“Don’t sell yourself short,” Gray replied.“You’re no slouch in the intelligence department yourself.You run a whole town and make it look easy.”
Awkward silence fell between them again.
Down the aisle Cassidy's voice carried clearly: “Noah, you can't name them all.”
“I'm not naming all of them.I'm just naming this one.”
“They’re Jenna’s calves.She gets to name them.”
“But Jenna hasn't named this one yet.I asked Sully.”
A pause.“What’s the name?”Cassidy asked warily.
“Blizzard.”
“That's actually a really good name,” Cassidy said.
“I know, right?”Noah sounded immensely pleased.“His mom is Snowball and he's white and blizzards are white and ...”
“I got it, Noah.”
The kids turned away from the stall door and Gray noted that Bonnie was very carefully not smiling.He wasn’t doing much better.
“You should hear Cassidy negotiate with him when she thinks she's not being watched,” Bonnie murmured.“She has a real talent for it.”
“She has talent for lots of things,” Gray replied.
Bonnie looked at him sidelong.“She's very serious about that notebook of hers.”
“The ones she designs puzzles in and takes notes in constantly?”
“I read in it by accident.”She was studying the calf in front of them fixedly.“I didn’t realize which notebook it was.”
He was careful to keep his voice neutral.“Ah.”
“She writes down things she observes.She's very accurate,” Bonnie said.
The barn was warm and smelled of hay and animals and the good earthy smell of new life.Down the aisle Noah was introducing Blizzard to the concept of nose-touching, and Blizzard was enduring it with bovine patience.
“Bonnie.”He kept his voice low.“I need to talk to you soon.About the fire.”
She went still beside him, the watchful stillness of prey sensing a predator nearby.
“You said you didn’t want to be ambushed, and this is me giving you advance notice.”
The sounds of the barn moved around them.The cows, the children, Dillon and Sully's low conversation at the far end of the aisle.
“How bad is it?”she asked.Her voice was very even.
The evidence was bad.Real bad.But he didn’t want to say that and freak her out in advance.
He reached over and touched her forearm, just enough so she'd know she wasn't standing in this moment alone.“It's not good,” he said cautiously.
Sure enough, her face arranged itself into a composed mask that gave away none of her feelings.
He added, “I'll be there for you.Every step of the way.Okay?”
Her eyes flickered to his, a quick, searching look as if she was trying to determine if he meant it.If he understood what he was promising.
