Page 69 of Cold Foot Croc

“Shhhh-shh-shh,” she said comfortingly to Breah as she rocked her. That usually did the trick. It did the trick now.

Garret would be here anytime, and she would feel that relief in her chest. She liked when he was with her and Breah. She liked them all together.

Her phone sat on the bed, tempting her.

She had the number memorized still.

She had it memorized.

Dylan was meeting Breah today. She wished her mom and brother could at least know they had a granddaughter, and a niece.

She typed in the phone number that probably wouldn’t even ring and hesitated before she hit the call button. When she poked that call button, she paced away and back quick, then hit the speakerphone.

It rang.

Okay, what did that mean? The landline was still live?

The phone clicked, and an unfamiliar man’s voice answered, “Hello?”

“He-hello?” she stammered, shocked that someone had picked up. “Um, I was trying to reach someone, but they probably moved away a long time ago.”

“Who are you trying to reach?”

“Um, my mom. Adoptive mom. Cary Furrow?”

The silence on the other end felt so heavy. The man cleared his throat. “Is this Raynah?”

Chills crawled up her back as she rocked Breah. “Yes.”

“Cary is my wife.”

“Your wife,” she repeated softly. “She’s married.”

“Yeah. We got married a few months ago. Let me go see if she’s home yet. She goes straight to her greenhouse out back after work.”

Her mom had always talked about building a greenhouse in the backyard. She’d done it. “Okay. Hey, mister?”

“Tim. My name’s Tim.”

“Tim,” she said shakily. “It’s okay if she doesn’t want to talk to me. I just figured I would try.”

“Oh, she’ll want to talk to you.”

Shocked, Raynah waited for a couple of agonizing minutes until there was static over the phone and the man answered again. “She’s heading in here right now. Just give her a few seconds. She’s freaking out a little.”

“Okay. Thank you, Tim.”

“No, thank you.”

She frowned. What? Thank her for what?

“Ray?” Oh, her mom’s voice was just as she remembered it.

The utterance of the old nickname her mom used to call her drew a smile to her lips. “Hey, momma.”

“Ray,” she said again, emotion infused into the simple word. “Your brother’s gonna go wild.”

“I’m not meaning to cause any freak-outs. I just wanted to say some news.”

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