Chapter 21 Reed
reed
We were too late.
We’d missed them by the time we had reached the north pasture.
As soon as we got saddled and rode out, all that was left was broken ground where they’d rustled up the cattle and drove them off.
About a hundred yards of fence line was pulled down or trampled on.
It was going to be a shit ton of work to fix the fence and locate the cattle.
“Ready to call the livestock commission now?” Jude asked Chuck.
“The most they can do is help us track down the missing herd. They can’t do shit about the vandals or the theft,” Chuck replied.
“You could turn the game footage in to the authorities. Maybe they can identify them,” Christian offered.
Hazel scoffed beside Chuck where she sat on top of her horse. “Hate to break it to you, Christian, but no one’s going to help us out here.” Her tone was bitter.
I didn’t know Hazel at all. This was my first time meeting her, but I’d heard stories from Chuck about Willows’ golden girl.
I pictured a smiley, bubbly girl who was ready to make everyone her best friend.
She definitely was not that. In fact, she reminded me a lot of Romy.
Maybe a little bit more outspoken, and her blonde hair was a shade darker, but there was an edge to her that only trauma could carve.
She had sharp, hazel eyes that studied our surroundings as if she were looking for something.
Her mouth was set in a firm line as though biting back her thoughts.
“What is it?” Chuck asked, his gaze locked on her.
“How many riders did you see on the cam?” she probed.
“It looked like three.”
“Huh.” Hazel clicked her tongue, urging her horse toward the broken fence line.
We remained in our circle, sitting on top of our mounts, watching her.
“What do you think she sees?” Jace asked.
With the new game cams installed, everyone had been much more relaxed about shift changes.
Jace was supposed to relieve Marshall, but at some point, Marshall had already started heading back when the alarms went off.
By the time Marshall had turned back around, the herd and the riders were already gone.
I eyed them both. How would someone know to come out here in between shifts?
Both of them watched Hazel, like everyone else. But I was watching them. Something wasn’t sitting right with me.
She turned her horse around, trotting back toward us.
“Looks like they headed toward the river,” Hazel hollered as she approached. “I’m not sure these riders knew how to drive them out. May have just wanted to spook them enough to make our lives harder, not steal cattle. They just wanted to cause a stampede. They’ll be heading downhill.”
Chuck nodded, considering what she said. “Running to a water source,” he added, finishing her thought.
Hazel bobbed her head. “Precisely.”
“All right, then. Let’s see if we can track them before they get too far. From now on, no break in the patrol, and everyone is carrying. Jace and Marshall, you’re both going to need to take double shifts while we’re at the rodeo this weekend,” Chuck instructed.
“Sure, boss,” Marshall said.
“Done,” Jace agreed.
My gaze narrowed on them. I wasn’t sure they were the best ones to take double patrols while we were all away from the ranch, but I wasn’t sure it was my place to say it, either.
“I’ll take a shift with them,” I volunteered.
Chuck turned in his saddle. “You’re needed with Lina.”
“You don’t think there might be a connection here?” I blurted out.
Everyone swung to look at me then.
“What do you mean?” Hazel asked, her face like a stoic mask, like she was hiding her own thoughts and suspicions.
My brows pinched. I wondered if she and I were drawing the same conclusions. She seemed like a smart cookie.
“It just seems like a coincidence to me that while Lina is dealing with a stalker, the ranch is dealing with vandalism and maybe a cattle thief.” I rested my arms against the saddle horn, waiting for them to pick up what I was putting down.
Hazel seemed to jump on my train of thought. “Lina has a stalker?”
“She does. He’s gotten pretty bold, too,” I told her.
“When did this all start?” Even in the moonlight, her face had gone pale.
“Beginning of May,” Chuck and I answered together.
She exhaled a deep breath as if trying to keep the fury from rising. At least, that’s how I was feeling. “There are very few people who are familiar with the ranch at night, and his brother would have shared it all with him,” she said.
I could almost hear Chuck’s molars grind. “Junior?”
I sucked in my own deep breath at his name.
“I don’t think I was able to stop him in time,” Hazel said, her words like a ghost in the warm night breeze.
Despite the temp, a chill ran down my spine.
Whether she was talking about Jesse or Junior, I wasn’t certain, but Chuck seemed to know. His fingers gripped the reins, causing his horse, Gus, to toss his head in annoyance.
“Is there something we should know?” Jude asked, looking between Hazel and Chuck.
Chuck seemed to shake off his anger, returning to his typical, laid-back persona. “Let’s find the herd, but then we should talk.”
“Lina will want to be included,” I told him, remembering how pissed she was when her dad didn’t tell her about the drought.
He nodded. “Before the rodeo, then.”
The sky was already growing light as I walked up the steps of my new home.
My body was tired and sore after riding all night through rugged terrain.
We’d found the majority of the herd grazing along the riverbank, but a few of them were still missing.
Chuck reported the missing cattle to the livestock commission so they could start searching for the branded cows.
We all moved the herd to the eastern pasture, and Chuck and Hazel decided to stay out there to give Jace and Marshall a rest. All I wanted to do was check in on Penn, drink a big glass of water, and go to bed.
But sleep would have to wait. I was supposed to let Lina know that Chuck called a meeting at the big house directly after breakfast.
The double-wide was dark, the only glow coming from the nightlight through the cracked door of Penn’s room down the hall. I toed off my boots and tossed my gloves onto the entry table at the door before padding down the hallway to peer into Penn’s room.
My chest tightened and my heart skipped a beat at the sight of Lina curled up on Penn’s twin bed beside her.
Both of them were sound asleep. Penn had her arms raised above her head like she always did when she slept, her legs sprawled beneath the covers.
She was wearing her favorite Frozen jammies, and her hair was in two braids.
Lina slept with an arm folded beneath her head, her lips pursed in quiet, even breaths.
At some point, she had changed into a pair of my sweats and a tee, her hair piled on top of her head. Her face was clean of any makeup.
She looked absolutely perfect there, sleeping beside my daughter—as if she belonged at her side.
I wanted to encapsulate this moment, engrain it in my brain, and tattoo it on my heart.
She said that she thought it was love at first sight, and maybe it was.
I felt something then, too. I just didn’t know what to call it at the time.
I stood there for a few more minutes, watching them both sleep, their steady breaths causing their chests to rise and fall while they snuggled together.
This felt like a significant moment that was about to change everything.
And even though I was dead on my feet, I couldn’t pull myself away from the doorway.
Taking my phone from my vest pocket, I snapped a photo so I could save this memory forever.