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“I can hear you.”
“Beverly’s going to be arrested. So, yeah. I’m trying not to obsess. Kelly just told me Steve left Stevie to take his girlfriend to dinner, not to go to Walmart like he said, so there is that issue. I’m going to call my attorney this afternoon and nip that in the bud.”
“I’m so sorry. It’s a lot to deal with on top of his mother. Did you talk to my brothers?”
“Dave stopped by the rescue on his way to lunch with Maggie and Justin to tell me. They’re probably discussing it as we speak.”
“Having a family can be a pain in the ass,” Chris said. “I just never realized how big until now.”
Feeling guilty, she hoped she wasn’t the cause of any dissention between Chris and his brothers.
“I apologized to Dave for the swim issue,” she said. “I hope that helps.”
“You didn’t need to do it. But thanks anyway,” he said. “Can I get back to you? I just got an SOS text from my son to get in touch.”
“Oh no. I hope Cindy is okay!”
“Me, too. If you don’t hear from me it’s because there’s nothing to say. I’d better get this over with.”
“Okay, Chris. Send me a text either way, at least.”
“I will. Love you,” he said and ended the call.
Annie picked up Stevie and went into the nursery to get bottles ready for the bottle babies they had, trying to focus on the task. Things were just not good between her and Chris. They’d made love the night before, but there was something off about it, and she wanted to say,We need to stop right now and work this out.But knowing Chris, he’d take offense to it and it would make matters worse between them. She faked it, a first. Sometime before the day was over if nothing else earth-shattering happened, she’d address it with him.
At one, she packed up to leave. She hadn’t heard back from Chris so she assumed everything was okay with his sons and his ex.
“Thanks for coming in, in spite of everything you went through this weekend,” Kelly said.
“You’re welcome. I looked forward to it. Will you be okay with all the feedings?”
“I will. Amber Greely is coming by after three so we’ll be good tonight. Maggie will come later and help me load up the van. All the bottle babies are coming home with me tonight.”
“You’re really devoted,” Annie said.
“It’s just animal rescue. It takes over your life.”
When she pulled out of the parking lot, she glanced over at Maggie’s house. Dave’s and Justin’s trucks weren’t there, so she guessed Maggie was either working or on horseback somewhere. As unreasonable as she knew it to be, she couldn’t get over the hurt feelings that Maggie hadn’t contacted her or at least stopped by the rescue after hearing about Beverly’s arrest.
Taking the truck trail back into town, she’d avoid going by Chris’s house. That’s how she thought of it—hishouse, not theirs. Everything was falling apart and was out of her control. She had to just allow the punches to come in waves as they were apt to do.
Then, just as she pulled into her driveway, she looked in her rearview mirror and Chris was behind her. She smiled and waved, but there was distinctly something wrong.
“What is it?” she asked when she got out, meeting him behind her car. He’d been crying, too.
“Cindy just died.”
He grabbed Annie and began to sob into her hair.
“Chris, what happened?” she asked, numb. It took Chris a while to compose himself and she patted his back, murmuring platitudes to him until he could talk.
“She had chest pain Sunday and they attempted to repair the aneurysm this morning and couldn’t get her off the perfusion machine, or whatever it’s called. Finally, they let her go. Evidently, it’s the risk that is taken with this kind of surgery. The boys are devastated.”
“I’m so sorry!”
“I’ll help you get Stevie into the house, and then I have to pack. I’ll go to Mobile and stay there to help out, if you’re okay with that.”
“Of course I’m okay. What a tragedy.”
