Page 57 of Second Start: Family
As she’d heard them in Cully’s voice.
Kenzie, you have to tell—
Not yet. I will tell you both, but I need to—
Not me. Bodie—
—tell someone else first.
You need to tell somebody before your brother.
She didn’t answer those words of Cully’s. They hadn’t been a question.
His gaze had gone over her shoulder.
He kept his tone low, but she still glanced around over her shoulder.
Neither Hall nor Cully had given any indication, but…
You know him?
Not much, but it’s my job to know people in my county.
He doesn’t live in your county.
He gave his patented Cully slow smile.And beyond my county. I hear things.
Like what?
Beyond the basics about his wife dying unexpected, leaving him with four kids? Heard he’s pushed back a mountain of debt, but isn’t full clear of it yet. Made a damn fool trip in a blizzard at Christmas—
And there, right in the middle of this exchange, she knew driving in a blizzard wasn’t what bothered Hall about Christmas. It was leaving his kids.
—and I’ll tell you one more thing, Kenzie.
What?
I’ll know a lot more about him before too much longer.
She grimaced now.
Hall Quick could go head-to-head with Cully in the suspicion sweepstakes.
As if he’d heard her thoughts, he said, “Is it your husband the sheriff wants you to see?”
“What?Husband?No. … I told you … No.” She touched his arm, just above his wrist, feeling the warmth of him.
He shot a look toward her. She met it, saying, while she still had that connection to him, “I am not married, Hall.”
She felt an easing in him. But it was a percentage, not the whole.
“You know Sheriff Grainger?” he asked.
She licked her lips. “Yes. From North Carolina. I told you, that’s where I grew up.”
“Yeah, you told me,” he said slowly. “How’d you know him in North Carolina?”
She streamed out a breath. “He’s … Really it doesn’t start there. It’s Bodie — Boone Dorsey Smith — who … I couldn’t say Boone Dorsey when I was little. That’s where Bodie came from and he used it for his business. He’s my brother.”
