Free Appaloosa Blues (Sisters of Spirit #8) by Nancy Radke

friendship. You two kept that well hidden."
    He shot her a look of amusement. "You look like a child not invited to the party. So he told you, huh? So what'd you say?" he asked, eyebrows lifted in query.
    "Nothing. What could I say?"
    He shrugged. "When Adam saved your life, I decided to thank him personally. Nobody else did."
    "You like Adam, don't you?"
    "Anyone in their right mind would. He keeps his word, which is more than you can say for half the people running around this old world. I'd trust him with my life."
    "Keeps his word? He's as unreliable as a hungry bear."
    "That's Gramps talking. Give me one time when Adam has not kept a promise."
    "Why...." Scornful words rose from the past, bitter words that had slammed harshly against Jo's tender emotions. Adam usually hurt her, deeply, whenever they argued about Gramps. Would Karen's plan decrease...or increase his bitterness? "He never promised me anything in particular."
    "I can understand why. You're so prejudiced and unreasonable."
    "Oh, but..." Naturally she was extra-sensitive about Adam, even talking about him made her tense up. But she wasn't prejudiced.
    "The guy's never done anything against you," Mike ground out, "and he's bent over backwards for this family, yet you snub him every chance you get. Do you remember four winters ago when it snowed so hard early in the year, and Dad and I had to dig out the herd?" he inquired.
    "Yes. It took two days." She studied her brother's face, curiosity aroused. What had that to do with Adam?
    "Adam came as soon as he heard, helped us rescue them."
    There had not been a word about this ever mentioned to the rest of the family. No one had sent her the information. No wonder Adam accused their family of being secretive. That was an understatement.
    If Gramps had been told some of this information, his animosity might have lessened and Karen and Johnny more readily accepted, Jo thought. And maybe she herself wouldn't have been so set against everything Adam did. So untrusting.
    "Dad knows, too?" Did everyone except her? Someone could have texted and told her. She felt betrayed, left out of family affairs.
    "Yes. He and Mr. Trahern had to work together the same as Adam and I will this morning. They ignored the situation, never talked about it, but it always hung between them. It's hard to be pleasant to someone who has killed your mother. They never could get back to the friendship they once had."
    "Dad went to his funeral."
    "Yes. Dad, Mom, and myself. It's too bad Gramps wouldn't go. For some reason, he got worse after Ed's death. More bitter. It's eating him up." Mike eased the truck through a rut running crosswise in the road. "We tried to talk sense into him, but he won't listen to Dad or me. Just gets mad. Mom tried once. That's when he had his first heart attack."
    "I remember. It was just before I left for college. But I'm so like Grandmother Anna, I thought staying away would help him forget."
    "It didn't turn out that way. He just focused his loss on the Traherns instead...as if they were the cause of all his grief. You've got to talk to him, Jo. He'll listen to you."
    She nodded thoughtfully. Of those in her family, she was the only one who could reach Gramps. Now that she knew why he continued to blame Adam, she might be able to find a way to overcome that. She had to succeed. She just had to. Her decision became more clear.
    A family of raccoons crossed in front of them, a mama and two babies, their eyes deep red marbles in the headlights, their beautiful fur coats rippling as they moved.
     Mike slowed down, careful not to throw Paca off her feet.
    "Aren't they lovely," Jo exclaimed, sitting forward to see better. Beautiful. More so because they weren't in a zoo and no one controlled them. Free. As she would like to be, unburdened with Karen's problems, Grampa's feelings, and her own vacillating emotions.
     By the time they arrived at the gate the first pale light of dawn was streaking the sky.
    Johnny waited