Read Free Fire for Free Online

much of a hurdle to Missy before.
    “The Earl just gave a couple hundred thousand to the Twelve Sleep County Arts Council,” Marybeth said. “So it’s possible he’ll be at the meeting tonight.”
    “Where Missy can begin her charm offensive,” Joe said.
    “Exactly.”
    Joe said, “How did you turn out so well?”
    Marybeth smiled. “My mother wouldn’t agree. She wonders where she went wrong.” Missy made no secret of how she had hoped Marybeth—the smartest of her children—would become a corporate attorney or a U.S. senator, or at least follow her exampleand marry one.
    Joe patted himself on the chest. “I was your downfall.”
    Marybeth sat back and facetiously looked him over, nodding.“Yes. Marrying you doomed me. Then you made me have our children. Now I’m trapped.”
    Joe thought, She’s kidding but her mother is not .
    Joe told her about the offer from the governor. He gauged her reaction carefully as he laid it out. He noticed that while he spoke, she glanced several times at the file folder in his lap.
    When he was through, she hesitated for a beat and said, “Can we trust him?”
    “The governor?”
    “Yes.”
    He wasn’t sure how to answer. He said, “If we can’t trust our governor, who can we trust?”
    She rolled her eyes. “I need a glass of wine.”
    Joe thought about her question while she was gone. He dug deep. Did he trust Spencer Rulon?
    When she came back with two glasses, he said, “No, not completely.”
    “The deal as you describe it makes me uncomfortable,” she said. “They either hire you back or they don’t. From what you tell me, you’ll be operating on your own with no backup and no support. If you get into trouble, you’re on your own. We’re on our own. What is that phrase politicians like to use?”
    “Plausible deniability.”
    “Right. And how do we know Randy Pope won’t do everythinghe can to undermine you at every turn?”
    “I expect him to do that,” Joe said.
    She sighed, sipped her wine. “Remember how frustrated you were with the bureaucracy, with fighting against the system? Do you think you could live within it again—do you think it’s changed at all?”
    Joe shook his head. “Not a bit.”
    “Do we move back to our house?”
    “I don’t think so. He never mentioned it. Would you want that?”
    “No, although I wouldn’t mind a change of scenery if that meant we could get our lives back.”
    Me too , he thought.
    “The last time you had to leave us it wasn’t very good,” she said, not meeting his eyes.
    When he was assigned temporarily to Jackson, Joe thought. No, it wasn’t very good for them. In fact, his absence and the things that happened with both of them had damaged their marriage.It was only now healing. Time and their joint determinationto right the ship had created scar tissue. But the wound was still there, and would always be there, he supposed.
    “I’d want you to come this time,” Joe said. “Bring Sheridan and Lucy every chance you get. It’ll be tough with school and activities, but let’s make sure we stay close and in contact.”
    She nodded, thinking it over. “I’ve always wanted to go to Yellowstone, as you know.”
    “I know.”
    “But we’ve never gone.”
    Joe sighed, and found himself staring at the woodstove.
    “Are you going to be able to do this?” she asked.
    He looked back. “I have to.”
    Yellowstone, a place so special and awe-inspiring that after exploring it in 1871, the Hayden Expedition conceived of the original concept of the world’s first national park—a set-aside of 2.2 million acres containing more than ten thousand thermal features, canyons, waterfalls, and wildlife—so no man or corporationcould ever own it. As a boy, Joe had been to Yellowstonedozens of times. Many of his earliest memories were of geysers, mud pots, bears, and tourists. He had once loved the park unlike anywhere else, and announced to his parents he wanted to live there, to fish, hike, and camp for