Page 38 of Final Ride

“I’ll worry for both of us, Virge. I hope I’m asleep when we crash.”

“Shut up, Harlan.”

Wild Stallion Ranch. Montana.

Max and Sarge went nuts when we jumped out of the truck with our suitcases. They were so excited they were jumping three feet off the ground and nearly knocked the three of us over.

Dad squatted down and hugged them until they settled down and stopped yipping and whining and doing that crazy jumping.

“Good boys. You were missing us a lot.”

Billy nodded. “They were big whining babies, that’s what they were.”

Dad laughed. “Next time we leave, y’all will be going with us.”

Billy had already fed the horses and bedded them down for the night by the time we got home from the airport, but me and Virge hung out in the barn for a while anyway.

We brushed our horses and told them about the new ranch and about moving to Texas. They seemed to be listening, but I couldn’t be sure.

One thing they wouldn’t like, was the long ride in the horse trailer to get from Montana to Texas. They’d kick up a fuss over that.

Guaranteed.

Chapter Nine

Monday, July 29th.

Wild Stallion Ranch. Montana.

We had tons of stuff to tell Billy about the new ranch at breakfast, and he asked a lot of questions. It sounded to me like Virge might be right and Billy was giving a lot of thought to coming with us.

“The ranch closes at the end of August,” said Billy. “If Travis is done at the shop on Wednesday, what’s he gonna do for a month?”

Dad laughed. “I’m gonna get ready to go and it’s going to take me a month to do it. There are a lot more things to tidy up here in Coyote Creek than you might think. Uncle Carson owned bits and pieces of so many businesses and properties up here, I doubt if I’ll have it all done when we leave.”

“Huh,” said Virge. “You never said you were all tangled up like that, Dad.”

“No need to worry my boys over paperwork. We have an accountant working on it. Let her straighten us out. That’s what I figured, and that’s what I’m paying her for.” He laughed.

“Molly and Ted are worried about y’all leaving,” said Billy. “Molly says if I don’t run for sheriff when it’s time, she’s retiring. She’s not breaking in a new guy to run the station.”

“Huh,” said Travis. “I guess it might be time for her to retire, but I’d hate to think I caused it to happen. She’s so damned good at her job, she could teach the new sheriff a lot.”

“We’ll miss Molly when we go,” I said. “Max and Sarge will miss her the most. She spoils them every single day and theysoak it up.”

“I’m not trying to make anybody sad,” said Travis. “But it’s time to retire and go back where I belong. That’s all it is.”

Sheriff’s Office. Coyote Creek.

Max and Sarge ran in the back door of the station barking their happy bark and ran straight to Molly.

“My dogs are so happy this morning, that can only mean one thing.” She turned in her swivel chair and smiled at us. “So happy you’re back. We haven’t had much to do while you were in Texas, and it was pretty boring.”

Billy laughed. “Boring means there’s no crime in Harrison County. Can we complain about that, Molly?”

Before she could answer, the landline rang, and Molly reached for her pen. “Yes, I’ve got it down, sir. The sheriff will be along shortly.”

“What happened?” asked Travis.

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