“As ever.”
They climbed out. DeeJay plastered a smile on her face. The sky was still lightening but not enough yet to take pictures. Calvin came down from the porch, grinning, and shook their hands.
“Thought you might change your minds,” he said. “Wait here, I’ve got some coffee to take with us.”
So he wasn’t going to invite them inside. DeeJay wondered how they could get around that. But as she looked past the house, she saw the barn and wondered if that wasn’t the place they really needed to get into. And as far as Calvin knew, they were out here alone, miles from anywhere.
He wouldn’t be afraid of them if he had a plan to take them down. He also wouldn’t be expecting them to have backup. She wondered how she could provoke him into doing something stupid.
Glancing at Cade, she suspected his thoughts were following the same path. His face had an almost grim set to it.
Calvin returned, carrying three insulated bottles in his arms. “Help yourselves,” he said.
Letting them choose which bottle they took? That would seem to indicate he wasn’t trying to slip them a Mickey, but she didn’t trust it. He could have put a sedative in all three of them and just wouldn’t drink himself. She thanked him as she took a bottle and looked at Cade. He arched a brow and gave an infinitesimal shake of his head.
So he suspected the same thing.
When Cade had his bottle, Calvin led them away from the house. “The view is best once the barn is out of the way.”
“I like your barn,” DeeJay said. “It has character.”
“It’s old and keeps me busy,” he said. Damn, he sounded so natural. “Drink some coffee. You guys must be having trouble waking at this hour.”
“It is early,” DeeJay agreed. “So you have to plow a path to your barn? I thought you said you weren’t working this place.”
“I’m not, but I store a lot of things out there. I never know when I might need something.”
She felt a moment of horror as Cade unscrewed his coffee bottle and poured some into the plastic cup. Had she misread him?
But she noted that he barely lifted the cup to his lips. He wasn’t really drinking, but Calvin mistook it and smiled. “Good coffee, huh?”
“The best,” Cade agreed. “You can make coffee for me anytime.”
“Have some more. You can have mine if you want. I get up early sometimes, and I’m pretty full of caffeine already.”
DeeJay moved around until she was on the far side of Calvin, forcing him to turn away from Cade. Behind Calvin she saw Cade dump the coffee and use his boot to cover the stain with a heap of snow. The crunch of his boot in the heavy snow sounded loud to her ears. She spoke quickly to keep Calvin distracted.
“Calvin,” she said, “let me take pictures of your barn, okay? Really, it’s the kind of charm we need along with the mountains.”
Calvin looked toward the hulking, weathered structure. “I never thought of it that way before. Sure, go ahead.”
So she darted forward and pulled out her phone, taking pictures as she moved around. Calvin watched her, but kept glancing at Cade, who appeared to be on his second cup of coffee.