That’s sad in itself.
I shake my head and make my way back into the hospital and up to Caleb’s room. Wade is sitting there leaning against the bed. His shoulders are slumped, but his entire body is tense.
I pick up my phone and see that Ronnie has texted me. I send him a quick reply.
“Tell the board that I don’t want the job. I’m staying in Hicks Creek.”
“Hey,” I say to Wade as I put my hand on his shoulder. “I’m sorry about earlier. Can we talk?”
He doesn’t answer and I continue. “Ronnie called and offered me my dream job. I told him I had to think about it, but I just texted to tell him that I don’t want it. I want to stay in Hicks Creek, with you.”
“I saw the text,” he murmurs. He turns to look at me fully. “Are you sure that you want to stay in Hicks Creek? If this is your dream job, then—”
I put my hand up to his mouth to stop him.
“It was my dream when I thought I had to prove my worth to people, but…it’s not. You’re my dream.”
He looks back at me, a small smile playing on his mouth. He pulls me into a bear hug.
I don’t know what happens next, but I do know there’s no place I’d rather be right now.
Chapter Forty-Five
Wade
“Where’s Sutton?” Caleb asks for the third time two days later.
The nurse just checked his vitals for the last time before his release, and he’s sitting up in the hospital bed, his leg propped up in a brace. His color’s better than it was when they brought him in, but he’s still pale, his eyes shadowed with exhaustion. He’s healing, but it’s going to take time.
“Hey, fellas,” Sheriff Clark says as he walks into the room. “How ya feeling, Caleb?”
“Better,” he says with a smile.
“Good. So, I remember Caleb saying that he thought there was a collar on the cougar that attacked him. I did some digging and questioned Mr. Carter. It seems that they had approached someone out at the plantation house looking to buy the property. They were run off, but not before Reed had realized they had some exotic animals on site. They went back and tranquilized that cougar because it was the easiest to get to. They held him ina cage for days without food or water and then set him loose out by your property.”
“He was so hungry, that’s why he wasn’t afraid to come up so close to the property,” I say.
“Bingo. I didn’t want to believe the reports about a cougar on the loose. I’ve heard stories about drug dealers using them and near-extinct animals to keep people away, but I didn’t think it was possible.”
“What about the skunk ape?” Caleb asks.
Clark chuckles. “Well, Bishop has been saying for years that there’s one out there, and it seems like you had a sighting.”
“I did,” he says softly as he looks down at the railing of his bed.
“Seems like that Langley woman had gone into the quarantine pens when they visited the various ranches and exposed the cattle to lepto. Every rancher said the same thing, that the cattle were doing good but the day after Reed and his cohorts visited, a few mysteriously died or got worse,” Clark explains.
“What kind of sick person does that?”
“An evil, money-hungry person does. They would go to any lengths to get the rights to the ranches at a low price so they could make more money off whatever they built here. They had Bob Nance believing that Sutton poisoned his herd after she rescued him,” Clark says.
“What a mess,” I say with a shake of my head.
The nurse comes in with a wheelchair, breaking the silence. “All right, Mr. Callahan,” she says cheerfully. “Let’s get you ready to go.”
Clark nods before ducking out of the room. The nurse helps Caleb into the chair.
The drive back to the ranch is quiet. Caleb’s dozing in the passenger seat, his head leaning against the window. The hum ofthe truck’s engine and the rhythmic crunch of tires on gravel are the only sounds. My mind’s spinning, though. I told Sutton I was fine bringing Caleb home alone. I saw the hurt in her eyes when I said it, and I instantly wanted to take it back. For some reason, I didn’t.
