“Dakota and Lane used to sneak up here as teenagers, too.” Chance gestured toward one of the smaller caverns off the main one. “They thought they were being quiet about it, but people knew.”
Dakota’s stricken face rose in Cordy’s memory.Don’t tell him I’m here.Dakota seemed just as haunted by their past as Lane was.
Chance continued, “When Lane left, Dad stopped drinking.”
Cordy turned to face him. “Wait, really?Thatstopped your dad?”
“Yeah. The family almost falling apart, coming this close to losing the ranch, even Quint and me begging him… none of it worked.” Chance’s mouth twisted. “But losing Lane, that finally did it.”
“I’m sorry,” Cordy said. “Sorry that you had to lose your brother for your dad to sober up.”
“Oh, I still talk to him about… twice a year. Saw him in Cheyenne about eight months ago.”
“But you miss him. After all, you raised him.” Cordy held up a hand to stop his protest. “I know you think you didn’t, but you did. So, of course you miss him. What does he do?”
“He’s a stock contractor. Follows the rodeo around.”
“So he’s doing pretty well?”
“He’d say so.”
“And Rye seems well-adjusted.” Cordy felt a bit like she was groping in the dark. What the heck did she know about brothers and whether someone had turned out okay or not? It wasn’t like she had any experience with any of it.
All the Kessal men are messed up in their own way.That’s what Ruby had said. But Cordy wanted to understand for herself.
“Well,” Chance said, “there was the accident, but other than that, Rye’s all right.”
Accident?Had Rye been hurt? “What accident?”
“Oh, this was back in his senior year of high school. He went to a party with some friends, and on the way home, he crashed the car.”
That… that sounded nothing like Rye. Quiet, steady Rye, who probably never went over the speed limit. “Had he been drinking?”
Before, she wouldn’t have dared ask Chance that. But Chance had held her as she’d brought her baby into this world—and she was in love with him—so she asked what she wanted now. Cordy might not have much time left to do it.
Chance shook his head. “He swore up and down no, and the sheriff did a blood alcohol check. He was sober. We got him off with probation and some community service.”
Oh boy, a lot was lurking behind that one sentence. Chance and Quint must have been out of their minds with worry for their brother. And they must have worked their asses off to get that kind of a deal for him.
But Chance hid all that like usual.
“Was he or his friends hurt?” Cordy asked.
“Not him, not his friend. But Liberty spent a week in the hospital. She was banged up pretty bad.”
Cordy’s mouth fell open. “Wait,LibertyLiberty? From the Donut Palace?” Good Lord, this story had more twists than a soap opera.
“Yep.”
Chance had told her everyone in this town was connected, but it still surprised her. “I had no idea. I guess she ended up okay?”
“She did, but things were awkward between all of us for a while. They still are between her and Rye.”
“I bet. Who was the other kid in the car with them?”
“Liberty’s boyfriend, Erik. He moved away—he’s at Harvard.”
Cordy bit her lip to keep from smiling. “You don’t like him?”
