Page 50 of High Frequency

I joined him that night, listening to his stories about growing up in Texas, meeting his deceased wife, Mary, and dating back to his own ranching days. I returned the next night, and the one after that, slowly getting pulled into the fabric of his family after losing mine.

He’s also the person I turned to when, out of the blue, this guy David Zimmerman showed up claiming to be my biological father. Then again, a couple of years ago, when I found out I had a half sister living in Durango, Colorado.

Discovering a father and sister I didn’t know I had took a bit of getting used to. I’d been feeling pretty pissed with my mom at first but Thomas talked me through that as well.

These days I’m in regular contact with both. I don’t see Lindsey—my sister—as much as I’d like to. She’s married with two little ones and her husband is the president of a motorcycle club that owns several businesses in town, so it isn’t that easy for them to get away. I’ve been to see her once, but I’m probably due for another trip out there at some point.

When my father learned of my existence after Mom died, he actually moved to Kalispell, so he and I catch up fairly regularly. He actually may get a kick out of these progress pictures; I should probably send him a couple.

“When are your windows coming?” Thomas asks.

“Tuesday. He was supposed to be here tomorrow, but something came up. Won’t really set us back though. We only got the primary bedroom, closet, and bathroom done today. That was a lot more work than I thought. The one-day delay on the windows means I can focus on the other rooms upstairs I haven’t even touched yet.”

“Boys coming out to help again?”

Most of the guys were over at the house helping at some point this weekend. Even Jonas showed up yesterday afternoon, but he left to head back to Fort Harrison this morning. Apparently, Jackson is going to be released tomorrow and Alex and Jonas are bringing him back here.

“JD and James.”

“Good.” He holds up his hands, gnarled with arthritis. “If not for these useless paws, I’d be over there in a heartbeat, giving you a hand. Been known to build a thing or two in my day.”

I suppress a grin. Ninety-two-years old, he can barely lift his tumbler of whiskey, so I can’t really see him wielding a hammer, but I have no problem believing there wasn’t much he couldn’t do at one point in time.

“I’m surprised she’s back already,” he mumbles under his breath.

I turn to see what he’s talking about, when I catch sight of Sloane’s dark red Jeep coming up the driveway and turning toward the cabins. I haven’t seen her since Friday, but I know she was supposed to move into the cabin today. Her Jeep wasn’t here when I got back from the house.

“Wasn’t she picking up her mom?”

Thomas glances at his watch. “Yeah, but her plane was supposed to land at seven ten. It’s seven forty-five now. It’s an hour-and-a-half drive.”

Good point.

I push up to my feet. “I’m just gonna go…check.”

“You do that,” he calls after me, snickering.

I catch her just as she lifts Aspen’s seat out of the car.

“I can take her.”

I’m already reaching for the baby seat when Sloane’s head swings around at the sound of my voice.

“Jesus, you startled me.”

But she lets me take charge of Aspen, who looks to be fast asleep.

“Where’s your mother?” I ask as I follow her to her front door.

“Ugh,” she groans as she steps inside. “She’s stuck in Denver for the night. She’d boarded her flight to Kalispell, but apparently there was an issue with the plane. They were sitting on the tarmac for over an hour before they were told to get off the plane. Anyway, the flight was cancelled and they put her on another one tomorrow.”

“Oh no,” I commiserate, setting the car seat on the couch, as Sloane dumps her keys and the diaper bag on the small kitchen island.

“Yeah, it sucked. I didn’t get her message until I stopped for gas just outside Kalispell, and I turned right back around.”

“Luckily after a weekend of keeping me awake and on my toes, Aspen decided to finally sleep. She was out the whole time.”

She moves to the baby and, with gentle hands, peels her out of the seat.

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