Come Home to Deep River - Jackie Ashenden Page 0,1

And he was the one who’d been closest to Caleb.

Therefore, it made sense for him to be the one to break the happy news that firstly, the fact that he, Damon, and Zeke were the new owners. And secondly, there was oil in them thar hills.

Some men might have kept the oil a secret and kept all the riches for themselves too, but Si wasn’t that kind of man, and neither were his friends.

He’d been brought up in Deep River, an extreme environment where everyone learned to rely on each other since that could be all that stood between you and a very uncomfortable death. There was no time for petty grievances—though to be fair, there were a lot of those as well. But when push came to shove, the town pulled together. Because fundamentally, they were all the same. They’d all come here because they didn’t fit anywhere else, because they were escaping something, because they liked the quiet and the isolation and the return to nature.

Because they just plain old liked it.

Si let out a breath.

And now he was going to give them news that was going to blow it all apart.

Since the rain didn’t look like it was going to let up anytime soon and since sitting brooding in his plane wasn’t exactly a power move, Si forced himself to undo his belt before reaching behind his seat to grab his duffel bag. Then, hauling it over his shoulder, he pushed open the cockpit door and stepped out into the rain.

Familiar, this feeling. The mountains like walls on either side, hemming in the narrow river valley, and the rain coming down cold and unpleasant, soaking him to the skin almost straightaway.

Yeah, he was home, and he wasn’t sure how he felt about that.

As a kid, he’d loved this place with every fiber of his being. Hadn’t ever wanted to leave. Those mountains had felt comforting, cradling a place of safety, where there was bush to run wild in and rivers to swim in, and the sea to fish in. He’d found it magical. There were dragons in the mountains, and castles, and armies to fight, new lands to conquer, princesses to rescue.

Then his mother had died, and his father had fallen headfirst into a vodka bottle, and all the magic had disappeared.

Now he was back and…

He looked around, scowling. Yeah, the magic was still gone.

There was only one way to get into the township of Deep River itself, since the highway ran alongside the opposite bank of the river rather than through the town, and that was by ferry. Old Jacob West had wanted to make it as difficult for the outside world to find the town as he could, so he’d positioned it very purposefully.

The few tourists that managed to make their way there loved that about it.

Right now, dripping wet and having to get a ferry across the river, Si didn’t find it so amusing.

Gripping the strap of his bag, he made his way through the rain and down the gravel road that led from the airstrip to the docks.

It was early evening, and the weather was awful, and there was no one around. Which was probably a good thing.

Everyone in the town would already know about Caleb’s death, and they would likely also know that the new owner wasn’t Morgan West, Caleb’s little sister and the town’s only police officer. They might even have done some digging and learned about the will and how the town had gone to some “outsiders.”

But they wouldn’t know about the oil.

Hell, even he hadn’t known about the oil, and he was Caleb’s closest friend. The guy had kept that secret close to his vest, and understandably. Money brought out the worst in people, especially the kind of money that was tied up in oil.

In fact, now he was here, Si had to admit that there was a small part of him reluctant to tell anyone about that oil. But not because he wanted to keep it for himself—he had everything he needed in Wild Alaska Aviation, the small company that he and his buddies had started up. No, his reluctance was all about how the rest of the town was going to deal with the oil news. Especially when it was going to mean big things. It could change people’s lives, that oil.

It could also mean the destruction of the town itself.

Still, the town had to know what was on their doorstep, and people had to make their