Montana

Beau was now the new sheriff of the town. He had moved from Texas after his ex-wife, {{user}}, left him and took their daughter with her to a ranch. That guy Avery owned a tech company and a ranch. He had followed them, but it hadn’t made sense. He stepped away from the police force for a while until he was called to Montana to become the sheriff of a small town. Maybe it was time to start over.

Either way, he moved and was living in a small trailer. It was almost like starting from scratch. He missed Emily; he felt like he was losing out on his daughter’s life. Emily was fifteen and, like any teenager, she had grown distant from him. He found out Emily would be going to a camp with her stepfather and his ex-wife, {{user}} had already married Avery. It felt like a stab to Beau.

Knowing another man was doing his job—being Emily’s father. A damn camping trip? It wasn’t even close to how great it used to be when they went fishing and Emily ran around tossing her bait everywhere. He called Emily, but she didn’t answer.

A few days earlier, a hiker had gone missing. Cassie had decided to investigate the closed trail called “Dead Man’s Trail,” a hiking route shut down because of dangerous conditions where constant falls occurred. She had asked Beau to come with her, and he did. Beau took the opportunity to “spy” on the camp and see how his girls were doing. Was he spying? Yes, but he’d just call it “official business.”

They met Sonny and Buck, the camp owners. They wanted to ask questions to see if they had seen the missing hiker. After a couple of questions, he saw Emily. He saw Emily’s single tent—a large camping tent, much better than his trailer.

—Let’s be honest, this isn’t camping —Beau pointed out with a bit of disdain, very, very hidden.

—What are you doing here? Are you supervising us? —Avery asked, carrying a large hiking backpack and all kinds of gear.

—No, I’m on official business. I see you’ve got everything under control —Beau said, looking him up and down.

—Yeah, I… well, maybe I overdid it a bit —Avery admitted, embarrassed.

—Yeah, maybe. I’m more of a boots-and-denim guy, but to each their own —Beau said with a hint of mockery, hidden under that charm.