He was quiet long enough that I thought I knew where he was, but I wasn’t going to offer it up.He was going to have to tell me.
“I got a DUI last night.”He mumbled something else that I couldn’t decipher.
“Blake!”My tone was sharp, and I didn’t even care.
“Yeah, I’m sorry, Kendall.I know I keep fucking up.Mom and Dad aren’t answering.”
My teeth almost cracked from how hard I clenched my jaw.I loved my parents, and I loved my brother.My brother had a gilded childhood until it all fell apart, and now he was an alcoholic.I glanced at the time on my watch.
“I need to finish up here and take care of the animals, but I can be there in about an hour.I can’t get there sooner,” I added.
“Understood.”
I moved my thumb to tap to end the call, but my brother’s voice stopped me.
“Kendall?”
“Right here.”
“I’m sorry.”
My throat ached at the sound of tears in his voice.“It’s okay, Blake.I’ll be there in about an hour.”
After the line went silent, I took a shaky breath.Travis had come over and was leaning his head against my hip.
I reached down and scratched behind his ears.“I’m fine.You don’t need to worry, bud.”
His stunning blue eyes held mine, and he let out a worried whine.“We’ll finish up here and go get Blake,” I explained.
Travis let out a sigh.I hustled through the rest of my chores.The last thing I did before leaving was check on the rescue moose who’d arrived here recently.Some fool had tried to raise a moose calf, and it didn’t go very well.
She’d tried to escape and injured herself on the fence.Now, we had her.She had a deep gash on one of her sides.She was fairly docile and definitely accustomed to people.She didn’t mind me checking on her and even nuzzled me with her head.“Hey, sweet Mabel.”
Her big ears rotated forward, and she let out a soft snorting sound as Travis came over to greet her.They were turning out to be friends, which amused me.Whenever I was here for longer days, I’d find him asleep in the paddock with her.
“The vet’ll be by to check on you later, Mabel,” I said after checking on her gash, which was healing nicely.She snorted again.
I took care of the feed for everyone, broke the ice on the water out in the pasture, then whistled for Travis.I was walking down the wide aisle in the barn when the side door opened.
I didn’t even have to look over to know who it was.A familiar hum of awareness buzzed through me.
“Hey, Jude,” I called over.“What are you doing here so early?”
“Saw your car, thought I’d pop in to say hi.”
I stopped walking, willing my pulse to behave itself.My pulse ignored me.It was like a pony let out to pasture, kicking up its heels, squealing, and running around.
“Are you leaving?”he asked.His eyes skated over my face, dipping down to the keys in my hand.
“Yeah.”
“Where are you going at this hour?”
“Firehouse Café,” I hedged.“I could use a cup of coffee.”This was true.
“You want company?”
Of course, I wanted company.
