Page 68 of Bad Girls Don't Marry Marines (Rock Canyon, Idaho 3)

Ellie pouted. “At least tell me you got some.”

Val started humming the JaneDear girls’ “Good Girls Gone Bad” as she left the room, finally singing at the top of her lungs as she closed the bathroom door.

“You are a tease,” Ellie yelled through the door, and Val just laughed.

JUSTIN HAD JUST finished unpacking when someone knocked on his front door. Opening it, Justin saw his father standing on the porch, his worn Winchester cap perched over his craggy face.

“Son. Saw you pull up.”

“Hey, Dad, what’s going on?” he asked, letting his father in.

“I just got a rather disturbing phone call from Edward Willis,” his dad said evenly.

“Disturbing how?” Justin asked.

Fred went over to the wet bar and poured a glass of the whiskey Justin kept there. “He said I needed to tell my son to keep his damn hands off his daughter.” Justin sucked in his breath as his dad continued, “Since Everett hasn’t been out with anyone in several months, I immediately thought of you.”

“What did you say?”

His dad tossed back the liquor before he answered. “I told him to go right to hell, but he kindly reminded me that I still owe him money. Let me know he has friends in high places.”

Justin couldn’t believe Edward Willis was so set against him that he would stoop to threatening his family. “That man is a rotten bastard. He showed up this weekend and started yelling at Val, and I just lost it. When I confronted him, though, he called you a thief, and I—”

“I am a thief, son.”

Justin froze and stared at him. “What do you mean?”

Fred sat down on the couch and sighed. “Seventeen years ago, a few months after your mom’s accident, I was in a really bad way, financially and mentally. When Edward Willis showed up, offering to loan me the money I needed to pay my creditors in exchange for a stake in the farm, I took him up on it right away. He was interested in getting into the organic farming business and wanted to be partners.”

Justin was riveted and his dad released a bitter laugh. “I guess he thought I was stupid or so deeply depressed I wouldn’t pay much attention, but I thought it was weird we hadn’t had any insect problems. The crops were growing great, even though the Thompsons’ farm had nearly lost their whole crop of potatoes to a potato beetle infestation. I became suspicious, and one night I heard a car. I headed out to the south field and saw a guy spraying the crops. When I asked Edward about it, he admitted he’d signed a deal with Learner’s Pesticides and was getting a lot of money to spray the crops and claim they’d grown organically.

“But Learner’s was known for using toxic chemicals. Most of the cases of poisoning were with workers, but there were a few customers affected too, and I didn’t want either of you boys around it. Edward informed me that I didn’t have a choice but to go along with it; there was a clause in our business contract that allowed pesticides in extreme cases. I owed Edward too much money and couldn’t pay him back. Besides, he offered me an extra fifty thousand to look the other way, and it was just too tempting to pass up at the time. I was weak.”

“What happened?” Justin asked.

“I couldn’t do it in the end, not in good conscious. We were advertising organic and instead, we were using poisonous pesticides. If anyone ever found out, I would have lost the farm anyway. So one night, during a bad lightning storm, when no one would look too closely, I torched the crop. I had taken out an insurance claim on the crops at the beginning of the season. I used it to pay off my debt to Edward, but there was still the hush money. I didn’t feel right keeping it and have been paying it back slowly, but I still owe twenty thousand.”

“So, what, is he threatening you now or something?” Justin asked.

“Not yet, but it’ll come. It’s only a matter of time.”

Justin crossed his arms and waited for the other shoe to drop. “Why are you here, Dad? You want me to stop seeing Val?”

Fred scoffed. “No, ’course not. You’re a grown-ass man and can do what you want. I just thought I would tell you that this guy’s not going to stop fighting this thing between you two, so make sure she’s worth it.”

For the first time since his dad had walked through the door, Justin smiled. “Yeah, she’s worth it.”

AT A QUARTER to seven, Val was just slipping her shoes on when the doorbell rang. Gus tore down the hall, a barking brown ball of fury.

“I got it!” Ellie yelled as she passed, stopping long enough to peek in and whistle.

“Shut up.” Val laughed, grabbing her wool coat off the back of her footboard.

“Bow chicka wow wow. Should I make myself scarce tonight? You know, so you guys can come back here and—”

Val started toward Ellie, who ran with a yelp. A few seconds later, Val heard Ellie open the door and purr, “Justin Silverton, the knight himself.”

“Hey, Ellie.”

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