Page 54 of High Frequency

So, yeah, I’m feeling pretty great today.

I smell the bacon when I come in the front door. Ama is by the stove, and Wolff, Thomas, JD, and James are already eating at the table.

Thomas is the first one to see me. “Well, butter my butt and call me a biscuit.”

Of course that has everyone looking up.

“That didn’t take long,” JD comments before shoving a piece of bacon in his mouth.

James—who never talks much—raises an eyebrow before he returns to his breakfast as well. Wolff does the same with a grin and a shake of his head, as Ama makes a beeline for me. Or rather, Aspen, who is rather abruptly plucked from my hold.

“I’ll take that baby and you sit your ass down before breakfast is all gone.”

I do as I’m told since I’m pretty damn hungry, and load up a plate.

“There’s been a small change in plans,” I inform James and JD. “I have to run into Kalispell. I’ve got to hit up The Home Depot for a few things and I’m picking up Sloane’s mom from the airport.”

“Youare?” Thomas inquires.

My response is a simple, “Yep.”

Then I dig into my breakfast.

I met Isobel, Sloane’s mother a couple of times, years ago, but I have no trouble picking her out of the crowd disembarking the plane.

For one thing, the family resemblance is impossible to miss, and for another, she has me pinned with a look the moment she walks into the terminal. There’s no doubt she knows who I am too.

“Here,” she says by way of greeting when she reaches me and hands me her carry-on.

Then she marches right past me to the baggage carousel, leaving me no choice but to follow.

“How was your flight?” I ask when I catch up with her.

It earns me a flash of familiar-looking blue eyes. “A day too long.”

I try to be sympathetic. “Yeah, that was unfortunate.”

“A pain in my ass is what it was,” she counters, turning to me. “What was unfortunate was finding out I have a granddaughter when she’s already four-and-a-half fucking months old.”

A few heads turn at her raised voice and probably the swearing. I catch a few looks myself, quickly identified as a guilty party by some. If only they knew how much I wish I could make that claim.

“And then I get a text message this morning, saying my daughter can’t even be bothered picking me up.” She quickly turns her head away, but I still catch a shine in her eyes. “Now I have to wait even longer to see my grandbaby.”

I don’t have to be a mind reader to know there’s a lot going on below her angry surface. I even get Sloane carries responsibility for that, but she doesn’t need to have more blame than she deserves piled on her shoulders.

I send a quick text to let Sloane know her mother arrived. Then I wait until we have collected her suitcase and are on the road back to the ranch before I speak.

“In all fairness, Sloane planned to come to the airport but I talked her out of it.”

“What the blazes for?”

I can feel her glaring at me, but I keep my eyes fixed on the road.

“Has she told you about the case she’s working on?”

“What case?”

I tell her about the girl we rescued from the gorge, and the remains of the other girl we found. She doesn’t interrupt and seems to be listening intently as I explain how her daughter is working her butt off to find whoever did this before he gets a chance to do it again. All while she’s trying to get her feet back under her.

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