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She stared at him, dumbstruck, and then used her shoulder to bump him. “There’s no way. You’re pulling my leg.”
He tugged her hand to get her moving again. “Okay. I’m joking.”
Alanna stared at his profile. He did seem to be serious, but she wasn’t having the wool pulled over her eyes again. Her lips twitched. He was really reaching this time. She would be shocked if Greer could get his gun out of the holster. He would be too busy eating to be bothered.
When they came to the first sign, Alanna burst out in laughter so hard she had to hold her stomach. “‘Move the fuck on or get shot!’”
“That one’s pretty tame.”
“Does your family post signs to get back at them?”
“Of course.”
Walking a little farther, they came to another sign.
Alanna had to hug the wooden fence post when she read it to keep from doubling over. “‘This steer isn’t for you, Greer. Move along.’ Oh my God, this is priceless. Does it work?”
Matthew gave her anotherare you kiddinglook. “What do you think?”
“Are there more?”
“Oh yes. Greer loves making signs. He changes them out every couple of weeks.”
Matthew walked her around their property, showing her the different parts where the Colemans’ land intersected with the Porters’. “We think this could be in the direction of where he grows his plants.”
She didn’t have to step forward to read the sign; she could read it from where she was standing. “‘Monitored by …’” she read out loud. Underneath the words was a picture of a rifle instead of a camera. Then there was another one posted right next to it. “‘You’re sixty seconds from meeting the undertaker.’” Alanna looked around, not seeing any from the Colemans. “You let him have these?”
Matthew pointed up, and Alanna looked to where he was pointing.
There was a target on the same tree that the Porters had posted sign. In the middle of the target was a picture of a hand giving thefuck offsign. She stared at the sign appreciatively.
“Do you know how many times I wanted to do that when Greer was driving me nuts?”
“I’m guessing a lot.”
“Are his brothers like him?”
“Yes, and no. Pretty much no one messes with Tate. No one wants to get on his bad side, while everyone likes Dustin. He’s become a financial advisor. I hear he’s pretty good at it.”
“How about his sister?”
“Rachel married a Last Rider. She works for them, too. Every so often, when she’s searching for a certain plant, she comes here to ask Silas for permission to search for it on our land. Rachel is a botanist. She has a doctorate in aquaculture. Three times a year, she takes samples from our streams, pond, and our well water.”
“Has she found anything interesting yet?”
“If she has, she hasn’t told us yet. Remember, at heart, she is a Porter; if she found anything really good, she’d be afraid we wouldn’t let her come back.” Matthew looked up at the darkening sky. “We should head back. I didn’t bring a flashlight with me. I’ll walk you to the trailer then grab a flashlight from Jody’s to go back to the pond to get the poles.”
Alanna hated for the day to come to an end. She had enjoyed spending most of the day with him. Even before she had found herself in jail in Treepoint, her days had been plodding along with boring regularity. Even the happiness she found babysitting or tutoring was short lived, as if there was a storm cloud just waiting to break and send catastrophe showering down. Shehadn’t felt like that today. The whole day had been spent with the sun shining down and no cloud in sight.
Matthew waited at the bottom step when they reached the trailer.
“Other than the fishing, I had fun today. Thank you.”
Matthew put his hand over his heart. “I’m crushed that you didn’t like fishing. Next time, I’ll teach you how to shoot a bow and arrow so you can be my hunting buddy if fishing isn’t your thing.”
Alanna gave him a baleful look. “What have you got against animals?”
“Nothing. I love animals, especially when they’re large enough to have four points on their antlers, and I can get a couple of roasts out of them and several pounds of stew meat.”
