Total pages in book: 81
Estimated words: 77005 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 385(@200wpm)___ 308(@250wpm)___ 257(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 77005 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 385(@200wpm)___ 308(@250wpm)___ 257(@300wpm)
“Why is the sky blue? Who the hell knows. Come talk to her.”
I finish with Milo and exit the barn to find a teenage girl, fourteen years old at the most, sitting on the porch of the farmhouse with a glass of lemonade in one hand and an oatmeal cookie that Mona offered her in the other. She’s either half Black or Hispanic with shoulder length curly hair, light brown skin, and light brown eyes. And she’s dressed in what looks to be a school uniform.
“Hi,” I say, a little awkwardly. “I’m Blue Baldwin. Are you here to do a story about the rescue?”
She looks a little unsure and places the glass down on the side table. “Um, yeah. I’m doing a story for the school paper.”
“Shouldn’t the school have called to tell us you were coming?” Something is not adding up. “What school do you go to?”
“Oak Christian Academy.”
“And your name?” I prompt with a smile.
“Um… okay, so I’m not really here for the school newspaper…”
Knew it. “Your name?”
“Callie…” She looks at me and away. “Bloom.”
Callie? “Is Matthias your dad?” She nods, suddenly self-conscious. It hits me that her boarding school wouldn’t just let her leave the property. “How did you get here?”
“With my cellphone and a credit card.”
Smart ass. I like her already. “Let’s go. I’m driving you back right now. I need you to call your dad and let him know you’re safe and with me.”
She looks so bummed I’m tempted to give her anything she asks for. I just realized being a parent is not going to be easy.
“They got married and you didn’t come,” she says quietly, clearly upset about this. “My dad told me all these stories about you running into places where there’s like gangs and stuff and you helped a kid that got shot.”
“That was a long time ago. When I was a paramedic. Now I work here, helping Mona, that lady you met, rescue animals that have been abused.”
“That’s pretty cool.”
A smile spreads across my face. I really like this kid. “We can talk on the drive back.”
After Darby lends me his truck and I put Callie’s school in the GPS, we hit the road. “I’m sorry I wasn’t there to meet you, but I don’t really get along with my mother.”
“Dad told me,” she murmurs, staring out the window while her hands play with the cellphone in her lap. “He said Athena wasn’t the best mom. He said she left you with your dad and took off.”
And he still managed to fall in love with her? What does she do to these men? Matthias has to be a glutton for punishment.
“What about your mom?” I gently prod.
“She died. Car accident when we were living in Senegal.”
“I’m really sorry.”
We ride in silence for a while. Something about this kid reminds me of me at her age, a girl longing to connect.
“Hey, Callie?”
“Yeah.”
“Just because I don’t see Athena much doesn’t mean we can’t see each other. Your school is only a thirty minute drive.” She turns in her seat to look at me. “Would you want to come and hang out some time? Maybe you can help me take care of the animals?”
Her full lips lift. “We had goats when we were living in Senegal. They would eat my mother’s flowers. She’d get so mad.” The memory makes her smile.
“Is that a yes?”
She nods, the smile still in place.
“Put my number in your cellphone,” I tell her and rattle off the number. She does as she’s told and sends me a text. It’s an emoji of two girls holding hands.
Chapter 18
“I’m getting tired of this,” I hear him gripe as he approaches. He’s mad and he wants me to know it.
I’m behind the barn in the hay shed pulling a bale out to throw to the horses in the big pasture. The rain lasted for all of a day and the pasture’s dry brush is not suitable for grazing. Hay is expensive, but the good news is that our Mother Goose accounts have exploded with new followers lately––something I can’t quite understand––and more money is coming in for the animals’ care.
“I’m too old to be sneaking around like a teenage Romeo.”
Apparently Shane is tired of sneaking around. For some reason, he feels that at almost thirty-seven he has the right to sex on tap whenever he feels like having it and circumstances are chafing his freedoms.
“Call the ACLU,” I tell him while I load the hay on the Polaris. “Tell them your civil liberties are being infringed.”
We have yet to discuss where this is going after Aidan’s time is up, so forgive me if I’m in no rush to accommodate him either. If I’m getting dumped like an unwanted pet in two weeks, I would like less people to know about it.
Hands on his hips, he shakes his head at me and narrows his eyes, “Such a wise ass.” I make a big dramatic show of loading the bale, grunting out loud. Frowning, Shane pushes me aside and loads it for me. A sucker born every day.