Page 39 of Rocky Ride

“Not close friends but we consider ourselves to be good neighbors. I’ll get you the video for the past week. Won’t take me a minute.”

“Thank you.”

Frank returned and handed over the drive. “Will you let me know if you find anything useful?”

“I will. Thank you for your help, sir.”

We hopped into the Jeep and Sunday stared at the thing in her hand. “Good. Something for me to analyze. I like being useful.”

“Yep. I’m hoping this will give us a clue into at least one of the boyfriends.”

She giggled. “I wonder what it’s like juggling two boyfriends and a husband at the same time.”

I shrugged. “She might’ve had them on some kind of schedule.”

“You could be right about that, Harlan.”

Wild Stallion Ranch.

At the barn, Virge told me about the messy robbery, and I told him about getting the video from the neighbor across the street from the Ellingtons.

“Might be too far away to see anything,” said Virge, “but we might get lucky and see a plate or a piece of one. That would be more than we have now.”

“I’m hoping for more.”

Virge made a face at me. “That’s because you’re an optimist and I look at the world more realistically.”

“Right.” My brother made me laugh.

When we came in from the barn, Dad was all cleaned up and his hair was brushed. Billy was in his room changing his clothes.

“Where you going, Dad?” asked Virge.

“I want to thank Sunday for saving my life, so I made a reservation for us at the Inn. We’re going there for dinner.”

“The Inn, Dad? Are you sure?”

“I’m pretty sure I’ll be okay, son. You boys get cleaned up. No rush. When y’all are ready, we’ll drive down and have a great dinner.”

Me and Virge ran upstairs to get changed and my brother wasn’t buying into it. “It’s too fuckin soon, Harlan. Dad is not going to be okay eating dinner at the Inn.”

“Only one way to tell, bro. We’ve got to test the waters.”

“Jeeze, Harlan. I’m not sure I’m ready for that test.”

“Sure you are. Change your clothes and we’ll go see which way Dad is gonna rock.”

Virge plopped down on his bed. “I’ll stay here. Bring me a steak and some lemon pie.”

“Get changed, Virgie. You’re going.”

Coyote Creek Inn.

Dad was calm and I think Sunday had a lot to do with it. She was such a calm person and she seemed to like the Inn a lot. Looking around the beautiful dining room made her smile.

Sunday wore a pretty dress and brushed her hair down long. She even had some lip gloss on.

Billy looked at her a lot and it made me wonder if he was hot for her. I was pretty sure Dad wasn’t. Not in the way he was for Annie. The way I figured it, Sunday saved Dad’s bacon and she was just a friend.

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