Page 224 of Haunted

“The other guests were extremely complimentary. At least one commented about the benefits of having a trained Dom on staff. And that kinda gave me an idea.” A pause. “Well, itdid—until the thing with Butch happened, and that had me reconsidering.” Another pause. “You know what? I shouldn’t have called. This is just awkward.”

“Don’t hang up!” Sol blurted.

Robert fell silent.

“I messed up, okay? I know that. And… well, I’m going to fix it. In fact, I was about to make a start on that when you called.”

“Is that the truth?” Robert demanded bluntly. “Because I’ve been waiting to see how things panned out, only now, I can’t wait any longer. The next guests arrive in a week, and I wanted to have things in place by then.”

“Robert,whatthings?”

“Look, I was calling to tell you to either shit or get off the pot. Butch is here in some god-awful limbo, and making him wait like this is fucking cruel. To be honest, it’s a real dick thing to do, and I didn’t think you were a dick.”

Sol loved the fact that Robert wasn’t afraid to speak his mind.

“I like you, Sol, but Butch is family, so in the grand scheme of things, he comes first, even if that means my plans don’t come off. And this whole situation is awkward. You need to repair the damage you’ve done, but not if the only reason you’re doing that is because of my offer.”

Sol saw the light—well, some of it, because Robert kept dancing around whatever idea he’d wanted to discuss.What offer?

“Robert… I was looking up flights to Bozeman when you called.”

He caught the hitch in Robert’s breathing. “No shit.”

“Yeah. I’m staring at United’s page as we speak. I’m coming back to Salvation to make things right.”

“Hallelujah.” The joy in Robert’s voice was unmistakable.

“So why don’t you tell me your idea, and we’ll take it from there?”

Robert spoke rapidly for a couple of minutes, and Sol listened with a mix of growing incredulity and excitement. When he was done, Robert paused. “Well? What do you think? I know, it’s a lot to take in, but—”

“Robert…” Sol took a breath. “You know this depends on Butch, don’t you? Because this will only work if he’s happy with it.”

“Then book that flight and get your ass back here. There’s a man waiting for you.”

“I’ll message Toby with the details.” Sol paused. “Are you going to tell Butch?”

Robert chuckled. “Nope. I wanna be there when he lays eyes on you. I think he might explode with happiness on the spot. He’s missed you. And no, he didn’t tell me that—he didn’t have to.”

“I think we’ve got a lot of talking to do before we get to happiness.”

But that was Sol’s destination. He’d been there once, and he wanted to revisit, only this time he figured on staying.

Maybe for the rest of my life.

Everything rested on Butch, and Sol was praying like crazy.

Chapter 54

Saturday, October 22

Salvation

Three weeks sure had rolled around fast.

The second group of guests for the Leather barn were due to check in, and Butch had been in there since breakfast, making sure the rooms were ready, the benches and sling wiped down… If it wasn’t nailed down, Butch cleaned it.

Saturday night supper for the hands had been moved first to the following Saturday, the twenty-ninth, and then to Monday, when the boss realized how close it was to Halloween. That would be Butch’s baby too. He needed to collect the skeletons stored in the attic up at the house, complete with cowboy hats and holsters, ready to be hung at various locations around the ranch. The boss’s dad had insisted on celebrating Halloween in a big way. Butch had an idea why. Keeping the hands on the ranch was way better than letting them loose in Bozeman. The boss was not going to let any of them forget about Lacey’s bar in a hurry, especially Butch since he’d been the one to bust a pool cue over Vince Traynor’s head.

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