The Lights on Knockbridge Lane (Garnet Run 3)

“Yeah. You gotta problem with that?”

If looks could maim, he’d’ve been on the floor right now. Wes admired her protectiveness.

“No. No.”

In fact, his heart was beating faster for quite the opposite reason.

“You better not be mean to my daddy,” Gus said, still vivisecting him with her stare.

And Wes found himself in the strange position of wishing he had someone as fierce as this tiny eight-year-old to have his back.

“I won’t,” Wes said. “I promise.”

That seemed to placate Gus.

“Speaking of which, you should probably go make sure he’s okay.”

She sighed.

“Yeah. Poor Daddy. He was so scared.”

She grinned at him conspiratorially. Wes was surprised to find himself smiling back at her.

“He really was.”

Very slowly and carefully, Gus stood up and deposited Bettie in Wes’ outstretched hand.

“Thanks for letting me hold her,” Gus said, and headed for the front door.

With her hand on the knob, she turned back to look at him.

“Can I come back sometime? Hold her again?”

Wes saw the hope in her eyes and even though it went against every instinct of privacy and self-preservation he’d cultivated in the four years since leaving LA for Garnet Run, Wyoming, he said, “Yeah, okay.”

Chapter Four

Adam

It was absolutely essential that Adam distract Gus from her burgeoning obsession with Wes Mobray, and, by extension, her obsession with—Adam gulped at the thought—tarantulas. And honoring her Christmas wish was just the way to do it.

“Hey, Charlie,” Adam asked his new boss. “Do we have more Christmas lights?”

“More than the ones on display?” he asked patiently, gesturing to the charmingly lumberjack-esque holiday display at the front of the store. It was only the beginning of November, but people were already decorating.

Matheson’s Hardware had been around for as long as Adam could remember, but he’d never set foot inside it until River got him an interview with owner Charlie Matheson last week.

Charlie was a big bear of a guy who was helpful and kind to every customer and then turned around and was equally helpful and kind to everyone else. It was pretty endearing. Especially when that extended to giving Adam a job even though what he knew about hardware could fit on the head of a nail. A penny nail. (See, he learned that lingo on his first day at work.)

Charlie’s partner, Rye, had started The Dirt Road Cat Shelter, which River managed, and River spoke of him in reverent tones. It seemed it was Rye Adam was replacing, as he didn’t have time to work at Matheson’s anymore, given how well the shelter was doing.

Rye was heavily tattooed, with long, messy dark hair and eyes the uncanny gray of a morning storm. He tended to glare a lot, seemingly without ire, but he’d grinned wryly when he met Adam.

“It’s perfect,” Rye had told him. “I didn’t know shit about the hardware biz. Now that I’m leaving, of course Charlie should hire someone else who doesn’t know shit.”

Whatever Charlie’s reasons—and Adam was pretty sure it was wanting to help out River as much as to give a job to another queer person—Adam was supremely grateful and was doing his level best never to give Charlie reason to regret it.

The holiday display did indeed feature Christmas lights, as well as a beautiful wooden cutout of a log cabin, painted in full color, on which a string of lights was draped. Whenever anyone commented on it, Charlie proudly informed them that his brother, Jack, had painted it.

“Yeah, I guess I was wondering if there might be a way to get them cheaper if I order some directly from the distributor. If that’s not overstepping,” Adam added. He had only been working there for a week.

“I’m really sorry, Adam.” Charlie looked genuinely disappointed. “I pretty much sell these at cost. Around the holidays they’re a sure sell, so I use them to get people in the door, but I don’t mark them up.”

“Oh. That’s okay. I’ll just buy some of these, then.”

He bought ten boxes of lights with his employee discount. There went the day’s pay, but he couldn’t wait to see the smile on Gus’ face when he brought them home.

* * *

The scent of snow was in the air when Adam pulled up to his house. Inside, lights glowed warmly, but he found himself glancing across the street at Wes’ house, which stood dark and still.

For all that he wanted Gus to forget the lure of Wes’ unusual critters, Adam couldn’t forget the way Wes had cradled his pet so gently in his large hand. The way he’d explained his...whatever that thing had been to Gus patiently and as if she could understand everything he was saying.

Mason had not been patient. Not with Gus and definitely not with Adam.

“Hey,” Adam called as he unlocked the door. “Where’s my little monster?”

A giggle, then the rush of footsteps, and Adam turned around to see not Gus, but River, with their arms outflung like a child.