Page 30 of Final Ride

“I’ll be by to pick y’all up.”

“Thanks for the call.”

“We have another ranch to look at, Dad?”

“Yep, brand new on the market, Harlan. Let’s get cleaned up and eat breakfast. Kevin’s coming to pick us up.”

Holiday Inn. Scranton. Pennsylvania.

Bobby set his alarm to get up extra early. He packed up his money first, then everything else in the room. After double-checking to make sure he had everything, he made two quick trips down to the Jeep.

That done, he walked Cleo and put her in the Wrangler to wait for him. The staff were setting out the breakfast buffet when Bobby sneaked into the room before they were ready looking for coffee.

He fixed himself two cardboard containers of caffeine, helped himself to two muffins and a shiny red apple and retreated to the parking lot.

“I’m back, Cleo.”

Bobby hunkered down behind the wheel to wait for Tammy and her new boyfriend to come out of the hotel.

Willy walked out of the shower in a happy mood and while he dressed in clean clothes fresh out of his suitcase, he asked Tammy where they’d be going today.

“This will be a long driving day, Willy, but we’ll probably cross into Canada after dinner and our hotel tonight will be on the other side of the border.”

“We should get our passports ready then.”

“We’ll get them out of our suitcases before we leave and put them in the glove box, so they’ll be handy.”

Willy was all smiles. “This will be my first trip to Canada and I’m excited to see it.”

“Canada is great, Willy. I think I was born there, but I can’t be sure.”

“You mean you don’t know where you were born?”

“Isn’t that what I just said?” Tammy’s anger flared and she snapped at Willy.

“Don’t get mad at me, Tammy. That was a question of concern.”

“No need to be concerned about me. I can take care of myself.” Tammy leashed the dogs and pointed at the suitcases by the door. She led the way to the elevator, and they went downstairs to check out.

Before eating breakfast they carried their luggage out to the truck and stowed it. Tammy glanced around, a little wary of the parking lot. From being a cop, her sense of danger was elevated.

“What are you doing, Tammy?”

“Looking at the other vehicles parked here and listening to my built-in radar. I think somebody is watching us.”

Willy laughed and poked fun at her. “Nobody is watching us, Tammy. That paranoia is all in your head because you’ve been in a bit of trouble with the police in the past.”

“I may be the paranoid one, Willy. But I’ll be the one who saves your over-trusting lax ass from getting dead. You know nothing about surviving in the real fucking world.”

“I’m sorry, Tammy. I didn’t mean to upset you. I was only joking around trying to keep things light. Sometimes you look like you’ve got the weight of the world on you.”

They walked the dogs in silence, put them into the truck, then went back inside the hotel for the free breakfast.

Bobby watched with diligence and unwavering interest until Tammy came back to the old truck with the guy—somewhere in his forties—and they weren’t talking.

He could tell they’d had a fight, and he laughed about it with Cleo. “Look at that, Cleo, their last fight.”

Cleo wagged her tail.

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