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“You can swallow now.” His finger moved under my jaw to ease my mouth closed. “Now show Daddy you took it all down.”
I let him see it was all gone as I gave him a grin of my own. He shook his head at my amusement, then tucked himself away. His hands moved under my arms to help me stand.
“Follow me to the bathroom. We need to clean your face, then I guess we’ll watch some television or something for a bit till we get updates. Sound good to you?”
“So long as you’re there, I’m good,” I admitted.
It might have been too much too soon. I couldn’t really say what would cross the line, but I knew keeping my interest to myself was dumb. We’ve already shared everything about each other through our letters. Now we just had to find out the dynamics in person.
It couldn’t be too hard, right?
Chapter Five
Corey
Hours after everyone left,my phone flashed with Atticus’s name. I kept my voice low as I answered. “Hey, boss. Any news?”
Ashley was asleep on my lap. He’d nodded off nearly an hour before after we watched some random comedy I’d thrown on for background noise.
“We don’t have much to go on. The hotels around won’t give us any information, and no one was able to locate him anywhere. We’re on our way back now. It’s too late and too dark to get any further tonight. I guess we’ll figure the rest out tomorrow.”
“It’s going to be ok, Atticus. We’ll find him.”
He sighed. “I know we will. It’s just… I feel responsible because of my pops. They were close. Closer than any of us knew. And now that he’s gotten help, I want to be sure he gets to live his life as authentically as he wants. It’s the one thing my dad screwed up in his life, and I want to do my best to make it right.”
Damn man and his guilt. He’d been a mess after Gerald’s breakdown. We all saw how hard it affected him to know his father had created this shell of a man. It was never intentional, of course. Clancy had no clue he’d get sick. He probably planned to find a way to come out to everyone at some point, but time wasn’t his friend.
It wasn't a friend to any of us really.
I knew firsthand after waiting so long for Ashley to come home. Letter after letter, I’d send up a prayer to the universe to keep him safe so he could one day be mine. Now that I had him, I was going to hold on with both hands.
“You’re not the only person on this ranch. We’re all here to help, and we will. Everyone needs some rest first. Then tomorrow we can split tasks up so a few people can go look for Gerald. Ashley will provide some extra hands to get it all done. Plus, the days after market day are usually a little slower anyway.”
“I never thought I’d see the day Corey Morrison was speaking sense into me,” he said with a deep laugh. “If it weren’t so dark out, I’d be looking for pigs flying.”
I had to force myself to let the comment roll off my back. Atticus was only saying that because of the picture I’d given him. That version of me would not have the confidence to speak how I had. He’d have made a joke or something instead.
“Like throws curveballs at us. We both know this. Get back to the ranch and we’ll figure the rest out.”
“See you soon.” He ended the call, which left me alone again to ponder the situation we were in.
Gerald was missing. He’d checked himself out of rehab and essentially dropped off the face of the earth. As far as I knew, we were the only people he had to depend on. While I couldn’t say he was the most talkative man after we lost Clancy, I could admit that even before then, he seemed to avoid the topic of family.
If it were me in his position, where would I go? Why would I give up the only family I’ve known to wander on my own?
The answer eluded me. I had a feeling no matter what I thought up, Gerald would do something different. He’d changed so much in the last several months that I doubt I really knew him anymore at all.
Since the guys were headed back, I knew I had to wake Ashley up to get him down to the bunkhouse. Part of me truly hated the idea of doing so, while the rest was eager to see if I could convince my boy to climb into my bed tonight.
“Baby,” I called out softly as I shook his shoulder gently. “We’ve got to get down to the bunkhouse.”
He shot up, his body moving from asleep to awake in an instant. Wide eyes met mine in a panicked state.
I held my hands out to show I meant no harm. “It’s just me. There’s no danger here. We’re all alone still. You’re on the ranch.”
At the last sentence, his body went loose. He dropped back onto the couch as his head landed in his hands. I called his name to get his attention, but he didn’t move.
It was something I’d taken notice of since he arrived. First with all the times he’d been staring at my mouth and then when he had me repeat myself in the opposite ear when I was talking to him in the kitchen. There were other times too where I’d picked up that he couldn’t quite hear me unless we were looking at one another.
