by Liz Isaacson
“Have you guys had dinner?” he asked.
“It’s four-ten,” Ames said.
“So that’s a no,” Gray said. “Maybe I’ll call Mom and see if she’d like me to bring dinner out.” He raised his eyebrows at his son. “Or did you guys go over there after church?”
“We didn’t go to church today,” Hunter said.
Gray worked hard not to look at his brother. “Oh,” he said. “Right.” He’d forgotten that Ames wasn’t the most faithful of sermon-goers. He believed, Gray knew that. He had faith. He claimed as a cop, he had to have more faith than the rest of the brothers, or he’d never go to work.
Gray had gotten so used to rolling his eyes at the things Ames said, that he hadn’t really taken his brother seriously. He finally glanced at Ames. “So should I call them?”
“If you’re buying dinner, I’m in,” he said.
Gray shook his head, his smile quick to appear. “I’ll call Mom.” He stepped away to do that, and quickly made plans with his parents. “All right, Hunt. Pick what you want, and remember that Grandma doesn’t like spicy stuff.”
Just being reunited with his son had settled something in Gray that had been seething in Coral Canyon. He wanted to say it was being back in Colorado—back home—but he knew that wasn’t the root of the issue.
He had family in Coral Canyon too. Colton lived there, and Wes had bought a house too. If Gray moved there and took his parents with him, there’d be more Hammonds in Coral Canyon than Colorado.
The issue was Hunter and where he’d be the happiest. So while Gray was glad his brothers had been able to sell their penthouses and homes and make the move in their lives that made sense to them, he wondered he if had the same luxury.
“Five Brothers,” Hunter said, and Gray’s mouth watered though he’d had a burger for lunch. He’d skipped the fries, but he wouldn’t be able to resist the twice-fried sweet potato fries at Five Brothers—with the garlic aioli dipping sauce.
“Perfect,” he said. “I’m ordering now, and we’ll pick up on our way out of town.” He started swiping, putting in what he and his son wanted. “What do you want, Ames?”
“Let me see.”
Gray handed him his phone and went to sit beside his son on the couch. “Did you really get all your homework done?”
“Yes, sir.”
Gray smiled at Hunter. “And how’s the farm?”
“About the same.” Hunter looked back at Gray with the same eyes Gray saw when he looked in the mirror. “Grandpa came out and helped, and he’s still really strong, Dad.”
“Is he? What did he do?”
“He lifted the hay bales right over the fence as if they weighed nothing.”
“Wow,” Gray said, impressed. “I bet he was still glad to have you there to help.”
“He was,” Hunter said. “They sold two more horses.”
“Yeah, Grandpa called me on the way back today and told me.”
Hunter nodded, and Gray let his thoughts wander down a path where his father sold the farm that had been in the Hammond family for generations. He simply couldn’t see it happening. He could see himself working it, and his throat narrowed.
“What if we worked the farm full-time?” he asked, glancing at Ames to make sure he was still involved in the food ordering app.
Hunter looked at Gray, his eyebrows up. “Full-time?”
“What if we moved out there?” Gray continued. “And I worked the farm now that I’m not at the company. And you did too, and then went to school and all that.” He gave his son a gentle smile. “That’s what I did when I was your age, you know. I fed the chickens and horses before school and after school. Worked all summer.” Gray had had a childhood full of work, from sunup to sundown.
“Would I have to change schools?”
“Most likely,” Gray said. “We can wait until the end of this year.”
Hunter didn’t like that answer, as his frown pulled down his eyebrows and he ducked his head. He wouldn’t say anything until he knew exactly what to say. Gray knew, because he’d had plenty of real conversations with his son.
“You don’t want to.”
Hunter shook his head.
“Maybe I can find out if we can keep you at the junior high you’d be going to next year,” Gray said. “And drive you in.”
Hope filled his son’s face when he looked up, and Gray had his answer. To a lot of questions, really, including a very sensitive one about Elise and making a move to Coral Canyon at the end of the school year.
His heart felt like it was sinking, sinking, sinking, and he couldn’t do anything to save it.
“Done,” Ames said, handing the phone back. “And you got a few texts. I just swiped them away.”
“Thanks,” Gray said, the word laced with misery. If Ames or Hunter heard it, they didn’t say anything. “What do Grandma and Grandpa like from Five Brothers?” He looked at Hunter.
“Grandpa likes the Surf Rider,” Hunter said. “With avocado. I think Grandma gets the Tropical Surf Salad.”
“That sounds right,” Gray said, making the choices quickly and checking out. “Twenty-two minutes.” He got up, his back protesting. He’d run the hills a lot yesterday, and he felt like he needed one more day of rest from his marathon training.
But he was less than four months out from the Colfax Marathon, and his schedule required six days a week of running. Tomorrow, he was supposed to do six miles at an easy pace. He could, and he would. Sleeping in his own bed tonight would help tremendously.
“We’re at least that far out, so let’s get loaded up. Are you packed?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Go get your bag then.” He watched Hunter head toward the hallway and go down it, a smile singing in his soul.
“He is the best kid,” Ames said. “I still can’t believe you make him call you sir.”
“I don’t,” Gray said. “He just does it.”
“Yeah, well, I told him while he’s here, he doesn’t have to do it.”
“Your choice,” Gray said, shrugging. “I don’t care either way.” He looked down at his phone, remembering the texts Ames had mentioned.
He hadn’t had time to swipe before Ames asked, “Who’s Elise?”
Gray’s head shot back up; his pulse sprinted instantly. “What? Who?”
Ames grinned and folded his arms. “Yeah, exactly. Who’s Elise?”
“No one,” Gray said even as the heat licked its way through his core and into his face. He focused back on his phone, navigating to the texts. Sure enough, Elise had been the one to text while Ames had been putting in his order.
Hope you made it back okay.
Let me know when you do.
Miss you already!
He groaned inwardly, because that last text—while it made Gray’s whole day brighter—was the one that negated his claim that Elise was “no one.”
“Do you have a girlfriend, Gray?” Ames asked, not about to let this go. Ames never let anything go. He said blunt things, and he asked hard questions. Gray had always admired that about his brother—until now.
He looked up, glanced at the hallway, and met his brother’s eyes again. “Swear to secrecy,” he said.
“Oh, come on. We’re not eleven.”
“I have a son, and Mom will ask. Swear it, or I’m walking out and you can drive to pick up your own dinner.”
Ames’s expression changed from a teasing, playful glint to a serious one. “Fine. I’ll swear it.”
“If you don’t before Hunt gets back, deal’s off.” Gray lifted his chin.
“You’re kind of a tyrant.”
“I’m sure he’ll be back any second.” And Gray wasn’t saying a word about Elise to Hunter. Not right not. Not yet.
“I said I’d swear it.”
Gray just waited, and Ames rolled his eyes. “Fine. I swear that I will not repeat what I’m about to hear to anyone. Not my twin, not my mother, not any of my brothers. No one.” He even reached up and made
a locking motion in front of his mouth. “Happy now?”
“Yes,” Gray said. “And the answer to your question is yes. And no, I don’t want to talk about it right now, and no, you can’t ask me any questions in front of Hunter or Mom and Dad, and yes, Colton knows, and yes, you’re only the second person who knows.”
Hunter came around the corner. “Got it,” he said. “I couldn’t find my tablet charger, but it was in the bathroom.”
“So you got it?” Gray asked, moving seamlessly from one conversation to another.
“Yep.”
“Great.” He took his son’s bag, let his eyes linger on Ames, where entire conversations were had and acknowledged, and then turned toward the front door. “Let’s go then.”
Chapter Ten
Ames Hammond pulled a pair of jogging pants over his skin-tight lycra running leggings, because it was freezing outside. He normally went to the gym to work out in the winter, but Gray had talked him into their outdoor spring, summer, and autumn runs together while he trained for a marathon.
Ames had protested, claiming he couldn’t run ten miles when he hadn’t been training the way Gray had, but in the end, if he wanted to talk to his brother, it would have to be while they did a five-mile run together.
Gray had told him to walk the five miles home, but Ames couldn’t do that and not freeze to death, so he’d run the whole ten miles.
It would only be nine-point-four anyway, as Gray lived 4.7 miles from him. He’d said he’d drop Hunter at school, go home, change, and start his first leg of the run. Ames would meet him outside, and they’d run the 4.7 miles back to Gray’s house. That would be his ten miles, at which point, Ames would return home, finishing his ten-mile run alone.
So they ran together for half of their distance, and Ames had loved doing it in the warmer months. He’d gotten to know Gray better over the years once their mutual love of working out had been discovered.
Ames just didn’t normally keep up the training in the depths of winter. True to his vow of secrecy, he’d said nothing more about Gray’s girlfriend in front of their parents, Hunter, or to Gray at all. Not in person, and not via text.
Ames respected the other brother’s boundaries, and he’d talk to Gray about Elise this morning.
A sense of awe filled him that Gray had started dating again. First, that Ames didn’t know. Second, that Colton did. And third, that Gray would even do it in the first place. He’d been so anti-dating and anti-marriage for so long, and Ames had started to rely on his brother’s single status as a shield for himself.
But if Gray got married again….
Ames cut off the thought, bent to get his socks out of the bottom drawer of his dresser, and grabbed his shoes on the way out of the bedroom. The room across the hall from the master suite felt strangely empty now that Hunter wasn’t there, and Ames paused to look inside. He’d need to strip the bed and do the laundry to get the bed ready for the next guest.
No one stayed with Ames anyway, so there was no hurry. In fact, the next person who’d likely stay with him was Hunter, so he’d be back in that same bed, with those same sheets.
In order to keep up with Gray, Ames swallowed his vitamins with a few big gulps of a Monster energy drink. He’d have to go to the bathroom during the run, but he could use Gray’s house at the midway point. Heck, maybe he’d get Gray to drive him home.
With that as a plan, Ames chugged the rest of the Monster and looked up at the ceiling. “Bless me not to die today.”
It was a prayer he offered to the Lord often, because Ames strapped a gun around his waist and went to work five days out of seven. Danger was an implicit part of his job, and he didn’t want to die before the age of forty.
Not after forty, either, but that was the benchmark he was using for now.
He wondered briefly if he should be using a benchmark like before he got married and had kids or before he’d made his dad proud.
His dad was proud of him already, Ames knew that. The man simply held such high standards and being a police officer felt like it ranked really low on the list. With one brother a CEO, with an advanced degree in business and economics, another a high-profile corporate attorney, and another with scads of scientific credentials to his name, Ames often felt like a sore thumb in the family.
His only saving grace now was Cy, the youngest of the Hammond brothers by five minutes. He, though, owned a massive custom motorcycle shop in California, where he built bikes for the rich and famous as well as rides for disabled veterans and others who’d served in the military. He’d taken his two billion and done something. Make more of himself. Did a lot of good in the world.
Ames had bought a couple of motorcycles from Cy, and he had two classic cars in storage in addition to the two trucks parked in his driveway. He’d gone to school too, but only for a year before transferring to the police academy. His big plan had been to get a criminal justice degree, but he never had.
He never had applied to a lot of things in Ames’s life.
He pulled his shoes on and said, “Come on, Georgia. Gray will be here soon.” He got down the leash for the German shepherd, but he wouldn’t need it. The dog ran with him a lot, and she knew to stay right by him no matter what distractions came her way.
She was a police dog, and she and Ames had bonded instantly. He did everything with the dog, from sleep, to shop, to train, to traffic stops. He gave her a healthy scrub before he opened the front door and went out onto the porch. She followed him, waiting at the top of the steps for him to go down.
He adjusted his hat so it covered his ears more fully and pulled on his gloves. “All right, Gray,” he muttered into the bleak sky. “Where are you?” He better hurry up—and he better be ready to answer questions about the mysterious Elise who’d texted him yesterday.
“Let’s go,” he told the dog, going down the steps. He paused at the bottom and started stretching, feeling his muscles yawn and start to wake up. Several minutes later, Gray came running toward him, lifting his hand.
He was moving fast, and Ames knew he was about to punish his body severely. “All right,” he said to Georgia. “Right side.”
She moved where he wanted her, and he got himself going so he could join Gray stride for stride as he rounded the half-circle of the cul-de-sac where Ames lived.
“You’re going to kill me,” Ames said, his lungs already protesting against this rigorous movement.
“This is an easy pace,” Gray said, barely winded. “I’m not doing a marathon pace.”
“I haven’t run in two months.”
“Colton kept up with me,” Gray said. “I’m sure you can too.”
If Gray knew that mentioning what Colton could do that Ames couldn’t would light a fire in Ames’s gut, he wouldn’t have said it. But Ames hated being compared to any of his brothers, but Cy and Colton were the worst.
He struggled to find his rhythm as they left the neighborhood, but after the first mile, his lungs remembered how to breathe, and his muscles had remembered how to propel his body down the street in a nice running stride.
“There you go,” Gray said, shooting him a smile.
“Found it,” Ames said, proud of himself. “So can you talk at this pace?”
“Sure,” Gray said, everything about him so smooth. He really as the most polished brother, with always the right thing to say and always the right clothes in the right place. He knew so much, but he never acted like he was the smartest of them all. He was kind and respectful, and the reason Hunter called his father “sir” was because Gray commanded respect—and usually got it.
“Is Elise your girlfriend?”
“Yes,” Gray said.
“And how did you meet her?”
“You’ve met her too,” Gray said. “She’s Colton’s friend in Coral Canyon.”
“She lives in Coral Canyon?”
“Yes.”
Ames tried to get a sense of how Gray felt about that, but his brother was all buttoned up, as usual. �
�That’s all I get? I’m out here in the sub-arctic temperatures, running, and I get ‘yes’? Come on, man.”
Gray smiled, and a stride or two later, a chuckle came out of his mouth. He evened out his breathing, never breaking his pace, and said, “I don’t know how I feel about it.”
“Are you going to call? Text?”
“All of that,” he said. “She called last night after Hunter went to bed.”
“So we’re not involving Hunter in this.”
“We’re not doing anything.” Gray gave him a look. “I’ll figure it out.”
Ames nodded, because he knew the smothering feeling of having a bunch of people in his business. His mother was definitely the worst culprit when it came to meddling, but Colton did a ton, and for Ames especially, so did Cy. He always seemed to know better than Ames what Ames should do with his life. He couldn’t count how many times he’d told Cy that just because they were identical didn’t mean they were the same.
Wes stayed out of everyone’s business fairly well, as did Gray. In fact, Gray was the best at it, probably because he wanted the same treatment in return.
“Do you have a picture of her?”
“I actually don’t,” Gray said. “You don’t remember her?” He glanced at Ames. “Petite, white-blond hair, real slim, light green eyes?” He sucked at the air, and Ames wondered if it was just from all the words he’d strung together. “She never strayed far from Colt.”
“I don’t remember her at all.”
“I haven’t been able to get her out of my head,” Gray said. “Even back then, when we first met….” He let his voice trial off, and Ames focused on the rhythmic sound of his breathing, the pounding of their feet on the cleared pavement.
Ames knew was it was like to have someone hovering in his head he couldn’t get rid of. That would be Angie Lawson for him. He hadn’t spoken to the brunette in at least a year, and yet, there she still was. He could picture every eyelash, the deep, red lipstick she favored, the little black dresses she’d worn to every dinner.
He’d had her, and he’d messed up. Last he’d heard, she’d started dating someone else, and that guy hadn’t been too cool for her, hadn’t wasted his time, and hadn’t made her doubt herself. Ames was fairly certain she was engaged now, but he’d blocked her and most of her friends from social media for his own sanity.
