She liked the way he always spoke to Joshua, but she was not going to focus on his good attributes. She was planning to answer his questions, speed through his checklist, and be done with him.
“Obviously, this is an unscheduled visit.” Travis smiled and held up his clipboard and pen. “I’m here to take a few notes, ask a few questions, and watch you interact with Joshua. Then I’ll be out of your hair.”
Erin leaned on her pitchfork and studied him. Perhaps it was the fact she was in her element standing in the fresh hay. Could have been she felt a tad safer knowing she’d bought herself ninety days. Whatever the reason, she felt slightly less intimidated by him, which left plenty of room for her irritation to rise.
“So you’re saying I don’t have to change clothes for this visit?” She didn’t bother pointing down to her muck-covered, knee-length boots.
She knew his eyes would follow, and they did.
From there, Travis worked his way up her patched overalls to her Houston Astros baseball shirt and corresponding hat. Her work gloves were only six months old but felt as familiar as a kid’s favorite baseball mitt.
His eyes met hers, and color crept into her cheeks—probably from the heat in the barn though it was a cool seventy-five.
“Nope. No need to change clothes. This is your job, so you just go on doing it. I’ll say hello to Joshua and watch.”
She had hoped he’d be embarrassed by the difference in their clothing style, but there was no chance of that.
He walked over to where she’d fashioned a baby table on top of the old work bench and buckled Joshua’s car seat to the top of it.
Erin continued working, but they were in a corner area of the barn. She couldn’t help noticing the way he first talked with Josh, then checked the type of rigging she’d used on the baby seat—no doubt wondering if there was any way Joshua could work his way out of the contraption.
She ground her teeth together, reminding herself of Doc’s words. It was his job to check on Joshua’s safety.
Why did he irritate her so much?
Why couldn’t he stay away?
She supplied Cocoa, her llama, with fresh food and water and moved back over to the table.
“Where to now?” Travis asked, standing close enough she could smell how clean he was, not to mention how masculine. She took two steps away.
“Pig pen.” She said it with a gleam in her eye. Truthfully, the pen was fairly clean already, but she was hoping he’d change his mind and leave.
Instead he placed a hand to his stomach. “Great. I’ve always had an affinity for bacon.”
She somehow resisted rolling her eyes and had just begun to unbuckle Joshua’s seat when her cell rang.
“The ARK,” she fairly barked.
As soon as the hysterical woman started talking, she had pulled out the notepad and pen she kept in her back pocket at all times.
“Calm down, ma’am. Tell me again where you’re located.” She copied the address and calculated how long it would take to transfer Joshua and his things to the truck, then drive to the southeast side of town. “I can be there in thirty minutes. Don’t allow anyone near the animal. Keep your dogs in the house or they might attack.”
She listened for another minute, at one point holding the phone away from her ear and grimacing. She allowed the woman to continue for as long as it took her to store the supplies she’d been using in that area of the barn.
“Ma’am, I’m hanging up now. Keep everyone away from the area.”
Shutting the phone, she turned to Williams, trying to repress the grin on her face. “I guess we’ll have to reschedule another time.”
“Why would we need to do that, Erin?”
“I just received an emergency rescue call. I need to go to a site in southeast Livingston, and I have no idea how long it will take.”
“Great. I’ll ride with you.”
“Ride with me?” Her voice had risen an octave, and she sounded ridiculously like Minnie Mouse. She cleared her throat and tried again. “What do you mean ride with me?”
“I mean I’ll go with you on the rescue. Part of my job is to observe you in your place of employment—that would include the ARK. It would also include going out on calls with you.”
Erin was grateful she’d put up the pitchfork, or she might have felt tempted to poke him with it. “So you’re going to tag along?”
He actually grinned at her. “Sure.”
She unbuckled Joshua’s entire seat and stomped from the barn. The man was impossible. She refused to look at him as she made her way across to the porch and sat down.
Pulling off her boots and socks, she sat the dirty boots under the outside faucet and ran water over them. Scrubbing them with the brush she left hanging there for just that purpose used up some of her frustration. Then she looked at Joshua, and he blew one of his bubbles—the biggest one yet.
The laughter which escaped from her filled the morning, wiping away her angst like a needed rain clears the air. She picked the baby up and hugged him, then turned and saw Travis studying them.
“You don’t even know what we’re rescuing,” she said, shaking her head as she stood there in dripping feet.
“Does it matter?”
She closed her eyes for a minute. The morning sun slanted through the trees, warming her back. Joshua snuggled against her chest, melting her heart.
“No. I suppose it doesn’t. It’ll take me ten minutes to get ready.”
“May I look at Joshua’s room while I wait?”
Since it would do her no good to say no, she nodded and escaped into her home.
—
Travis held the front door open as Erin picked up Joshua and her backpack, along with the baby bag. He didn’t offer to help, which was difficult for him.
In his personal life, he’d always offer to carry a bag for a woman. There was certainly something about Erin Jacobs that made him want to open doors, carry bags, even offer to muck out llama stalls. Fortunately, he’d been able to squelch that urge.
The manual plainly stated he was there to observe. It wasn’t a question of having good manners. His job was to monitor how well she managed on her own with Joshua. He couldn’t objectively assess her situation if he helped her with everything.
So, instead, he watched her struggle with the backpack, diaper bag, and baby.
He noted with a check of his pencil that it wasn’t much of a struggle. Whether it was because she was already used to juggling a myriad of items with her ARK full of animals, or because motherhood came naturally to her, she was adjusting to the demands well.
When they reached the Chevy truck, she snapped the baby carrier into the car seat. Turning around faster than he expected, she almost ran into him.
“I assume you’ll be taking your Blazer?”
“I’d rather ride along with you if that’s okay.”
She placed both hands on her hips and glared up at him. “What if I said no? What if I said you bothered me and asked you to go away?”
Travis looked down into Erin’s face and had the most frightening moment of his eight-year career with Child Welfare.
Erin’s defiant look would have convinced the casual observer. In fact, a more intelligent man might have taken a step back. Why then did he have an overpowering urge to step toward this woman? He wanted desperately to push the auburn curls out of her eyes, gently wipe the worry from her face, and suggest she relax.
He wanted to cradle her in his arms.
All because his mother had told him Erin Jacobs’ past. He understood the anger directed toward him for what it was—a shield against any man who might hurt her.
“I’m not the enemy, Erin. Our procedures state I’m to stay with you for a minimum of two hours when I make site visits.”
Hands still on her hips, she stomped her small foot. It took all the restraint Travis possessed not to smile at the gesture.
“Why? Why do you have to stay two hours? I have a job to do and a baby to r
aise.”
“And I need to see you’re capable of doing both before I can recommend Joshua be placed in your permanent care.”
His final words stopped her cold. She brought up her chin and glared at him in the mid-morning light.
“Fine. But I’m not used to having people tag along while I work. Don’t blame me if you get hurt or, or…” She tripped over the words, then gestured at his clothes as if they personally offended her. “Or dirty.”
Still glaring at him, she made her way around to the driver’s side of the truck and pulled herself up into the seat using the grasp bar. She did not bother to see if he was inside, but she did buckle before she put the vehicle in reverse.
Travis wasn’t a bit surprised when she cranked up the radio and the cab of the truck was filled with the smooth voice of George Strait singing about Mexico. Erin Jacobs would not be comfortable with silence, not as long as he was around.
And casual conversation at this point would not be an option.
—
They stopped outside a ranch-style house in a subdivision with half-acre lots. Erin consulted her notes only once, confirming the house number. She checked on Joshua no less than six times. The baby slept through the entire ride.
Finding the house was no problem.
A mother and three children, all preschoolers, met them at the end of the gravel drive. The woman looked to be about Erin’s age, and Travis wondered how she could possibly have had three children so quickly. It wasn’t the first time he’d wondered that, and he was sure it wouldn’t be the last. Then again, living in this subdivision, she and her husband must be doing well financially.
Erin rolled down her window.
“I saw her through the trees not five minutes ago.” The woman shifted one child from her right hip to her left as she spoke. “She was on the back part of the lot.”
“Take your children and move inside.”
“I don’t know how it happened. I was putting out wash on the line, and I turned around and saw her. We’ve noticed her hanging around the lot before, limping. This time she had the thing around her head and was going crazy. I think she was bleeding.”
“I need you to go inside with the children, ma’am.”
“Will she be okay?”
“That’s what I’m here to see. Move inside until I signal you it’s okay to come out.”
“She banged her head—ouchie hard.” The oldest preschooler rubbed the top of his head, demonstrating the spot.
“Will you put a bandage on it?” The middle girl had to pull her thumb out of her mouth to ask the question.
“I might,” Erin admitted.
“Will it have a Snoopy like mine?” She held out her arm to reveal a tiny Snoopy Band-Aid over an invisible hurt.
“Or a Garfield like his tie?” The oldest pointed to Travis.
“Probably no Snoopy or Garfield. Maybe you two could draw a cartoon picture while we wait.”
The thumb popped back in and the tot looked up at her mother with widened eyes.
“Sure. You both can color while Miss Jacobs works.”
Some unspoken communication passed between the two women. Travis had seen that before as well.
Of course, he’d experienced the same thing with guys on a basketball court, but it was different with women. With them it was more like the passing of a dinner dish. It was less hurdled communication than it was something trusted.
The woman hurried off with her children into the house, and Erin parked the truck in the circular drive.
She was all concentration now, and he nearly forgot his notebook. It was a pleasure to watch her work.
Reaching into the back of the truck, she pulled out a full-sized hiking backpack he hadn’t noticed before. It was crammed full, and he wondered how she’d even be able to lift it, but she swung it on with no problem, then clipped the hip belt and breast strap.
“How much does that weigh, Erin?”
“Forty-five pounds,” she said with the widest grin he’d seen from her yet. “I know what you’re thinking, and it was too heavy for me at first.”
She removed the carrier portion of the car seat—Joshua still intact—and began walking around to the back of the house. Travis actually had to trot to keep up with her.
“At first?”
“Right. I tried all different ways of carrying what I needed on rescues. Some workers carry Go Bags, but I depend on my hands and found a bag slowed me down too much. Plus my upper body strength isn’t very good to be honest.” She met his gaze, her smile holding, as they walked across the wooden deck and started through the back woods.
Her smile seeped into him and threatened to penetrate his professional demeanor. He had to glance away and remind himself to be objective.
“Once I learned to distribute the weight properly in an overnight pack, it was simply a matter of increasing the weight slowly.”
He was about to ask her what all was in the pack when she held up her hand to stop him. They had reached the edge of a stand of pine trees, and he immediately saw what had caught her attention as well as what had brought them there.
A yearling deer stood in the clearing approximately twenty yards from them. She limped slowly between two trees, shaking her head back and forth, trying in vain to dislodge the plastic lid caught around her head. Streaks of blood ran from a tear on her left ear, and her eyes had a crazed look Travis had seen once before in a deer.
As a teenager he’d shot a young buck, but it hadn’t killed the deer. His grandfather had shown him how to track it. By the time they’d found the buck, it was nearly crazy from the injury. Travis had taken the mercy shot, but the look in the deer’s eyes had haunted him for a long time afterwards.
Caught up in the memory, he didn’t immediately notice Erin had placed Joshua’s carrier on the ground, unzipped her pack, and pulled out a disassembled rifle.
Fifteen
Travis put his hand on her arm to stop her, but Erin shook him off.
“Erin—”
“Shush.”
Still monitoring the yearling, she assembled the rifle and inserted a tranquilizer dart.
“Erin, don’t.”
Fitting the rifle to her shoulder, she looked through the scope, pulled in a steadying breath, and took the shot.
The deer dropped instantly.
“Stay with Joshua.”
“But—”
She left him talking to himself. If he was going to insist on tagging along, the least he could do was watch Joshua for five minutes. She placed the rifle carefully on the ground, picked up the pack, and left without a look backward.
Erin was pleased with the shot as well as the yearling’s reaction to the dosage. She checked the deer’s respiration, gently pulled the plastic lid off her head, and put a field splint on her leg.
Then she jogged back to where Travis and Joshua waited.
“I’m going to bring the truck around.”
“Erin—”
“Three more minutes. Tops.”
Fortunately, there was a clear path to drive in, though she had to jump the curb to get into the clearing. Once there, she picked up the yearling. She estimated the deer’s weight at less than thirty-five pounds, which wasn’t a surprise given she’d injured her leg some time ago.
Gently, she placed the young doe into the crate she kept in the truck’s bed for just such emergencies. The poor thing still hadn’t awakened. Chances were she would before they made it back to the ARK, so Erin administered an additional sedative.
She was about to drive the truck over to where she’d left Joshua and Travis when she looked up and saw him walking toward her, carrying both the baby and her rifle.
Adrenaline still rushed through her veins from the rescue. It had gone more smoothly than she’d expected. Often she had to wait in the field for hours before even spotting the animal she was there to save.
Now she was looking forward to the rewarding part, caring for the animal. This is what she had traine
d for. Her mind was there, thirty minutes down the road, back at the ARK.
So it was a complete surprise when she realized the look on Travis’s face didn’t match her own. She hadn’t expected him to understand or even really appreciate what she did, but that had been a nice shot. Why the look of fury as he walked toward her?
Her own mood plummeted as she realized a confrontation was looming.
The infuriating part was she had no idea what she’d done.
Then she heard Joshua’s cry.
Jumping out of the truck, she hurried toward him.
—
Instead of taking the carrier from Travis, Erin unbuckled Joshua and pulled him from it, and cradled him in her arms. “What’s wrong with him?”
“How am I supposed to know?”
She didn’t bother to look up and check his expression. There would be time to puzzle out his mood later. Turning her back on him, she walked back toward the truck, laid Joshua across the front passenger seat, and began to undress him.
His earlier crying turned into outright screams. Their pediatrician’s appointment wasn’t until tomorrow, but she could already tell this boy had healthy lungs.
“We need to talk, Erin.”
She barely understood his words uttered through clenched teeth.
Travis had been leaning in to try and speak to her over Joshua’s wails. When she fully opened the soiled diaper and its odor filled the cab of the truck, he gasped and took a step back.
Erin smiled down at the baby. It was pretty nasty stuff.
“You’re all right, little man. Hang on. I’ve got you covered.”
Joshua’s bottom lip trembled, and an occasional whimper continued to escape, but the full blown bellows seemed past. She taped up the dirty diaper, dropped it into a plastic grocery sack, and double tied the top, then set the whole mess in the backseat floorboard. If Williams wanted to ride with them, he could enjoy the ambience.
“Erin, I need to talk to you.”
“Did you get snake bit back there?” She picked up Joshua, snugged him to her shoulder, and turned to face Travis. “What is wrong with you?”
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