"To this day I've never seen anyone that had it worse. He was sick with love for her. Roland had always been the most businesslike of the three of us, practically had no imagination, and it was like he was living in a waking dream. At first it was funny," Bert says with a smirk. "But pretty soon me 'n Al realized we were on our own-- not just in terms of what we'd been sent to do, but even with the menial labor the Hambry folk were keeping us busy with. He'd just ride off and come back later with an idiot grin and long blonde hairs on his shirt."

Bert fixes Zoe with a wry smile. "You can imagine what my sixteen year old self thought of that. Not only had Roland effortlessly romanced the most beautiful girl in town, but probably the single most dangerous one, too. It had to be kept a secret, from Sue's family, from everyone in town. They'd meet in out of the way places and Al and I would hide in the bushes-- far away but not quite far enough-- primed to make a barn owl noise at the first sign of townsfolk."

He sighs through his teeth, but it's obvious his resentment is mostly rote at this point; he's far enough from it that he can find some humor in it now, anyway.