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yourself for a few minutes.
Nate took the offered seat.  Gladly. This is the last item on my to-do list for the day.
 Well, we ve got nothing to compare it to, of course, but we ve had a fantastic time so
far. You should be proud of yourself.
Rawley s words shocked him. The hard-nosed man wasn t known for his compliments.
 Thanks. After clean-up on Sunday, I m planning to sleep for a week.
 Maybe you should take a vacation, Jeb added to the conversation.
 Only if I can wrestle that trip to Hawaii away from Guy. Hell, it s not like the man
needs a free trip. He s got more money than he knows what to do with.
Garron started laughing.  So do you, smartass. Release the purse strings and take your
family to the islands for a couple weeks.
CATTLE VALLEY DAYS Carol Lynne
54
Nate s jaw dropped. He d become so accustomed to looking for ways to save the city
money, he d completely forgotten he had plenty of his own. Fuck me.  I might just do that.
 Maybe you could look Quade up while you re there, Garron put in.
 Yeah, maybe.
The crowd started cheering and Nate stood.  What d I miss?
 That number thirty-two just hit a homer, Ranger told him.  Nice ass on him, by the
way.
Nate grinned.  That s Hearn, and you re right. He s got a damn nice ass.
He watched Hearn cross the plate and jog to the fence to give Tyler and Gracie kisses.
Nate tried to picture Hearn as mayor. Would he let the stress of the job interfere with his
family? No.
 Mayor Gills? a soft voice said from behind.
Nate grinned and glanced over his shoulder.  Jay, how many times have I told you to
call me Nate?
Jay blushed and looked down.  Several. I& um, wanted to introduce you to someone.
Nate noticed a thin young man behind Jay. He stood and gestured to an adjacent
shaded area. He held out his hand to the guy.  I m Nate Gills, and you are& 
 Ethan. Ethan Drake.
 Ethan s a friend of mine from back home. He took the bus from DC to surprise me.
Nate immediately went on alert. He wondered if this was the punk who d been stalking
and beating the shit out of Jay. He studied Jay for a few moments but couldn t read him.  Is
this your ex?
Jay s normally fair complexion paled even further.  No! As far as I know Randy still
doesn t know where I am. Ethan used to volunteer at the shelter. He worked as a clerk for the
Family Services Administration. Jay turned to Ethan.  Tell him.
Ethan appeared as timid as Jay, but the young man finally spoke.  There s this guy that
came in one day yelling about how we took away his family. I was filling in at the front desk
while the usual woman took her break. The guy, Jim, got it in his head that I d tell him where
they were. Since we usually deal with family violence, I knew there was no way I could help
him. I tried to tell him that, but he grabbed me by the shirt. He told me if I didn t tell him,
he d make me sorry.
CATTLE VALLEY DAYS Carol Lynne
55
 Did you go to the police?
Ethan nodded.  I filed a complaint. The police went by the guy s house, but he d been
evicted. Ethan took a deep breath.  I ve only seen him a couple of times since, but I think he
followed me home one evening. When I left for work the next morning, I found a dead cat in
the hall outside my apartment. I knew the police couldn t do anything about someone they
couldn t find, so I panicked. I scraped together what little money I had and hopped a bus out
here.
 I told him how nice everyone was. I hope that s okay? Once again, Jay looked
worried.
 It s fine. Did you call the police in DC and tell them about the cat?
Ethan nodded.  I called them before getting on the bus. I told them I was moving here.
Nate nodded.  You got a place to stay?
 Jay said I could sleep on his sofa until I found a place.
With his hand shielding the glare, Nate surveyed the crowd.  Come with me.
Sitting on the bottom bleacher of the small grandstand was Kyle.  Hey, can I talk to you
about something? Nate asked, sitting beside his friend.
 Sure. What s up?
 Did your assistant ever find a house?
 Yeah. He moved out a couple of months ago, why? Kyle asked.
Nate gestured to Ethan, who was standing back with Jay.  A friend of Jay s just came
into town. He needs a cheap place to live. I don t know the kid personally, but Jay seems to
think a lot of him. I guess he did volunteer work at the shelter where Jay used to live.
 Good enough for me. Although I d like to have a few days to seal the elevator shaft.
It s not that I don t trust the guy, but I d rather someone who wasn t working for me didn t
have access to the bakery.
 I can understand that. So what do you think? A week?
Kyle nodded.  A week sounds good. Tell him to come by the bakery on Monday
around ten. I ll give him the keys and let him take a look around.
Nate gave Kyle s shoulder a squeeze.  Thanks.
Kyle shrugged.  Don t thank me. That s what this town s about.
CATTLE VALLEY DAYS Carol Lynne
56
The words were like a punch to the stomach. Leave it to Kyle to remind him of the
reason he and his partners had moved to Cattle Valley in the first place.  Yeah. You re
exactly right about that.
After filling Jay and Ethan in on his conversation with Kyle, he sent them off and went
back to his friends.
Garron was shaking his head when Nate arrived.  You ve missed it. They re one out
away from losing the game.
 Shit.
 At least they know you re here. I spotted Rio eyeing you earlier.
 A good eyeing or a bad eyeing? Nate asked.
Garron chuckled.  Depends on what you call good. I seem to recall seeing him brush at
the front of his pants a couple of times.
Nate grinned.  Oh, good.
He watched as Ryan came up to bat. At least he d get to see one of his men in action.
The crack of the bat sounded perfect. Nate stood and watched the small white ball as it flew
through the air in a high arc.
 Damn, Ranger cursed before the ball even came down.
Ranger must know a hell of a lot more than Nate did because a moment later, Matt
Jeffries caught the ball. A mixture of groans and whoops of joy wound their way through the
crowd of fans.
Nate turned and folded the lawn chair before leaning it against the tree.
He took several steps and waited. After shaking the hands of the opposing team, a very
dirty and sweaty pair of men came towards him, and they had never looked more gorgeous.
He knew it was customary to go to O Brien s after the game, but Nate wondered if he could [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]