Praying for Daylight (9 page)

“Well, this time, Kate’s lips are sealed.”

“Maybe Briar will learn something.”

I laughed, “Really?”

“Oh, she’s determined. Trust me, once she gets her mind set, she’ll damn well move heaven and earth.”

As we rode into camp, one tent was set up, and the other was left forgotten in a pile on the ground. Chase and I stopped, watching as Kate stood next to Briar trying to teach her how to load a shotgun.

Chase snorted, “Seems Briar isn’t getting much information from Kate.”

“That’s because Kate’s even better at changing the subject than you remember,” I said. “I thought you were teaching her how to shoot.”

“I am…Briar’s good with the revolver, but the recoil on the shotgun always sends her flying.” The gun went off, and Briar stumbled backwards with a wince. Kate laughed. “She’ll get it one day.”

“Or not.”

He punched my arm. “Shut up. At least I can handle Briar. Kate might as well be half wild.”

I rolled my eyes. “Today I found her in the woods, a mile from your front door. She was down by the dead tree we knocked down. Unprepared. Not even a cell phone.”

“Shit, you’re kidding.” He glanced back at Kate. “What does she have, a death wish?”

“I hope not. Whatever it is, it’s got me worried more than I think is healthy. I knew I wouldn’t sleep tonight, worrying she’d wander off somewhere and we’d never see her again.”

“Put a tracking device on her,” Chase looked just a tad too serious.

“I was joking about that earlier.”

“I’d put one on Briar if she went off into the woods like that. No way you’d find her. GPS saves lives, man.”

I couldn’t believe I was considering it. “Won’t she notice?”

“Nah, piece I have is tiny. Maybe you could hide it in something she never removes?”

“Her mother’s locket.” She wore it around her neck. It never left her body. “But this just feels wrong. Like I’m overstepping my bounds.”

“You don’t have to monitor her. If something happens, you go online to figure out where she is. You can do it from your phone.”

I lowered my voice, “And what would you be doing with something like that?”

He rolled his eyes, “I don’t keep tabs on Briar. That’s creepy. We hid it in Grandad’s pocket watch. The ranch is huge and when he started to wander, it was easier. Just hop in the truck and go pick him up. It really came in handy when he got in a car and drove into town without telling anyone.”

“I’m guessing it was because he liked to give away money.”

“Hell, that and the fact that we were worried someone would take him. Senile old man worth more than you could imagine? It was good insurance.”

“Yeah, then let’s do it.” I nodded, knowing Kate would hate it if she ever found out what I was going to do, but I was only doing it just in case. I didn’t intend on using it unless I was desperate.

“Make up an excuse so Briar won’t worry, and I’ll be back as soon as I can.” Chase handed me Ruby’s reins.

“You don’t have to go now.”

He frowned, “If you share a tent with Kate tonight, you can put the tracker in the locket. When are you going to get another chance like that?”

I nodded, “Okay, you’re right, but let me go get it. You’re letting me borrow what’s probably a very expensive piece of tech. Least I can do is ride my ass out there to get it.”

“If you insist. When you get to the main house find Jerry. I’ll call him to tell him what you’re coming for. He knows where to find it.”

“I’ll be back before nightfall.” It wasn’t far, and I’d travel fast alone. Colt and I took off, leaving a cloud of dust.

“Dustin!” I heard Kate shouting, but didn’t look back. Colt flew over the ground, eating up the miles between the ranch and us. The sun was just starting to sink into the horizon once we trotted onto McCree land. I knew it was Chase’s property because of how well it was maintained. The McCrees took pride in every inch, and even the wildest parts seemed to comply with the fact that Millie liked order.

Jerry was waiting for me. He was seated in a rocker on the porch, with the big black half wolf called Shadow, curled round his feet. Shadow had taken a liking to Briar this past Christmas, and saved her life. He wore a hot pink bandana around his neck so everyone knew he was a pet, and not a threat.

“Got a call from Chase,” he stood, leaning on his cane. Shadow barked once, but stayed in his relaxed position. “Said to give you this.”

“Thanks,” I dropped off of Colt, jogging up the steps to meet him.

He pulled his hand back before I could take the little black box from him. “Wanna tell me what you’re up to, boy?”

“Uh,” I gulped. What had Chase said to him? “To be honest, not really?”

“Will it get you in trouble?” he snorted, seeming pleased that I was at least being honest.

“Possibly.” I held still as Shadow stood and sniffed my leg. He could be a little funny around people he didn’t know, and I wasn’t considered his friend yet, so I respectfully held still until he sat and nudged his head against my hip for a scratch. “Look, I’m not going to use it unless it’s absolutely necessary. It’s just a precaution.”

With a resigned sigh, he handed me the box and I shoved it in my pocket. “Thanks Jerry.”

“You’re welcome.” He nodded, turning for the kitchen door. Then he paused, glancing back over his shoulder at me. “Tomorrow night, family dinner. You’re invited.”

For family dinner? “Uh, thanks I’ll be here.”

He chuckled. “Bring a friend. Maybe someone who doesn’t get out much.”

“Okay…” I’d see what Tuck was doing, or Josh, though I wasn’t sure that either of them didn’t get out. They were pretty active guys.

“Are you even hearing what I’m trying to hint at?” Jerry snorted. “You’re thicker than a brick wall.”

“I’m confused.”

“Or stupid,” he shook his head and opened the door. “I expect you and Miss Kate here at seven o'clock. Don’t be late or Millie will have my hide.”

The door slammed shut behind him, and I stood there like an idiot with my mouth hanging open.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Kate

Dustin had been gone for an hour when I started to wonder if he was coming back at all. It wasn’t like him to invite me out and dump me on our friends without telling me why he’d left, but stranger things had happened.

A few months ago I never thought I’d be on the run from Death.

So I tried not to think about Dustin and instead focused on setting up the second tent with Briar, while Chase got the campfire built. It’d been a couple years since I was outdoors with cowboys and horses, but it was like riding a bike. I didn’t really forget how to be who I was. Living in the city hadn’t taken over. I was still a cowgirl, just a little rusty.

“You’re pretty good at that,” Briar said as we finished the tent. “I need to look at the directions every five seconds.”

I laughed, “You’ll get the hang of it.”

“Yeah, eventually…maybe I’ll just get good at faking it.”

“So how’s it been, adjusting to such a change?”

“I’m not having much trouble, fitting in. Sometimes I’m worried that people wouldn’t be so accepting because I wasn’t familiar with ranch life, but they’ve been so nice. It’s backwards from the way I was raised.”

I sat in front of the fire, opening one of the packs to rifle through it. Briar sat across from me and began unpacking another. “What’s it like where you’re from?”

“Rich, snobby, hot…I’m from Florida. I met Chase when he came down to stay with his mom, but he didn’t fit in and the people who I thought were my friends were terrible to him.” She sighed, glancing back at him as he gathered extra wood for the fire. “They turned on me when I got close to him.”

I wanted to ask how people could be so mean, but I didn’t want to sound naive. People could be very mean. “So what brought you here?”

“A summer vacation. I wanted to escape the judgment. I also wanted to be with Chase. It was like I couldn’t let go of him.” She smiled at him when he met her eyes from across the fire. The way she looked at him with such open affection was how I wanted to look at Dustin. “When I met him, I felt like I was home. Coming here with him was temporary, but once I got here, I never wanted to leave. Like I was supposed to be here with him all along.”

Wow, I had trouble hiding my astonishment. I knew that she left her life to come to Montana, but I didn’t quite realize what she changed to be with him. “Do you miss being back home?”

She lifted a shoulder and smiled. “Sometimes. I miss my grandparents more than anything. My mom and dad didn’t pay any attention to me. Most of the time I was lonely, and tried to fill the void by spending my father’s money.”

Well, she cleared one part up for me. She had come from money, so that meant she couldn’t be chasing McCree for his. He had billions. When his dad died, it all went into a trust until he turned eighteen. It was a lot of responsibly for Chase, but he handled it better than anyone could. You’d never know meeting him that he was so well off, and that’s what I liked most about him and his family. They were the kindest, most respectable folks you’d ever meet.

“So your parents didn’t care that you left home to move here with him?” Sounded a little screwy to me, but there were a lot of people out there who shouldn’t be parents.

“Well, they cared in their own way. Mostly what I did made them look bad…” She winced, staring at the campfire. “Money talks with my father, and when he found out how much Chase had, he really didn’t care. Important connections, you know. Good thing for me that I’m better off here than I was there.”

“Yeah, you really got lucky.”

“In more ways than most people know. Meeting Chase changed the way I looked at my life. Deep down I knew something was wrong. The people around me were so vain and fake. My grandma kept me grounded, and if it wasn’t for her, I’d probably be just like my mother.” She tossed me a bag of marshmallows. “What about you? What’s it like going from cowgirl to country singer?”

“Well, surreal. Part of me still isn’t used to it, and I doubt I ever will be,” I laughed, remembering. “When I first started, I didn’t think my life would change much. I was wrong. People would run up to me, and I hadn’t even decided how I wanted to sign my name yet, so the first time I just put a big K with a heart around it.”

“But that’s how you sign everything.”

“Yep, it makes the signature faster if I have a lot to sign. Still, I would have liked to sign my full name. Or at least my first name.” I nodded, “Things I wanted to take time deciding…most of those things were decided by other people for me. I tried to fight it, but then I realized that it took up a lot of my energy and time.”

“What kinds of things did you want to decide?”

“I don’t know…just stuff you think that doesn’t really matter, and then you get there and it does. I had a different manager in the beginning. She was all about trying to make me sexy. Some of the outfits she wanted me to wear on stage made me uncomfortable. The image she wanted to portray of me to the public, was a party girl.” I laughed, remembering. “It wasn’t me. I told her that, but she insisted that sex sells music and I wouldn’t make it in the business. Once I got the guts up to fire her, I met Jake. He managed another girl around my age, and didn’t try to make her into anything she wasn’t. So now I have someone making decisions for me who knows what I’d want.”

“Sounds like your ex-manager and my mother might be related.” Briar started laughing, and Chase came over to get in on the conversation, clearly feeling left out of the fun.

“What’s so funny?” he asked, snagging Briar’s freshly toasted marshmallow.

She swatted his arm playfully and handed him a stick. “Just some similarities between Kate’s ex-manager and my mother.”

He didn’t really get it, but nodded and smiled anyway. “I’m glad you two are getting along. I’d hoped you would.”

When we were little, people sometimes thought Chase and I would end up together,” I explained to Briar. I shook my head and tried not to laugh. “No offence Chase, you’re a nice guy, but you’re like my brother.”

“Which is why I was hoping you and Briar would hit it off. I wanted my almost sister and girlfriend to like each other.” He kissed Briar’s cheek and tried to steal another marshmallow, but she shook her head and kept it out of his reach.

“So tell me more about how you guys were almost family…” Briar stopped, lowering her voice. “I mean, if it’s not too hard.”

“It’s not the easiest thing to talk about,” I let out a sigh. “But you should know what happened.”

“I told her about the accident,” Chase interjected. “That your mom was with my dad.”

I stared into the fire. “They were together. That’s what matters I guess. My mom loved Chase’s dad so much, I don’t think she could have lived happily without him. It was just tragic.”

Chase nodded, “Two months before their wedding, Kate’s mom moved onto the ranch. Kate had her own room, so did Cheyenne. It was perfect…I was excited to have another mom. But one day…it wasn’t perfect. Two years later Cheyenne decided to move out with Kate.”

I remembered that day, wondering why we had to leave. “My sister didn’t feel right staying. It wasn’t her home.”

“But it was yours,” Chase said. “Millie offered to take guardianship of Kate, but Cheyenne wouldn’t listen.”

“I can’t blame my sister,” I said. “I was all she had left, and she was worried she’d loose me. That our lives would somehow grow apart. So we moved into a little apartment in town.”

Briar shook her head, “I know it was a long time ago, but I am so sorry.”

Feeling tears mist my eyes, I decided it was time for a subject change. “So where is Dustin?”

Chase shifted, “Oh, he went back to the ranch. I forgot something.”

Briar stoked the fire, sending little sparks in the air. “What did you forget?”

“This.” Something flew through the air, right past my head. Chase caught it with a nod, slipping the tiny black box in his pocket. Dustin sat down beside me, his dark eyes meeting my without wavering. “It’s a tracking device. Good to have on us while we’re out here in case something happens.”

“You’re kidding me.” I blinked at him, confused. “Since when have you guys been so cautious?”