Chapter 24
“Y ou look beautiful.” Bill kisses Mom on her cheek, as she grabs her raincoat from the hook.
She’s going out for dinner with a bunch of women from the flower-arranging club she’s joined.
Considering I’ve never seen my mom arrange a flower in her life, and the fact I don’t even think she likes them, I’m assuming that another member of the club holds some kind of stature she wants to associate with.
“Are you sure you don’t want one of the boys to drive you? That storm’s coming in pretty heavy,” he checks.
“I’m fine, and you don’t want them waiting around for me,” she refuses.
“Well then, drive safe,” Bill warns her, handing over the keys to his truck.
“I’ll be back before eleven,” she promises, heading for the door.
“You're out with Leia tonight aren’t you, darling?” Mom’s overjoyed at how close we’ve come since the party. Another connection she can use for her benefit, I guess.
“Yeah, her parents are out of town, so we’re just gonna chill at her place,” I answer. “I was gonna see if I can catch a ride.”
“Darling, I’m going in the opposite direction. Have one of the boys take you. That’s what you pay them for isn’t it, darling?” She looks at Bill, and the dopey smile he gives her back makes me want to vomit.
“I’ll have Dalton take you,” he agrees, taking out his cell and making the call.
Mom kisses his cheek and dashes off, and just as Bill hangs up from giving his orders, my phone vibrates in my pocket.
I read Leia’s message and feel a little disappointed.
“Cancel that ride,” I tell Bill. “Leia is staying in Billings for the night, and her Dad doesn’t want her driving back in the storm,”
Bill nods his head, before calling Dalton back.
“Just me and you then,” he smiles at me a little awkwardly when he puts his cell back into his pocket.
Unfortunately, he’s right. Wade’s away in Tulsa, and Garrett’s avoiding me like I have an incurable disease.
He left for camp four days ago and hasn’t been back since.
He didn’t even return with the cowboys earlier today, after they rounded up some of the herd and brought them into the huge outhouse to protect them from the storm.
I only have a week before I leave for college, and feel like he’s stealing time away from me.
“You wanna watch a movie?” Bill at least tries to make the effort, and since I got nothing better to do, I agree.
Thirty minutes into the film I’m already regretting letting him choose what we watch, and I keep my eye on the door, watching and willing for Garrett to walk through it.
I notice Bill frowns with disappointment as he reads the message that comes through on his phone.
“That was your mother. She’s staying at Denise’s. It's getting bad out there.” Placing his phone back on the armrest, he fidgets uncomfortably in his chair.
I wonder if he suspects that she’s cheating on him. It never usually takes her very long to set to work on her next prospect, and I’m certainly not buying her story about staying at Denise’s place.
I can already hear the wind whipping around the house, and I can’t help worrying that Garrett is still out there.
I manage to make it through to the end of the movie, and when the credits start to roll, I fake a yawn so I can take myself to bed.
“I should head up,” I tell him, dragging myself off the couch.
“Goodnight, Maisie.” Bill nods his head at me, before I make my way up the stairs.
When I get to my room I look out of my window toward the bunkhouse.
The lights are on, and I can just about hear the music traveling across the yard through the wind and rain.
I guess all the wranglers are in there, rewarding themselves after a hard day.
I know bringing the herd in would have taken a lot of work, and there was a lot of panic when the weather warning came in this morning.
I just hope Garrett is in there with them.
I’ve spoken a little to Leia over the past few days about how I feel for him, and she wasn’t judgy.
In fact she offered some pretty sound advice.
Not that I can take it. To talk to him about our situation would involve him having to be around.
I’ve also come to the conclusion that she is completely oblivious to the fact that Wade is in love with her. She’s got the poor guy friend-zoned, and the way she’s been talking about Caleb Mason, suggests he’s got no way out of it.
I get myself tucked into bed and start reading the book she lent me a few days ago, and when my eyes start to feel heavy, I give up and let them close.
A loud smash startles me out of my sleep, and when I hear some rustling downstairs I sit up.
Another crashing noise comes, and I spring up on my feet wondering if it might be Garrett.
Maybe he got a little drunk at the party they had in the bunkhouse.
I’d like to see Garrett drunk. He’s always so serious and controlled.
Maybe the conversation I need to have with him would be easier if he were a little wasted.
I creep on to the landing and peek over the banister, but there’s nobody there. The noises seem to be coming from Bill’s office, and hearing the loud whispers and more rustling, has me heading down the stairs so I can see what’s going on.
The scene I walk in on makes my heart jump into my throat.
I see four men, all dressed in black and wearing ski masks, three of them are turning the office upside down looking for something, and a fourth man stands pointing a gun at Bill.
Bill sees me before they do, and he discreetly shakes his head at me.
It’s a warning, he’s telling me to run, but it’s too late; before I can move, I feel someone clutch at my arm.
“What do I do with this one?” his voice comes out muffled, through the mask.
“Shit,” the guy holding the gun lowers his arm,
“Get her in the corner.” He raises it back up, pointing it at me to ensure I do what he says and I get dragged, by the guy bruising my arm, into the corner and forced to sit on my ass.
Bill’s white as sheet, and I can tell from the way he’s trembling that he’s scared.
“Just tell us where it is, and we’ll go. No one has to get hurt, here.” The one holding the gun speaks, and when the man who’s pulling apart the bookshelf stops and crosses the room, something catches my eye.
It’s a belt buckle, like the ones Garrett has in his room and similar to the one Wade won at the rodeo a few weeks ago. This one I remember because it was unique, and I know who it belongs to.
“I got something,” he holds up a brown file, and when the men start to back away, I feel myself breathe a sigh of relief. I watch the guy with the buckle tuck the file into the front of his pants, then pull his hoodie over it, and when he comes closer he crouches in front of me.
“If only I had more time,” his gloved hand slides through my hair. “I’d enjoy making a mess out of you.” He lifts up his mask just enough to expose his mouth, and when I feel his tongue slide over my cheek, I gag.
He stands up and moves out, like the others, and I sit and wait until the door slams before I scramble across the floor to get to Bill.
He’s not white anymore, in fact, his skin’s turned purple, and he’s clutching at his arm like he’s been shot.
When I hear tires screech out the yard, I quickly rush to the window to get a look at the car they drove away in.
A bullet wound in the arm can wait, Mom’s first husband was Chief of Police, and he’d drum into me how important it was to take in all the details if I ever found myself involved in a crime.
Maybe that’s the reason I recognised Jason’s buckle.
I watch the black sedan speed off down the track and just manage to catch the license plate before it gets out of sight.
Bill’s moans distract me as I jot the number down on a pad on his desk.
He’s trying to tell me something, and when I start trying to tend to him and see no blood, I try to recall hearing the gun go off, but I can’t, and as his face creases in agony, I realize that this isn’t a bullet wound, it’s a heart attack.
Rushing to the desk, I pick up the phone to dial 911.
I’m screaming at the operator, begging them to hurry, when Garrett races into the room. He looks mad and panicked all at the same time when he sees his dad laying on the floor.
“What happened?” he rushes toward him and drops to his knees, checking his father over, and I notice that Bill’s stopped making any sound. He’s not moving, and when Garrett starts frantically pumping at his chest, I scream at the operator for them to hurry again.
Mitch is the next one in, and when he sees what’s happening he immediately takes over from Garrett.
“What happened?” I drop the phone when Garrett grabs both my arms and holds me firm. At first, I have no words because I don’t know what just happened.
“Jason,” the name spills out of my lips, and when I see the anger on Garrett’s face turn to confusion, I figure I’m gonna have to do better.
“Him and some others, they were looking for something, and I thought he was shot, but… is he alive?” I look down to where Mitch is still pumping at Bill’s chest and sob.
“Maisie, listen to me. Who else was here?”
“I don’t know, they drove away a few minutes ago, a black sedan,” I shrug myself free from his hold and grab the license plate number off the desk.
Mitch is still trying to resuscitate Bill, but the sad shake of his head tells us both that he’s not coming back.
“I’m sorry,” I burst into more tears, and when I look back at Garrett, instead of his tears I see pure, murderous rage looking back at me. His nostrils flare and his chest heaves, and the stare he makes at the body of his father tells me exactly what he’s gonna do next.
I tug on his arm when he starts moving. He can’t go after them, there’s too many, and they’re armed. I can’t let him leave.
“Garrett, please,” I beg, but he rips his arm from my hand and moves toward the cabinet in the corner of the room. He takes out a rifle and a box of ammo, and it spills out all over the desk when he loads up the barrels.
“Please, the ambulance is on its way. We know who one of them is. The police can deal with this.” My words don’t seem to be registering as he cocks the gun and fills his pockets with more ammo.
“I’m scared. Please don’t go after them,” I cry, and when he steps towards me, I don’t know whether to be shocked or relieved when he reaches his hand around the back of my head and pulls me towards him. He grips at my hair, and his lips press into the top of my head so hard I feel them trembling.
“Mitch is gonna take care of you,” he promises, keeping his lips tight to my head. “You have no reason to be scared, ” he whispers, and when he releases me, heading for the door, I feel my heart break as I helplessly watch him leave.