Page 96 of Shadow Sabotage
“It’s gorgeous out here,” Vance remarked, oblivious to my inner turmoil.
Only a faint hint of light remained on the horizon. The first stars had already popped up over the mountains, but we could still make out the silhouettes of the horses who preferred the pasture over the barn at night.
“Prettier in the summer,” I said, refilling our glasses.
He took a sip of the whiskey and made a low sound of appreciation. “Is that your favorite season?”
“Definitely. I’d love to be one of those people who spends their summers up here but heads to Florida for winter.”
“Florida, huh?” There was a touch of humor in his voice.
“Sure.” I shrugged. “Or any place warm, really. Somewhere with sunshine.”
“Wyoming winters can be brutal,” he agreed. “The wind, the snow. Temps so cold it hurts to breathe.”
“Yeah. I hate the cold,” I said, sighing unhappily. “But I also hate how everything here just kind of slows down. Roads close, the tourists stop coming. The nights feel way too long. Search and rescue slows down—for a couple of months, anyway. Then it picks up again when you’re rescuing stranded snowmobilers or skiers, but you’re doing it in the suckiest weather possible.”
“So you like warm weather and a fast pace, huh?”
“Yeah.” I looked over at him and held my glass up in toast. “To sunshine and fast living. Just eight months to go.”
He clinked his glass to mine and grinned. “Speaking of toasts. When are Rhett and Cheyenne getting married?”
“Saturday.”
His eyes widened. “ThisSaturday?”
“Yeah.” A wave of nerves hit. “That won’t be a problem, right? I mean with the investigation. I know it comes first, but…”
He waved me off. “Of course not. We’ll make sure you’re there.”
“I also have the rehearsal Friday night. And Thursday night, we have SAR training. I have to be there—it’s part of my official job duties.”
“So you’re saying I only have a few more days before I have to start sharing you.” His voice was low, and his eyes suggested he didn’t want to share me at all.
I didn’t want that, either.
“Until after the wedding, anyway. I’m sorry. I know the timing is terrible with an investigation like this. I’m surprised Sheriff McGrath didn’t consider that before choosing me to work with you. I’d already put in to have those days off of work.”
“It’s fine. I’ll let you know if anything breaks on the case. Though I’d hate to distract you from entertaining Cody.” He winked. “How did you describe him again?” He tipped his glass up and emptied it.
I groaned and joined him in downing my whiskey. “I can’t believe my mom. She’s never going to give up.”
A smile tugged at Vance’s lips. “You know what you need to do?”
“What?”
“I had this buddy in college. When his parents were harassing him about settling down, I told him he should make them think twice about it. One of my friends was a theater major who loved drama. I paid her to pose as his fiancée. Only we purposefully made her act like the worst fiancée ever—to his family at least.”
I grinned. “How so?”
Vance laughed, low and deep. Warmth spread through me at the sound of it.
“Well, his parents were highly conservative, so she showed up with blue hair, ready to argue politics. She hinted that she was an ex-stripper with four kids by three different dads. She gave backhanded compliments to everyone in the family and called their house ‘ironic.’ Covered her ears and hummed loudly every time the family prayed over dinner. Stuff like that. Funny thing is that she’s the opposite of all that in real life, but she had a blast playing the part.”
My jaw dropped. Then a grin spread across my face. “Why, Vance Weston. You’re not as straight-laced and uptight as I thought you were.”
He let out an even louder laugh that echoed across the pasture. “No, I think you may have misjudged me.”
