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Chapter 31
Tucker tried to focuson the positive, but he’d never been very good at that. In fact, as he led the team back down the mountain, he found their excitement and joy quite annoying.
“Slow down!” a portly Bannon ranch hand said. “If I fall, I’m going to roll down this mountain like a wrecking ball gone rogue!” It was funny, but Tucker didn’t laugh. He did slow down, though—a little. He hadn’t realized how fast he’d been going until the man mentioned it, but as he looked around to get his bearings, he realized that they were making very good time.
He’d already been down this mountain once this morning, to escort Martin to the van to make sure the tracking skivvies were working. He didn’t like leaving Wynona up there without him, but he also felt a little desperate to get away from her. And he told himself that Gunner could handle any threat that might befall them. If it had been Craig up there instead of Gunner, he probably wouldn’t have left her.
As it was, though, he and Martin had gone down the mountain, stopping at each site to explain why, climbed into the van to test the tracker on a fancy laptop that looked like it was out of a CIA spook TV show, and then climbed the mountain again to watch them set the toad free.
Martinreallyhadn’t wanted to miss that part.
Tucker never tired of a mountain. He was tiring of this one.
As they neared the head of the trail, the land leveled out, and he picked up speed again. He couldn’t help it.
And he’d never been so happy to get back to his truck. He didn’t say goodbye to anyone; he just climbed in, started the engine, and drove away. But when he came to the first stop sign, he made a rare complete stop, and just sat there for a moment, collecting himself. What on earth was wrong with him? He’d almost kissed that woman! He was losing his mind. He didn’t like her. He didn’t need to be kissing people he didn’t like. Plus, wasn’t she the enemy? Thank goodness it had only been Gunner up there to witness it. If one of the Bannon ranch hands got a hold of that, he’d be toast.
Kissing the toad lady might even tank his business.
He needed to tell Gunner not to tell anyone. Actually, he probablydidn’tneed to do that. Gunner was the opposite of a gossip. And he rarely talked to anyone.
What about Martin? He groaned. Did Martin talk to the locals at all? Maybe he should ask Martin not to say anything, but doing so was sort of admitting that something had happened when in reality,nothinghad happened. He’d almost lost his mind, sure, but he hadn’t completely lost it. He hadn’t actually kissed her. Surely, that didn’t count as a kiss, right?
Also, he didn’t want to talk to Marin.
Maybe he should ask Wynona to speak to Martin. No, he didn’t want to talk to her either, especially about how he’d almost kissed her.
He realized Sundance was staring at him. Likely wondering why they were still sitting at the stop sign. He reached over and patted his best friend on the head. “You did good today, bud. Real good.” Then he started driving again and tried not to think about anything.
This vacuum made it really easy for May to pop into his mind. A surge of excitement filled his chest as he thought about how he would probably get to chat with her a bit before turning in. Then, like a shadow to that excitement, there was a bit of guilt. He really liked May.
So why was he half-kissing the toad lady?
Shoot. He almost felt like he’d cheated on someone. This was ridiculous, of course. He didn’t even know May in real life—she certainly wasn’t his girlfriend, and yet that shadowy guilt persisted.
To avoid that icky feeling, he went back to worrying about whether Martin was a tattletale.
Hadn’t he been the one to interrupt them? TosaveTucker from doing something colossally stupid? Yes, it had been him. So then he probably hadn’t seen what was happening, or he likely wouldn’t have shouted something about toad pants.
Tucker shook his head. He still couldn’t believe that toad was now wearing underwear. He silently prayed that the other toads wouldn’t bully him for it.
