Total pages in book: 146
Estimated words: 138588 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 693(@200wpm)___ 554(@250wpm)___ 462(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 138588 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 693(@200wpm)___ 554(@250wpm)___ 462(@300wpm)
Wyatt let his head fall back, snow landing on his face.
“You having one of those moments?” Sawyer asked, walking past him.
“I’m just happy to be here, man.” Months of therapy had cracked him open wide, and he couldn’t quite stop feeling lucky, feeling like he had a real chance at something that had felt so far from him before. “I know you say this storm is going to be dangerous, but it’s so beautiful.”
“Well, anyone stuck out in it now is going to be a beautiful corpse,” Sawyer replied, grabbing the last of the groceries and closing the back of the Jeep. “And it’s not a big deal I pay them even though the bar’s closed. My grandfather was smart enough to diversify. He told me to never count on one source of income. When he had money, he invested it. When his money made more money, he bought land and invested in businesses. When he died he left behind more money than we could ever need. Well, not Wes. From what I’ve heard he’s already gone through all of his, and I have no idea what Jimmy did with his portion. We split everything three ways, with me buying out their parts of the businesses. It was lean for a while, but I’m back to being comfortable.”
Damn, he hadn’t meant to remind Sawyer of everything he’d lost. “Well, I’m just glad you’re able to take care of your people.”
“You’re getting paid, too, if you’re worried about money.”
Of course he would go there. “I might be if you allowed me to pay rent.”
Sawyer frowned. “You won’t be here long, and like you said, I owe you.”
It had been almost a year. They had different definitions of the word long. “Sure, I’m going to start looking for a rental real soon.”
Sawyer’s brows rose. “Really? This is a bad time to look for a cabin to rent. I think you should wait until the spring at least. And you should think about finding a place close to the bar. Even when the snow’s not so bad it can be hard to get to. That little bike you bought won’t handle the snow and ice the way it needs to. You should probably stay put until you have enough money for a proper SUV.”
And this was why he thought his plans might work. He would spend this weekend softening the guy up and then suggest they go down to the valley and deal with some of the tenant complaints they’d recently had. He’d taken over that part of the business, too. Sawyer owned a total of five properties in the area, including his own cabin. Marie Warner was the go between and almost as surly as Sawyer. Wyatt had figured out how to soften her up, though. He went into town once a week to meet with her and sat and had tea with her and her wife, Teeny. He asked about her grandkids and how the business was going. He had a whole checklist of things to ask people to indicate he was truly interested in their lives.
The weird thing turned out to be he was interested in their lives. He kind of loved gossip, and Bliss thrived on it.
He wished he had more gossip on Sabrina beyond she was sweet and smart and probably dating the guys from Creede. If she was into law enforcement guys, it would make things harder, but he intended for her to never see the Wyatt he used to be. Only the man he was becoming.
“I will definitely take your advice. Besides, I liked last winter.” Wyatt followed him back to the porch, but Bella had gotten out and was doing zoomies in the snow. “It was nice and quiet, and the cabin is warm.”
Sawyer snorted. “You liked not getting your ass handed to you on a daily basis and not living in a place where the cops could invade at any moment and take you to jail.”
All true. “I also liked playing games and learning to cook and reading books without someone telling me the state of my sexuality is tied to illiteracy. It’s also nice to not listen to some dude screwing in the room next to me. The dorms there had paper-thin walls. Some of the things I heard… They were extremely wrong.”
“Well, you didn’t get nearly molested by a moose there,” Sawyer pointed out, his lips coming up in a grin.
It had been a weird morning. Wyatt had been standing in the yard, taking in the morning air, and then there was a moose licking the back of his neck. Scared the hell out of him. “I don’t know. Some of those guys got so drunk they didn’t care whose bed they fell into. And one of them liked to snuggle.”
Sawyer laughed, the sound booming in the quiet of the mountains. He put a hand on Wyatt’s shoulder. “I’m glad you got out, brother. Come on. Let’s get settled in. I’m starving. I’ll see if the Internet’s still up. Maybe we can play some Xbox.”