Page 38 of River Ride

Tammy smacked him in the face a couple of times. “You’d better talk nicer to me than that, Eldon, or you’ll never get the cuffs off.”

Bobby saw the truth in it and figured he have to take a different tack with Tammy.

Best Western. Revelstoke. British Columbia.

6:30 a.m.

Dad was last in the shower, and we left him to finish getting ready while me and Virge took Max and Sarge out for a run before breakfast.

Virge was already talking about what he was going to eat for breakfast. He thought about food a lot while all I thought about was grabbing Tammy in a hurry and getting back home in time for Lucy’s barrel racing competition.

She would be so fuckin upset if Virge and I missed it. She would cry. I fuckin knew it. I hated it when Lucy cried.

We put the dogs in the Jeep and met Dad in the breakfast room. He had coffee in front of him and seemed to be doing better after getting some solid sleep.

“You look better this morning, Dad,” I said.

He nodded. “I am better than yesterday, son. I’m not going to let this get to me. If Tammy has committed another felony, her parole will be revoked, and she’ll go back to the prison hospital. I’m prepared for it.”

“Nothing we can do, Dad. She was lucky to be considered for parole after shooting a cop.”

“Twice,” said Virge.

“I agree. Surprised the hell out of me when Annie called and told me Tammy was being released on parole into my custody.”

“Too soon,” said Virge chewing on a sausage. “Tammy wasn’t ready to go out into the real world on her own. If she’d been ready, we’d all be at home working on our murder case and Tammy would be in the barn fussing over Bonnie Grace.”

“You’ve got something there, Virge,” said Dad. “Did she even look at Bonnie when she got to the ranch?”

“Nope,” said Virge. “I watched her.”

“Damn it,” said Travis. “I should’ve taken that as a sign. If she was herself, she would’ve run straight to the barn to see her horse. That girl is messed up.”

Prescott’s Cabin. Sicamous. B.C.

7:00 a.m.

“Undo the handcuffs, Tammy. I have an appointment with a real estate agent in Sicamous this morning. The cabin has been sold and I have to turn in the keys and pick up the money at the ReMax office.”

“I can’t believe you would sell our cabin, Eldon.”

“I had to.”

Tammy started to cry. “We were going to live here and be so happy together.”

“Didn’t work out that way, did it? That was before you took me out of the hospital, and I nearly died because of you.” Bobbyrubbed the scars on his lower belly. “I’m not forgetting what you did to me and the hell you put me through.”

“You’ll forgive me in time when you realize I did it out of love, Eldon. I wanted to take care of you and have you close to me. That’s why I did it. I didn’t mean to hurt you.”

“You don’t endanger the lives of people you love, Tammy. Not unless you’ve got a fuckin screw loose.”

“Don’t be mean, Eldon. As long as you’re being mean to me, I’m not taking the cuffs off. Tell me what stuff you want packed and I’ll get it done.”

“I want all my clothes and everything personal that belongs to me. There are suitcases in the closet.” Bobby laid back against the pillow and watched Tammy fetch the suitcases. She tossed them on the other side of the bed and started filling them up.

Bobby tried being nicer, so she’d take the cuffs off. “I’m hungry, Tam, and there’s no food or coffee here in the cabin. Let’s get out of here and eat breakfast in Sicamous before we pick up the money.”

Tammy didn’t turn her head or let on she even heard him. Moving like a robot, she emptied drawers and packed Bobby’s clothes into the suitcases.

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