This was all kinds of fucked up. First thing on my agenda for Monday morning was a talk with Doc Harris. Maybe he could offer up a miracle piece of paper that said he’d paid his brother off long ago. I had a terrible feeling that wasn’t going to be the case…but I could at least hold out hope.
The door flew open, and Chloe and a goat came rushing out. It wasn’t Patches, so I was assuming this was Lincoln, Chloe’s show goat.
“Harley! You’re here!”
I was nearly knocked over when she plowed into me and wrapped her arms around my waist.
“Hey there, sweetie! How are you?”
“Great! I’m so glad you’re here! I need you to look at Roy!”
“Roy?” I asked as I bent down to look her in the eye.
“My rabbit,” she whispered.
The way she looked at me like I should have known who Roy was made me giggle. “Oh, right! Roy!”
Grabbing my hand, Chloe pulled me into the house with Lincoln hot on our trail.
I glanced over my shoulder to look at the goat. “Chloe, does your grammy know you have a goat in the house?”
Patches came tearing around the corner. Wearing a shirt that had the acronym G.O.A.T. down his back. Realizing what it stood for in the sports world—Greatest Of All Time—I just cracked up since Patches was her first, and obviously her favorite.
“Patches!”
Next it was Waylynn who went running by screaming the goat’s name.
“Oh no, Patches got into Liberty’s diaper bag again,” Chloe stated.
“Again?”
She nodded. “Yeah. He likes the blanket Mommy bought for Liberty. He ate Gage’s blanket, too.”
Patches ran by again and this time Lincoln followed. Waylynn came running up and stopped next to us. With her hands on her knees, she dragged in a few deep breaths.
“Chloe. I’m going to kill Patches.”
She laughed. “Oh, Aunt Waylynn, you’re so funny! Meet me in Daddy’s office, Harley!”
I leaned down to look at Waylynn. “Are you, um, are you okay?”
Blowing a long strand of her blonde hair from her face, she shook her head. “No. He ate Liberty’s blanket! Next thing I know he’ll be eating the baby! It’s too early for this shit!”
“Waylynn, I got them out!”
I looked over to see Paxton walking up, holding Gage.
“Oh, my gosh. He’s getting so big!”
“Nine months old and trying like hell to walk.”
I looked from the drooling baby to Paxton. “Already?”
She nodded. “Yep. Already.”
“Wow!”
Gage held his arms out to me, and I didn’t waste any time taking him from Paxton.
“Hey there, handsome cowboy!” I cooed while tipping his little black cowboy hat. “This is the cutest darn thing I’ve ever seen.”
Paxton chuckled. “He has to have it on all the time. I guess he sees Steed, Mitchell, and Wade wearing theirs so much he thinks he’s supposed to wear his too.”
“This little guy is going to be so smart, Paxton. You better watch out.”
She sighed. “Well, if he’s anything like his sister, I’m in for a ride.”
“Paxton, honestly, those goats can’t be coming into the house. They’re getting too big,” Waylynn said, now fully recovered from all the running.
“I know! I know! Steed is having a long talk with Chloe. They’re allowed in her playhouse and she assumes they can still come into the house. Melanie is about to have a fit with them in the house because of all the food for the Spring Fling.”
A small puppy howl came from down the hall.
“Was that a…”
“Dog,” Waylynn and Paxton said at once.
“Y’all have a dog?” I asked.
“No,” they both answered.
Another bark-howl.
I had to keep from laughing as I asked, “Do we know whose dog is barking?”
“Oh no,” Paxton mumbled. “This is bad. Really, really bad.”
“Why?” I asked, switching Gage to my other hip. This little guy was heavier than he looked.
“Wooof! Wooof!”
“There it is again!” Waylynn shouted as she hit Paxton.
“Why are you hitting me?”
Waylynn shrugged. “I don’t know. It seemed like the right thing to do at the time?”
Cocking her head and putting her hands on her hips, Paxton asked, “Really? Hitting me seemed like the right thing to do?”
“Yes. At the time.”
“Y’all…there is still the slight problem of a strange dog howling from down the hall. And your daughter took off down that hall and told me I had to look at ‘Roy’.”
“Roy?” Paxton asked with a puzzled expression.
“Oh dear,” I whispered. “I’m going to guess Chloe doesn’t have a pet rabbit named Roy?”
She shook her head. “Nope.”
Handing Gage back to Paxton, I ushered both of them back toward the kitchen. “Y’all go take care of your kids and help Melanie. I’ll find Chloe. She told me to meet her in her father’s office.”
Paxton’s hand slapped over her mouth before she dropped it. “She’s had it in there all night.”
“Don’t worry. Whatever it is…I’ll, um, take care of it.”
Another bark followed by a puppy howl had Paxton nearly in tears. “No wonder she wanted to spend the night over here last night.”
“Woof!”
“Did you hear that? Oh my God,” Paxton gasped.
“I didn’t hear a thing,” I stated.
“Neither did I,” Waylynn added.
Paxton spun on her heels and said, “Damn liars!”
If I knew better, I would have sworn I heard Gage say damn.
With a groan, Paxton cried out, “This isn’t my day!”
Waylynn stood in front of me. “I feel like I need to warn you. Chloe begged Steed and Paxton for a puppy. They saw them in town at the feed store…last night. Little blue tick hounds.”
“Oh. No.”
“Yep. It appears Chloe has dognapped a hound dog and hid it in her dad’s office.”
I covered my mouth and laughed. “How?”
Waylynn pointed to me. “That’s for you to find out and somehow get that dog out of here before Steed finds it.”
“Me?” I asked with wide eyes. “Even if it’s been in there all night?”
Another little bark came from the hallway.
Waylynn turned and headed toward the kitchen. “Holy hell. Goats, dogs, babies. This place is a nuthouse!”
“Wait! Waylynn! Waylynn!”
She retreated, leaving me to deal with the great puppynapping.
Quickly making my way down the hallway, I stopped when I realized I had no clue which office would be Steed’s. It had to be next to John’s. Then I heard the muffled whine of a puppy and Chloe whispering very loudly.
“Shhh! You’re gonna get us in trouble, Roy.”
“Oh, Lord,” I whispered as I opened the door and walked into the room. The most adorable blue tick coonhound puppy came running up to me.
His snout was mostly white with the trail moving up between his eyes. He had a small black dot at the top of his head and coming down the sides was the same beautiful black coloring. He had brown on his eyebrows and on his cheeks.
“Chloe! This is not a rabbit!” I stated as I dropped to the ground, instantly attacked with puppy kisses.
“I just couldn’t leave him, Harley! I told the man selling them that I’d have my daddy come back today and pay for him. He laughed and told me this was the last puppy left who wasn’t going to a home. That if I promised to make sure he would be okay, I could have him.”
“So, you didn’t steal him?”
Chloe gasped. “I wouldn’t steal! Ever!”
Relief washed over me. “I didn’t think so, but you understand I had to ask.”
She nodded. “I understand. But I don’t know what to do. Daddy won??
?t let me keep him, and I already asked Grammy if she was in the market for a puppy, and she laughed and said no. He’s a good puppy and barks at the door when he has to go potty.”
I let out a sigh. “Chloe, you’ve been taking care of this dog since you brought him home?”
Her chest puffed out. “I sure have. I’m going to make a great veterinarian.”
“Really? Is that what you want to do when you grow up?”
“Yep. And be a goat farmer, and take over the ranch. Of course, I’ll have to have a dog to watch over the goats. That’s where Roy comes in. He’ll have a job and will earn his keep, as I hear my dad say.”
Holding up the puppy, I gave him a once over. He looked to be about eight weeks old. Flipping him over, he went limp. He’d be a good docile pup. “That’s a good baby.” I looked again and chuckled.
“Um, Chloe, honey. We can’t name him Roy.”
“Why not?” she asked, her eyes filled with sadness.
“He’s not a he. He’s a she.”
Chloe jumped up in excitement. “It’s a girl?”
Laughing, I nodded. “Yep. It’s a girl.”
“Oh, that’s even better! We need a name for her!” The little puppy started barking again. “She needs to go potty, then we need to hide her!” Chloe said. “At least until you can come up with a plan.”
“Me?”
What was it with these Parker women?
The pup started up again.
“Okay, um, let me think.”
I stood and picked up the puppy.
“We can take her to the barn. There used to be a small room where Tripp would hide presents. We can put her in there for the time being.”
“Will she be okay?” Chloe asked, tears filling her eyes.
“Yes. She’ll be perfectly safe, and there isn’t anything in there that can hurt her.”
Chloe thought about it for a few seconds, but once the puppy started howling, she made up her mind. “Okay! Let’s do it!”
“Is that her little blanket?”
Chloe nodded. “The man said her momma’s scent was on it.”
“Perfect. Let’s wrap her up in it and try to sneak her out to go potty, then take her to the barn. Folks are already starting to arrive for the spring fling.”
After we got the puppy wrapped, I opened the door to Steed’s office. Looking both ways, I started toward the door I knew was at the side of the house. John had used it as his business entrance.
“Chloe, we need to go out the back door down this hallway.”
“But that’s granddaddy’s door. I’m not allowed to go in or out of it. In case he has folks coming in to see him or the boys.”
I smiled at her referring to her father and the other guys who worked on the ranch as boys. I could hear Melanie telling Chloe to go tell the boys lunch was ready, or that there was a delivery truck waiting for them. Memories of being on this ranch came back to me in a rush and I couldn’t ignore the pain I felt in my chest.
God, how I missed this place and these people.
“I promise this time it’s okay. No one will be using that door so we can sneak out. I’m sure they’re all down at the…”
Once I turned the corner I ran into something solid and knew I had spoken too soon.
“Harley? Darling, what are you doing?”
Taking a step back, I looked up into the deepest of blue eyes. They almost left me breathless.
John Parker. The man was the older image of all of his five sons. Handsome. Built. And a smile that made your knees week.
“Oh shit,” I mumbled.
“Hell, shit, fuck,” Chloe whispered next to me.
“Chloe Lynn!” John said.
“Hey, what’s going on?”
My eyes darted to Tripp.
Great. Just great.
“Oh hey. I was, um, just showing Chloe your new puppy.”
Tripp’s eyes about popped out of his head. Of course, the little rascal who had started all of this was standing next to me giggling.
“Ah. Come again?” Tripp asked.
“You got a dog, Tripp? That’s amazing,” John said as he turned and smiled big. “I’ve been telling him for years he needed a dog.”
I let out a nervous laugh. “Well, he’s got a cute one!”
“Wait. What?” Tripp said as he shot daggers at me.
“Who’s got a cute what?” Trevor asked, walking in behind Tripp and his father. Of course, the whole damn family would be walking through the very door I was trying to escape out of. We would have been better off going out the front door.
“Tripp’s got a new puppy!” Chloe called out as I hit her on the arm as a warning.
“Wait!” Tripp cried.
I panicked and did the only thing I could think of. I unwrapped the puppy and shoved it in Trevor’s face. When he was little he was a sucker for a cute puppy; I was hoping things hadn’t changed.
“Oh, my gosh! Look at this little guy,” Trevor said in a baby voice as he took the puppy from my hands.
“Great, you want him? He’s yours,” Tripp said.
“It’s a girl!” Chloe said with a clap of her hands. I hit her a few times to get her to take it back a few. We weren’t out of the woods yet.
“Aww, he’s so cute. Don’t worry, Tripp. I won’t steal your girl.” Trevor looked at me when he said that and winked, causing my cheeks to heat up.
“Now wait a second here,” Tripp started. I knew I had to cut him off.
“Tripp mentioned he wanted a hound dog, and when I saw this little girl in town, well, I had to get her.”
I could feel angry eyes on me, but I kept going.
“I mean, she was the last puppy and I felt so bad, I had to take her.” Looking at Tripp, I motioned with my head to Chloe, hoping he would catch on. “He was afraid y’all might be mad if she was in the house so I was fixin’ to take her to the barn.”
“What? Nonsense. Tripp, we don’t mind your puppy being in the house,” John stated.
“Hell, Patches is always in the house,” Trevor said with a deep rumbling laugh.
John sighed and lifted his cowboy hat to run his hand through his dark hair. A sigh of resignation escaped his lips.
“What’s her name, Tripp?” Trevor asked.
Chloe grabbed onto my hand and squeezed it hard as I held my breath.
It felt like forever before Tripp finally spoke. “Hemingway’s Whiskey. Hemi, for short.”
I pinched my brows together as I tried to figure out how in the hell he came up with that name off the top of his head. I knew it was a Kenny Chesney song, and Tripp liked his Kenny Chesney. But Hemi?
“What the hell kind of name is that for a girl?” Trevor asked.
Tripp forced a smile. “The moment I found out the dog was mine, I wanted to drink a fifth of whiskey.”
I laughed. Awkwardly. “Ha! That’s a good one.” I hit Tripp on the chest as Chloe belted out a fake laugh of her own. She had no clue what Tripp even meant.
“Hemi is a cute name!” Chloe pipped in.
Tripp ruffled her hair and said, “Then that’s her name. You like it, Harley?”
“Me?” I pointed to myself. “Yeah. I love it!”
An evil grin spread over Tripp’s face. “That’s good, considering we have shared custody of Hemi.”
“Yes,” I said without thinking. My eyes jerked back to Tripp. “Wait. What?”
“But y’all aren’t even dating,” John said.
“Well, Harley has agreed to help me out with training little Hemi.”
“I’m confused,” Chloe stated as her eyes bounced from me to Tripp.
“It’s called karma, Chloe,” I replied as I took her hand in mine. “Tripp, you want to take Hemi out with us to go potty?”
He shook his head. “Nope.”
“Karma?” Chloe asked as she looked up at me. “What’s that mean?”
“Hey, little bit, I want to show you something for the spring fling today!” John said as he reached a
nd picked up his granddaughter.
“You two can take care of the puppy, right?” John asked. I was pretty sure he had already caught on to the little game we were playing.
Swallowing hard, I replied, “Um, yeah. Sure we can.”
John flashed us a smile. “Great. Make sure to get the pen that we used for your mother’s old dog. It’s down in the main barn. You’ll want to make sure Hemi has a safe place to be.”
Tripp and I looked at each other as John walked away with Chloe.
“Classic. Where in the hell did the dog come from?” Trevor asked.
“Chloe’s soft heart just couldn’t bear to leave the puppy. She’s been hiding him in her dad’s office since last night.”
“I knew I heard a dog barking last night,” Trevor said. “I thought I was hearing things. Was that Chloe taking her out? I heard the front door alarm chime a couple of times but thought it was Aunt Vi coming in and out.”
“Aunt Vi’s here?” I asked with a huge smile.
“Yep.”
“Listen, someone is going to have to have a talk with Chloe about this. It was dangerous for her to be taking that dog out last night,” Tripp stated.
I nodded. “Paxton knows about it so I’m sure she’ll talk to Steed and they’ll handle it.”
Trevor slapped Tripp on the back. “In the meantime, looks like y’all got yourselves shared custody of one fine looking blue tick coonhound.”
Hemi barked and Trevor laughed. He pushed the dog into Tripp’s chest.
“Listen, I’d love to stand here all day and watch you two fight over this, but I got a branding to get down to. So do you, Harley.”
Tripp held up his hands. “I’m not taking this dog.”
“Tripp, look at how cute she is,” I pleaded.
“No! I work all day.”
“You can bring her to work.”
He looked at me like I was insane. “What the fuck? So can you! You have a damn vet clinic.”
I shook my head. “Until she has all her shots, it’s best if I don’t have her at the clinic.”
“What!”
Trevor started walking out the door they had come through. “Ah hell, this is the best thing ever.”
“Shut the fuck up, Trevor!”
After the door closed, Tripp cursed under his breath. “I’m so glad I set him up for tomorrow night.”
“Huh?”
He brushed off his comment. “Nothing. Listen, Harley, she’s cute and all.”