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He asked about her parents, hers and Gus’s. She answered, guiltily aware that they still had no idea she’d left law school, let alone the events of the past couple of weeks.
“So they were hippies?” Mac said clearly amused.
“The Tasmanian term is ferals,” Theo corrected. “And the verb you’re looking for is are.” She told him about the various communes of her childhood, the unorthodox, carefree, wild life that was replaced by boarding school when she was in her teens.
“That must have been a shock.”
“I was a rebellious teenager. When your parents are ferals, you rebel by becoming quiet and conventional and wanting to be a lawyer.”
“Gus too?”
“Possibly.” Habit prevented Theo from revealing that Gus had been sent to live with their American grandfather to ensure he didn’t come to the attention of the Tasmanian police. Habit, loyalty, guilt, and shame. “Gus was always Gus… Apparently he wanted to be a professional surfer.”
“For real?”
“Yes…I’m not even sure he can swim.”
Mac signaled for the bill. “All the more reason to stay on the board, I suppose.”
Theo nodded. It gave her an idea.
They stepped out into the first drifting flutters of snow. Theo raised her face to the sky, delighted. She’d arrived in the States the previous February, so this was barely her second winter, and she had not stopped being surprised by snow. The past days had been cold, but she’d been too preoccupied of late to even look forward to the promise of the season. “Oh, my God! Look!”
Mac laughed. “We’d better get you home before the roads get crazy.”
Traffic was already becoming heavier as Kansans tried to get their cars off the roads before the fall became heavy. The snow was beginning to settle on the asphalt. Even so, it was only a couple of minutes before Mac was turning the black Mercedes left onto her street from Ninth. Theo was focused on finding her gloves, and so she did not see why Mac swerved and braked hard. The car lost traction, fishtailing wildly.
CHAPTER 12
Theo screamed, certain they were going to roll over, and for several moments it looked like they might, but then Mac managed to get the vehicle under control. He pulled over and stopped the car immediately. “Are you okay, Theo?”
“Yes. What happened?”
Mac unbuckled his seat belt and opened the driver’s side door. “That was Horse!”
“On the road?” Theo released her belt and climbed out of the car. “Oh, God, did you hit him?”
“I don’t think so… Don’t call for him. He might run across the road again to reach you.”
They dodged the traffic to get to the other side of the street and ran up a few houses to where Mac had seen Horse emerge onto the road. Only then did Theo call while Mac kept his eye on the road for cars just in case.
At first there was nothing, and then as Theo’s calls became pleas, the hound poked out from behind a hedge. He trotted over, looking almost sheepish. Theo dropped to her knees and hugged him, relieved and perplexed. “What are you doing out here, Horsey?” Gus’s backyard was completely secure, and she’d checked that the gate was latched.
The snow was quite heavy now, and wet.
“I’ll walk back with Horse,” Theo volunteered as the dog rolled in the snow. “You don’t want him in your beautiful car.”
“Don’t be silly… It’s freezing and it’s only a car.” Mac took off his tie and turned it into a makeshift leash. They pulled Horse, whose short-lived freedom had left him rather excited, and pushed him into the small back seat of the Mercedes Coupe. Theo winced as the wet hound shook himself all over the leather upholstery. Mac did not seem to notice.
As they pulled into the driveway, Theo spotted the gate to the backyard. It was wide open.
“That’s not right,” she said shaking her head. “I know that gate was closed.”
“We couldn’t have pulled out without seeing that it wasn’t,” Mac agreed, frowning.
A glance, and the mutual realization that someone had deliberately opened the gate.
They coaxed Horse, who had now made himself comfortable, out of the Mercedes. Theo held on to the dog with the leash fashioned out of Mac’s tie as they walked up to the gate.
