Page 61 of Remade

It seemed fitting for me. They were closer in age.

I pulled in between an old Wagoneer and a truck similar to my own back home. There was another truck, too, and two four-wheelers.

“There’s no garage,” Alex noted.

“They have their own gravel parkin’ lot.” I killed the engine.

“Daddy always said a garage was important,” she argued. At that, I turned and looked back at her. “Bird poop can ruin the paint or something.”

I chuckled. That sure sounded like my brother. I’d never met anyone whocoddledcars the way he had. He’d named every car he’d ever had, for starters.

My chuckle morphed into a sigh as I pictured him in my mind. Damn, I still missed him so much. Even though I had some anger left to process, it would never diminish my grief. It was just…adding some complication to realize my hero of a brother hadn’t been perfect.

When push came to shove, the best-trained operator would make mistakes in the field. We were human. That was just the way things were. But his mistakes might’ve cost him his life. The fucking tattoo…? Not requesting previous Hahn cases to be compiled for our intel team? Leaving highly personal information at his safehouse?

That was a lot, and it hurt to work my way past it.

Nobody wanted their hero to have flaws.

“Is that Gray?” Alex asked.

I looked out the window and spotted Darius crossing their stream.

“No, that’s Darius,” Leighton responded and opened the door.

“And he’s your uncle?” Alex pressed.

“Um, yeah. He is.”

I smiled to myself and walked out too, only to flinch at the cold. Fuck me, it was way colder up here than down in Seattle. Maybe the snow would stay on the ground for a while after all.

Leighton and I started hauling luggage out of the trunk when I noticed another guy crossing the stream, and he looked younger. It wasn’t Gray, so maybe it was Lias. Leighton had mentioned they were meeting up today.

“I see Washington greeted y’all with sunshine,” Darius said as he reached us.

I chuckled and shook his hand. “Good to see you again, man.”

“You too. Welcome to my slice of heaven.” He moved on to greet Leighton. “If it ain’t my nephew. I hear you’re makin’ candy apples for us tomorrow.”

“Yessir. I’ll give Gray the recipe too,” Leighton replied.

“That’s what I wanted to hear. We have plenty of apples in the cellar—go nuts.” Darius grabbed one of the bags as Leighton introduced Alex. In turn, Darius shook her hand too, and he said, “My daughter’s excited to meet you. She claims there aren’t enough girls in our family.”

Alex beamed. “She’s probably right!”

Cheeky brat.

The Quinns were in full preparation mode for tomorrow, and Leighton wanted to get the gift-wrapping out of the way so he could help out later. Alex was glued to his side, and both Lias and Gray were keeping them company.

I didn’t feel in the way or anything, and we had plenty of space in the guest cabin. But I reckoned it was a good time to give them some privacy to catch up, and I was curious about the property. Besides, when Gray and Darius’s three kids walked in, it was officially a full house.

Once I had unpacked for Alex and me, I bundled up and headed outside, just in time to see Darius walking by with two dead chickens. Or hens. He had a couple dogs following him too.

“Dinner?” I guessed.

“Yeah. I’m just gonna leave this in the shed for Gray,” he said. “Meet me on the porch. I’ve promised you coffee.”

Damn, I liked this. I took a deep breath, inhaling the scents of snow, pine, and soil.

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