Chapter 27
Twenty-Seven
One day I’ll be happy that my daughter is so strong willed. Today is not that day.
—Weaver’s secret thoughts
Weaver
“Are you joking?”
I looked at the bear that was on the telephone pole and said, “I’m not.”
“Son of a bitch,” my dispatcher groaned. “I’ll call wildlife management.”
A game warden showed up twenty minutes later.
Creed got out of his truck, walked up to my side, and stared at the problem.
“Huh,” he said. “What the fuck am I supposed to do with that?”
“Probably should call Boone,” I admitted. “We’re going to have to tranq him to get him down.”
“That would be my suggestion, too,” he said as he looked around the area. “If that baby’s up there, Mama has to be around.”
“That’s why I’m way back here, and nowhere near that telephone pole right now.”
Creed crossed his arms over his chest while I placed the call to Boone.
Boone answered on the fourth ring. “I can’t come today. I’m currently in surgery. Give me a rundown on what’s going on.”
I did.
“If you have someone run to my office, I have that catch parachute in my office. Tranq supplies are there, too. Creed can handle that,” he offered.
“I’ll have Major go get it,” Creed suggested. “He was on his way out here anyway.”
“Let me know if you need anything,” he said. “I have a horse that lost his tongue to deal with next, as well as a tiger on my surgery table right now.”
He hung up without any more explanation.
“Why would he have a tiger on his surgery table right now?” I wondered.
“I actually know the answer to that,” Creed said as he started typing on his phone. “The zoo’s vet got sick. Pancreatitis. Tiger was pregnant and having complications. Emergency c-section.”
“Interesting,” I found myself saying. “You get Major called in?”
“Yep,” he said. “He’s stopping by Boone’s and getting everything. In the meantime, how’re your girls doin’?”
“Fuckin’ fantastic,” I admitted. “Bossy is settling in good at the school. Eddy is getting better every day. They won their first soccer game last week.”
“And your parents?” he asked. “When do they get here?”
“They sold their house and all of their personal belongings last week. Bought an RV in Iowa. They’re driving up there to get it today, and they’re going to slowly start making their way here. Should be here at the end of the summer after they do a little driving around first.”
“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.
“Take the first right,” Creed suggested. “Cut through all the outdoor flea market parking lots until you get to the backside of the high school. There, there will be a cut fence right at the corner of the mall parking lot closest to Dillon’s. That’ll take you to the back side of the fieldhouse.”
I was off before he could say anything more, taking his exact directions through the rest of town, passing a confused looking Denver as I went.
Cows scattered. Dogs barked.
But the only thing I could focus on was getting to that soccer game.