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“Get in the truck,” I chuckled, and for the first time since I’d picked up the call from my lawyer, I felt like I could breathe.
ChapterTwenty-Three
Grant
In the end, I didn’t push her to talk about her ex. When we got home from the market, she’d asked to go out for a ride, and we spent the rest of the day letting Day run in the pasture while I took the risk of letting her ride King on her own.
There was something about the sight of her on horseback, especially on a horse like King, that caused something to click deep in some untouched part of my heart. She was a natural, and King bent to her every command as I followed her through the pasture with one of the new retired horses I’d bought at the auction.
She was happy, and I wasn’t going to ruin that. Seeing her falling to pieces in the park had me seeing red, and the last thing I wanted to do was snap and drive across the country to end the threat for good.
So, I didn’t press her about it. Moira knew what she was and wasn’t capable of, and if she needed me… well, I’d be here.
But a week later, everything changed.
Moira had been busy every single day of the last week, wrapping up the ravine project. The EPA was coming to inspect the site, and Shelby Francis had been harassing us by phone and email for days after Moira made it public the woman was preying on my elderly neighbors to secure their land.
It hadn’t been easy. Every night we went to bed exhausted, and every morning we faced another trial.
Saturday rolled around again and we jumped at the chance for some peace.
George and I had been getting the new horses acquainted with the pasture and the animals they’d be sharing the space with—my cattle, and my herd of horses with King as their ringleader.
I led Honey, an aptly named golden-colored horse who was likely pushing twenty, toward the creek where Day and Moira were currently lying out in the sun. Moira was reading a book, and Day was playing in the mud along the bank, his overalls rolled up over his knees.
King was lying on his side a few feet away from Moira, who he had bonded with and chosen as his person. He was a real dick to everyone else now, especially George, and especially if anyone other than me or Day got close to Moira in his presence.
I decided not to bother them and led Honey down to the creek to get a drink, but right as I reached the water, my phone rang.
It was Pete, and that man rarely ever called me for anything.
“Pete,” I said, patting Honey on the shoulder as she bent her head to graze. “What’s up?”
“Look, Grant,” he breathed, clicking his tongue before pausing. “I… Something weird happened at the bar, and I felt the need to call you about it.”
“Uh, what happened, exactly? And what does it have to do with me?” I thought about the enemies I’d made since moving up here, mostly other ranchers or the fucking EPA, but still. It was odd something would have taken our business public, at the bar no less.
“It has to do with Moira.”
I exhaled through my nose, stealing a glance at her where she lay back with her head resting on King’s chest, her book in her hands.
“Go on.”
“A man came here looking for her, asking around. He had a picture of her and everything. Said she’d be traveling with a kid, a boy. I asked some questions, but he couldn’t describe what the kid looked like. I’m guessing he was talking about Day—”
“What exactly did you say to him?”
“Nothing, Grant. I said I hadn’t seen her, and this is a small enough town that I’d know if someone who looked like that passed through.” Pete took a breath, his exhale coming out as whoosh through the phone before he continued, “This guy was a real piece of work, Grant. Prison tats, looked all banged up. He tried to tell me he was investigating a missing person’s case—”
“Did you get him on video?”
“Yep.”
“I’m going to need see it.”
“You told me she was roughed up by Day’s dad,” Pete said slowly, as if gauging whether I’d be willing to talk about it further with him. “Could this be the guy?”
“He recently got let out of prison on parole,” I admitted, then shook my head. “She said he was living in a halfway house in New Jersey. She has a restraining order against him that’s still in effect. That’s all I know.”
