Page 22 of Shadow Sabotage
“Is that your dad?” I asked.
Claire nodded. “Yeah. Walker Hawkins.”
“Walker and Naomi,” I said, repeating their names. “I met Beth and you mentioned your brothers Cole and Rhett. Is that it?”
“Nope.” She snorted. “But you have an impressive memory for names.”
“Part of the job. How many siblings do you have in all?”
“Six.”
I nearly choked on the bite of cornbread I’d just put in my mouth. “Six? Really?”
“Yeah. Travis is the oldest. Then Cole, then me, then Rhett. Rhett and I are just ten months apart, so we grew up kind of like twins. Beth has an actual twin named Finn—he’s a professor in Montana. They came next. And that’s my baby brother, Jonathan.”
She pointed at a lanky kid I guessed to be about eighteen or nineteen. He wore a black cowboy hat and leather chaps, and he had left the top few buttons of his western shirt undone. He walked with an exaggerated swagger and had two teenage girls following him around, hanging on to his every word.
“He looks like quite the ladies’ man,” I commented.
“Oh, he is.” She laughed. “All my brothers have been, to be honest with you, but I think Jonathan will end up taking the prize. He can’t fight ’em off.”
“Doesn’t look like he’s trying,” I said, winking.
“Those girls are tourists,” she explained, a little grin on her face. “I swear, every teenage girl who comes here falls in love with him. Some of them keep mailing love letters for months.”
I cracked up. The kid probably enjoyed his job here—maybe too much. Then I whistled as I thought back over all the names she’d listed off. “Seven kids. Wow. That’s a lot.”
I’d always wanted siblings. Wanted someone to have camaraderie with instead of being the only pawn between two parents at war. With a childhood as cold as mine, I couldn’t imagine growing up in such a big, warm family.
Because that was something else I’d noticed watching Claire. The love she had for her family was fierce. It shone in her eyes when she talked about them.
She shrugged. “Mom’s a devout Catholic. Took the whole procreation thing pretty seriously. How about you?”
“I’m Protestant.”
She rolled her eyes. “I mean how many siblings do you have?”
I grinned. “I know. Sorry. I’m an only child.”
“Figures.”
“What do you mean?”
This time, she was the one smirking. “You seem like someone who’s used to being the center of attention. Plus, I get the impression you don’t play well with others.”
My eyes widened. “Oh really?”
“Really.” She laughed and nudged me with her elbow, letting me know she was just teasing. “So where did you grow up? You’re clearly not Wyoming born and raised.”
“What makes you think that?”
She gestured to my boots. “Those. No one I know would ever be caught dead wearing them.”
I laughed. “What’s wrong with my boots?”
“They’re too new. Makes you look like a city slicker who’s never done any real work.”
“So you’re saying I should muddy them up.”
