Oh.
Oh.
Snot nuggets.
She clamped her trembling lips together and let her eyes roam as she blinked back threatening tears.
Sure the place was rough, but... the little pond off in the distance was nice. The cattle would have water year-round. Somebody'd obviously built the place with care. With the gently rolling hills... Someone would get a nice view of the sunrise every morning during chores.
The No Name ranch would've been the perfect place for her to hide.
The rancher scratched his forehead beneath his hat. His glove left a streak of soot across his skin.
She should go. She was turning to do just that when he asked, "Where'd you come from, anyway?"
She didn't owe him an answer but... "My truck gave up the ghost in your drive." She'd gotten halfway down the winding drive toward the drab ranch house when the old Chevy had sputtered and died. It'd been a long time coming. She'd just hoped to be settled before it had.
Now what was she supposed to do?
She didn't wait for the rancher to tell her. He wasn't going to be a bit of help.
She was on her own. Still.
She was joking.Had to be.
My truck gave up the ghost in your drive.
Hound had followed the girl half the distance up the hill to the house before Cord whistled him back.
The dog stopped in its tracks. Looked back to Cord. He could almost see him thinking it over. Follow the girl, or stay with his meal-provider?
Cord won out, but it was a near thing. Hound settled back in the grass near the truck, looking longingly back toward the house. After the girl.
He didn’t feel guilty about sending her away. Couldn’t afford to.
A cold wind blew dust and bits of hay into his face. He gritted his teeth against it as he returned to the barn. One more wheelbarrow of rotten hay. His shoulders were aching with the strain.
Molly.
What kind of name was that anyway? Molly.
Not a hired hand's name.
Cord's mind whirled as he tried to make sense of it all. Something had spooked the girl. She was hiding it well, but he'd had years of looking in the mirror after one of Mackie's tirades. Even an award-winning actress wouldn't be able to fool him. He’d seen the bleakness in her eyes when he’d insisted he couldn’t afford to hire her.
Could Molly have crafted the poster she'd shown him on her cheap phone? Why would she? She didn't know him from Adam.
Which meant... it must've been someone else in Sutter's Hollow. Who would do it? Why? Whoever it was, had they put up the poster to help him or as some sort of warped punishment?
He'd never gotten help from Sutter's Hollow. Why would he start expecting it now? He never would've asked, never would've posted something like that.
His brain still chugged and spun, trying to figure it out.
Trying to figure her out.
He'd had a handful of girlfriends. Enough to convince him that maybe the tremble of Molly's lips was an act. Trying to manipulate him.
No thanks.
