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“Had to be your mother who named her that,” Nash interjected.
“She did,” I agreed. “Because Sunshine loved to just sit out in the sun for hours at a time. Anyway, so once Sunshine was past her prime, it was time for her to get the axe… literally. My parents spent a good hour trying to get up the nerve to do the deed. They kept sticking Sunshine on the chopping block, but neither of them could go through with it. So they took her to the farmer to have him do it.”
“And did he?” Reese asked.
“Nope. My mother grabbed Sunshine at the same time that my father screamed at the farmer to stop. The poor guy tripped and ended up cutting off the tip of his own finger. My parents had to pay his medical bills.”
Nash and Reese sat there for a full five seconds before both men burst out laughing. I waited until they’d settled to say, “After that, every animal who ended up on the Fortier property got a reprieve, whether they were contributors or freeloaders. My mom would rescue any animal in need and if she couldn’t find it a home, it came to live here… didn’t matter that it meant she and my dad needed to tighten the purse strings even more.”
“She sounds like an amazing woman,” Reese said.
“She was,” I agreed. “She’d try to save anyone who needed saving, but kids and animals were her soft spot.”
“Can I ask what happened to her?” Reese asked.
I nodded, though my throat immediately tightened up. “She was working late in her classroom one night about eight years ago. She disappeared on her way home. Her car was found on the side of the road a few miles from our house. But she was nowhere to be found. We thought maybe the car had broken down and she’d walked and maybe gotten hit by a car or something, but her car was fine, and we scoured every inch of the road and surrounding properties between there and here. She was just… gone.”
I could feel my heart rate picking up as the memories began to return to me one by one.
“God, Gage, I’m sorry,” Reese said. “I shouldn’t have asked…”
“No, it’s fine,” I murmured, but it wasn’t until I felt Nash’s fingers close around mine beneath the table where I had my fisted hand resting on my thigh that I felt like I could breathe once again. I let him link our fingers. “It took the cops four days to match a set of prints on her car to a suspect. They arrested him, but he wouldn’t talk. It took them a week to get him to admit he’d taken her and to say where she was. But they were too late,” I murmured.
Both men were, not surprisingly, at a loss for words. I worked to pull my emotions back, but I could feel the anxiety building in my belly.
“It’s been tough without her,” I admitted.
“Is Charlie named after her?” Nash asked.
I nodded. “That was Grace’s idea when we found out we were having a girl. Charlie’s middle name is Grace. I wanted her to carry the names of two amazing women with her.”
Nash squeezed my hand, but my emotions were still raw, so I tugged my hand free. Pain and rage swirled in my belly and it quickly became impossible to sit still. “I should probably go check on her,” I blurted right before I pushed my chair back. “She really loves that stupid chicken,” I said, trying to laugh off the remark, but the attempt at humor sounded forced, even to my own ears.
I hurried out the back door and began walking around the side of the house so I could just have a few seconds to myself, but when I heard footsteps behind me, I automatically said, “Not now, Nash.”
He ignored me and quickened his pace so he could cut me off.
“I just need a minute,” I said as I tried to step around him.
“Then take a minute with me,” he said. He tried to reach for my hand, but the emotions churning through me were too intense.
“I need to run to the store,” I said lamely. “Can you tell my dad and Charlie I’ll be back in a bit?”
I brushed past him, but when he touched my arm a moment later, I lost it and grabbed him by his sleeves. I shoved him away from me, but he had a hold of my shirt, so he took me with him. We ended up hitting the side of the house and Nash quickly maneuvered us so it was my back against it. He grabbed my face. “No, you don’t get to do this, Gage!” he snapped.
“Do what?” I asked as I tried to pull free of his hold. The last thing I wanted to do was hurt him, but the need to flee was too great.
