Page 57 of Taming I Do
When I finished, I’d put twenty-two stitches in my brother’s arm. I tied off the thread and cut it. “Not quite as good as new, but it will do.”
“Thanks. And for what it’s worth, it’s going to be different this time.” Colin glanced up. Something odd shone in his eyes. For the first time in a long while, I found myself wanting to believe my brother.
“Hypothetically speaking, what the hell would you need me to do?” I asked as I cleaned off the needle and tucked everything back into the case.
“I’m ready to talk to Bodie. Tell him everything I know so he can finally catch those sick bastards.” Colin’s gaze didn’t waver. Either he meant it, or he’d gotten a hell of a lot better at bullshitting people.
“You’re telling me if I call Deputy Phillips and have him meet us somewhere, you’re ready to spill the beans on the whole operation?”
“That’s right.”
“What about Mom and Dad?”
“What did you tell them before?”
“I told them we had a fight. That you said as long as I was here, you wouldn’t set foot in the state of Texas again.”
“And they believed you?” Colin asked.
“Unlike you, I haven’t spent my whole life lying to them, so I guess they figured I meant what I said.”
“I didn’t mean for it to turn out this way.” Colin’s head hung low.
I had no doubt my brother meant it, at least for the moment. But what would he do when Bodie showed up, ready to take a statement? “If you’re serious about me calling Deputy Phillips, I’ll do it.”
Colin glanced up and ran a hand over his face. “Can we do it tomorrow? I haven’t slept in two days. Let me catch some shut eye, then we’ll call him when I wake up?”
“Give me your boots.”
“What?” Colin squinted at me.
“I can’t take the risk that you’re going to wake up and bolt out of here.” I didn’t know much about how my brother had been spending his time over the past few years. But if I knew anything about him, I knew there was no way Colin would leave hishandmade, custom boots behind, no matter what kind of trouble he was in.
“You’re an ass,” Colin said, already pulling a boot from his foot. “Can I crash here for a bit?”
“Sure. But I don’t want Mom or Dad to know you’re back, not until you talk to Bodie and figure out what’s going to happen.”
“That’s fair.” Colin leaned over and set his boots next to his chair. “How’s everyone been?”
“All right. Twister took out most of the orchard in August. We’re trying to rebuild. Might focus on turning the barn into an event center while we replant.” It was no use reminding my brother if he’d made different choices, he’d know how things were because he’d be part of making decisions.
“Dad’s heart doing okay?”
“Yep. Mom’s still forcing him to eat more greens and less red meat.”
“I bet that’s going over well.”
For half a second, we shared a laugh. Reminded me of the good ol’ days, when the two of us used to shoot the shit over a beer or two every now and then. But that was before... before Colin had torn the whole family apart.
“You can take the bedroom. I’ve got to get up early anyway.” I drained my coffee and set the cup in the sink. Then I reached down and picked up Colin’s boots. “You don’t mind if I keep these close, do you?”
“Suit yourself.” Colin stood, a little unsteady on his feet. Looked like he couldn’t keep his eyes open. “Thanks, bro.”
I took one last look at the older brother I used to idolize as Colin shuffled past me on the way to the bedroom. When we were younger, I didn’t just think Colin hung the moon, I thought he’d hung all the stars in the sky as well. It was hard to watch someone I admired take a bad turn. But here we were. And it wasup to Colin to figure out which direction he wanted to take from there.
That’s what would matter.
CHAPTER 14
