Logo on the door:
“LONE STAR LIVESTOCK MEDICAL—Austin Branch.”
A man in a crisp field jacket steps out, carrying two metal cases.
He walks toward us with brisk purpose. “I’m Dr. Keenan Morales,” he says. “Traveling large-animal specialist. We got your call.”
Sedona stands and meets him halfway. Her gloves are stained. Her hair has slipped its tie. She looks exhausted, but focused.
“Dr. Sedona Archer,” she says. “Thanks for coming so fast.”
His gaze flicks over the pasture. “You’ve been doing triage.”
“Yes. Samples here.” She hands him the tubes. “Run full tox screens. Include organophosphates. And check the forage for nitrates.”
Dr. Morales nods. “Anything else?”
“Listen to the rumen sounds on the worst cases,” Sedona says. “If there’s silence, we’re in trouble.”
“I’ll take it from here,” Morales assures her. “You did the hard part.”
“Not yet,” she says. “Keep them upright. Don’t let any of them lie flat.”
Morales nods again. His team unloads equipment, fanning out across the pasture.
Sedona steps back and removes her gloves slowly, peeling them off one finger at a time. She hands them to one of Morales’s assistants without ceremony.
Tex approaches first. “Thank you.”
She gives him a faint nod. “They’ll be okay. Dr. Morales knows what he’s doing.”
Seth steps in next. “Thank you for coming.”
She squeezes his arm once. “You’ll get through this.”
Then she turns to me.
And everything inside me goes still.
She stops right in front of me—close enough that I can smell dust on her skin, something floral under it, a hint of the girl I used to know and the woman she became.
Her eyes meet mine, unreadable.
All she says is, “Bye.”
I don’t answer. I can’t. My chest is still hammering, adrenaline raw, eyes glued to the pasture where Boone is pressing against the nearest cow, nudging it, watching every movement.
Then she walks away.
She opens the door to the sedan she came in, climbs inside, starts the engine, and drives off down the dirt road without looking back.
I stand there like an idiot. Boone runs toward me and presses against my leg, Tex and Seth talking quietly behind me, Jared shouting instructions to Morales’s team, cows moaning in the field, the whole world cracking open at the edges.
I try to move.
I can’t.
All I can think is:
