Chapter Nine #2
Gray steps over the mess and holds his hand up to stop Marley when she tries to follow him. “I got this, you stay over there away from the screws.”
She stops and looks at her dad. “I don’t know, I just set the canister on it and it all fell.”
When Gray moves the shelving so he can get a better look at the wall, a long screw still affixed to the shelf slides toward Marley’s leg.
Mason reaches for her to pull her away, but I grab her first and pull her toward me.
It wasn’t done intentionally to keep her away from him, we saw the shelving move toward her leg at the same time and reached for her, but when he looks at me, his eyebrows pull together and he narrows his eyes.
I meet his stare head on, no use pretending it didn’t just happen.
Running his hand over the wall, Gray turns to his dad. “It looks like they pulled away, I think there may be some water damage from the fire.”
“Damn.” Marley whispers and her eyebrows pull together as she looks at the mess. “Just another thing to fix, I feel like I’ve done nothing but fix things since the fire.”
“I’ll help you fix it.” Every head in the room turns to me, and I look from Mason to his dad to Gray. “What?”
Gray stands up and slides his hands in his pockets. “I know you must have a home or family or friends to get back to. We can take care of things here.”
Gray’s baseline is grumpy as hell for a thirty-four-year-old man, but I guess after losing his mom when he was a kid and then losing his wife in a car accident seven years ago, I try like hell to give him slack. But I’m not going anywhere, I’ll be wherever Marley is if there is any hint of danger.
Just as I am about to make a crack about feeling like he’s the closest family I’ve got, we hear tires on the gravel by the main house. We all turn and go to the big open door of the stable.
There is a flower van parked in front of the house and we see Kinley on the porch signing for the enormous bouquet and what looks like a pretty wrapped box.
“No.” Marley whispers and starts walking toward the house, the rest of us are hot on her heels. “Kinley!” She yells and we all pick up our pace. “Kinley, put it down.” I know we are all thinking the same thing. What’s in the box? And who sent it?
The delivery guy is walking back to his car and Kinley turns to us, a smile splitting her face. “Aren’t they pretty?” She yells.
“Put them down, Kinley!” Gray yells this time, his deep dad voice bellows across the yard, and he starts running, we all follow suit.
Confusion crosses her face for a moment before she bends over and carefully places the round crystal vase holding a big spring bouquet on the porch and then sets the box next to it. As she sets the box down, her smile falls, and she looks at her fingers, her eyebrows pinched together.
Her head snaps up to her dad as we get to the porch and she holds her fingers up for us to see, the tips of three of her fingers have blood on them and her face is turning green. Mr. Harlow moves around us and grabs her by the shoulders, pulling her away with him.
Out of habit, Mason and I take point and move around the box like we would any questionable object in the field.
Our movements are orchestrated as we get closer.
The paper in one corner of the box is turning crimson as blood soaks into it, the overflow is in a tiny pool on the wood floor next to the corner.
“What are you guys doing?” Hallie steps out onto the porch and Gray grabs her arm, pulling her to him. It takes less than a minute for Lainey Rai to also step out wondering what we are doing.
“Stay inside.” Gray orders, his voice gruff, and it makes Lainey Rai jump. Her eyes are round as she looks at him, wondering what she did wrong. His face softens as he looks at his daughter. “Please. I’ll come and get you after I know what this is.”
She looks between him and the flowers, but decides that it’s probably not the right time to argue and goes back into the house. Right after the door closes, she sits on her knees on the bench seat of the breakfast nook to watch out the window. Gray moves to put his body between her and the box.
Looking up to see where Marley is, I find her at the bottom of the porch steps and point toward her dad who is standing a safe distance away with Kinley. She nods and moves to her dad’s other side, his arm goes around her shoulders as soon as she’s next to him.
Mason turns his ball cap around with the bill in the back, something we both do in the field when we’re focused on something, and looks over the flowers and the box.
I hear voices inside and look up to see Sloane standing next to Lainey Rai, her head moving around to see what’s going on.
Mason looks at Gray and he shoves Hallie behind him, putting his body between the box and all three of them, just in case.
“There’s a card.” I tip my head toward the little envelope in the fork sticking out of the top of the flowers.
Mason looks at it and smiles as he looks at me. “How bad do you wish it were just a dumb-ass boyfriend who didn’t know his ass from a hole in the ground?”
“Pretty fucking bad.” I agree with a grin and pluck the card from the fork to read it out loud.
Roses are red,
Violets are blue,
Don’t stay away too long, baby,
‘Cause I’ll do ANYTHING for you.
P.S. I thought you might want your cat back.
Hallie sucks in a breath behind Gray, and I hear her whimper.
In my peripheral, I see Marley and Kinley move in unison to cover their mouths with their hands.
They look so much alike they could almost be twins, it’s ironic because her actual twin is right next to me.
Lifting my eyes to Mason, I silently ask him if we really want to open this box.
A slight shake of his head is my answer.
Mason looks up at Hallie. “Sweetheart, do you really want to see what’s in this box?”
Tears are already running down her cheeks and she looks from him to the box and back to him. “I gave my cat to a friend for safekeeping, she was supposed to be safe.” As the realization of what’s in the box sinks in, she’s bawling as she talks.
Gray puts his arm around her and looks at Marley before he says, “Come on, honey, let’s go in and let them take care of it.”
Marley grabs Kinley’s hand and they follow Gray into the house with a blubbering Hallie.
We wait for them to go in and close the door before I look back at Mason. “Well, fuck. This just amped up a notch.”
He takes a deep breath. “Fuckin A.”