Page 44 of Harrison Hyde and the Runaway Bride

“We didn’t want to make Harrison uncomfortable, Drew,” Bubba said.

“What’s to be uncomfortable about? He’s a hero. You saved her life, Harry.”

“Harrison.” Maybe now that he was a hero…

“Damn straight, he is,” Trevor said. Then he hefted a beer, and Harrison wondered if everyone there was twenty-one. Since Willow was a deputy, he presumed they were. “To Harry?—”

“To Harrison!” Bubba, shouted. “For saving one of our own!”

“To Harrison!” Everyone raised a bottle.

His face got so hot he pressed his dewy, brown bottle to his cheeks. He didn’t know what to say.

“See? You made him uncomfortable,” Willow said. “That said, you, Harry, are a part of our family now. It’s not optional.” She raised her beer then took another sip.

He realized that beside him, Maria was looking at her phone. He looked too, then looked away. It was too much. Maria got to the end and lifted her gaze to his. They locked. She didn’t say anything. It seemed like she wanted to and then just didn’t.

“So, what’s your family like?” Drew asked, oblivious to the current zapping between him and Maria.

“Smaller, for sure,” he said. “I have one sister, Lily, a few years younger. She just passed the NCLEX, so now she’s an RN in search of her first job. My dad is a retired chef and my best friend. He has his own apartment but his health isn’t great. Asthma, former smoker. He’s lookin’ at retirement communities in Florida.”

“I used to struggle with asthma when I was a kid,” Baxter said.

“How about your mom?” Drew asked.

He lowered his eyes, focused on the fire. He could almost imagine her face in the flames. “She passed a year ago. Cancer.”

“Oh, I’m so sorry.”

Murmurs of sympathy moved like a wave through those gathered.

“So what do y’all think is happening here?” Baxter asked. “And how can we help?”

So, for a while, Harrison explained everything that was going on, as far as he knew it, with a lot of input from Maria. At one point, she was finishing his thoughts, and he was finishing hers, and everybody else was rapt.

Bubba said, “It’s pretty clear they ain’t lookin’ to just kidnap you, Harrison.” He was the only one of the group who called him by his name. “They plumb tried to kill you.”

“And they’ve killed once already,” Willow said. “Your partner Solomon.”

He lowered his head. “Do you think Robert and Carrie are already… I mean that text obviously wasn’t from her. It was from whoever has her phone. Whoever, maybe, has her.”

CHAPTER NINE

Maria could tell that Harry was hurting, and not just physically. His whole life was inside out, and here he was alone among strangers. And then it hit her so hard she snapped her fingers and blurted it aloud. “Your dad and sister should come down! We can boot out a couple of the relations to clear a room. Baxter’s parents’ place is within shoutin’ distance.”

He lifted his head, meeting her eyes while her cousins all shouted hell, yeahs. “You don’t think it would put them in danger?”

Bubba said, “This ranch is the safest place on earth right now.”

“There’s a deputy in your bunkhouse,” Willow added, “and a sheriff and his chief deputy in the main house.”

Maria said, “And two triple black belts sitting among us.”

“But it’s your mom they’d have to worry about,” Drew said. “Aunt Jessi doesn’t suffer fools.” Beside her, Orrin nodded emphatically.

Trevor said, “Remember when that guy in town told my mom to go back where she came from?”

“I was there,” Maria said. “We were picking up supplies for Sunday barbecue— you’re gonna love Sunday barbecue, Harry. Anyway, it was me, my mom, and Aunt Esmeralda, coming out of the market, and this guy yells at her.”

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