Free Montana Hero by Debra Salonen Page A

off, she’d needed to ask Rebecca to convey the message or have him call her back if he had any questions.
    He nodded. “It’s a great idea. Rebecca said you needed to be home with your son. Is he ill? You don’t have to work if he needs you.”
    She weighed the balance of TMI and honesty. For some reason, the latter felt like the right choice with him. She’d never spoken of Brady in front of Ken. Never. “Brady got in a fight at school today. They have a zero tolerance policy…as they should. He was given a two-day suspension, but Friday is a teacher in-service day, so my week is pretty well shot. Sorry.”
    “Not a problem. We can video conference if anything comes up or you have questions about the application process.” He looked over her shoulder as if checking out her apartment. “Nice place. I’m meeting with a realtor who has a house she wants to show me.” He made a waffling motion with his hand. “I’m on the fence about buying. Ryker’s thinking house; I’m leaning toward a condo. A house means yard work, right?”
    She tried not to react, but she knew by the look on his face that she’d failed. “This place is good, but I miss my house so much. Even the yard work. Brady and I had a big garden in San Antonio. He learned about nature and the cycles of life and science…” She sighed. “I’d be looking for houses, too, if I knew for sure we were going to stay here.”
    Did I just say that?
    “You might move?”
    “No. I mean. I’m not planning on it, but…I rented my house when I left to move up here. I’ll have to go back to sell it before I can afford to buy another.”
    Before he could answer, his phone jingled again. He glanced at the screen. “Tucker. I left him at the Graff knocked out on pain killers.”
    “He broke his ankle?”
    “Jury’s still out on that. Possibly a bad sprain.”
    It rang again.
    “Aren’t you going to answer it?”
    “I’ll call him back from the car.” He hesitated. “Listen, if this is inappropriate, feel free to say so. But, Tucker is being a big baby about this sore foot. I told him I’d pick up pizza and beer and deliver it to his room at the Graff Hotel. I don’t suppose you and your son would consider joining us, would you? Maybe play some cards or a quick board game or something? Tucker will drive me crazy if I’m there with him alone. He’s used to entertaining crowds.”
    She didn’t know what that meant but before she could say no, a small body wiggled past her and answered, “I want to go. I like pizza better than chili.”
    As if that was reason enough.
    Maybe it was.
    *
    Flynn jogged to the guest parking lot of the apartment complex ahead of his two guests to make room in the back seat of his truck for a third passenger. He hadn’t completely unloaded his belongings into the storage unit he’d rented upon arrival in Marietta because he still wasn’t sure what he needed with him at work.
    He moved his backpack to a sitting position and used the seatbelt to hold it upright. Everything else he crammed into the floor area and under the seat: extra boots, snowshoes, a water jug and his winter survival kit. Then he hurried to the driver’s side to get in and turn on the engine. Vehicles cooled off fast in this climate.
    He called Tucker to give him an ETA.
    “Hey, sorry I couldn’t take your call a minute ago. What’s up?”
    “Bring beer. Preferably a microbrew. Not the kind in the red or blue cans.”
    Flynn shook his head. Arguing about beer meant his pal was in less pain. “Are you supposed to drink alcohol with the pain killers they gave you?”
    “Codeine with aspirin is like baby aspirin on steroids. No big deal.”
    “I think you’re wrong. But since I don’t want you to break the bank by depleting the minibar, we’ll bring some.”
    “You’re a good friend, Flynn. A bossy one, but…wait. Did you say we ?”
    “I was dropping off something for a member of my team when you called. Since she’s taking a couple of