Chase and Cade arrived first. Chase hollered as he dashed past, “Don’t let them start without us.”

Alyssa startled as the guys flew through the kitchen. “What?”

Emma said, “They’ll clean up a bit from being out weighing and tagging the new calves.”

Alyssa nodded. “Right. That makes sense. But is it really that urgent that they don’t miss anything?”

Emma laughed. “You’ll have to be the judge of that, after you see the show.”

The twins were back in record time washed up, with clean sweats on. Cade looked around the kitchen where everyone had gathered at the table with a feast in the middle. “They’re not here yet?”

Chase frowned, “They should be here by now. They should have been ahead of us. I hope nothing went wrong.”

Just then, a truck pulled into the driveway and there was a lot of laughing and door slamming. Meg lifted an eyebrow and looked at Travis, who just shrugged.

Adam and Beau rounded the corner from the mudroom giggling like a couple of school girls.

Adam spotted the food. “Score! I’m fricken starving.”

Both grabbed a sandwich and inhaled it before they even sat down at the table. Alyssa noticed a slight whiff of something. It smelled like pot.

Chase sniffed and shook his head. “They’re stoned.”

Beau nodded. “Most probably. Those poachers were having themselves quite the clam bake in cabin three.”

Adam grinned and spoke around the food in his mouth. “Yeah, we left the windows open to air it out some, but I think we might need to fumigate.”

Nodding his head, Beau said, “And burn the bedding and towels.”

Adam shrugged and then grabbed another sandwich to devour.

Travis asked, “So they were not only poaching on our land, but they had made themselves at home in cabin three? And were smoking pot in there heavy enough to give you two a contact high?”

Adam grinned and Beau nodded. “I imagine all eight of us have a contact high. You could hardly see in there, it was filled with so much smoke. By the time we carried them and all the evidence out of the cabin and got it into Drew’s patrol rig, we were all feeling a little woozy. I think every animal within a mile radius is going to be high. Adam here drove five miles an hour to get back home without running his truck into a tree.”

Grandpa K asked, “So, you’re sure it was them?”

Adam giggled. “Oh, yeah. There was evidence everywhere. Traps, skins, and a very helpful map detailing where all the traps are set. It shouldn’t take us long to go get them tomorrow. I took pictures of the map with my phone.”

“Those guys were so stoned they happily told us that they had used some of their first fur sales to purchase the weed. But Greasy Hair wanted to make sure we knew they had no more weed than the legal limit. Buzz Cut was certain we arrested them for the pot. We tried to explain it was for the illegal trapping, but I’m not sure it registered. Greasy Hair couldn’t even stand on his own he was so toasted.” Beau reported.

“Buzz Cut and Greasy Hair? Didn’t they have real names?” Alyssa asked.

Beau grinned at her in a sappy way. “I’m sure they did sweet darlin’, but I was calling them those names before I was told the real ones, and they are easier to remember.” Beau slowly turned his sappy grin toward his mother and asked if there were any cookies.

Alyssa felt her face grow warm and hoped no one else noticed Beau’s slip up. She busied herself stirring her hot chocolate, hoping everyone would assume her pink cheeks were from the steam. She looked up. Adam was looking at her intently, despite his dilated pupils and stoned expression.

Emma got up to get some cookies for Beau. “Now start at the beginning and tell us the whole story. How did Drew know where to look?”

They started in telling the tale from start to finish and Alyssa had to admit it was quite funny. They tag teamed each other in the telling and both perspectives were highly amusing. When they were finally done all the food was eaten—including the whole package of cookies. It was nearly midnight when the party broke up, and they all headed to their rooms for some much-needed sleep. Adam and Beau were both dragging once they came down from their high.

Beau reached out to her as they split off toward their rooms. He touched his fingertips to hers and said quietly, “We’ll talk tomorrow.”

She nodded and went into her room. She wasn’t quite sure what she wanted to say to him, but she was certain the kiss and what he’d said after needed to be discussed. If only to clear the air and be on the same page going forward. But she wasn’t looking forward to it.

* * *

Beau staggered to his room, he was so exhausted. He wasn’t a fan of marijuana. He’d tried it once in high school and felt the same as he did now, too tired to even move. And he couldn’t get his brain to think at all. He was so full, from inhaling all that food, he thought he might explode. He couldn’t figure out why people liked pot, in his opinion it only made people exhausted, fat and stupid. But no one asked his opinion, so to each his own.

He wished he could talk with Alyssa tonight, he would rather not wait until tomorrow, but he didn’t have the ability. He was certain he wouldn’t even be able to remember what he wanted to say, much less string two words together to say it. Nope, it was going to have to wait.

He dragged his clothes off as he stumbled toward his bed. He’d pick them up tomorrow, right now he needed sleep. He fell face first into his bed with just his skivvies on and barely managed to pull the covers over himself before he was asleep.