Page 57 of Montana Silence
“You already work too hard, Mara.”
I slipped past Lena into the kitchen before she could stop me, and I grabbed an apron. “You can pay me in cookies and coffee. Besides, I don’t know how long I’m going to be here. When Liam comes back—”
“Sold,” Lena said. “Because I have somequestionsfor that man. At this point, he’s almost as bad as Jude with all the waiting.”
“I’ve got to go. Mara, I’ll see you at family dinner,” Evie called on her way out the door.
“Bye.” I hoped she heard me. Words were easier today, but raising my voice was not.
“All right. We’re making chocolate chip.” Lena pointed to the stool at the worktable, and I sat. “Roll the balls and put them onto the trays, and you’ll be my favorite forever.”
“I thought I was already your favorite?”
“Oh, absolutely. And you’ll be even more my favorite once you tell me about this date you went on.”
I made the motion to zip my lips.
“Come on,” she begged, bouncing on her toes. “I’m dying here. Just a bit.”
Taking a long sip of my drink, I made her wait. Being on this side of the story was fun. “We went paragliding.”
“Youwhat?”
I started rolling the balls of cookie dough. “You said a bit.”
Out front, the door chimed, and Lena pinned me with a stare. “I’m not done with this. When I get back, I’ll get it out of you.”
She went to help the customer, and all I did was smile.
Chapter18
Liam
Everyone gatheredin the lodge except Grant, still on his honeymoon in Ireland with Cori. Usually, I would make some sort of joke about being the last one to the party, but I didn’t feel like joking. This was serious. I knew exactly where Mara was, and I still felt a low-grade panic in my gut.
I sat heavily in one of the chairs. “If this is the way all of you felt, I owe every one of you an apology.”
Chuckles came from all around.
“No, you don’t,” Lucas said. “It’s not something you can understand until you’re in the middle of it.”
“You’re telling me.” I scrubbed a hand over my face, which drew attention to my bandage.
Daniel leaned forward on the table. “You should get checked out by Dr. Gold.”
“I’m fine.”
“I know you are, but you should get looked at, regardless.”
I rolled my eyes. “They got a few hits on me. I’ve taken worse beatings from the people in this room.”
Noah smirked. More than one of those beatings had been from him when we’d both needed to get out some aggression. “You need to get looked at in case they find the guys who jumped you. Get the injuries documented.”
“I can, but they’re not going to find them. Let’s be honest. They’re not going to look.”
“Probably not,” Harlan shrugged. “Do it all the same. Just in case.”
“Fine.” I sighed.