When the couple hadn’t returned by the next morning, their family and friends became concerned as well.
Dispatch had finally gotten a panicked call from the couple themselves, who’d managed to climb high enough to get cell service. They were hopelessly lost, freezing, freaking out, and hungry.
They were told to start a fire to keep warm while S&R worked their way to them.
The couple had called dispatch back twice. They’d had trouble starting a fire. Dispatch walked them through it, instructing them to find something for kindling before carefully stacking the wood correctly to catch fire.
By the time Aidan and Mitch had located them, the couple indeed had found something for kindling. In spite of being surrounded by hundreds of thousands of acres of forestland filled to the brim with pine needles and fallen twigs, they’d been burning their cash.
Aidan had seen people burn their clothes, their supplies … He’d genuinely thought he’d seen it all. But this was a new one, even for him.
And now Lily wanted to see him at the salon, something about returning the favor, which he didn’t care about.
What he did care about was the tone in her voice. Uncertainty. Nerves.
What the hell was up? Sliding his phone into his pocket, he stood up.
Gray and Hudson stared at him.
“Got a thing,” he said.
“You’re in the middle of a thing,” Hudson said. “A management meeting thing.”
Aidan kept heading to the door.
“Hey,” Gray said. “There’s still a few items on the to-do list. What about Lenny?”
Aidan turned back. “He’s pissed.”
“So am I,” Gray said grimly.
“He says he’s quit drinking. I’m trying to keep an eye on him. So is Mitch.”
“Listen,” Gray said, “it might be easier if I take over Lenny watch.”
“I brought him on board, I’ll take responsibility.”
There was a long silence during which Gray and Hudson gave each other a long look.
“What?” Aidan snapped.
“Lenny’s a friend of yours,” Gray said. “That’s what. And he’s an alcoholic. Not your fault, by the way. So you don’t have to take responsibility for him.”
“I said I’d do it,” Aidan said.
Gray looked at him for a beat. “Fine. Moving on to Dad.” A muscle in his jaw ticked. “Hudson still wants to track him down.”
This gave Aidan a gut ache. Track him down? Christ. Just the thought brought a tidal wave of memories. It’d been hot as hell that night he’d found his dad cheating. He could remember the sweat pouring down his face after having the shit beat out of him. Nearly passing out walking home to his mom. But what he remembered most was the look on his mom’s face when he told her his dad was cheating on her. Which had been nothing compared to her expression when she discovered Richard had laid his hands on Aidan. He’d never intended for her to know that. Had wished she hadn’t figured it out. Because as he’d known it would, it just about killed her.
And then Richard had shown up and that was when Char clocked him with her frying pan …
Gray had been away at camp. He had no idea that a thirteen-year-old Aidan had been the catalyst for the fight. No one but Char knew. Shortly after that, she’d found out about the other kids Richard had deserted, which further cemented her hatred of the man who’d never lived up to his own responsibilities.
One year later the twins had shown up in Cedar Ridge, and Char, being a better person than anyone Aidan had ever known, had taken them in as hers. And then Kenna had come along a few years later.
Aidan had been doubly resolved to keep what had happened between him and Richard a secret after that. Hud and Jacob were so messed up from taking care of their mom instead of the other way around, the last thing Aidan wanted to do was destroy any fantasy memory they had of their dad as well. And then there was Gray. If he ever found out, Aidan probably wouldn’t be able to keep Gray from hunting Richard down and killing him.
Nope, the secret was still his alone to keep. “I told you to forget it,” he said to Hud. “We don’t need him. We never have.”
“Yes, we do,” Hudson said. “He got us in this mess, and he can figure a way to get us out. His fault, his problem.”
“His fault,” Aidan agreed. “But our problem. Trust me, bringing in the man who’s abandoned everything and everyone in his life will be a joke. We’ve never