Page 12 of Longest Ride

“No. Not in the bathroom either.”

Didn’t take Annie long to do a quick check of the small cabin. Tammy was gone and so were her clothes. “I can’t believe she left when I told her not to go outside in the storm. Sometimes, she makes me furious.”

Lucy opened the front door and squealed. “Mommy, I think she took the big black semi-truck. It’s gone and the pickup is still here. Does she know how to drive a big truck like that?”

“She may think she does. Tammy thinks she knows a lot of things—but she doesn’t. I’m fairly sure she’s not thinking rationally now.”

Annie pulled her cell out of the pocket of her jeans and called 911. All lines were busy, and she received a recording telling her that her road would be plowed by noon.

“According to the police, we can’t get out of here before noon, honey.”

“Do you think Tammy drove that big truck to the hospital to see Eldon? That’s what she was crying about last night.”

Annie sucked in a breath of oxygen and prepared herself for part two of the Tammy nightmare.

“I’ll call the hospital and see if she’s been there, Lucy. Good thought.”

Annie called the hospital, asked to be connected to the intensive care unit and enquired about visitors to Eldon Fontana. The head nurse told her a story she didn’t want to hear.

“Mister Fontana signed himself out of the hospital early this morning, ma’am. His doctor was called and was dead against him leaving so soon. Too soon after major surgery for MisterFontana to be moved. But his wife insisted on taking him out of the hospital and he left with her.”

“I see. Thank you.”

“What, Mommy?” asked Lucy. “You have a mad look on your face. What did Tammy do?”

“That foolish girl took Eldon out of his hospital bed and I’m pretty sure she just signed his death warrant. He’s not ready to be out of bed much less riding around in a truck. We need a BOLO out on the truck.”

“Do you know how to do that, Mommy?”

“No. I’m calling Harlan. He’ll do it for me.”

“Why don’t you tell Travis to do it?”

“Better not to dump all of this on Travis at once. I’ll talk to Harlan and ease into it.”

“Harlan will be upset. He loves Tammy.”

“We’re all upset,” said Annie. “We have to deal with this as a family, honey. Please don’t cry.”

“I won’t cry, Mommy. I’ll help you. I can shovel snow, at least I think I can.”

Wild Stallion Ranch. Montana.

Me and Virge could barely open our eyes at daylight, we were so fuckin tired from the longest ride ever, coming home from Canada in the storm.

I was so pissed at Tammy for what she’d done, I tried not to think about her all the time like I usually did. She got hooked up with some guy we didn’t even know and said she was gonna marry him.

That’s just nuts.

I dragged my ass out of bed, pulled on my jeans and let Virge sleep a little longer. Easy to handle the barn chores on my own and I needed the alone thinking time anyways.

Sunday, but we wouldn’t be getting a day off. We still had a pile of accidents to work through—probably more coming if the roads weren’t cleared.

I went out the back way through the woodshed and it was still snowing pretty hard. The roads wouldn’t be plowed, especially the county roads. The highways weren’t fit to drive on, but still people went out and tried to drive around anyway.

Not a day the horses could be put in the corral. I told them the bad news and they looked sad. I was measuring their oats when Annie called me.

“Good morning, sweetheart.”

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