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“‘Cause I know you boys too well. The cookies won’t come out til you finish your plates.”
Momma sat down. She didn’t make a plate. She usually ate after we came in.
“We haven’t seen you around before. Did you came to the area to see about Blossom then?”
Perry nodded. He started fixing his plate, beginning with a small sandwich. “My mom sold her about five years ago to, um Mr—”
“Reese,” I filled in for him.
“Reese. I’ve been saving for a long time, hoping that eventually I could track her down and buy her back.” Those words held a lot of weight, and he almost looked like he expected me to slap them down with an immediate no.
“Why would your mama sell a horse that you love so much?” Momma asked.
Perry’s cheeks colored. “She wasn’t much for animals. After my dad passed away, she tried to get rid of a lot of his things. Blossom would have been mine officially, but I wasn’t yet eighteen and I didn’t have the money to board her anyway. So, it wasn’t like I could have cared for her anyway.”
I bristled at that. I had suspected as much. That woman sold her son’s horse out from under him just to line her pockets. I wondered just how much she had taken from him that he didn’t even know about. I was tempted to hire an investigator to find out, though that would be a huge intrusion on his privacy.
“Anyway, I’ve been going to college. I just finished my bachelors degree in animal science. I’ll start vet school eventually, but I happened to get a job with the local vet clinic here and I talked with him a bit about boarding a horse at his place. He said he has room. Is, um, is there any way that Blossom could be for sale?”
“You’re going to be working for Doc Marshal?”
Perry nodded.
“He don’t have but one pasture, and he has two horses on it right now. Blossom’s never been pastured with other animals. She eats them alive,” I said.
“Right.” Perry’s shoulders dropped. “When I had her she was turned out with other animals. She didn’t seem to mind. You haven’t been able to keep her with other horses here?” He sucked his bottom lip into his mouth and I wanted to run my thumb over it to soothe the teeth marks.
Rory punched my arm. “This is our chance, man. Let’s get rid of that beast once and for all.”
Perry’s brow furrowed. He didn’t like hearing his horse referred to that way, and honestly, neither did I.
“Where will you be staying, dear? If you’re going to be working for the vet, you must have someplace to live near here.”
Perry’s eyes lit up again. “Oh, I’m renting an apartment in town. Cute little place according to the pictures. Mr. Larson’s the owner. I was lucky, it was the last apartment available.”
We all grew quiet. Momma gasped and put a hand over her mouth.
“What is it?” Perry said and looked around. “I didn’t get duped, did I? I researched the landlord. I talked to him, too. He seemed like a real nice guy.”
“He is,” Momma assured him. “Mr. Larson is a fine man. But you see, there’s only one apartment building in town and…” Momma looked to me as if she couldn’t bear to tell him the news.
I needed to rip this bandaid off. “There was a fire just yesterday,” I said. “The apartment was a complete loss. I’m sure Jay was going to call you today. He’s been busy.”
The color drained from Perry’s face. “Was everyone okay?”
I nodded. “They were able to get the other tenants out, but the building was a total loss.”
“Is there someplace else? Maybe a hotel?” Perry’s voice quivered.
I shook my head.
“There were two tenants that were in the other apartments, and last I heard they were going to be staying with relatives. It’s a small town, sweetie. There’s not a whole lot available as far as motels and such. I’m not even sure if we’ve got empty houses.” Momma laid a hand over Perry’s and squeezed.
Perry bit his lip and pushed his plate away.
“Keep eating,” I said. “You look like you’re about to fall over. Did you have any breakfast today?”
Perry shook his head. “I was going to go straight to my apartment. Maybe stop at a grocery store. I don’t have a big budget for takeout food while I’m on the road. It’s kind of expensive. I skipped breakfast because I had already cleaned out my fridge from my old apartment.”
