Ash stifled a sigh and slid into the chair while he waited for Andy to make change in the ancient cash register.
Then Andy dropped the cape over his head and started working.
They didn’t need to discuss options. His haircut had been the same for years and Andy had been his barber.
The sounds of occasional snipping filled the air before Bailey Garcia came back on screen.
The sight of him standing on the sidewalk in front of the ranger station settled his nerves. It was a report on their press conference. Nothing more.
Every man in the room inched closer to get a better handle on the volume. Even Andy paused as he listened to Bailey’s rundown of everything Ash had said. When she held up the packet of information they’d handed out, Woody whistled long and loud. “She’s got the smoking gun.”
Ash closed his eyes for a minute. Smoking gun? Was there such a thing? Did bureaucratic red tape smoke at all?
Then the segment was over. She didn’t announce that she was working on a follow-up. That was for the best. He hadn’t heard from the chief ranger, not even after he’d filed the paperwork needed to transfer Macy away from the ranger station. For some reason, Ash had expected that to lead to...something.
Monica should have protested. Macy should have texted him angrily when she found out. Leland Hall could have called to inform Ash his little ploy wouldn’t work and Macy could stay at the ranger station until the Callaways pulled the plug.
So far, nothing.
Ash was thinking so hard that he didn’t realize all eyes in the shop had returned to him.
When he did, he cleared his throat and fluffed the cape out over his arms.
“All right,” Andy said, his comb pointed at Ash. While he was stalling for time, Ash tried to remember if he’d ever heard Andy say anything other than those two words in that order. Surely he had.
If he waited long enough, would Andy be forced to say something else?
“Diner was dee-serted this morning,” Woody drawled from his seat in the window. “Made my favorite waitress Chrissy sad.” His eyebrows drew together into a white, bushy line of disapproval. “Y’all up to something out there at the Reserve or not? Scheming to stop forward movement and whatnot.”
Ash considered his options. There weren’t many. “Nope.”
Then he stretched his legs out and waited for Andy to resume cutting. Nobody moved.
If that had worked, he would have celebrated. Instead, he added, “Love that place. Love this town. Grew up here. I won’t do anything to hurt either. You better look further afield for your suspects.”
Andy returned to cutting Ash’s hair without saying a word. Was that settled?
“Suspects of what?” Woody drawled.
Ash stared at the old guys as Andy finished clipping and cleaning up the mess Ash had walked in with. Whatever else Andy did, he had the “lawman special” look down. When he whipped off the cape, Ash stood up and pulled out a ten-dollar bill. He held up a hand as Andy wordlessly offered to make change.
The urge to make a run for it was strong. Instead, he stopped at the door. “I know there’s plenty of support in town for a new lodge. The Callaways are pushing hard because a new lodge could draw lots of visitors and money, but it’ll destroy The Aerie. That’s been my issue all along. That report? Only confirms what I’ve said from the beginning.” Ash tapped the doorknob, anxious to make a good case. “I’ve never done anything underhanded, though. I’m committed to serving the people of Sweetwater and the mission of the Reserve. The Callaways hold all the cards. Somebody’s gotta watch over their shoulders to make sure they aren’t cheating us all out of the place we love.”
In a nutshell, that was it.
“All right, Ash,” Andy said with a firm nod.
Woody’s lips flattened. “Them Callaways. Rich gettin’ richer at the expense of this town.” He shook his head in disgust. “Expect they’ll come out smelling like roses, too.”
“Please don’t turn your back on the Reserve, no matter what comes of the new lodge.” Ash hated how the words tasted, but the strong, silent routine wouldn’t get him the support he needed in Sweetwater. Battling the Callaways to stop the lodge would be easier with the town behind him just as Winter said it would.
Woody rubbed a hand over his mouth before standing. “I like a man who does the hard thing, Ranger. Expect I’ll remember to tell some others who might feel the same.” He leaned forward. “I have your word you’re on the up-and-up.” Then he offered his hand to shake.
The fleeting question about what a crook might say in this situation was gone before Ash could answer it. Didn’t matter. “You have it. Kingfishers love the Reserve. Protecting that land comes first. The job is second.”
Woody’s eyes narrowed. “The job, you say?”
The man’s alert interest was more than Ash expected. “Not sure how long there’ll be Kingfishers serving at the Smoky Valley Nature Reserve. The Callaway family is still in charge there.” Ash remembered Winter’s serious face as she pondered the possibility of how to tackle them. “If any of you know the members serving on the board of directors, I’d take it as a...” Ash stopped to clear his throat, the words catching so he had to force them out. “It would be a personal favor if you’d make your support for The Aerie and for me known to them. Been working in the Reserve for more than a decade. I’d like to keep doing it, lodge or not. I never stirred up the governor but convincing the Callaways of that is a no go. I’m going to have to go around them.” He paused to watch the old guys consider his request. Then he waved at Andy and stepped back out on the sidewalk.
Grateful for the falling temperatures then, Ash paused to study the storefront of Sweetwater Souvenir. The beautiful painting in the window caught his eye. The landscape featuring the peak of The Aerie trail in bright sunlight was amazing. He was half a second from finding out the price because it belonged in the visitor center when he heard someone call his name.
Before he could turn to see who it was, Sam Blackburn had wrapped his arms around Ash’s shoulders in a substantial bear hug. Sam tried to lift him up before grunting and switching to hard, pounding thumps on his back.
“I’ve missed you, too.” Ash stumbled forward on his bad leg before he aimed a jab at Blackburn’s abdomen. Hard muscles kept him from doing too much damage. “Firefighting must be giving you a workout.”
“More like search-and-rescue equipment, but whatever it is, you’ll never have a six-pack like this, Kingfisher.” Blackburn held both arms out from his sides.
“It’s a good thing I’ve missed you, you cocky so-and-so.” Ash held his hand out and gripped Blackburn’s for a hard handshake. “You told me you’d be here tomorrow.”
“Avery got out of her last class a day early, so we hit the road. She wanted to come home.” Sam waved at Sweetwater Souvenir. Ash could see or almost see Avery with her mother, Janet Abernathy, in the storefront. Christmas greenery made a frame around them and the striking painting.
“We’re headed over to The Branch to have a burger.” Sam shoved his hands in his jeans. “My mother’s busy, she’s over in Cherokee doing research on...something. Consignment contracts? I’ve lost track which scheme they’re on. Why don’t you join us? Unless you’ve got a date?”
Ash grinned. “It’s contagious, I guess. You fall in love, you think everyone comes down with the virus.”
Blackburn shrugged. “It’s definitely got an upside.”
He pointed broadly toward The Branch and Ash watched Avery give him a thumbs-up in the window. “You don’t even need words to communicate. Cute.”
Blackburn sighed. “She is awfully cute. Me? Ruggedly handsome, but still attractive in my own way. Let’s get inside. I expect this chill is hard on you since you’re not used to the cold.”
For a split second, Ash wondered if Sam was making a jab about his bad leg. Then he
realized he was putting on Colorado superior airs. “You were born and raised here just like me, Blackburn.”
Sam nodded slowly. “Uh-huh, but I’ve had to toughen up.”
Ash rolled his eyes, while Blackburn brayed with laughter like a donkey. “Why have I missed you?”
Sam urged him down the street. When they reached The Branch, warmth hit Ash in the face as soon as the door swung open. Neon signs lined the bar, but only small groups of tourists sat at the tables.
“Sam Blackburn, you rascal,” Sharon, the owner, bartender and keeper of peace at Sweetwater’s only bar, yelled from her spot behind the taps. “Wondered when I’d see you again.”
“Four burgers, Sharon, and your coldest root beer.” Root beer was Sharon’s signature drink. Since she ran the only bar in town, it was an interesting choice, but it was difficult to argue with how it hit the spot. Sam pointed toward a booth in the back. “This will be the quietest table.”
Ash limped up the three steps and slid in across from Sam. “Heard you’re having some excitement out at the ranger station.” Sam leaned back. “Were you going to tell me what was going on or just let me read it in the paper?”
“Texting all that?” Ash shrugged. “Nothing you could do about it, anyway.” The urge to tell Sam it was all under control was strong, but Sam had loved the Reserve for a long time, too. Fresh perspective might help him dream up a solution.
“From Colorado, I might not be able to save the day,” Sam said as he stretched an arm out along the booth. “But here, I could...” He frowned. “Well, there’s got to be something.”
Ash ran a hand over his nape, aware of the cool breeze there now that his hair was cut. “I’ve got my best people on it.” Or he’d had his best people. He’d sent his right hand away.
“Best people.” Sam studied the ceiling. “I’m sure your sister is on that list. Winter is formidable. But she’s marrying a Callaway.” He grimaced. “You’ve been dragged into a mess, haven’t you?”
“My mess. Nobody to blame but myself, since I couldn’t keep my objections to myself.” Ash was surprised at how much Sam Blackburn’s opinion mattered. Before the guy had left Tennessee to chase bigger fires, he’d have called himself Sam’s mentor. Now? He wanted to make sure nothing bruised Sam’s good opinion of him.
“You did what you had to.” So there was no doubt in Sam’s mind. That was a huge relief to Ash. He’d had his own doubts along the way. “Building a lodge...” Sam shrugged. “I could see how it makes sense, but not there. That’s too special, one of the most unique trails we’ve got.” He knocked on the wood table. “Winter going to be okay? Having an engagement wrapped up in the mix can’t be easy.”
“She’ll be okay, but the engagement won’t. My mother will celebrate. Winter...” Ash stared hard at the bar. Two root beers were sweating away right there on the edge. He could go get them. “Whatever she decides to do once this all shakes out will be amazing. That’s for sure, but ending an engagement will stick with her.”
“Seems like saying you’ll marry someone’s gotta be one of the scariest decisions a person can make. Walking away from it is probably terrifying.”
Ash crossed his hands on the table and waited for Sam to expound. When he didn’t, Ash drawled. “Do you speak from experience, Sam?” If they’d gotten engaged in Colorado, Ash had missed the update.
Sam coughed. “It’s even more complicated when one party is as skittish as can be.” He shrugged. “I’ll win her over yet, though. But why don’t we dig into your love life instead?”
Ash held his hands out. “Open book as always. No true love or otherwise to speak of.”
“I can tell there’s something else.” Sam shook his finger. “But I can wait. Glad Macy is on your team. The two of them together? Her and Winter? You should be able to handle the Callaways, no problem.”
Ash nodded. “Well, that’s the only play we have left, to outmaneuver them with the board of directors. They don’t make up the majority. If we can get the board to shut down the lodge project or at least reconsider the question while also supporting me and Winter in our positions...” It did seem like a pretty big long shot when he named it all in one fell swoop like that.
Sam whistled. “Gotta focus on the finish line, not all the jumps you gotta make along the way.” He made a writing motion. “That’s pure gold right there. You should write it down.”
Ash blinked slowly at Sam and waited for him to get serious again. “If I fail, there goes my job. There goes Winter’s job.”
Sam leaned forward. “And Macy, too. Maybe Hendrix, since you hired and promoted him, but Macy will get caught, won’t she? No way she’d quietly take the Callaways firing you, probably argue herself right out of a job. Unless the politics have changed in the year I’ve been gone, it’s a tricky spot for both of them, too.” Sam’s face reflected Ash’s concerns and it was another confirmation that he’d done the right thing about Macy.
“I’ve had her transferred. Macy. Hendrix is on his own. There’s nowhere else to send him to wait this out, but Macy I can try to help.” Ash scrubbed his hands over his face. “It’s been a long day. Press conference. Paperwork without Macy’s help. And Nicole...” He shook his head. “She’s nice. Conscientious, but I can tell I make her nerves kick up. At the end of three months, she’ll have an ulcer while I learn to levitate on my way to the door in order to keep from startling her.” Of all the knots he’d worked through that day, facing doing the same tomorrow and hereafter without Macy had been depressing.
“Macy was okay with your plan to protect her?” Blackburn asked slowly. Ash could hear his doubt and understood it.
“No. She’s not okay. I haven’t heard a word from her, but I know she’s not okay.” Ash winced. “I’ve almost called her a dozen different times to explain, but she’s smart. She’ll see through my plan and we’ll be okay. As soon as this dies down, I’ll get her back, offer her a raise if I have to smooth ruffled feathers, and it’ll all be fine. Back to normal. Just the two of us, manning the ranger station.”
Sam pursed his lips and didn’t answer immediately. Ash finally looked up to see that Sam was busy studying the tabletop.
“You don’t think it’ll work like that.” It was like he and Blackburn had taken up the two voices arguing in his head ever since Whit Callaway had left. One side was certain it would all work out. The other was as determined that he’d made a fatal mistake.
“Macy’s like your secret weapon at the ranger station.” Sam tapped his fingers on the table. “Now’s not the best time to be without your weapon. Is it?”
“No, but...” The answer there on the tip of his tongue revealed too much. Since he’d given Blackburn enough of a hard time when he’d been half a second from letting his girl go, Ash was convinced Sam was biding his time to give it all back to him. Being a smart-aleck grump was nice most days. When it came back around to stare him in the face, it was less positive.
Blackburn’s slow grin was the confirmation Ash expected that he’d shown his hand. Sam bent his head closer. “Something you need to tell me? Like, there’s some girl trouble thrown in here?”
Ash retreated. There was almost no chance that he could play this off successfully, but he was going to try. “She’s a friend. A coworker. A young woman alone in this town and in the whole wide world who depends on this job to be her safety net. I won’t let anything happen to that. I’ve sent the staffing recommendation in to the Administrative Services director and I believe Monica will see and understand that talent and passion like Macy’s needs to be utilized better.”
“Nice corporate speak there, Ranger. But you don’t want her to go. Because you’ll miss her. Because you feel...” Sam studied his face.
“Impossible to answer. I’m a boss, kind of. I’d never make a move like that.” Ash thought about her holding his hand on the way to his parents’ house. It had been an awkward, funny
episode, but it had been impossible to ignore how nice it felt coming from Macy Gentry.
“You were a boss. Now you’re not. Maybe that was a good decision you made there. You can ask her out.” Sam waggled his eyebrows.
“Ash Kingfisher wants to ask a lady out?” Janet Abernathy drawled from her spot at the end of the table. “Do tell.” She slid a tray on the table with two burgers and two root beers while Avery, her daughter and Sam’s girlfriend, did the same on the other side. “We got here just in time.”
“Who’s the lady?” Avery asked in a singsong. “We’re only here for ten days, but a lot can happen in that amount of time.” She pretended to be pulling strings on a puppet. “Point me at her.”
Sam’s snort was loud enough that Sharon turned to check on their table. Avery pounded Sam on the back and waved her away.
“This lady? Yeah, she won’t be persuaded.” Sam chuckled to himself as he took a big bite of his burger. “And it’s exactly what Ash Kingfisher deserves.”
Ash was determined not to say another word, but the weight of Janet’s stare and Avery’s got to him. “Macy is too young. She’s too...” Alone. Positive. Happy for him. “She could do better than an unemployed park ranger with a bum leg. She deserves the chance to find more.”
“Plus, she’s probably ready to kill him for shoving her out of the ranger station.” Sam sipped his drink and then waved it at Ash. “When you mess up, you go big.”
Was it true? Oh, yeah, but there was no use in hashing out his faults there and then.
“Do I know Macy?” Avery asked as she glanced from Sam to her mother and back.
“Probably not, she’s new to town.” Janet wiped her mouth with her napkin. Ash thought about arguing that Macy had been there for five years or so. How was that new? In terms of Sweetwater’s residents, it was brand-new. And defending Macy over a small point like that would show too much concern.
“She’s the ranger station’s office manager. Was the manager, I guess. Ash transferred her without telling her.” Sam’s eyebrows were raised. Both Avery and Janet stared at him as if they were certain he’d crossed the line.
Her Heart's Bargain Page 17
