Deep River Promise, Jackie Ashenden [large ebook reader .TXT] 📗

protectiveness was new. As if he’d decided all at once that he was now the man he’d one day be and had taken responsibility for the whole of Deep River.

He would disappear on the weekends and sometimes in the evenings too, going God only knew where, and it wasn’t until later that she’d discovered he’d either been helping April in her diner, or talking to Mal in Mal’s Market, Deep River’s general store. Or offering his help to some of the fishermen, or going around to check on various people in the town.

All admirable things for him to do in the normal scheme of things. At least, it would have been admirable if he’d told her why he was doing them. And he wouldn’t. All she’d managed to get out of him was that there were things he needed to do and she shouldn’t be concerned because he was taking care of it.

Of course, that had only made her even more concerned, since he’d never hidden things from her before. He’d always told her everything.

She had an inkling about the reasons for his new behavior, but since it was something she had no idea how to talk to him about, she hadn’t broached it yet.

“He’s not an oilman,” she said firmly.

Connor’s suspicious blue gaze turned on her. “How do you know?”

“Well, oilmen don’t generally stand around stark-naked on balconies. Especially not if they want people to take them seriously.”

“Maybe.” Connor was clearly unconvinced. “But maybe that’s what he wants you to think. That you can’t take him seriously and you shouldn’t be worried.”

Astrid gave her son a long, narrow stare.

Connor flushed almost as red as the reddish hints in his dark-blond hair, looking cross and every bit the awkward teenager he actually was. “What?” He kicked at the wooden pole behind him with his heel. “If you say something embarrassing about shaving, I will never speak to you again.”

“Just checking to see if you’re wearing a tinfoil hat.”

He shook his head, as if he were the responsible adult and she the sulky teenager. “Mom, come on. This is serious.”

“What’s serious is that if you don’t get over the river right now, you’re going to miss the bus and get another detention.”

“Hey, that detention was unfair.” Righteous anger burned in her son’s gaze. “I was helping out in my community.”

Which was just the kind of thing a teenager might say to cover up some minor misdemeanor. Except with Connor it wasn’t actually a cover-up. That’s what he had been doing. He’d been assisting Filthy Phil, the town eccentric, with building fences for the new wildlife sanctuary that the old ex-hunter was setting up on his property.

Difficult to argue that he shouldn’t be helping out in his community. But it shouldn’t come at the expense of his education.

“It’s nearly the end of the school year, Con,” Astrid said. “And then you’ll have plenty of time to help out in your community. Now get to that bus stop before I have to ground you.”

This time Connor rolled his eyes. “Not a great threat, Mom. I never go anywhere anyway.”

“It is if you want to keep helping out in your community.”

Connor raised a brow. “You’re seriously going to stop me from helping people in need?”

Lord, give her strength. Connor would make a great lawyer one day if he ever decided to put to good use his talent for arguing his way out of any situation.

Holding on to her patience by a thread, Astrid jerked her head toward the dock where Kevin Anderson’s ferry waited.

“Go on. Get.”

“All right, all right. I’ll do it.” There was a martyred expression on his face. “For you, Mom.”

Astrid tried not to smile as she watched him head toward the ferry, already taller than she was and already getting broad across the shoulders. A number of other kids were gathered on the ferry itself, waiting for him. The ferry would take them across the river, to where the main highway was, and from there, they’d catch the bus to school.

He already looks like his father.

Astrid’s heart missed a beat as the morning sun caught the red highlights in Connor’s hair.

Yes, she was horribly afraid that he did. And soon the rest of the town would see it too.

And they’d all start to wonder why Connor James looked so much like Caleb West.

Chapter 2

Feeling marginally more human after his shower, Damon dressed in a clean T-shirt and jeans, then headed downstairs to find Silas and hopefully some coffee.

The Happy Moose ranked up there with some of the weirder bars he’d been to. It had low ceilings with heavy, smoke-blackened beams, a big wooden bar, and ratty old tables and chairs scattered around the place. There was a pool table down one end and an old jukebox, which was pretty standard. But the thing that made the place really odd was the fact that the walls were covered with the taxidermied heads of different kinds of animals. According to Silas, hunters and trappers used to pay for their drinks with whatever they’d hunted or trapped back in the day, and the prizes were then displayed on the walls.

It made for a disturbing place to walk into early in the morning, when you were suffering from a major hangover and needing caffeine and met the glassy-eyed stares of dozens of different animals instead.

Especially when the place was empty.

Understandable given that if he had a hangover, then Silas was likely to have one too and was probably still holed up in bed with his girlfriend, Hope.

Damon sighed, sparing a wistful thought about his last hookup, a fabulous artist in Juneau who’d worked the same creative magic with her hands and mouth as she did with oil and canvas. Initially neither of them had wanted more than the odd weekend now and then, but then she’d decided she wanted a baby, and he wasn’t up for anything that serious, so they’d parted amiably enough.

He’d liked her, though. In fact, he liked women a hell