Page 56 of The Buck Stops Hare

A chuckle ran through me, from Buck to my soul. It warmed me beyond what my jacket offered. More than anything.

He remained silent for a while as I continued my trek. The others on the jobsite were on lunch and I couldn’t help myself. I felt like I needed to prove myself. Like I was worth the investment Rayne had put into the whole thing for me. I felt like every day I wasn’t returning his money was another day I’d failed.

When my phone rang, it drew me out of my thoughts, Ransom on the line. I pulled the call up and held it to my ear. “Yo.”

“Good news or bad news first?” The jovial tone in his voice told me nothing needed to be worried over too much.

“Good news.”

“So, this yuppie rich guy who owns a bunch of business retreats wants to invest in like a dozen of these and is putting in a preorder. He even had land surveys and grading in hand.” The conspiratorial chuckle made my heart skip a beat. “We have to tweak the designs from the standard kit we pitched, but it’s very doable.”

“He put 15 percent down?” Promises meant little without capital.

“Twenty.”

“Niiiiice.” I suppressed the grin that wanted to twist my face. “Okay, and the bad news?”

“Your mom’s here in the office. Rayne. Lost. His. Shit. Also, dude, you look a lot like her. Kinda uncanny.” He snorted, and I swore under my breath.

“On my way.” I hung up and sighed.

Before I could make my way to the truck, the ground around me hummed with life, alerting me to Buck. I paused and turned around just in time to bump into him.

No hello; no greeting. He cupped my face and grinned, letting that familiar earthy scent take me away. Despite the chill outside, my entire body tingled for him in a rush of heat. Just like any other time he handled me so passionately, I melted into him. And I couldn’t be bothered to care who saw. “Hey, man. Thought you had Vida.” I placed my hands on his chest, fingers brushing the thin flannel of the shirt he manifested, insubstantial for the cold, but he didn’t feel it like that any longer. Same as me, it existed but didn’t hurt anymore. Likely, the birth of my child would be the last pain I ever registered in a human way.

An impossibly warm hand slipped underneath my hoodie for a gentle palm to the swell there. Since I’d felt the flutters on and off for a few weeks, the bigger sensation earlier was novel in that I knew someone would be able to feel it besides me. As if on cue, thinking about the little one or our closeness made them kick, a limb of some variety slapping against Buck’s hand.

“She’s in the truck. Seat’s already in. I called Lincoln this morning and requested a visit. He’ll come stay when you’re near.” Buck placated my rush of surliness with a kiss. “Not up for discussion.”

“If I’m this crazy god creature, why do I need a doctor?” I groaned and Buck tilted his hand to rub back against the kick I’d felt.

“Because we owe it to River. He can help you learn, as much as he can learn, himself.” He placed a soft kiss over my lips, reminding me, with heavy guilt, of what River had done for us. The sacrifice he’d made.

Buck had gone to visit Brook a few times in the prior weeks, watching River stand by the bank of his tributary, trudging themires of the shallows. His mournful rattling cry I’d heard when Buck called me made me cry. Not that I’d admit it.

“Come on. My mom showed up at the office and Rayne is losing his damn mind.” I pushed Buck back gently and gave him what I hoped was a half smile.

“I look forward to the shit show.” His smile made all the dread in my body float away, because nothing she said or did would ever matter to me as much as Buck.

***

Buck was right. It was a shit show.

When I pulled up to Rayne’s new offices that we shared space with, I eyed the economical rental car out front. The half-bare walls and mismatched furniture became more cohesive by the day, but it still looked barren, one of those retail spaces that was eternally empty save for the Halloween store days.

I got out of the truck I’d bought off a pack member at Rayne’s insistence and I could hear the shouting from outside. Mostly Rayne’s. I busied myself getting Vida out of her seat before heading in.

“How was I supposed to know?” My mom’s nasally voice dug into my brain like an ice pick when I stepped inside, flinching away by habit. That particular pitch of anger usually came with a side of shoe. As if on cue, a practical flat came sailing across the office and I dodged, Buck throwing an arm out defensively.

“Uh, I don’t know? Have someone thatcouldtell come give us a sniff? Just tossing us out into the wild and hoping we didn’t find out anything disturbing was a shitty thing to do, Ma!” Another shoe flew and this time, it wasn’t her throwing it.

Rayne.

She barely managed to dodge his sneaker but shrieked when the second one landed, bouncing off her shoulder. “You ungrateful little—”

“No! We don’t get to play that game, Ma. You had one job, to raise us and make sure we made it to adulthood prepared for what was ahead and youfailed.” Rayne’s eyes had that spark of fire in them from his gift, and I turned Vida closer to my chest and gave her a gentle bounce so she didn’t startle from the screaming. Her face already had twisted up, lips pursed and ready to cry.

“Shh,” I said, trying to stave off the eruption, but it came regardless, a shrill whimper of unhappiness revealing her single tooth barely poking from the gums.

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