Page 116 of Tapped

Chase ignores his mom as he awkwardly reels in his line to try to cast again. This one goes short, but he doesn’t care, and it doesn’t stop him from asking questions. “Why do you live in Miami when your mom and dad live here?”

I sit next to where Evie is sprawled on the blanket. There’s space between us but not a lot. “I moved there for my job.”

“My dad doesn’t have a job,” he says matter of factly. He looks over his shoulder to us. “Why doesn’t Dad have a job?”

Evie pushes to her ass this time. I wonder how often she covered for the asshole in the past, because it looks like she contemplates her answer for a moment. “I don’t know, baby. I honestly don’t know.”

I bet if she could tell him that she has no fucking clue why Jeff Michaels is the way he is, she would.

“Lanie’s dads both have jobs. Micah has a job. He gets to put bad guys in jail.” He turns to look at me and gets the tip of his rod stuck in the tree branches above us. “Right?”

I stand and take the rod from him to fix the mess he just made. “Right. Say no to drugs.”

He rolls his eyes like he dares me to tell him something he doesn’t know. “Mama already told me that.”

I wonder if the kid is a teenager, but at least he’s back toMama. Evie will be happy.

“Pretty sure I pounded that into your brain,” she agrees and goes on the offense, probably to avoid more questions about her soon-to-be ex-husband. “What do you want to do when you grow up, baby?”

I hand him back the rod without bothering to re-bait it since he can’t sit still. All he wants to do is cast anyway. This time it lands three feet in front of him. “I wanna be a cowboy and ride my own horse. But I don’t want to shovel horse poop. It stinks, and it’s heavy. And then we had to wheel it out to the poop pile. It was gross.”

Evie laughs. “You can’t pick and choose. Horse poop is a big part of being a cowboy. Ask Micah.”

I’m not sure if my smile is more about our detailed conversation about horse shit or the fact that Evie actually laughed. “Don’t grow up too fast, Chase. It’s a trap. Once you’re there you can never go back.”

“Yeah,” he mutters. “And grownups have to eat gross food.”

I reach over and tug on the end of Evie’s hair. “He has a point.”

Evie pulls her knees up, hugs them, and looks over at me. “Maybe we should just stay here. Chase can fish, you can chop wood, and I can watch.”

“You like to watch,” I mutter. “I knew it.”

“She’s always watching,” Chase complains.

“Because I love you,” she reminds him without looking away from me. “I’ve loved watching you learn all the new things since we got to the ranch.”

I’m about to ask her more about that, but my phone vibrates on the blanket.

“Oh, shit,” I mutter.

“What is it?” Evie asks.

Chase laughs. “Micah said shit! Mama’s gonna be mad!”

I read his text and then download my email that’s slow as hell in the mountains.

“Micah,” Evie demands as I scan the report. “There are too many things going on for you to read that without telling me what it’s about.”

“The DNA.” I look up at her before glancing at Chase to make sure he’s not paying attention. I find her dark, anxious eyes. “There was a hit in the National Database. We have an ID.”

* * *

Evie

I declaredwe were done fishing.

Today might be my first day on the back of a horse, but that didn’t stop me from wanting to kick my heels into that poor geriatric mare.

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