Total pages in book: 70
Estimated words: 70516 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 353(@200wpm)___ 282(@250wpm)___ 235(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 70516 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 353(@200wpm)___ 282(@250wpm)___ 235(@300wpm)
“Good,” he said as we watched the bear cub on the telephone pole reposition himself. “And your sister?”
“Unknown,” I admitted. “Black and Denver have decided the less I know, the better. Which I’m tending to agree with at this point.”
“You’ve paid enough,” he murmured quietly, having gone through the same past decade as me, though for different reasons. “At some point, you have to start worrying about you. You have a good life here. Your baby girl. Your new woman. A job. Your sister’s problems are not yours. Don’t take them on.”
I rubbed at the back of my neck. “I know. Doesn’t mean I can just turn it off, though.”
“No,” he agreed. “Bernice being here has really made me happy. I love her and all, but I’d choose Birdee every damn day of the week over Bernice. Bernice is my sister. But Birdee is the air I breathe.”
I thought about what he’d just said and realized that he was right.
Pippa was my sister. She’d been there from the very beginning.
However, Eddy? Eddy was my light in the darkness. The one person who didn’t judge me. The woman who would always choose me.
“All of a sudden, I feel much better about letting my sister fight her own battles.”
“Good,” he said just as the cub’s head jerked toward a sound only he could hear.
He scrambled down off the pole and ran into the woods, leaving us both standing there staring.
“If he could do that the entire time,” I sighed. “Why didn’t he do it earlier?”
Creed chuckled. “Because bears are assholes.”
“Amen.”
He stayed with me while I got the power restored that the bear had messed with while he was up on the pole.
Which was why I had someone with me when I got the call that had my heart clenching.
“Hey, Black,” I said, expecting to hear news about my sister.
Black didn’t give me news about my sister.
I almost wish he had.
“What’s wrong?” I asked when he stayed silent one too many seconds.
“Audrey Stanley was allowed bail thirty minutes ago,” he sighed. “She was supposed to be held, along with Eddy’s father. However, a new hearing was set in place for some reason while I was out of town dealing with your sister. Gentry tried to stall to wait until I was back home and could plead my case, but they wouldn’t wait. Audrey’s out. Eddy’s mother, Minnie, is the one that bailed her out.”
I groaned. “Who was the judge that let him out?”
“Stephen Sundry,” he grumbled.
“Is that the dude that you’ve had issues with for years?”
“The one and only,” Black growled.
My lips quirked at his words.
“I guess I’m not too worried about it,” I admitted. “Should I be?”
I mean, this was Audrey, the dumb blonde who had so far shown that she couldn’t do anything by herself. She always had to have her dad make every decision for her.
Eddy’s mother had so far kept her nose clean.
She should’ve been…
“Oh, fuck.” Black groaned. “Where are you?”
I put my last tool away and shoved the toolbox farther onto the flatbed of my truck. “I’m in Notting Mountain Hill Estates. Why?”
“Your woman at the soccer game?”
Fear started to climb through my veins. “Yes.”
“Apparently there’s an active shooter there,” he said. “Get there now.”
Then Black hung up.
“Fuck!” I cried out.
“What?” Creed asked, coming to alertness.
“Active shooter at the soccer game,” I hissed. “And, conveniently, Audrey Stanley was just provided bail.”
“Follow me,” he said. “We’ll use my lights to get us through.”
Only, that’s not how it worked out.
When we got into town, any and all speed in which we’d been moving came to a complete standstill.
“Fuck!” I slammed my hand down onto the steering wheel as we got to the stopping point mid-way through town.
Cows were everywhere.
“Fuck!” I pulled into a parking spot and shut the truck off.
From here, it would be twenty minutes on foot. But it was better than waiting for the cattle drive through the middle of town.
Something which Denver said he’d be doing at some point this week.
This happened a lot, moving cattle from one point to another point, sometimes straight through the middle of town.
Right now, however, it could not have been worse timing.
I shoved my keys into my pocket, phone into the other pocket, and started to run.
Creed fell into step beside me, having parked his truck beside my own.
“Yo!”
Creed’s voice had me looking sideways to see Denver’s youngest daughter, Dee Dee, shooing a cow back into line.
The dog at her feet followed him to the rest of the herd.
Dee Dee looked up and frowned. “What are y’all doing?”
“Can I borrow that horse?” I begged.
She must’ve seen the sheer terror in my eyes because she got off immediately. “Of course.”
She handed me the reins, and even though I’d been on a horse only a handful of times out at Denver’s place, I got onto the brown mare like I’d been born to do it.