7. brooks #2
“We’ve been teaching her to stay nice and still when bees are around,” he explains, sitting forward on high alert.
He pulls the EpiPen from his pocket and twirls it between his fingers, ready to leap into action.
Dougie cracks one eye open, mildly intrigued by the minor commotion and Emmy’s raised voice.
“Don’t want her to be afraid of ‘em, but also don’t want her to be too blasé.
Or to stress ‘em out and give ‘em a reason to sting.”
I keep my eyes fixed on my niece, who is still stood like a statue, eyes trained on the bee floating around the flowers that border the porch.
I know Harriet wants Emmy to grow up with the confidence to handle herself when bees are around, but although this one seems entirely uninterested in Emmy, it’s getting a little too close for comfort.
When it touches the front of her overalls, Emmy looks over at me, fearful, and I make a split-second decision.
I cross the porch in three steps and scoop her into my arms, returning to the sofa just as quickly and settling her in my lap.
The bee continues to buzz at the flowers, nosing into one and then flying away.
“I got you, EJ,” I say. I pull her close and her little arms wrap around my neck. She smells like peach yogurt and my sister’s lavender perfume, and I let myself relax into the familiar scent. “No bee’s gonna get you today.”
“No bees,” she agrees, cuddling into my chest. Minutes later, as Everett, Dean, and I continue to shoot the breeze, I realize Emmy’s breathing has evened out and she’s fallen asleep in my arms.
When my phone rings, I’m sprawled on the sofa in my underwear, some kind of daytime soap opera on the TV and a cold bottle of water dripping condensation onto the cushion beside me.
I’m not often at home at a loose end during the afternoon, so with no plans or obligations hanging over me, I chose to simply exist in my house.
In just my boxers, naturally—because it’s summertime in Texas, and it’s hot as fuck, and I can.
Except, when I see my sister’s face light up my screen, I clamber to my feet immediately and head straight through my bedroom to my closet.
Something about talking to my big sister while I’m practically naked just doesn’t feel right.
“Hey, Hattie. What’s up?” No one besides me and our dad ever call her Hattie anymore.
But she’s always been Hattie to me. I’m already pulling on a pair of jeans with my phone tucked between my chin and shoulder, hopping backward to avoid kicking a guitar propped haphazardly against a shelf, when she speaks.
“Are you still at Mom’s place?” I don’t like the way she sounds like she’s been crying. The way she punctuates her question with a sniffle. And I definitely don’t like the way I can hear Emmy wailing in the background.
“I can be. Why?”
“EJ dropped Bunny somewhere. We think maybe when Dean took her and the dogs out earlier.”
“Sit tight, okay? We’ll be there soon.”
“We? Oh, shoot—did I interrupt something?” Another sniffle. Her voice muffles briefly, like her hand is covering her face as she speaks.
“Nope, I’m alone. Just watching shitty reruns. I’m rallying the troops, though, we’ll find Bunny. You hang tight, okay? Give EJ a kiss for me. Tell her Bunny will be home soon with plenty of stories about his big adventure.”
I hang up the phone before my sister can start to cry for real—pregnancy hormones have hit her hard, and I can’t handle it when my sister cries—and immediately navigate to a group text.
SOS. Bunny down. EJ having meltdown. Meet @ moms asap for search party
Everett
@Ashton u seen bunny?
you out that way with Solly and Big John?
Jody
gimme 5 to finish mucking out and ill be there
is this a horse job or a bike job?
i can get gwen saddled up in 4 mins new record
nvm bike will b quicker
I’m already halfway out the door before the second text appears.
I’m jumping on an ATV to barrel across the ranch when the third one arrives, followed by Jody’s stream of consciousness.
I’ve already turned the key in the ignition when my phone buzzes yet again.
I check quickly before I drive off, expecting more of Jody’s rambling.
Ashton
what does this ‘bunny’ look like?
last known location?
known accomplices?
any known hiding spots?
*attachment: one image* we’re already here btw get moving
I can’t help but smile as four more messages appear on my screen in quick succession, finishing with a zoomed-out selfie of Ashton riding Garlic, one of the younger ranch horses, immediately recognizable by his little orange ear bonnet.
Two fingers holding up bunny ears are above Ashton’s head and I recognize the signet ring on the middle finger as one belonging to Big John.
Solly and Cricket, another of the younger horses, are blurred into the background.
I stuff my phone back into my pocket and grab the controls with both hands, pushing my right foot down hard.
The terrain between my cabin and my parents’ house is mostly flat with designated dirt road paths, but if you know the land, there are a couple of easy shortcuts.
And I know this land like I know my own name.
Seven minutes later, I’m slowing down the ATV at the side of my parents’ house. Mom is climbing out of her car.
“Oh, honey,” she says. “I told Harriet to give you a call. I’m gonna check inside the house, just in case.”
“EJ napped in the guest room this morning,” I answer.
After being kicked several times as she slept, I put her down on a bed in the house where she’d be more comfortable and have more room to dance around or whatever she was doing in her dreams. “I don’t even remember if I saw her with it when we left.
” Mom is already halfway into the house before I’ve finished speaking.
Everett’s red truck rolls to a halt beside me, wheels crunching along the gravel driveway. He leaps out almost before the engine has stopped.
“EJ lost Bunny?” he asks. I nod, lips in a grim line.
“She don’t sleep without it. Harriet called me and all I could hear was EJ having a meltdown in the background.”
“Well, we’ll find it.”