Page 28 of That One Night
“And what about you?” he asked. “What if you end up slipping on your ass and getting hurt?”
She rolled her eyes. “Let me worry about me. Where would you go if you were a goat scared for your life?”
He blinked like she’d just asked him the hardest math equation he’d ever heard. “I don’t…”
“Where’s his happy place?”
“In my house.” He lifted a brow.
“Other than that?” Her lips were wet from the rain. Her whole body was. It was pouring down so thick and fast.
“My uncle’s farm. With the other goats.”
“Then go there. I’ll head to the pond because we know he likes it there.” She glanced at her phone. “I’ll meet you back here in twenty minutes.”
“I don’t like this.”
“Nobody said you had to. Now go.” She gestured at him like she’d gesture at Frank. “Seriously, get out of here.”
God, he was as stubborn as she was. But thankfully, after a few seconds of staring at her, he did exactly as she asked, turning on his heel and running down the lane, heading for the main road that led to his uncle’s farm.
As for Emery, she headed back toward the copse of trees. “Frank, you’d better be nice to me after this,” she muttered. But she had a feeling that he’d be exactly the same.
“What’s going on?” his uncle shouted from the doorstep of his own farmhouse. He’d been out checking on the animals when Hendrix jogged up the road toward the paddock where the goats hung out when the weather was nice. Tonight, like Frank should have been, they were locked up in their shed. A glance over at it, through the rain, told him that Frank wasn’t there.
Not unless he’d learned how to pick a lock.
“Frank’s missing,” Hendrix told him. “Have you seen him?”
“No. You sure he came this way?” Uncle Logan asked, frowning.
“No idea,” Hendrix admitted, wiping the rain from his face. “You know what he’s like. It’s like looking for a needle in a haystack.”
“Did you have him secured?”
“He was in the shed. Burst out, I’m guessing the thunder spooked him.”
“Ah hell. And there’s no sign of him at your place?”
Hendrix shook his head. “Not around the house. Emery Reed’s looking for him near the pond.”
“Alice’s girl?”
“That’s her. She heard me shouting. I must have woken her up. She came out to help.”
Logan nodded but said nothing. Like he could hear Hendrix’s unease at leaving her alone.
And yeah, he did feel uneasy. Yes, she’d grown up on a farm – unlike him – and she’d made it clear she could hold her own. He believed her, too, but it still felt wrong. Especially after the way he’d spoken to her earlier.
I just think it would be better if we didn’t talk.
Despite the rain lashing down his mouth felt dry at the memory of her expression when he’d said it. Sure, she’d tried to hide her reaction, but the hurt still molded her features.
Christ, he felt like an ass. Especially since she’d come out in the storm to help him find his goat, even if she had every reason not to.
“I’ll take a look around here,” Logan told him. “You head back to your place. Knowing Frank, he’s probably gotten into your house and started a fire in the fireplace.”
His lips twitched, mostly because he could picture that scene. “Thank you,” he told his uncle. “I appreciate it.”
