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Hunter nodded, working hard at a smile. “I’ll give ya’ll a hand.” He set to work beside the others, getting the trailer ready for the drive back to the ranch.
Chapter Sixteen
The phone was ringing. Josie glanced at the clock. It was three in the morning.
Who would call at this hour? Her mom? Lola?
She sat up, pulled on her robe and ran to the phone. Not that her dad would hear it, since he took his hearing aids out at night.
“Hello?” She was a little breathless and barely awake, so it came out like a croak.
“Josie? Miss Stephens?” The voice was high, strained and scared. “It’s Eli. Eli Boone.”
“Eli?” Josie came fully awake in seconds. An ice-cold weight ballooned in her stomach. “Is everything okay?”
“I guess...” There was a tremor in his voice. He was scared. “Didn’t know who else to call.”
“It’s fine.” She prompted, really worried now. “You can call anytime.”
“Yeah...” Eli’s voice broke. “Can you come get me?”
Something was very wrong. Her fingers tangled in the phone cord as she processed his words. “Where are you?” She spoke as calmly as possible.
“My mom’s hotel room. Roadside Motel, next to the gas station and the bar.”
“Off the highway?” she asked, knowing which place he was talking about and hoping Eli was wrong. She had a hard time believing Hunter would approve. To hear Lola talk about it, if something shady or illegal was happening, it had to have started at that bar. Of course, Lola was known for dramatics... Still, the bar was in the middle of the hotel parking lot where Eli was. “Where’s your mom?”
“Don’t know. Woke up and she was gone. She’s not answering her cell phone.”
“Did you call your dad—”
“I called Uncle Fisher and Uncle Ryder, but they didn’t answer. Dad’s working. And he’d get really mad and they’d fight and I...I just want to go home.” He cleared his throat. “Will you come get me, please?”
Josie’s heart was in her throat. “I’ll be there in five minutes.” There was no way she could refuse him.
“Thanks,” he murmured, then hung up.
She tugged on her father’s boots, pulled her black wool coat over her blue plaid flannel pajamas, grabbed her rental car keys and headed out the door. It was eerily quiet up and down Main Street. Most of Stonewall Crossing was asleep, the storefronts darkened and the streets deserted. She drove on, reaching the edge of Main Street as it intersected the highway. The Roadside Motel was there, off the on-ramp, next door to a run-down bar and a twenty-four-hour truck stop. She might not have any kids, but this was not the sort of place you left a child alone.
She pulled into the parking lot, focused on the windows of the motel for any sign of Eli. She slammed on her brakes as room seven’s curtains dropped and the door opened. Eli all but ran out, a duffel bag over his shoulder and his cowboy hat on his head.
He nodded at her as he climbed into the car.
“You okay?” she asked.
He nodded again.
“Did you leave your mom a note?” Josie asked. “So she doesn’t get back and worry over you?”
Eli snorted then.
“She will, Eli.”
“I left a note,” he grumbled, hugging his duffel bag close.
“Okay, good. Want me to take you home?”
He looked at her. “Yeah.”
