Page 2 of Waiting in Wyoming

“She’s doing okay. Daisy is keeping her close. I don’t think Dahlia will ever be easy in the dining room. But she’s doing her turn. Just like we all did. And when I send my kid back here when he’s old enough, I expect him to do the same,” Mirandasaid. “Still, you all might want to reorganize things so she can just bus tables until she’s ready for more. Like you did. Ease her in.”

“It’s the Talley way.” The family had run the Talley Inn for ninety-nine years. Guests of the inn were used to seeing Meyra’s family there.Talleysran the Talley Inn.

It was changing a little. They had four more cousins who’d been discovered when the hitman had come for her aunt Geena, her cousin Dusty was only working around ten hours a week hostessing now—and living across the road with her fiancé, Ben, Charlotte was in Finley Creek, Texas, most of the time now, Miranda and her little boy lived in St. Louis, they had second cousins on their father’s side who were old enough to work at the inn and diner, too. Since Dusty had moved in with Ben, those cousins had started working more hours than before. So had Dusty’s newly discovered four little sisters.

It was…different.

Meyra wasn’t so good when things changed.Differentwas one of her least favorite concepts.

“That it is. And I miss it so much when I’m gone.” Miranda patted Meyra on the shoulder but didn’t try to hug her. Meyra didn’t always like people in her personal space. Her family knew that. “When I retire from the FBI, I am buying a tiny plot of land off that Barratt guy and building a cabin right behind the inn. I’m going to sit in my rocking chair and just enjoy until I get old and ornery.”

“You are already planning your retirement. At not quite thirty-two.” Meyra had a few plans for her life, but they mostly included what she wanted to do in the diner and dining room. She had a lot of creative freedom when it came to her cooking. Her sister Marin did the business part of the food services division. But Marin always listened to Meyra’s ideas. Her family—they worked together. Where one was weak, someone else was there to help.

As for any other future plans—Meyra would like to fall in love someday, get married, and have children. She wanted a family of her own. Kids that would grow up being Talleys of the Talley Inn, just like she, her sisters, and her cousins had.

“Just wishful thinking. I don’t plan to do the FBI forever, Mey. Just until I’m forty, maybe. Bentley will be a teenager then. I’ll probably have to seriously ride herd on him. I’d rather he be a teenager here than in St. Louis, I think. We’ll visit Jac and Max and their kids on a regular basis. I’ll just write true crime or psych books to pay our way if the inn and diner aren’t enough.”

Meyra didn’t think her sister meant it, but there was a look in Miranda’s eyes Meyra didn’t really understand. It was kind of like…sad. Miranda saw the worst parts of humanity; their sister Marin had told Meyra before—and that hurt her sister down in her soul. Meyra had asked Marin why their sister did it.

Marin had said it was because someone had to. And Miranda had the skills to do it. That Miranda was trying to make a difference in her own way. Just like their father had in his work as a US diplomat. Meyra could understand that, but she still worried.

Meyra worried for Miranda all the time. Her job with the FBI was incredibly dangerous. They had all learned that before when Miranda had been working a case involving the Biese family. They were from Masterson. One of the people Miranda had been after had broken into their kitchen—and nearly killed Miranda and Dixie. That case had spawned another related one—and themayorof Masterson had ended up shooting Marin.

And another man. Brandt Barratt.

That man.Him.

That man was the reason Meyra felt so off-center tonight. He had changed everything about her world, too.

Thoughts of thatman were what had had her disappearing into the kitchen when she wasn’t scheduled to be there. The main kitchen at the inn had always been one of her safe places at the inn. The place where she could think best.

She had a lot to think about tonight.

Brandt Barratt was back.

And that man…

Her lips tingled. As she remembered the last time she had seen him. He had kissed her. Like she hadn’t been kissed in a really long time.

Just kissed her. Right there in the back garden. A few days before what had happened in the dining room.

He’d said he just couldn’ttake itanymore. Like he was angry or upset or something.

She still didn’t understand what he couldn’ttake.The man had never explained.

He’d just kissed her andleftlike that.

Going back down to Texas where he had come from.

She hadn’t seen him since. He had just kissed her and left without a word of explanation. Everything had felt unfinished between them ever since. She’d thought she was resolved where he was concerned—it had been months, after all. She’d thought it was just an aberration, really.

A random thing.

Even a mistake that he regretted, that had embarrassed him.

Meyra had thought she had put it behind her.

Including the anger and confusion from him just leaving her after doing that. Then tonight, she’d heard…