Dead Wood by Pandora Pine

Author:Pandora Pine [Pine, Pandora]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2023-11-14T16:00:00+00:00

12

Tennyson

Ten and the others found themselves standing on one side of a giant horse trough filled with water, sediment, and rocks. Colorado was on the other side and was demonstrating how to use the gold pan to scoop the dirt and use the device to sluice away the sand with water. When he finished, Ten could see three small flecks of gold left in the pan.

Half listening to Colorado as he explained how panning for gold worked, Ten was also trying to read Jace. The man was in a world of hurt, all self-imposed. He may have told Ronan that whatever happened between Jace and Kevin was between them, but he wanted to have as much information as possible. Kevin deserved no less than the truth., and if Jace wasn’t going to give it to him, Ten was.

Jace wasn’t as easy to read as Fitzgibbon. Where Ten was able to see everything going on in Kevin’s mind and sense his emotions, Jace was more shut down. Almost a closed book. He remembered Jace telling the story of how his father, Boston real estate mogul Matthew Lincoln, had forced him to stay in the closet, paying his son to keep a lid on his sexuality. He’d become an expert at hiding his feelings and shutting down his emotions, skills he still used today, much to Ten’s consternation.

Turning his attention back to Colorado, Ten saw the man was finishing up his second pan, which revealed a few more flecks and a small nugget of gold. He hoped he’d seen enough of the demonstration to understand the basics.

“Is everyone ready to give gold panning a try?” Colorado asked.

“Yes!” the kids shouted.

Colorado led the kids to a smaller vessel, which looked like a reinforced kiddy pool. It was easier for the kids to pan at the shorter tank while the adults stayed at the taller one.

“Okay, what did we miss?” Ronan asked as he grabbed a pan from the stack near the trough. Fitzgibbon was right behind him.

Ten couldn’t help but notice how Kevin stood on his other side rather than taking a position near Jace, who was seamlessly panning as if he’d been doing it his whole life rather than for the last five minutes. “Jace seems to be teacher’s pet. Ask him to show you.” Ten winked at Ronan, hoping his husband would get the message to leave him alone with Kevin.

“This doesn’t look too hard,” Fitz said after Ten ran down the basics for him.

“Panning under these conditions is easy. Imagine if you had your own claim on the river, and this was your only chance of surviving out here during the frontier days?” Ten knew he never would have survived on the wild frontier. Hell, he was having a hard time making it here now with all the comforts of home at his disposal.

“Rats!” Everly shouted, sounding like she’d lost her best friend.

“Are you okay?” Ronan asked, rushing to his daughter’s side.

“I was using my pan and swishing like Colorado taught me, and all the sentiment washed out of my pan.

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