Page 59 of Waiting in Wyoming

Her dad could be so weird sometimes.

Brandt’s cousin had a private jet—he was a billionaire, after all, all Barratts had lots of money—and they all flew home on it. Including her parents. Rhea’s talks with the head of the hospital had gone well. She had delivered his daughter years ago, when he had been passing through Masterson County. Meyra had met that daughter, too. She was a doctor at the hospital now.

Everything was just going on again. Like it was normal.

They were finding their new normals, just like Cara said.

“You are being really quiet,” Brandt said next to her as he drove his new truck back from the airport. Her father and Rhea were in her father’s truck behind them somewhere. “You okay?”

“Just thinking. About what is considerednormal.I’ve never really liked that word.”

“Oh? Why?”

“I have never felt normal. Marin told me when I was a teenager that she never had, either. That no one really ever was normal. Cara said…Heather told her normal always changes. So…is there ever really a normal to begin with?”

“I’m not sure there ever is. We…can create our own normal. Together.”

She thought for a moment. “I think I will like that very much.”

Her hand reached out. His fingers met hers.

He held her hand the entire drive home. And it felt like exactly what she wanted. Find their new normal? They could do that.

Together.

49

Sonny hadn’t knownwhat else to do. The truck was going to need a new part. He could fix it, but he’d have to wait until the auto store opened in the morning. It was cold out, and he didn’t have any heat now. He couldn’t exactly drive to the cheap hotel by the interstate. It was too far away. But there was the big inn right in the middle of the town. Easy to walk to and everything.

It wasn’t exactly the kind of place Sonny was used to being, though. It was for the fancy people. The kind his mom had always smirked at and everything and been mad at all the time. When she was emptying trashcans in the Barratt hotel and stuff. She’d worked there for ten years when Sonny was little, but his two older brothers had already moved out. They’d been a lot older than Sonny.

He wanted Katie to grow up to be with the fancy people. That would be cool. She’d get a good education, go to college, and have a real career. Like a doctor or nurse, or something. He’d seen that pretty blond nurse again, too. Around town.

Now, she was right there next to the waitress. Behind the desk at the inn.

“Hello, how are you again? How is Katie feeling?” the waitress, Dylan, asked.

It was pretty cool that she’d remembered his baby’s name and everything, too. Sonny liked her, he decided. A lot. She reminded him of Neveah, how she used to be. Sweet and innocent and everything. Before the drugs.

“She’s a lot better. She hasn’t had a fever at all since the new formula.” Sonny felt his cheeks getting red when Dylan smiled at him. He looked at the nurse instead. Before he said something stupid. There was another woman there, too. She had a bag over her shoulder.

And he thought she was with that really tall guy who was by the door talking to a cowboy. That tall guy looked super-familiar. “Thank you for your help the other night. The different formula really worked.”

“I’m glad to hear that. Welcome to the Talley Inn.” The nurse smiled, but while she was seriously hot—he still liked Dylan’s smile better. Dylan’s eyes were big and beautiful and almost innocent. Like Neveah’s used to be. Neveah had been a lot younger than he was and kind of naïve. He’d given her stuff to use—he’d thought it was fun when they got wasted together. Until she’d died from it, anyway. That still made Sonny want to puke when he thought about it. He had given her the drugs in the first place. He would never really be able to make that right.

These were the kind of women he wanted Katie to grow up to be. “Do you work here, too?”

“It’s a family thing. This inn has been in our family for a hundred years,” the nurse said. “My sisters and cousins and I all work here. Run it, and the diner. Our grandmother started the diner. We have a family history on our brochure. How long will you be staying?”

“Probably just tonight. My truck broke down. And I don’t have any heat. With the baby…we walked over here. Do youthink my rig will be okay in the IGA parking lot? I couldn’t get it any further.” There weren’t a lot of places in this town he could leave it, he didn’t think. His truck took up a lot of room.

“I’d be happy to call the manager of the IGA and let him know. His son is a driver, too,” the nurse, her tag said Dixie, told him. “I’m sure he’d understand.”

“Thanks. I just wanted to get her somewhere warm as fast as I could.” He looked at Dylan. He wanted to keep looking at her. “So you work here, too.”

“Yep. Dixie and I are sisters. Talleys. There are eight of us sisters floating around, and we have four cousins, too.” She shot a grin at the woman at the end of the counter. She had cinnamon red hair, and was very pretty, too. “Meyra here is our adventuring cousin. She’s back with us after a quick trip to Finley Creek, Texas. She was…visiting.”

She had his driver’s license and was getting him a room. No wonder she’d said Finley Creek. He’d lived there his entire life, after all.