“He’s got something up his sleeve,” Garret grumbled, scowling as he ate the last of his meal. “My old man always kept the family off balance. We never knew from one moment to the next what the hell he was up to. It was like playing whack-a-mole, but you never knew where or when that next mole would pop up.”
Shay gave Garret a sympathetic look. This was the first time Garret had opened up. “I wish I’d known about this before. You could probably have helped me with my father. Sometimes I feel like I’m in a minefield with him, never sure what to say or do. Always afraid I’ll set him off.”
Nodding, Garret slid her a worried glance. “Maybe I should have, Shay. It’s just hard to talk about.”
Shay understood better than anyone. “Well,” she said, giving him a gentle look, “do you mind if I come to you every once in a while to get your take on a situation? You’ve had it just as rough or rougher than I did growing up. At least my father wasn’t a Marine Corps sergeant and DI like yours was.”
Garret grimaced and pushed his empty plate away from himself. “Sure. I’ll do anything I can to help you, Shay.”
That was such a huge step for Garret, and Shay knew it better than anyone at the table. Garret was closed up like most vets, but she’d always seen him as even more armored than anyone else here at the table. Now, she was beginning to understand why he was that way. “Thanks. If nothing else,” she joked sadly, “misery loves company. Right?” She saw one corner of Garret’s mouth pull into a half smile of sorts. More pain than smile. He was carrying a lot of baggage within him.
“Yeah, birds of a feather and all that,” Garret muttered. He got up, starting to clear the table of all the empty plates.
Harper looked over at Shay. “How can we help you, Shay? You’re at the center of the bullseye with your father suddenly showing up here.”
“Just do your jobs on the weekend. That is all the help I need,” she reassured him.
“Yes,” Noah murmured, “but you don’t know what kind of wrenches your father might throw into this weekend plan.”
“I don’t,” Shay admitted. “But I’m hoping the physical space separating us from him will be enough.”
“I have an idea,” Reese said, giving them all a studied look. “Shay? What do you think of asking one of the ranch women to be the person who comes in here every once in a while to check up on your father? She’ll be a stranger to Ray. And once he knows that she’s your lieutenant, who is responsible to see how he is, if he needs anything, it will give you the space you need. That way, he doesn’t become a distraction to you.”
Garret came over with a chocolate cake with chocolate frosting, setting it in the center of the table. “That is a damned good idea. It protects Shay and keeps her out of the line of fire with her old man.” He went back to the kitchen to retrieve dessert plates.
“Plus,” Noah offered, “whoever you choose has to have really good boundaries, Shay. She can’t take any crap from your father.”
“You’re right about that,” Shay slowly admitted. “Diana Adson, the wife of Chuck, who runs the local gas station at the edge of town, is supposed to help coordinate the food for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.”
“She still can,” Garret said, sitting down and beginning to cut thick slices of the cake and place them on the individual plates. “But along with those duties, Diana can become your spokesperson of sorts. And I seriously doubt your old man is going to go ballistic on her. She’s a tall, big gal physically, an ex-cop, so she’s used to handling heated situations and nasty people.”
“I’ll call her,” Shay promised. “It’s a good idea.”
“Diana knows your situation,” Reese pointed out, thanking Garret for the slice of cake. “She doesn’t have to be brought up to speed. All she needs to do is drop by the house once every couple of hours and check in on your father.”
“That way,” Garret said, passing a plate to Shay, “your old man gets attention, but it leaves you free to coordinate things without getting trapped in any drama he might have in mind.”
“I’ll ask Diana if she wants to do it. If she doesn’t, I’ll deal with it.”
Noah gave her a long look. “Well, if Diana can’t do it, then you still need an intercessor of sorts. What you don’t want is to get caught in his craziness.”
“Yeah,” Garret warned, digging into the cake he made, “he’s gonna have questions. He’s gonna be upset or disagree with something we’ve planned. You can count on it, Shay. You need to figure out who your messenger is so he can’t reach you. That’s just the way it has to be so we can get this arena-raising done in two days.”
Hearing the grimness in Garret’s tone, Shay nodded. “Okay, I’ll do whatever has to be done.” She saw all the vets’ faces lose some of their worry. Shay had never felt so protected as now. She’d made a terrible error in not confiding in them sooner . . .