. I thought I’d moved past a lot of it, but it came rushing back, and all my anger came down to that damn will. I wanted to make him pay. Maybe because I couldn’t make Dad pay. Or Mom. Or this whole fucking town. I don’t know.”

  Now instead of watching the mountains, Alex watched his brother. They’d been close in their early years, and less close as teenagers, but as adults? As an adult, Shane was a complete stranger to him. His face looked different, of course, harder and older and a little sadder. But it wasn’t just that. Alex didn’t know anything about who he’d loved and lost and what his struggles had been.

  “So you sued them,” he pressed.

  “Yes. I didn’t really care about the money, it was just the idea that that asshole would rather give it all to a tourist trap than leave it to you and me. I guess he felt closer to ancestors who’d been dead for a hundred years than he did to us.”

  That sounded about right. His grandfather had been a hard, intimidating man. He’d considered his own son a weak failure for marrying the woman he did and then getting mixed up with someone even worse. No doubt he thought Shane and Alex would end up just like their father. Or worse, turn out like their mom.

  “But I figured it out,” Shane finally said. “I got to know Merry, and suddenly all that anger felt as wrong as it was.”

  “That’s good,” Alex said, though he didn’t understand it. He’d loved a woman, too, but he’d never felt any better about his family.

  “I hope you can accept that I gave up the fight for the money.”

  Alex shot him a confused look.

  “The money that went to the historical trust. If I’d kept fighting the will and won the lawsuit, part of it would’ve gone to you.”

  Alex shook his head. “I don’t want that old man’s money. I don’t want any of this.”

  “Still,” Shane murmured, his eyes roaming over the landscape. “It’s a good place.”

  “It is.” He’d meant what he’d said. His brother belonged here. Alex couldn’t begrudge him that, even if he did feel a twinge of longing. Not for the place, but for the feeling of being home. He’d never had that anywhere. It was something missing in him, and it always would be.

  Even in his earliest childhood, when things had been good, he’d had little in common with his dad. Ranching and handyman work hadn’t held Alex’s attention at all.

  Shane cleared his throat and shifted, warning Alex that things were about to get awkward. “I hope it doesn’t bother you that Merry is the curator for Providence.”

  Alex raised his eyebrows in question.

  “I don’t want you thinking I dropped the lawsuit just to support her work.”

  Alex finally realized what he was saying. Their grandfather’s money had gone to the Providence Historical Trust, and Merry had her job thanks to that. Alex kept his mouth shut for a few heartbeats just to make his brother squirm, but then he finally grinned. “Brother, if you’d pay millions of dollars to win her over, then I’d say that must be some awful sweet loving, and congratulations.”

  “Ha!” Shane slapped him on the back.

  “Are you blushing?” Alex asked.

  “Fuck you,” Shane shot back, but he was definitely blushing. Not to mention grinning like a fool. “Speak of the devil,” he said.

  Alex turned to see a car driving up the long road. The brunette behind the wheel waved, and they both waved back. He’d only met Merry briefly at their mom’s house yesterday, but her enthusiasm for life was contagious.

  As soon as she’d skidded to a stop on the gravel drive, Merry jumped from her car and held up a bag. “I brought Chinese food!”

  “Wow,” Alex murmured. “She is pretty awesome.”

  “I know.” Shane stepped forward to take the bag and give her a kiss.

  “You’ll stay for dinner, right?” she asked Alex, her eyes wide with encouragement.

  He hadn’t planned on it. He’d planned to talk to his brother and make a quick escape, just as he had in every interaction with his family since he’d returned. But he couldn’t say no to Merry’s hope. “How can I resist?” he asked, gesturing toward the picture on her bright pink T-shirt. “I love a girl who knows her Dr. Who references.”

  “You know Dr. Who?”

  “I spend a lot of time in hotel rooms streaming old TV shows.”

  Merry squealed and jumped forward to give him a big hug. “You’re awesome.”

  “You’re easy.”

  She gave him a little shove and headed up the stairs of the trailer while Shane held the door open for her. “Uh-oh. Shane’s been telling tales.”

  Alex followed her laughter up the stairs to Shane’s temporary home. He was surprised to see that the place actually looked livable. The rust eating up the siding on the outside hadn’t promised much, but the small living room was softened by a blue shag rug and a black leather couch piled high with gray and blue pillows. Merry had obviously helped him decorate. Alex might not know his brother well anymore, but he was damn sure Shane hadn’t picked out the hip-looking lamp with the blue streaks in the glass.

  Merry grabbed plates and napkins and set them on the coffee table along with a few beers. The Chinese food was surprisingly good. Alex had been spoiled by time spent in California and this was, after all, Wyoming, but even chefs liked to ski. Good food had made it to Jackson along with tourism money.

  “You look funny,” Merry suddenly said.

  Alex looked up from his kung pao in surprise. “What?”

  “You look like some kind of biker felon with your tattoos and your shaved head, but you use chopsticks like a pro.”

  “You’ve obviously never met any Chinese felons. Scary motherfuckers.”

  Merry burst into laughter and Shane looked at her with a smile of delight. Like just her happiness was enough to make his day. Jesus. Alex looked away, letting them have that moment to themselves.

  “Have you been to China, Alex?” Merry asked.

  “No, they’ve got damn good engineers there. No need to import me.”

  “So...” She glanced at Shane before continuing. “Where have you been?”

  He thought about Alaska and all the stuff he’d told Sophie. For some reason, he didn’t want to share that.

  Shane leaned back into the couch with his beer. “Yeah, where’d you disappear to, brother?”

  Alex grabbed his own beer and settled into the chair. “I went to Colorado first, meaning to go to Colorado State, but I couldn’t afford the tuition.”

  Shane looked sh
ocked. “You got in? You never told me.”

  “We weren’t talking much by high school. Anyway, I knew I couldn’t afford it, so I moved out there to work for a year. They held my spot and I went on in-state tuition for two years. Then I transferred to the School of Mines.”

  “Wow.” Shane blinked a few times. “That’s impressive.”

  Alex shrugged. “I did well there. I really liked my hydrology professor, so that’s what I went with. He was a real mentor to me. Took an interest. He died last year.”

  Shane nodded, and Alex meant to keep talking, but for a moment he couldn’t. Oz Thompson had been an amazing engineer with forty years of fieldwork under his belt, and for some reason, he’d singled Alex out. Maybe because Oz had been tattooed and scary-looking, too. For whatever reason, they’d clicked. He’d looked out for Alex, pushing him when he needed pushing. But now he was dead.

  Maybe that was how Alex had ended up back here, looking for...something.

  Alex cleared his throat. “Anyway, I worked with some natural gas companies while I was going for my master’s, and now I’m a contractor. It keeps me from getting stuck in one place too long.”

  “Where have you worked?” Merry asked.

  “Alaska, Canada, all over the continental U.S. A little bit in South America. The Netherlands.”

  “Whoa! The Netherlands! That’s so cool.”

  “It was pretty damn cool.”

  They all settled in to talk about Texas, where Alex had worked and Merry had grown up. By the time he realized it was full dark outside, Alex had spent two hours catching up with his brother. It had been surprisingly good. Shane hadn’t brought up their mother once, and when she’d called, Shane had let it go to voice mail.

  Maybe Shane had been telling the truth. Maybe he really had distanced himself. Shane hadn’t been a mama’s boy or anything, but he’d let their mom get into his head when they were young. He’d let her give him hope and she’d poured her sickness in there with it. Shane had been desperate for their dad to return. Alex had only hated the man. Hated him for leaving. And hated him for being a decent dad before he’d left. If he’d been awful, it would have been so much easier to live without him.

  “I’d better get going,” Alex finally said.

  “You can stay here if you want. The couch is damn comfortable.”

  “No, thanks.” He wanted to be alone. He always did.

  “Listen, I hate to ask, but could you do me a favor if you’re headed back to town? I’ve got the paper samples for the program. Can you drop them at Mom’s?”

  “Shit,” he cursed, but even he could see it wasn’t a big favor to ask. He held out his hand for the samples and smiled at Shane. He wasn’t too immature to stop by his mom’s house for five minutes.

  Plus, a trip to his mom’s would get him close to Sophie again. He considered the idea as he drove toward town.

  It wasn’t a good idea to see her after what her brother had done today, but he couldn’t exactly blame her for it. And good idea or not, he wanted to see her.

  Alex tried to let the wind take his thoughts away, but he couldn’t shake them. Sophie Heyer inspired thoughts with some staying power, after all. He’d be remembering her for a long time. Especially when he jerked off like he had first thing this morning. He’d woken up thinking of her coming for him, nails biting into his skull while the taste of her wet his throat. God. That’d been fucking amazing. Almost as amazing as lifting her up and making her ride his cock.

  Yeah. Fuck it. He was gonna see her.

  Alex pulled into the lot of his motel and got out his phone. She hadn’t gotten in touch, but he wasn’t surprised. Things were even weirder than they had been before. But Alex liked weird just fine.

  He pulled up her number and sent a text. Hey. I thought I might stop by. Are you decent?

  I’m not sure how to answer that after last night.

  He grinned from ear to ear before her next text came through.

  But after today... I’m really sorry.

  Did she mean she was sorry about her brother or sorry because she didn’t want to see Alex? Wanna talk? he asked hopefully.

  Maybe.

  He let out a breath he didn’t realize he’d been holding. Gimme 30?

  Sure. I’ll see you soon.

  Alex wasn’t the type to smile much, but fuck if he didn’t smile his way through a quick shower and a change of clothes. This girl was the nicest thing in his world right now, by far. The nicest thing that had been in his world for a really long time. Not only the sex, but just the way she was. Sweet and hot and smart and secret. The best kind of mystery.

  He really did want to talk. He wanted to see her. But he had no doubt things would heat up. She liked it just as much as he did. And he’d be gone by Sunday. They both needed to get their fill before he left.

  Alex pulled up to his mom’s place five minutes later and knocked hard, hoping to get this over with quickly. He heard her talking on the phone as she approached, her voice high and excited.

  “Oh, Alex!” she exclaimed as she opened the door. The tiny gray kitten shot out the door and down the stairs. Apparently it belonged to his mother, as if she could take care of an animal in this clutter. “I was just talking to your brother! He was telling me about all the places you’ve been. I am so proud of you.”

  “Thanks,” he said gruffly as he followed her into the kitchen. “I’m just dropping these off.”

  “Oh, you’re so good to me. Do you want some coffee?” He looked around at her mess of a kitchen. It wasn’t filthy. Nothing smelled bad, but there were piles of papers and canned goods everywhere. He shook his head, then accidentally kicked something when he moved to put the manila folder full of paper samples down. The bowl he’d kicked spilled cat food everywhere.

  When he bent to pick it up, he saw that tiny ants were crawling in the bowl. “Mom, there are ants all over this cat food.”

  “Oh, I keep putting out traps, but they come in from the garden. But the cats don’t mind ants. Extra protein.” Cats? Multiple? That wasn’t good. Not when the place was already so cluttered.

  “Jesus.” He grabbed a paper towel to clean it up, then marched the whole mess out to the garbage can. When he came back in, she was tearing open the envelope.

  “Oh, these are lovely! You’re going to stay and help me choose, right?”

  “No.” He washed his hands. Twice.

  “Well. All right.” She only lapsed into silence for a few minutes. “So how in the world did you ever become an engineer?”

  “I went to college.”

  “I’m sure, but... Well, sweetheart, you weren’t exactly a good student.”

  He froze to shoot her a hard look, then threw the paper towel into the trash can. “Are you kidding me?”

  “You almost failed ninth grade, remember?”

  “Yes,” he ground out. “I definitely remember. That was the year you pulled me out of school four times to go on cross-country wild-goose chases. Remember?”

  “Well, we had to. Your father—”

  “My father was right here in Teton County, good and dead.”

  “I didn’t know that!” she cried. “So many people were telling me so many things!”

  “You mean you were harvesting rumors to keep you going. Regardless, after I had to go to summer school in ninth grade, I refused to go on any more trips with you and Shane. Amazingly, I managed to get my grades up by my junior year. Who would have thought that taking a kid to school every day would result in better grades?”

  “Alex,” she sighed. “You’ve always been so rigid.”

  He laughed. “Sure, Mom. I’ll see you later. Enjoy your paper samples.”

  “Wait a minute! I wanted to talk to you about this awful lawsuit! What am I going to do? If that evil little man—” />
  “Mom. I’m leaving.”

  Amazingly, she didn’t follow him out the door, weeping and wailing. He stepped outside and almost tripped over the tiny cat that wound between his feet. “Hey,” he murmured. She purred against his ankle.

  Alex picked her up and nearly winced at how cute she was. Her tiny meow made him shake his head. “You’re not trying to survive with that woman, are you?”

  She meowed again, and her purr vibrated through his palm.

  “Take it from me. You need to get out of there.”

  He glanced back at the house, thinking of the dangerous piles of papers and the ants in the cat food. “Shit,” he muttered. He couldn’t leave this baby here to get hit by a car or eaten by coyotes. He tucked the kitten inside his coat and headed for his bike.

  Even without the warm bundle against his chest, he felt silly riding his bike a hundred feet, but he couldn’t leave it there for his mom to see, so he drove to Sophie’s and eased his bike into the narrow space between her garage and the next house.... Just in case he was still here when the sun rose. When he knocked, she answered the door wearing a modest blue dress and a frilled pink apron.

  “Are you baking cookies?” he asked.

  “Cupcakes, actually. Do you want one?”

  “Hell, yeah.”

  She led him to the kitchen and popped a little cake in his hand. The white frosting was covered with sparkly pink sugar crystals. “Pretty.”

  “Thank you.”

  “The cupcake, too.”

  When she smiled he realized how tired she looked. Her makeup was smudged. Her eyes slightly red. “Are you okay, Sophie?”

  “I’m okay. I’m really sorry about what my brother’s done. I had no idea. Nobody did.”

  “It’s got nothing to do with me.” He ate half the delicate little cake in one bite.

  “But it’s your family’s money.”

  “My family doesn’t really have any money. There’s the trust. And my brother’s land, I suppose.”