Page 43 of Waiting in Wyoming

“I think we all will, thankfully,” Melissa Barratt said, pulling in a deep breath. She had dark eyes, but they were shaped like Brandt’s beautiful blue ones. It was obvious she was his mother, even if she was small, like Charlotte. “I...just don’t know how long it will take us to get things back to normal.”

“You probably won’t ever go back to how it was before,” Cara said a little too bluntly. “We didn’t. After all the bad things that have happened to us. But we find new normals. That’s what Aunt Heather says. She says there is ‘no real normal that doesn’t change’ and that we ‘just have to keep finding new normals.’ Sometimes every day. Aunt Heather says a lot of weird things like that sometimes.”

It took her a moment, but Meyra figured out what the words meant. And it made sense. She’d seen it with her sisters, her cousins, after the bad things had happened. Maybe that was what she needed to tell Dylan, too. Find a new normal. Don’t wait.

“I think Heather might be an incredibly wise woman,” Melissa said. “And I am eternally grateful she was there last night.”

“Heather always knows what to do when the bad things happen, you know,” Cara said. “She rescues the rest of us all the time.”

Meyra just listened to them talk. Cara worked with Brandt’s mother, she thought. It was nice to be there with someone she knew, even if just a little. But Meyra was worried. Brandt looked exhausted. He’d been in and out of the lobby for close to two hours. No one had really eaten yet. He and his brothers were taking turns sitting with their father. Then all three brothers were there, and Brandt’s mother went back upstairs to sit with her husband while he slept.

“They are letting Dad out this evening,” Alex, the middle brother, said. He sank into a chair next to Cara. “Cara, sweetheart, when are you heading home?”

“I don’t know,” Cara said, yawning. “I want to see Aunt Heather first.”

“Are they letting her out soon?” Mac asked.

Cara stared at him for a moment. “Cashlyn said she would find out.”

“Why don’t you text your sister or your mom or Norm? Tell them you are with me and my brothers. We’ll go to Mamaw’s Place and grab some lunch,” Alex said. He sounded like he was coaxing.

Cara stared at him for a long moment. Brandt looked at Meyra. “Have you ever been there?”

Meyra shook her head. Charlotte had told her about it before, though.

“I will go, but just so Meyra doesn’t have to be with you by herself,” Cara told Alex. “You are probably up to something.”

“Not where she’s concerned. She is Brandt’s girl. Where you are concerned, yes, though.” Alex pulled out his phone. “I’m going to see if Powell wants anything. Summer or Cash in with Daniel?”

Then they were talking details. About who the Barratts were going to bring orders back for. It was so almost normal. But Meyra could see the worry and exhaustion on Brandt’s brothers’ faces. On his.

She wrapped her arms around his waist and pressed her cheek against his perfect chest, closing her eyes for a brief moment. His hand spread over her back. His arms just felt perfect around her.

Meyra opened her eyes.

That’s when she saw the man watching them from across the lobby.

He had been on the plane, too. She had seen him before.

Meyra just didn’t rememberwhere.

34

Wayne knewthe Talley girl had seen him. He bit back a curse. She was a quiet girl, but she didn’t miss much. She was always watching. Watching everyone. He’d seen that for himself at the inn. He’d tried to keep himself as hidden as possible on the plane, but he hadn’t wanted to look too reclusive. He’d already gotten a few suspicious looks from the stewards on the plane, as it was.

He probably shouldn’t have followed the two girls to the hospital. But he had been insanely curious about why the two had been buying tickets for such an early morning flight. One of them, the shorter girl, had looked practically sick with worry.

She was the one who was going to be a problem, he suspected. She was too well-connected to what was going on in both Wyoming and Texas. He had heard she worked for the Texas State Police, as well. She might have information at her fingertips that certain people—the ones signing his paycheck, so to speak—would most likely not want getting out.

He knew her, of course. She had grown up with his girls, just like her little cousin had.

He stepped back, out of the girl’s line of sight, as her boyfriend—that big sonofabitch Barratt—wrapped her up close. They looked pretty together. Young.

They just looked so damned young.

They’d probably marry soon, have a few kids. Build a life up there in Masterson. Boy had enough money that his girl wouldn’t want for anything. She’d be taken care of. No doubt about that.

Wayne could imagine the romance of it for a few moments.