Hazel nodded a couple of times, then pointed down the hall.“Grab some blankets and ...there’s some high vis gear in there.Grab whatever you need.”
“Thanks.”I pointed to both of Nora and Hazel.“You two be ready to bail us out if we get arrested.I’ll pay you back.”
Nora only grunted in agreement.
“Okay.”Hazel pulled me into a hug.“Be careful.”
I turned and started jogging down the hallway, Mrs.Higgins’ voice carried behind me.“Ginny, they’re goin’ after them wetlands ...I know!No, I just heard about it here at the vet ...”
I was almost to the marsh when I passed Creger stables and came to a skidding halt before throwing my car into reverse.Stopping just outside of the arena, I texted Brooks.
It didn’t take very long to find Everett in his office on the second story of the big barn.
He looked up, his eyebrows raised, as I knocked.“Remi?”
“Hey, I’m sorry to interrupt.”
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Alicia
Thetruckdriverdeliveringthe excavator was not impressed by my presence.On my live stream he flailed his hands and called me very unflattering names, but I wouldn’t move.One of the benefits of the road frontage was that it didn’t have a lot of driveway options.If he dropped the giant piece of machinery just anywhere, it would be at risk of sinking into the mud.Not that that would be a catastrophic issue for the excavator—it could definitely handle some sinking, but the truck driver was still pissed at me.
“Some silly bitch is standin’ here,” he hollered into his phone.“Nah, she’s got her phone out recordin’ or some shit.”
Considering all the nonsense I’d pulled in the past, I didn’t think there was anything more fruitless than what I was currently doing.
The sun was a hazy blotch in the overcast sky.I shivered in my big puffy coat and wished I’d had the foresight to put my snow pants in my car.My toes and fingers were already cold, not dangerously so, but uncomfortable.And there was no way to know how long I’d be out there.At least, he hadn’t threatened to call the police.Yet.
“Yeah.”He scratched at the high visibility stocking cap he wore over his messy hair.“I can drop it in the road.Where’s your operator?It can’t just sit in there.”
He was still grumbling as he rounded the other side of his trailer, but I couldn’t understand him.A bind holding the excavator in place slackened.And a little bit of the foolish hope I’d been holding on to plummeted.One by one the bindings flicked loose, with each one I wondered what I was doing here.
Time.I needed to buy time.
But what was the point?Was there any worse feeling than the feeling of defeat?I sank under it.Overwhelmed by it.
To my left came a consistent thud like stone hitting sand.My eyebrows pinched together.It was familiar, but I couldn’t make sense of it, until I turned in the sound’s direction.
Wet sand kicked up from the hooves of a gray horse, atop it Remi sat straight backed.His brown corduroy coat unzipped, the bottom caught in the wind.Underneath, his navy blue hoodie strained against the flex of his pecs.The waves of his hair flew back from his face all windswept like a romance novel cover model.He swayed with the movements of the horse’s stride in a way that could only be described as suggestive.And his damn thick-ass thighs were beautifully at eye level.
It was all so surreal, and—God help me—hot I was a little concerned that I was experiencing a hypothermia induced hallucination.
He pulled the reigns and slowed, as he neared.
I stood completely still, staring up and up andupat him, my eyebrows pulled high on my forehead.In my shocked stupor I’d somehow trained my camera on him and hissteed.
“Hey, Leese.”He grinned down at me rubbing the horses neck, both of their breathing a little labored, steam circling them.
“What are you doing?”I whispered.
“Being a pain in the ass,” he whispered back, as if that explained anything.
Louder he called to the truck driver, “Excuse me, sir.I’m going to need you to not unload that.I have the high school equestrian team on their way, and one of the horses might spook.It could be dangerous.”
“What?”I laughed.
After letting out a string of expletives, the driver yelled back, “Look, Seabiscuit, I’m unloading this goddamn thing and heading home.Tell your high schoolers to go ride their ponies somewhere else.”
