“Yep.”
“How’d you manage that?”
“It gets better.” Chassie knocked back the booze in her cup. “I’m sleepin’ with him.”
“What!”
Two goggle-eyed expressions from the usually unflappable Keely in one day. Not bad. “You heard me. I’m sleepin’ with him. And Trevor.”
“Omigod. Every detail. Right now.”
“This stays between us, right?”
“Absolutely.”
“Edgard showed up out of the blue. He and Trev hadn’t seen each other since Colby’s accident in Cheyenne. Since they’d been partners for years things just clicked back into place easily”— liar liar—“and Ed started helpin’ out. Found out some bad things happened to him in Brazil and he’s not sure if he’s ever goin’ back. So he’s stayin’ with us indefinitely. Which is cool, ’cause I really like him and he and I hit it off like gangbusters.”
Keely said slyly, “Maybe you mean, you hit it off during a gang bang.”
Chassie stuck her tongue out at her cousin. “Funny, anyway, one night they’re talkin’ about all the crazy sex stuff they did on the road and it was the perfect opportunity to experience the raunchy threesome stuff I’d been curious about. So I propositioned them.”
“Chassie West Glanzer…I’m impressed!”
She allowed a small smirk. “Trevor is way into it, Edgard is way into it and I’m in heaven, to put it mildly. I’ve indulged in some of the hottest sex of my life and that’s sayin’ something with sex-god Trevor Glanzer as my husband.”
Keely frowned. “I sense a ‘but’ coming.”
“But I don’t want it to be temporary, K. It might seem bizarre, but I want Trevor and Edgard in my bed and in my life for the long haul.”
“Is that what they want too?”
“Yeah. But it’s not that simple.”
“Why not?” Keely countered. “How you live your life is your business, Chass.”
“Did you forget we’re livin’ that life in Wyoming?”
“You worried what people will say down at the feed store?”
“Maybe a little. It’s definitely not the norm.” Chassie couldn’t tell Keely how much out of the norm the situation really was.
A thoughtful expression crossed Keely’s face. “Remember old man Jacobs? He and his wife owned a place up by the reservation? Sold veggies and dried herbs?”
Chassie nodded.
“Apparently Jacobs’ brother’s wife moved in with them after the brother died in some war and they’d lived together for forty years.”
“So?”
“So, did it ever cross your mind something hinky might’ve been going on with three people living together?”
“No.” A strange feeling—hope? began to take root.
“That’s what I’m saying. No one thought anything of it. Maybe the old man screwed his sister-in-law and his wife every night and twice on Sundays. Maybe the two women were rug munchers and he was a cover. Maybe they didn’t have sex ever and preferred to play pinochle.”
“Eww. Nice visual, K.”
“The point is, no one around here cared. They were good neighbors. Good people. If the three of them held hands and skipped down Main Street naked, screaming about free love, or made out in church, or bragged about their kinky threesomes at the VFW, things would’ve been different.”
“You really think so?”
“I know so. I’ll bet you dollars to donuts once it’s common knowledge that Edgard’s moved in with you guys, everyone will think it’s great Trevor’s good buddy is there as a live-in ranch hand. The three of you will become entrenched in the minds of the community as a package deal. Honestly, Chass, no one will ever be the wiser that you are the middle of a Trevor and Edgard sandwich every night.”
“Except I sorta hinted to that bratty Brandy Martinson we were havin’ threesomes before any of this came to pass. She’s probably blabbed to the whole county.”
“Then the damage is done. Enjoy your notoriety. Be nice not to be a McKay for a change.” Keely squeezed Chassie’s hand. “There is no such thing as ‘normal’ even in Wyoming. You create your own family. Do what makes you, Trevor and Edgard happy in your own home. Besides, my mother always says the most meaningful relationships are those that don’t have a public face.”
“Wise woman, your mother.”
“And if Cam was here he’d command you to follow your bliss, say ‘fuck you’ to the world, and let the chips fall where they may.” Keely smiled wistfully. “Grab happiness whenever and wherever you can, Chass, ’cause you know how fleeting it is. It can be gone before you know it or ever get a chance to enjoy it.”
The cordless receiver on Keely’s desk rang and she grabbed it, spinning it around to check the caller ID. The blood drained from her face.
Chassie’s stomach dropped as if she’d swallowed a stone. “Keely. What’s wrong?
Who is it?”
“U.S. Government. Unlisted. Oh sweet Jesus.” She raced out of the room and banged on Colt’s door, yelling, “Colt, now,” and Keely’s footsteps thumped down the stairs, followed by her brother’s.
Fifteen minutes passed. Didn’t bode well that Keely hadn’t burst back with the good news everything was all right. Chassie forced herself to go downstairs.
In the living room Colt stared out the window, his hands jammed in his back pockets.
Carolyn sagged into the couch, crying silently as she stroked Keely’s hair. Keely sat on the floor with her head in her mother’s lap, arms wrapped around her mother’s calves.
Her eyes were closed through the tears falling to the floor.
Carson’s voice drifted from the dining room. Chassie leaned against the wall, waiting for the right moment to ask what’d happened. Her heart ached. God. She wished Trevor and Edgard were with her.
Colt swore and turned around. When he noticed Chassie, he shot a questioning look at his mother, and she slowly nodded at him. “They found Cam.”
“Oh thank God. Is he okay?”
“No. He’s…fu—screwed up. Bad. Seriously bad. Cam had surgery two days ago, right after they found him, barely alive. Somehow the army misplaced our number and were just now able to let us know what’s goin’ on.”