“Branna did all that?” Jake whistled. He’d been gone for most of those years and only returned briefly on holidays. “I guess that explains the legacy then.”
“Anyway, that’s not the whole story,” Penny added.
“Do we need the whole story?” Jake eyed the chocolate muffins that were the size of his fist and filled with a soft, gooey caramel center. This he knew, as he’d sampled them… many times.
“Branna O’Donnell walked straight in front of Michael Tucker, who was riding his bike on the sidewalk again. He knocked her off her feet. The sound of her head hitting the concrete, Lord, it made me shudder,” Penny said.
Penny wasn’t above exaggeration to make a story good, but Jake could see she was sincere in this.
“I think she hurt her arm too, but here’s the thing, Jake. She just climbed to her feet with my help, and after I steadied her, she told Michael she was fine, and then got into her van and drove away.”
“And the problem here is?” Jake said, looking at Buster, who was now polishing the glass on his cabinets while listening to Penny’s story.
“There was blood on the sidewalk, Jake, quite a bit of blood. And she was unsteady on her feet, and her eyes looked kind of funny when she glanced my way.”
“Why didn’t you make her go to visit Mom?” Jake swallowed the last mouthful, closing his eyes as he savored it.
“I don’t know anyone who quite worships my chicken pie like you do, Jake.”
“God’s truth, if you asked, I’d probably marry you, man.”
“Ha, yeah, maybe we could make it work.” Buster, like Penny, was an old friend of Jake’s.
“She wouldn’t go, Jake, turned white at the thought, and then just up and left me and Michael Tucker standing right there on the bloodied sidewalk.
“That much blood?” Jake drawled.
Penny rolled her eyes. “The point is, I think someone should check on her. What happens if she’s got one of those concussions and no one looks in on her and she’s up there dead for weeks?”
“Yes, because Georgie lives about two days’ hike from here, and then there’s the trek over the mountains,” Buster drawled. “But it’ll be the wolves that get her.”
“The snow’s gonna play hell with the rescue party,” Jake added.
“Will you two be serious?” Penny snapped.
“What’s the problem here, Pen? You and Branna suddenly buddies or something? If she’s hurting, she’ll find her way to Mom at some stage.”
The breath whistled through Penny’s teeth as she tried to haul in air.
“It’s not about whether I like or dislike her. It’s about this being Howling and how we look after people who live in our town, Jake. What if she’s up there alone in Georgie’s house needing medical help?”
“Weren’t her and Annabelle friends in high school? Maybe she’d call in and see her?” Buster suggested.
“That was ten years ago!” Penny shrieked.
“You think they didn’t keep in touch?” Jake asked.
“They didn’t even talk to each other at Georgie’s funeral, Jake, which pretty much tells me they didn’t.”
Jake thought about the funeral and ran through the people he remembered, but drew a blank on Branna O’Donnell. “She was there?”
Penny nodded. “Dark glasses, black hat, pale face, and black dress.”
Jake and Buster fell silent as they tried to remember.
“Oh, for pity's sake, you two have got to be the most unobservant men in America!” Penny said.
“That’s a bit harsh, don’t you think? I mean, I happen to know that Billy Lee wasn’t observing much when he missed that mighty fine pass I threw to set him up for the winning touchdown that lost us the game on Saturday. What you reckon, Buster?”
