Chapter 6 #2
Her nerves were taut bundles. How could she afford to delay?
Kevin scratched his stubbled chin. “You were going to leave without tellin’ your boyfriend?”
“Like I said, we aren’t together.”
“Oh. That’s right. Seems like a good catch, though. Capable. Military man, huh?”
“He’s a SERE instructor for the Air Force. On leave.”
“That explains it.”
To her dismay, instead of heading back to his bedroom, Kevin began to prep the coffee maker. “Dawn in a few hours. Might as well start loading up the caffeine, huh?”
She nodded weakly, considering her plan in light of Kevin’s revelation.
As much as she detested delaying, she couldn’t afford to spend hours hiking unfamiliar terrain.
Lorraine’s boyfriend might be departing anytime, or maybe he already had, but she had a better chance of hitching a ride to the stables and sneaking away from there than traversing flooded territory she’d never clapped eyes on.
Before she’d quite finished mulling it over, Gideon strolled down the hallway, appearing as fresh as if he’d slept a full eight hours, except for the slight favoring of one shoulder. He draped his backpack, neatly restored to order, on a chair.
“We’re all early risers, I take it,” he said with a nod to Kevin. His gaze sought hers. “Good to see you, Zee.”
Did he think she had listened to his sage advice and changed her plan? Let him think what he wanted. At the stables, they’d part ways. For good. “Kevin says the main road is flooded so he’s going to have to take us another way.”
Gideon didn’t comment. “May I handle the coffee preparations, sir? I noticed when I put the dishes away that you have a French press and some coffee beans in the cupboard.”
“I do?” Kevin shrugged. “Don’t even know what a French press is, but have at it.”
Mackenzie sat on the sofa. She didn’t want to show any interest in the man who’d tried to hold her phone hostage as if he was protecting an ignorant child, but Gideon’s movements as he prepped a cast iron pan drew her in.
When he’d gotten it hot, he dumped in the beans. “Just a quick re-roast.”
She suspected the coffee had been in the cupboard for a long while. He stirred them with a wooden spatula as they heated up.
The aroma grew even more enticing as he used a small grinder to process the freshly roasted beans into a coarse, glistening pile. He boiled some water and poured it into the press and swirled it.
“To warm it,” Gideon said before he added the coarse grounds and the rest of the boiling water to the press. “Four minutes,” he said and gave Mackenzie a wink.
She hastily averted her gaze, annoyed that he’d caught her watching him.
At the end of the allotted time, he pressed down the plunger and poured them each an almost full mug. “This should get us started while I prep another batch.”
Kevin sniffed his suspiciously. Mackenzie sipped and almost closed her eyes in pleasure at the rich, full-bodied coffee that tasted a world apart from Kevin’s brew.
“It’s . . . good,” she said.
Gideon grinned. “No, it’s way better than good, and you know it.”
She rolled her eyes and continued to savor.
Kevin gulped his down. “Er, thanks and all, but I’ll stick with the regular stuff.”
Mackenzie didn’t decline a second cup of Gideon’s amazing coffee. Who knew when she’d next have access to a warm beverage?
She should contribute somehow. “I could make French toast,” she found herself saying. “You know, to go with the coffee.”
The two men agreed with enthusiasm, and she whipped up a batch that they ate with syrup and Gideon’s third round of pressed coffee.
They talked mostly about the weather, and Gideon pressed Kevin to show him on a map the route to the stables.
Taking notes, she thought. Gideon always knew where he was geographically and the best way to get to his point B.
It must be nice to have such certainty about your future plans. Hers ended with Bullseye’s fall. What would her life be like after? It was a nebulous, impenetrable void.
At the agreed-upon departure time, the sky was still dark, an unrelieved black made gloomier by the steadily falling rain.
They climbed into the same vehicle, now with a horse trailer hitched to the back.
Kevin took off, following a road that was so muddy in spots she feared the wheels would get mired or the trailer stuck.
The sunrise eventually revealed a wall of clouds the color of steel wool.
Kevin wasn’t exaggerating about the topography or the steepness of their route.
He gripped the wheel, creeping at a sober pace that made her want to leap out and walk.
Gideon, she noticed, checked the side mirrors at regular intervals, but the road was so wooded and uneven she didn’t see how anyone would stage an attack.
“Cordelia’s gonna be fuming that it took us so long,” Kevin said. The morning passed into early afternoon since they had to stop and pry the vehicle out of the mud, and finally, they dropped down into a small valley. The few houses they passed looked empty, the residents having evacuated.
The dirt road led them to a graveled one and Kevin took a final turn.
“Here we are,” he said and pulled up a paved circular drive that fronted a barn with a Cotton Flower Stables sign nailed to the red-painted wood.
The two adjoining corrals were soaked, water pooling in both.The barn itself was under attack from water, several accumulated inches already creeping up the walls.
“Barn’s flooding,” Kevin said. “Hoped we’d have more time.” He hopped out and quickly unhitched the trailer with Mackenzie and Gideon’s help.
They’d just completed the job when a young woman sprinted out from the barn in jeans and a soggy long-sleeved shirt. Her long dark hair was caught up in a tight braid.
“What’s wrong, Cordelia?” Kevin called.
“I need help with a horse. Hurry.” Then she abruptly changed course and returned to the barn.
Kevin chewed his lip. “That’s Cordelia. She owns the stables.”
“All right.” Gideon motioned to Mackenzie. “Stay here,” he said. “Lock yourself in the car.”
Kevin shot a look at her. “Right. We’ll go help.”
She nodded and watched them jog away after Gideon had slung on his backpack. They disappeared into the barn. This was her opportunity to run, bolt from the car and sneak away toward the main road. A clean break, the best kind.
But she hesitated. Gideon had no experience with horses.
As a matter of fact, he’d always had kind of a phobia around them.
Her horse-loving brother had dragged his best friend to the stables in their neighborhood at every opportunity.
Mackenzie tagged along so many times the stable owner allowed her to ride the animals that needed exercising.
“Gonna get me one someday,” Aaron had said, fawning over every horse he saw and engaging their owners in his chatting.
In spite of cajoling that bordered on harassment, Aaron had not convinced Gideon to ride, not even once.
And Aaron never got the horse he’d pined for.
With an endangered horse, she’d be a lot more help than Gideon. A quick assessment of the situation would only take a few minutes. Then, if they had it well in hand, she’d hurry away and take off.
She grabbed her pack, splashed through the ankle-deep water into the barn. At the far stall, she heard the sound of a horse in distress, fearful snorts and whinnies, hooves striking against wood. There had been a partial collapse, the water funneling down.
“Roof failed.” Cordelia jutted her chin at a hole in the ceiling that had allowed in a torrent of water that left the horse knee-deep.
Cordelia pulled hard at the sliding door of the stall while inside the horse battered and struck at it. Gideon and Kevin helped the woman.
A section of wood had fallen in and bent part of the stable door, keeping it from sliding open.
“I can’t get her out and she’s freaked,” Cordelia called over the rush of water.
It was only a matter of time before the horse broke a leg or impaled itself on the torn wood beam.
As Gideon and Kevin hauled on the door, Mackenzie climbed into the next empty stall, overturned a feed bucket, planted it in the murky water, and scrambled atop to look over. The mare was indeed panicking, eyes wide and rolling, the lead rope whipping her neck as she thrashed.
“I’ll get an axe from the tack room,” Kevin shouted as he splashed away. “We’ll cut through the door enough for her to get out.”
Gideon remained with Cordelia, shouting as he heaved on the stall door. “It’s starting to give.”
He and Cordelia focused their energies on yanking the weakened board, crashing it back and forth to encourage it to break.
But the mare was growing increasingly manic, and Mackenzie was certain she was going to be gravely injured. She leaned over, talking low and calm.
“Hey, sweet girl,” she started. “Come here, baby.”
Gideon jerked a look at her. “Get out of there, Zee.”
She ignored him, bent farther into the stall, and reached for the lead rope. Her fingers grazed it, but the mare jerked away, front hooves smashing against the wall. When the horse came close a second time, she tried again.
“You’re all right,” she said softly, touching the horse’s neck with delicate pressure. “I’m here, and you’re going to get out of this mess.”
One touch, and then the mare allowed a second. Still stamping in agitation, the horse accepted a small stroke of her back before huddling close to the wall, where Mackenzie kept talking to her.
Continued touches, a calming voice—her tricks were beginning to work.
When the horse quieted enough, Mackenzie grabbed the lead rope and eased her near enough to caress her trembling side.
She kept her as close as she could. Without the thrashing mare working against them, Gideon and Cordelia heaved once more, and the fallen board gave way with a mighty crack.
Cordelia leapt immediately into the stall while Gideon ripped away more of the board and wrenched back the damaged sliding door. Cordelia took the lead rope from Mackenzie.