what you have to do, okay?” Beth knew her voice was shaking, but she was doing the best she could. “I’ve got to go. I’ll see you later.”
She was already halfway down the stairs when he called her name. For once she had neither the intention nor the ability to turn around and talk things out. She pressed her hand over her mouth as nausea rolled over her. If she lost Mikey to Sean, she would never . . .
“Hey.” Wes, who was standing at the bottom of the stairs, pulled her in for a giant hug. “Look, he’s being a dick. I’ll talk some sense into him while you’re gone, I promise.”
“You knew?” Beth looked up at him.
“Yeah, he told me a while back. I told him he was an idiot, and that Dad would never change.” He rubbed her tense shoulders. “Sean tried it with me once, but I saw through his shit.” Wes’s normally pleasant expression disappeared. “Mike had you to protect him against Dad, whereas my mom”—he swallowed hard—“wasn’t very strong.”
Beth patted his cheek. “You are a good person, Wes.”
“I try to be.” He stepped away from her. “I promised myself I’d never end up like my old man, I can tell you that.”
“You won’t.” Beth smiled through her gathering tears.
“If Mike is stupid enough to want a relationship with Dad, you can’t stop him, but we both know Dad only wants to use him to get at you.” His mouth twisted. “And probably me because I won’t have anything to do with him. God, I hate that guy.”
Beth nodded and sucked in a breath. “Wes, do you think Mikey used this address when he wrote to Sean?”
Wes raised an eyebrow. “I’m pretty sure Dad knows you would’ve come back to Morgantown the moment you could, so what’s the problem if he did?”
“But not to this specific house.” Beth felt her panic rising again. “He doesn’t know—”
“Don’t stress, okay? It’s not like he’s getting out anytime soon.” Wes took her hand. “I think Mike said our grandma gave Sean his college address. He wrote back when he was there, so you should be fine.”
Beth mentally reminded herself to send a stern email to Sean’s mom to tell her never to do that again.
Wes squeezed her fingers. “You definitely need a break. Why don’t you go and check on that wolf guy up at the ranch and let me worry about Mike?”
“The wolf guy?” Beth was happy to be diverted into talking about anything other than her ex. “I call him the grump.”
“His dog, Loki, is half husky, half wolf.”
“How do you know?” Beth forced herself to keep moving by tidying up the kitchen, setting out the pizza money, and chatting to Wes as if she didn’t have a care in the world.
“I talked to him one day when he was in town.” Wes loaded the dishwasher and put the frying pan away. He’d never met a stranger. “Back in the day, he was in the same Navy SEAL team as that badass Jay Williams.”
Beth considered tall, bearded Conner O’Neil anew. “That makes sense.”
“It would be really cool if I could find a wolf cub to raise,” Wes mused.
“Not in my house,” Beth said firmly.
“I knew you’d say that.” Wes’s expression brightened. “I bet Conner’s just gone off hunting and forgotten the day.”
“You’re probably right, and he’ll get all pissy because I came to check up on him.” Beth sighed. “But I wouldn’t feel right if I didn’t go, so he’ll have to make the best of it.”
She found her backpack, filled it with some basic supplies, and took her warmest coat out of the back of the closet. It was hot in the valley during the day, but at night the cabins at the higher altitude could turn cold.
By the time she returned to the kitchen, Wes had made her a fresh batch of coffee for her travel mug.
“You sure you’ll be okay?” Beth asked as she headed for the back door.
“Duh, I’m almost twenty.” Wes rolled his eyes. “I’ll be fine.”
“The cell reception up there can be spotty, so if there’s a problem, I’ll use the radio to call Nate Turner and he can let you know what’s going on.”
“Great, that’s all we need—the local sheriff turning up in the middle of our wild party.” Wes sighed.
Beth went to speak, and he winked at her. “No need to get salty, I was just kidding.” He held the door open for her and planted a kiss