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Her fear that he was actually going to buy them sobered her—a little. She shook her head, gasping for breath. “No, thank you.” She swallowed hard, trying to get a grip. “I’m pretty sure they’d be too small anyway.”
He scowled and then stared down at her feet as if he were doing a complicated geometry problem.
Suddenly self-conscious about the size of her feet, she said, “Come on, let’s go.” She headed toward the front before realizing she still hadn’t made him laugh.
But he’d certainly made her laugh, and maybe that was good enough for now.
Chapter 31
Gunner was relieved to see only one vehicle in his driveway: Bull’s truck. Gunner had called Ryker for some muscle, but he’d only thought to do it a few minutes ago, and Ryker didn’t exactly live next door.
Priscilla hadn’t given them an arrival time, had only said “in a few hours,” and those hours had to be winding down.
He backed his truck up to his porch and jumped out, intent on rushing into the workout of his life, but somehow, his new wife beat him into the bed of the truck. He blinked, momentarily paralyzed.
“How did you get in there so fast?” Before he’d finished the question, he realized she must have hopped over the tire. She confirmed this by pointing, but she was already moving one of the mattresses. “Can you drop the tailgate?” she asked in a tone he found rather bossy.
But Gunner didn’t mind a bit of bossy. He’d always wished his mother would have been a little bossier.
He dropped the tailgate, and she pushed the mattress to him. He grabbed it and tried to hoist it over his head, but it wasn’t quite stiff enough to make this manageable.
“Hang on, I’ll help.” She jumped down and reached up to grab the front of the mattress. He didn’t like making his new wife do this, but he wasn’t going to argue either.
They easily went up the steps, and Nova let go with one hand so she could open the door.
General Lee stabbed her head out of the house and blatted, and Nova let out a shriek and jumped back, smashing intoGunner, who also let go with one hand so he could grab the railing to keep from going down the steps on his keister, and then the mattress started to slip from his other hand. “Look out!” he cried to the goat, but General didn’t listen. The mattress fell flat on her head, and Gunner scrambled to grab it and rescue her.
If General Lee had survived a life of turmoil only to be murdered by a new mattress, he would never be able to forgive himself.
He got a good grip on the mattress and pulled, but it wouldn’t come. What on earth? He pulled harder, but something was caught somewhere. He gave a fierce tug, and when the mattress came loose, he nearly toppled back down the steps again, but he caught himself and threw the overpriced mattress aside to inspect the goat.
General was fine. All her legs had folded beneath her, and she lay there glaring up at him.
He went down on one knee to inspect her, and Nova said, “Your wife is fine, thanks for checking.”
“Sorry,” he said, and ran a hand down General’s back.
“Gunner, look.”
He looked at Nova to see her pointing at the mattress. He followed her gaze to see two holes in the middle of the fabric.
Oh. Now he knew what the mattress had gotten hung up on. He checked the base of General’s horns for injury, but she looked solid. He wouldn’t have yanked on the mattress so hard had he known. Stupid that he hadn’t figured it out before now, but he’d been panicking. “Are you okay?” he asked General, and she slowly unfolded her legs to come to a stand. He studied her a moment longer, and then Nova said, “Is anyone going to question why the goat was in the house?”
Gunner knew, but that was the least of his worries. “Git!” He chased General down the front steps, knowing she’d come backup once he disappeared inside, but he wasn’t going to let her hang out on his front steps—or in his living room. He grabbed the mattress. “Do you think child services will mind a few holes in the mattress?”
“I do not.” She grabbed the other end and gingerly opened the door the rest of the way, probably waiting for other goats to squirt out.
Once Gunner had the door shut behind him, and they had started up the stairs with the mattress, he explained, “She has figured out how to open the screen door in the kitchen. I keep telling Bull to shut both doors, but he doesn’t always remember.”
When they reached the top of the stairs, life got more difficult. They had to make the corner. For the first time, he appreciated that the mattress had some bend.
“How do you want to do this?” Nova stared down at it as if she were figuring out an angle for pool balls.
“I’m a fan of brawn over brain,” he said and then simply shoved the mattress until it slid into the hallway. He glanced at her to see that she looked impressed, which was a little silly. He was capable of far more impressive things than brute force. “We can leave this here till we get the frame set up. He started back down the stairs.
He hadn’t heard Ryker pull in, but when he stepped outside, he saw his truck before he noticed his wife Frankie on her knees in his driveway with both arms wrapped around General’s neck. Good grief, no wonder the goat thought she was more special than all the other goats.
Ryker was already pulling a mattress out of the back of the truck, and then Gunner nearly cried out in agony when Ryker easily hoisted the mattress over his head. Not to be outdone, Gunner rushed to grab the third mattress. Again it tried to flop forward over his head, but this time he allowed it to happen, hurrying for the steps before his wife could help him.
