“My brother cried a lot too.I used to sneak into his room when mama wasn’t looking just to hold him.He never stopped crying.Not until she dashed his brains out on our front stoop and shot herself in the head.”
My mouth falls open.“Oh my god!”
“That’s usually the reaction people have when I tell them.Daddy told us not to say anything.He didn’t wash off the blood either.Left it there as a reminder, that I was the baby who broke her brain.”
Unease prickles along my skin and my stomach pits.“Buck, you’re making me uncomfortable.You need to leave.”
“Lots of people tell me that.”He steps closer.“I don’t mean to frighten you.I just wanna hold your baby.I love babies.”Buck reaches out to tickle Waylon.
I step back too late, and then I’m cornered, trapped against the wall.
“Just let me hold him.”
Screeching tires fill the busy street.
“Hey!”West roars, “Stay the fuck away from her!”He grabs Buck by the collar and slams him up against the portico column, throwing his weight into pinning him to the rough brick.
“I just wanna hold the baby,” Buck cries.
Several people rush out from the clinic, including the receptionist, Annie.“I’ve called 911.”
“West, let him go.He wasn’t hurting me.”
“He got you pretty riled up, Dais.That’s enough for me.”
Lainey is suddenly by my side, and she throws her arm around me.“Daisy, are you okay?”
I nod, but tears are pricking my eyes and Waylon is screaming.
“Come on.Let’s go inside a minute and tend to the baby.”She grabs the stroller and ushers me into the clinic.
“You girls alright?”Bonnie Baylor comes out from behind the reception desk and leads us down the hall.“Let’s get you ladies in an empty treatment room.That way you can settle him down with a feed.”
“Thank you.”I sniff.
“Of course, sweetness.”Bonnie opens the door to treatment room five and turns on the lights.She tips her chin to the clinic bed.“Take a seat here, Daisy-Mae.Can’t have you two out there in the cold with that mess going on.”
“I’m sorry.One minute he was just talking and the next ...I was bailed up against the wall, but maybe I overreacted,” I say, and pop a screaming Waylon on my breast.He snorts and feeds angrily, his little heart racing and his head sweating.“What’s gonna happen to him?”
“It doesn’t matter,” Lainey says.“You felt threatened.”
“Those Thornton boys have always been trouble.Buck has been unwell for a long time, I imagine.”Bonnie shakes her head.“Was West picking you up?Is that why he’s outside now detaining Buck?”
I glance nervously at Lainey and nod.
“Oh, girl.Don’t worry about me.”Lainey waves me off with a lazy hand gesture.“We had one miserable date that confirmed I’m not ready to be dating anyone anytime soon.I swear, I’m not hung up on your man.I just wanted to get you and the baby out of there.”
I nod and give her a tight smile.“Waylon.That’s his name.”
“That is the sweetest thing.”
“And thank you.If you hadn’t pulled me inside, I’d probably still be out there shaking like a leaf.”
“Well, I better get back, but if you girls need anything, you just holler.”
“Thanks, Bonnie.”She closes the door behind her, and I’m left in a room with the most stunning woman I’ve ever seen sitting across from me, while I have a sheen of sweat covering my body, one boob out, and a cranky baby beating my breast in frustration as if it’s the bar at last call.
“So ...I guess it’s never boring in a small town, right?”
