The Eagle and the Fox (A Snowy Range Mystery, #1) by Nya Rawlyns Read Free Book Online

your vehicle without so much as a by-your-leave. What’s a person supposed to think?” The eyes that—for all the times he’d been around the man—seemed too often shadowed with sorrow now glinted with mischief. He was reminded once more of how the man could morph from stodgy storekeeper to naughty elf when whatever weight of sadness he carried eased up.
    Maybe he wasn’t the only one with triggers lurking around every corner. It seemed like Marcus Colton and he were compatible opposites. He was on the okay side of things most days, getting by, doing what needed done. But then something would happen, and it wasn’t okay anymore. That made it tough, to go from tolerable to terrible and not have a way to stop it, let alone slow it down. So he managed it as best he could. It wasn’t a cure though.
    But Marcus, he was on the other side of the spectrum. Though he didn’t know the man well, they’d had enough contact over the years for him to recognize a bone-weary soul who got by dogged with the kind of sorrow brought on by a profound loss. Josh wondered what it was like, to rise up out of that sorrow into the light, to sample the taste of joy, and then have it slip away because maybe you had no way to anchor it in place. To his mind, that might be far worse than the occasional downward spiral he had.
    Was Marcus’ journey as unpredictable as his own? Was there ever a time when you earned the right to consciously choose how it would be? Or were they both forever chained to chance and forced to accept the bread crumbs fate liked to dish out?
    One thing he did know, they both deserved the right to just be. And if that being who they were meant being friends, then he’d count himself damn lucky. He’d never planned on going through life with everyone his friend, but having Marcus as his friend? Yeah, that was good enough, better than good.
    “You always think hard on stuff, cowboy, because that burning smell isn’t coming from the picnic.”
    Josh blushed, the heat spreading to his ears. He didn’t like getting caught out in one of his endless loops of introspection. Folks thought he was peculiar enough as it was.
    Scrubbing at the stiff whiskers on his chin, Josh stared out the window. When he spoke, it was like the words formed elsewhere, then came out of his mouth without him planning on the sequence or trying to have it make sense. Somehow he suspected Marcus would understand.
    “I seem to be thanking you a lot, but somehow it don’t seem like quite enough today. I know we ain’t close... I mean, we don’t have history other than what good gossip and willing tongues can provide. But that’s not always what close means, you know?’
    Marcus nodded his head. He too stared out the windshield, but he’d moved closer, his fist resting inches away from Josh’s hand.
    “Thing is, Marcus, sometimes I don’t know how to be for Becca and the girls. My folks, before they got killed in that wreck, they took care of her. I was away, sometimes for a year or more at a time. I wasn’t there but it was okay. They were proud I was serving, proud I was doing what I wanted.” He set his lips in a tight line. The life he’d loved and lost wasn’t something he was comfortable talking about.
    Marcus asked, “How long were you in for?”
    “I was going for my twenty. Almost made it, too.” Almost...
    “What happened?” Marcus spun on the seat, angling his body, preparing himself to listen.
    It was a simple question, one folks asked all the time—some because of morbid curiosity, others because they cared. The rest were just polite and didn’t expect or want details that would make them uncomfortable.
    Josh came at it sideways, knowing there were some triggers involved if he wasn’t careful. It wasn’t the circumstances or the description—that he could handle. All he needed was to take himself outside the event and narrate...
    The sky had been hurtful blue, his pack heavy with gear. He’d been escorting a prisoner.