A Matter of Trust(96)

The roads out of the park weren’t well plowed, and Ty kept his speed down as they traveled around Red Rock Point.

“She was upset and scared,” Ty said. “And we’ve been friends a long time.”

“How long?”

Ty drew in a breath. “My father was friends with her dad and some of his buddies. The Taggerts would come out skiing, sometimes stay with us, or we’d go with them to their condo at Vail. Jess—Selene—and her brother Barron and I would hang out. Later, when she went to Wharton, she started dating my roommate.”

“Her fiancé,” Pete said softly, but Ty sensed an edge to his words.

“Yeah. But the minute he found out about the scandal, he left her, so . . .”

Pete swallowed, said nothing for a long while. Then, “I suppose she thought I might do that too.”

“It’s a good bet. She came out here looking for a fresh start. She had nothing. She surrendered all her possessions, her bank account, everything when she testified against her father. And imagine for just one second how that felt—to testify against your own father. It wasn’t like they had a terrible relationship. She loved him. He came to college to take her out to lunch, or on holiday. He actually told Jess to testify against him as part of a plea deal to save her brother.”

“So why the secrets?”

The road had been cleared here, by Lake McDonald, and Ty picked up the pace.

“You heard Brette. There are a lot of people who blame the entire family for Damien’s actions. Jess doesn’t want to get pulled into that again.”

“I wouldn’t have broadcasted it—”

“No, but your friend and our local reporter Tallie might have.” Ty glanced at him. “Think about it—the night you two broke up was the night you brought in the youth group from their accident last summer. Tallie was there, with a press crew. Jess took one look at that and ran.”

Pete was looking at him now. “I thought she was jealous of Tallie. Or at least thought Tallie and I had something going.”

“Do you?”

Pete frowned. “No. Of course not.”

Ty lifted a shoulder. “It’s a fair question.”

Pete drew in a breath. “Not anymore. I’m trying to change.”

Ty could give him that—he’d seen the change in Pete at the hospital. And maybe in his off-hours, which he spent mostly working out, training, or on the occasional weekend climbing trip.

“I’m in love with her, Ty.”

Ty hadn’t expected that. He glanced at Pete. “Really?”

“I have been since last summer. I thought it was just a . . . maybe a crush, but I can’t get her out of my head. And I tried to tell myself that she was with a better guy—”

“Thanks for that.”

“But it didn’t help.”

Oh.

“So, you’re really not dating, then,” Pete said.

Sorry, Jess. “No. She just didn’t—”

“Trust me enough to tell me about her past.”

Ty had no words.

“The problem with keeping a secret is that you don’t give someone a chance to come through for you, to prove to you that they love you unconditionally.”

“It was too risky, Pete. Sorry, but it could have gone south and destroyed her world. Although, with Brette in possession of her identity, probably it will anyway.”

“We need to stop Brette,” Pete said quietly.

Ty had reached Apgar Center, took a left toward the West Glacier entrance. “Yeah, how?”

“Maybe I could talk to her. Offer to tell her my story for Jess’s.”

“I don’t think your feel-good story about saving a bunch of kids—one that’s already been told, I might add—is going to top her scoop of the year. She’d need something . . . juicer.”

Or at least something just as revealing.

The answer hit Ty like a blow to his chest.

He might have even groaned because Pete looked at him. “What’s up?”

Ty sighed. “I could tell her about the crash.”

Silence from Pete. Then, “What about the crash?”

See, this was why Ty had never talked about it. Because every time he even thought about it, shame cut off his words. Still, if he was going to tell Brette, maybe he could try it out on Pete first.

“It was my fault we crashed.”

Another beat of silence. “Chet said it was weather, a wind shear—”

“Our engine seized up. In midair.”

Ty turned onto Highway 2, toward Mercy Falls.

“That’s not—”

“I was supposed to do the preflight check. We were low on oil, and I would have seen it. But . . .” He forced his words out. “I didn’t do it. We were in a hurry to get to the callout—”