“Back then, anyway. Before I knew how a real partnership worked.”
Liv felt heat start to creep into her cheeks. What had happened between her father and Margo?
“And just so you know, I never touched that money you sent me back.”
“It was your money.”
“It was our money, Tim. Ours!” Margo let out a disgusted snort, then said, “I’m done.” A few seconds later she appeared at the rear of the trailer, thankfully marching directly toward her trailer without looking back.
For a moment Liv stood frozen where she was, uncertain as to how to handle the next few dicey moments. If she just appeared, would Tim realize that she’d heard everything?
Not if she were noisy. When she heard Tim start to move, she walked to the back of the trailer where he was just closing the door, her boots making suction noises in the deep mud.
“I can’t wait to get out of these wet clothes,” she said in an overly loud voice, stepping up onto the running board to run her hand over Beckett’s nose. “Ready to go home, big guy?”
She turned back to her father, who looked about as tense as she could ever remember, which was something, since Tim was one of the most tightly wound individuals she knew. “Thanks for loading him. Let’s get home and I’ll make us some tea.”
“I think I’d prefer bourbon.”
No doubt. “Whatever it takes,” Liv said.
Tim insisted on parking the trailer and unhooking it in the rain while Liv put Beckett away. He was slightly stooped as they headed across the yard and into the house.
“Did you hear?” he finally asked, putting Liv in the position of having to choose between lying to her father and embarrassing him. It took almost half a second to decide. She met his eyes blandly, a slight frown drawing her eyebrows together.
“What?”
He studied her for a moment and Liv hung on to her innocent expression for all she was worth. She didn’t want to know about Tim and Margo, didn’t want to know what her father had done that made Margo call him a coward. Tim was the least cowardly person she knew, but Margo obviously didn’t share her opinion. And the money. Their money.
Worlds were colliding, and Liv felt like she was smack in the middle.
“I, uh...” He let out a breath and started to the porch. After a slight hesitation, Liv followed. Once inside, they took off their dripping rain gear and then Liv headed straight to the kitchen to put on the kettle, ignoring the fact that her wet clothes were uncomfortably plastered to her skin.
“Do we even have bourbon?” she called into the living room.
“Cancel the bourbon,” Tim said.
“Tea?”
“Nothing. I think I’ll take a shower and go to bed.”
Liv waited in the kitchen while the kettle boiled, going over the conversation in her head for about the hundredth time. She liked Margo, who seemed like a down-to-earth, genuinely nice person. But what did she really know about her? She certainly hadn’t suspected that she and Tim had a history—and a very intimate one if they were sharing money and ripping each other apart.
The big question was, when had all this happened?
Before her mother? After? During?
Liv pressed a hand to her forehead. She hoped it wasn’t during. As it was, drill team had just become a whole lot more complicated.
* * *
MATT SPENT THE morning with Craig, helping him decide whether to buy a netbook or a tablet with the money Willa had just sent to Matt for Craig’s keep. Matt was not taking a cent for having someone to talk to. Even if that someone was a kid, it beat staring at the walls. After Trena had left, Matt had kept himself very busy on the road; before she’d left, he’d had someone around when he was home. It struck him that he was beginning to hate spending so much time alone.
Craig eventually decided on a tablet. Matt placed the order, then they celebrated with a trip to the feed store for grain followed by dinner at the drive-in.
“What if I have to start school here?” Craig asked, finally airing the issue that had kept him quiet for most of the trip. “Mom said that she may not get an answer on her job until the end of the season. If school starts before she knows, then what am I going to do?”
Unpack? The kid was still living out of his suitcase. He did laundry, then folded it and put it back in the