Stars & Stripes Read Online Free PDF Page B

laughter shook through him.
    Deuce glared at Ty, but Ty returned the look with wide-eyed innocence. “Maybe they need a shrink.”
    “I hate you.”
    Chester cackled and shook his head. He rocked in his chair, facing the couch from the other side of the fireplace, drinking from a mason jar of clear liquid that Ty had implied was some incredible moonshine. He watched the glass figurine as Zane played with it.
    “I gave that to my wife on our fiftieth Christmas together,” he announced, looking at the little angel with a melancholy fondness.
    Zane let his head fall to the side as he watched the light play off the glass. “I bet she loved it.”
    “She did love a shiny thing, my Evie,” Chester said with a smile.
    Earl and Mara both laughed.
    “We made it sixty-three years.” Chester raised one gnarled finger and pointed at Zane. “Takes a whole lot of shiny things.”
    Zane raised an eyebrow, but smiled, and his eyes strayed to the compass pendant around Ty’s neck. “Keeping anything worthwhile generally does,” he agreed, looking back at the figurine, his eyes skimming over Ty along the way.
    Ty wasn’t looking at him, though. He was sitting with his arms around his knees to keep his balance as he rocked from side to side, staring at the rug in the middle of the floor. It was possible he’d already zoned out and wasn’t listening, but Zane doubted that very much.
    “Got to find the right fit,” Chester continued. He waved a hand at Mara and Earl, who were watching him in bemusement. Then he looked back at Zane and pointed at him, waving his hand toward Ty to include him. “It’s good you got the right fit.”
    Zane wasn’t quite sure what that was supposed to mean, but he figured he should just be glad that he wasn’t at the top of the shovel list anymore.
    “Well, somebody’s got to watch his back,” Zane said, glancing at his partner.
    “That too,” Chester said as he began rocking again, hands folded in his lap.
    “What are you talking about, Dad?” Earl asked Chester with a laugh.
    “All’s I’m saying is love’s a blessing, no matter all the same.”
    Ty’s head shot up, and he stared at his grandfather for a moment before looking over his shoulder at Deuce. Deuce shook his head and mouthed something to him, assuring him he’d never told anyone.
    Zane forced himself not to move, not even to twitch as he blinked at Chester. It was an implication the old man couldn’t possibly mean. Nerves started cramping his stomach.
    Earl and Mara both stared at Chester, looking confused. But then, Chester probably got that look a lot. Chester rocked on for several tense moments before looking around at them all in surprise. “What?” he asked. “Y’all didn’t know they was sweethearts?”
    Zane was so shocked he knew it had to show as he stared at the smile on Chester’s lined face. Distantly he thought he ought to be preparing something to say, but he’d gone blank. His eyes searched out Ty’s.
    Ty wore much the same expression as he stared at Chester. He opened his mouth to speak and looked over to the loveseat, where Earl was looking at Chester intently.
    “Do what, now?” Earl asked.
    “Dad,” Ty said as he struggled to his feet.
    Earl stood to face him, shaking off Mara’s hand as she tried to tug him back down. Zane sat up straight, though he stayed on the couch. Every warning instinct in him was firing.
    “Is that true?” Earl demanded, voice low and deceptively calm.
    Ty put up a hand and stepped toward him. “Let’s sit back down and—”
    “Is it true?” Earl ground out again, not budging. Mara stood and took a tiny step closer, still looking thunderstruck.
    Ty stared at his father, his lips parted. The hand at his side was trembling. Zane curled his fists in the couch cushions as he made himself sit still. He wanted desperately to go to Ty for support, to stand beside him in this moment. It tore him up to know he had to try to stay out of it.
    Ty didn’t look away from