AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I’ll let Hilary know we’re going to my place,” I tell her.
“I’m a horrible niece,” she says.
“Stop. No, you’re not. Hilary called me—she was worried about you.”
She turns to me, her eyes wide. “What did I do?”
“You don’t remember?”
“We started talking about my parents and I had to get out of the house.” She shakes her head and I help her into the truck. “But then I went out…” Her hand shakes as she lifts it to her mouth and blinks back tears. One falls down her cheek.
I wait for her to say more, but she’s quiet for a long beat.
“You went out where?” I ask.
Her eyes are haunted when she looks at me.
“I sort of lost track of time. Oh…” She sits up straighter. “The horses are still out.”
“Hilary and Abby can get them in, or I’ll come back and take care of it,” I tell her.
She takes a deep breath and relaxes against the seat. “Thank you.”
“You already said that.” I smile at her. “I’m happy you’re coming home with me.”
She smiles and some of the panic dulls inside of me. I’ll try to get to the bottom of what really happened out there later…for now, it’s just good to see her smiling again.
I might be crazy to hope for this, but I can’t tell my heart to stop galloping ahead of me.
It’s already in too deep.
* * *
Fred is elated to be home, dancing between the two of us, getting his ears scratched from me and then falling onto his back to let Sofie scratch his stomach. I groan when Mr. Doherty calls as I’m starting the grill, hoping that I won’t have to abandon this night in with Sofie before it even gets started.
“I think I’ve figured out what’s going on with my girl, Molly,” he says.
“Really?”
“I went out to check on her and caught a pair of foxes cornering her. She was in a state of panic, but once I got her back into the barn and gave her some water, she started to calm down. I think they’ve been hanging around without me realizing it…”
“That makes sense. Keep me posted. If her temperature is still up, I’ll need to run more tests, but as long as it’s still down in the morning, you’re probably spot on.”
“I’m on my way to get a motion-activated sprinkler now, see if that helps with the fox situation.”
“I can make a call to the wildlife center if you keep having a problem with them,” I tell him, grinning like a fool at the way Fred is smiling up at Sofie. “Just don’t try to trap them or anything like that.”
“I won’t, but they need to leave my girl alone,” he says.
“I hope the sprinkler works.”
We hang up and Sofie stands in the doorway, watching me outside.
“I really want to help with dinner, but do you mind if I take the world’s quickest shower first?” she asks.
“Take your time.”
“You sure?”
