expression she gave little Pete when he misbehaved and was close to crossing the line that would earn him a whooping. Little Pete was ten.
“No, Scott. It’s comin’ on Thursday. And Imma tell you right now that I’m taking an extended lunch on Friday.”
Before we could exchange another barb, Sydney stepped forward. “I’m actually here to let you know that the water heater’s broken.”
I expected her to be overwrought about it. Instead, I got indifference.
“I had to take a cold shower this morning,” she added, not even mildly upset.
She didn’t say anything about the furnace. I’d jimmied that too. And barely slept. First, the mattress was arguably the worst on the planet. Second, as it happened, we had our first serious cold snap last night. I’d snuck out early, to take a shower back at my place, but how long could I sustain that before she caught on? This plan was already starting to backfire and I was only on day one.
“Send Drake to the cabin to check on the water heater,” I told Ryan.
“The cabin?” Ryan echoed, the question edged with confusion.
“Yeah, the cabin. Tell him to go check on it.” My tone said no more questions. So did my face.
Sydney made for the door. “I’m going grocery shopping. Can I get you anything?”
Then she hit me with that single malt whiskey–colored stare of hers, the type a weaker man could get drunk on and turn amenable to persuasion. Good thing I wasn’t that guy.
“No.” Jan, my housekeeper, did all the food shopping. I wouldn’t know where to begin.
“Okay, well, text me if you think of anything later.” Then, after directing a, “Nice to meet you both,” at Laurel and Ryan, she walked out.
The silence didn’t last long.
“I like her!” Laurel jumped in as per her usual, her face lighting up as if she just hit triple diamonds on a slot machine. Whether her opinion was wanted or not didn’t factor. “She’s real sweet and pretty.” An examining, squinty look came my way. “You didn’t say anything about her being so pretty.”
“She’s gorgeous,” Ryan spat out around a mouthful of doughnut. Sinking onto the couch, he exhaled longingly. That earned him a glare. “What? She is. And don’t pretend you don’t agree. If you two weren’t married, you’d be all over her.”
And wasn’t that a kick in the head. Because Ryan was right. Had I not been forced into marriage I could’ve maybe dated Sydney. Explored this attraction. It was a moot point now though. She was my father’s accomplice in this injustice done to me.
“That woman’s a shark,” I told them in no uncertain terms. “My father says she’s the best legal mind he’s ever known. You know want that means? That she’s a master manipulator. Don’t let her fool you.”
“Damn, you’re worse than Tiny.” Ryan shook his head with an expression that said he pitied me. He could keep his pity and I would keep my dignity. “If you don’t want her, I’m happy to take her off your hands. She can manipulate me all she wants.”
Another uncomfortable feeling. This one crawled over my skin, but I schooled my reaction. Any evidence that I was feeling even the smallest amount of possessiveness over my wife would only incite more taunting. “We’re not keeping this one. I’m sending her back to where she came from.”
“For ef’s sake, she isn’t a rescue dog.” Laurel was back to glaring at me.
“I don’t wanna know what you’re cooking up,” Ryan jumped in. “Keep me out of it.”
Picking up the phone on my desk, I dialed my sister’s number. While it rang, I placed a hand over the mouthpiece and fixed Laurel with a pointed stare. “Don’t get attached.”
Chapter Seven
Sydney
As I drove through town, passing the famed elk antler arch on my way to the grocery store, a splash of color in a store window caught my eye. Something about Jackson Hole pushed my boundaries. Back in Manhattan, my life was structured down to the minute. My position at Blackstone, with its immense responsibilities, required it. Even my spare time was carefully planned down to the minute. Exercise, bills, grocery shopping. There wasn’t much room for anything else. But for once, in this place that seemed both foreign and familiar, I didn’t ignore the urge to drift, to indulge. To just be.
I parked the pickup and wandered around, window shopping the art galleries on E. Broadway. My eyes reveled in the colorful large-scale abstract paintings, the impressionistic depictions of classic cowboy culture,