We were silent for several seconds before Jed sat in the seat Skeeter had vacated. He rested his forearms on the chair arms. “Neely Kate, I hate to ask, but have you considered the possibility that Ronnie might be dead?”
I’d considered it every day since Ronnie had stopped returning my calls. Sure, he’d turned out to be a different man from the one I’d married, but I knew his heart. That man had loved me. He’d loved the babies we’d lost. I understood why he’d left me. But I couldn’t see him doing it without a word. “Yes.”
“Yet you filed for divorce anyway?”
I took another drink of water. “I was trying to draw him out of hiding. It didn’t work.”
“I don’t think he’s going to turn up, Neely Kate. Can you deal with that?”
“I guess I’ll have to, won’t I?”
He shifted in his chair and then looked into my eyes. “You know that I protect Rose when she needs it, but I’m here for you too. If you ever need anything at all, I want you to call me.”
What was he telling me? “Because of Skeeter and Rose?”
“No,” he said, speaking so quietly I could barely hear him. “Because of you.”
Suddenly the room seemed to grow five times smaller, and I found it difficult to catch my breath. “I need to go,” I said as I jumped to my feet. “Would you and Skeeter please keep my visit to yourselves?”
Jed stood and moved between me and the door, blocking my path of escape. “Rose doesn’t know you’re here? Don’t you think she’d understand?”
“She’d understand all too well. I’m trying to convince her I’m fine while she tries to convince me she’s fine.” My frustration grew. “I’m tired of feeling this way, Jed. I’m tired of feeling like crap.”
“I know.”
“You want to know the crazy part?” I asked, feeling dangerously close to losing it. “I wasn’t even in love with him. I loved him. I cared about him. But I wasn’t in love with him.”
He didn’t answer, just searched my face and waited for me to continue.
My anxiety got the better of me and I asked, “You ever been in love, Jed?”
He hesitated, then asked, “How are things between you and Joe?”
“Oh, my stars and garters!” I shouted. “You are so frustrating!”
“I’m only trying to help, Neely Kate.”
And that was the problem. It made me nervous that he cared to try, and I wasn’t sure what to make of it. People didn’t make me nervous. Situations, yes, but never people. Jed had me tied up in knots. “I have to go.”
“You said that already.”
Putting my hand on my hip, I gave him my haughtiest attitude. “You’re blocking my path.”
A slow grin cracked his lips. “Then why don’t you ask me to move?”
“Get the hell out of my way, Jed, or I’ll turn you into a eunuch with my boot.”
He laughed and I tried to think of any time I’d seen him belly laugh like that. Something warm and tingly danced in my stomach. Jed was a handsome man, but when he laughed, it was hard to look away.
Oh, my stars and garters. Do not fall for Jed.
He stepped to the side and reached for the doorknob, but his hand lingered there. His face turned serious again. “I’m here for you too, Neely Kate. Don’t forget it.”
I shoved his hand out of the way and opened the door. He followed me out of the office as I entered the pool hall. Two sheriff’s deputies were talking to Skeeter, but he looked about as bored and testy as a caged lion at the zoo.
A dog’s bark coming from the fields jarred me back to the present. Rose was heading toward the house, but before she could reach me, something white and black ran out of the soybean plants and headed straight for the barn.
“We didn’t find him,” Rose shouted as she got closer.
“I think I just did.” I hopped to my feet and ran toward the barn. “He went in here.”
“Really?” she asked, perking up.
I opened the barn door and stepped right into the darkness, walking around an old tractor. “Come here, Hugo. It’s okay.”
I saw him run out from under the tractor into the back corner. Rose and Muffy had reached the doorway, and Muffy, who was normally as sweet as could be, released a low growl.
“Muffy,” I said as I moved toward the animal huddled in the corner. “Be nice to Hugo.” I grabbed Hugo and hefted him into my arms, surprised at his weight. I didn’t have much experience with dogs, but Muffy didn’t feel this firm and round. “Hugo needs to go on a diet.”
“Uh, Neely Kate . . .” Rose said anxiously. “What are you doing?”
“Getting Hugo.”
“Hugo’s a dog.”
“Duh. I know.”
“Then why in tarnation are you holding a baby pig?”
“What?” I stepped into the light and saw that I was indeed holding a baby pig. I screamed and half-tossed it to the ground. It landed on its feet and took off squealing. “Oh, my stars and garters! I was holding a pig!” I took off running to the truck to get my hand sanitizer out of my purse while Rose’s laughter followed behind me.
“How did you think that was Hugo?”
I jerked the truck door open and started to rummage around in my purse. “I saw something white and black duck in the crack in the barn door, and it looked about the right size! We need to get out of here.”
“We can’t leave it running loose,” she said. “We have to catch it.”
I put some of the sanitizer on my hands. Then another squeeze for good measure. “I’m not touching that pig again!” I shouted even though I knew she was right.
“Neely Kate!”
I glanced back over my shoulder and saw the pig crawl under a wooden fence to an empty horse enclosure. “I can’t go in there with my shoes.”
Rose released a groan as she went around to the driver’s side of the truck. She emerged with an open bag of chips. “I figure if Muffy likes these things, the baby pig will too.”
“Just don’t fall down in there,” I said as I followed her to the fence. “It might eat you.”
She glanced over her shoulder at me, giving me a look that said I’d lost my mind.
“I’m serious,” I said. “If we ever need to dispose of a body, I’m taking it out to the Vernon pig farm.”
“Remind me to never tick you off.” She stuck her hand in the bag and pulled out several chips. Muffy pranced around at her feet, begging for a treat. “You hold onto this,” Rose said as she handed me the bag. “And keep Muffy out of the pen.”
I squatted and wrapped an arm around the dog. The chip bag in my free hand had Muffy’s undivided attention. “I think you should rethink this. It’s not like we let it out. This isn’t worth getting eaten over.”
“That piglet’s not going to eat me,” she groaned as she climbed over the fence. “But it’s a darn good thing I wore my work jeans today.”
And it was a darn good thing I hadn’t, but I figured that was something better kept to myself.
Rose clomped across the enclosure in her already muddy boots. When she got close, she hunkered down and tossed a potato chip to the cowering pig. It started snorting, then gobbled up the chip and moved closer to Rose, its nose jiggling as it smelled its way toward her. Rose tossed several more chips onto the ground, and when the piglet stooped down to eat them, she scooped it up into her arms, holding it tight against her stomach.
“Now what do we do with it?” I asked as she left the enclosure, her arms wrapped around the piglet.
“Can you see where they keep it?”
I glanced around and saw a pen on the other side of the barn, but a toppled tree had smashed part of the wire enclosure.
“Well, crap,” I muttered. “Now what do we do?”
“What if there were more pigs?” Rose asked.
“I’ll find out.” Groaning, I pulled my phone out of my pocket and called my cousin. “Witt? What do you know about the McManus farm?”
“Why? What kind of trouble have yo
u gotten into now?”
“Long story short, we found a baby pig.”
“What? On their farm?”
“Of course on their farm. How else would I know it was their pig? It’s not like he has a collar with a name tag.” I glanced over at Rose and whispered, “It doesn’t have a collar, does it?”
She grinned and shook her head.
Witt groaned. “I’m not sure I want to know why you’re asking about the McManus prize pig, but I suggest you put it back where you found it. George wants to enter it into the county fair when it’s full grown.”
“We can’t put it back where we got it. He was running loose in the fields. It looks like his pen got knocked out in the storm.”
“I take it they’re not home?”
“I wouldn’t be callin’ you if they were.”
“Take it to the new vet. Dr. Romano,” Witt said. “He took over for Dr. Ritchie. I hear he takes rescue animals, so if you can’t pen him up, you can take him there.”
“You expect us to take this pig to the vet’s?”
“Unless you’ve got a better idea.”
I was about to tell him what he could do with his idea, but he hung up.
Rose’s eyes were wide. “Please tell me we’re not taking this pig in the truck.”
I grinned. “I guess we could tie a rope around his neck and tie him to the fence post.”
“Crappy doodles,” she groaned. “It’s not going into the cab. What if it poops?”
“We can’t leave it in the back by itself,” I countered. “Someone’s got to ride with it.” I looked down at my white capri pants and sparkly shoes before glancing back up at her with an ornery grin.
Rose muttered under her breath as she started walking toward the truck. I lowered the tailgate, and she put the pig on the bed and climbed in with it. As I shut the tailgate, she gave me a look that told me I’d be paying for this for some time to come. I made a mental note to buy more sparkly shoes.
Muffy climbed into the cab with me, then jumped into the rear seat and watched Rose and the pig in the back.
Lucky for us, the vet’s office was on this side of town, just outside the city limits. The parking lot was nearly empty when we pulled in. I hopped out and went inside, leaving Rose in the back with the pig and Muffy in the cab.
The receptionist looked up in surprise. She was a middle-aged woman with crazy brunette hair that looked like she’d stuck her finger in a light socket. “Are you here to pick up a dog from the groomer?”
“No. Actually I’m here to drop off a pig.”
“Excuse me?”
“I hear Dr. Romano takes rescue animals.”
She looked taken aback. “Sure. Dogs and cats, but a pig?”
A man who looked like he was in his late twenties appeared in the hallway. “Did you say a pig?”
He was a fine-looking man—light brown hair, blue eyes, and he filled out the shoulders of his white lab coat quite nicely. This was the first time I’d seen him for myself, but I’d already heard a thing or two about him around town. Now that Mason had left and the mayor had gone back to his wife, the title of Most Eligible Bachelor in Fenton County had briefly fallen to Bubba Ramsey, which meant times had truly gotten desperate. Dr. Levi Romano, on the other hand, fit the vacated position all too well. Too bad for Bubba.
“It’s the McManuses’ pig,” I said, trying not to be so obvious about checking him out. “My cousin says they’re raising it for the county fair. We couldn’t just leave it running around, but we weren’t sure what to do with it.”
He took several steps toward me, drying off his hands with a paper towel. “I take it the McManuses aren’t home.”
“No.”
“Do you have it with you?” he asked, searching the small waiting area, although I had no idea where he thought I might be hiding a pig, baby or not. The room was full of folding chairs, a beat-up end table, and ten-year-old magazines with headlines like “Understanding Your Schnauzer” and “101 Ways to Make Your Cat Love You.”
“Out in the truck.”
“Mary,” he said, sounding amused. “I’ll be right back.”
Mary muttered something about Noah’s Ark, but the vet ignored her.
“I’m Dr. Romano, by the way,” he said as he followed me out the door. Which meant he had a full view of my backside. I’d sat on the steps at the McManus house. What if I had a giant stain in the middle of one of my butt cheeks?
Why hadn’t I thought to check?
“So I’ve heard,” I said as I kept moving around the back of the truck.
Poor Rose looked like she was at her wits’ end. The piglet was running circles around her, squealing like a . . . well, like a pig, while Muffy barked her protest in the back window.
“So this is the pig,” Dr. Romano said with a grin, resting his hands on the tailgate.
“I don’t know about you, Rose,” I said dryly. “But I’m already feeling confident about Dr. Romano’s veterinarian abilities and observational skills.”
He laughed and lowered the tailgate. “Since it’s a special pig, does it have a name?”
I started to offer a witty retort, but Rose answered first. “Not that we know of. We were tracking a lost dog to the McManus farm, and Neely Kate rescued this little guy out of the barn after she saw it go inside.”
He took in Rose’s muddy boots and jeans, and I could see the question in his eyes.
I gave him a half-shrug. “Rose then caught him from a mud pit.”
He laughed. “Sounds like you both are heroes.” He held out his hands as if he was about to catch the pig, but it ran behind Rose and started rutting at her backside.
“Oh, my word,” she gasped, scooting to the edge of the tailgate.
Muffy’s barking changed into the warning bark she reserved for threats.
“Muffy, calm down,” Rose said as she jumped out and onto the ground.
Dr. Romano leaned forward, grabbed hold of the pig’s middle, and slid it toward him, the pig squealing in protest all the while.
“What will you do with him?” Rose asked.
“I’ll put it in a large pen in the back.”
Once he had a firm grip on the pig, Rose hurried over to the door and held it open. Then we both followed him inside and down the hall, past the disapproving receptionist. He pushed through a door, then led the way into a room lined with mostly empty cages. He gestured with his elbow to a cage at the bottom. “Can one of you get that?”
I got the pen open, and he shoved the screaming pig inside, then shut the door behind it.
“Whew,” he said. “Thanks for the assist.”
“So what happens to him now?” Rose asked.
“I’ll have Mary call the McManus farm and let them know they can pick up their pig.” He gave me a beaming grin. “Did you happen to find your lost dog?”
“He’s not ours,” I said. “It’s Rose’s old neighbor’s—never mind. Let’s just say he belongs to a friend.”
“Was he chipped?”
“Yeah,” Rose said. “But he’s really cute, so we’re worried someone might have picked him up. The owners really love him. Their kids are devastated.”
“Any idea where he might have gone?”
“No,” Rose said with a frown. “I tracked him into the McManus fields, but that’s where I lost track of his paw prints.”
“Have you checked the animal shelter?” Dr. Romano asked.
Rose grimaced. “No.”
“Mary can give you the number.”
“Thanks,” she said, looking worried.
Dr. Romano followed us to the receptionist’s desk. “If you tell me a bit about the dog, I’ll keep an eye out for him.”
“That would be great,” Rose said. “He’s about as tall as the baby pig, and he’s white with black spots.”
Dr. Romano smirked. “Like the pig.”
“Hey!” I said, putting my hands on my hips. “In my defense, I’ve never seen Hugo before and the barn was dark.�
�
“Hugo?” Dr. Romano asked. “The family he belongs to wouldn’t happen to have a bunch of kids, mostly boys?”
Rose laughed. “That’s the one.”
“Yes, I know them. I’ll keep my eye out,” he said. “If you ladies will leave your number, I’ll let you know if Hugo shows up here.”
“That would be great,” Rose said, grabbing a piece of paper that Mary was already handing her. “Thank you.”
“No problem at all.”
Muffy was barking her outrage over being left, but she quieted down as soon as we were back in the cab of the truck.
“Where do we look now?” Rose asked as she turned on the engine, then rubbed Muffy’s head to reassure her.
“You’re really not going to address the fact that Dr. Romano, the town’s newest, most eligible bachelor, just hit on you?”
Rose gasped and turned to me with a mixture of shock and irritation. “What are you talking about?”
“You really didn’t realize he was hitting on you?”
“No. I talked to the veterinarian about the McManus pig and Hugo. You talked to him more than I did. If he was hitting on anyone, it was you.”
“He asked for your number, Rose.”
“He asked for our number so he could tell us if Hugo shows up. Our number. Both of us. And he was just being helpful.”
“He was looking right at you. Smiling. He wanted your number.”
She scowled and flipped down the visor to look at her face in the mirror. “Oh, my word. What are you talking about? I look like I was caught out in that storm myself.”
She was right. From her muddy pants and boots to her ragged ponytail and reddened cheeks, she looked like she’d had a long day chasing around dogs and pigs. But she was still pretty.
“You’re the one looking cute today. If he was interested in either of us, it had to be you,” she said, flipping the visor back up. Then she turned in her seat and looked me right in the eye. “Are you thinking about dating? Does his being interested in you make you nervous?”
Jed’s face instantly popped into my head. “Of course I’m not interested in dating. I’m not even divorced.”
“You may not be divorced for a long time if Carter’s PI can’t find Ronnie. He still hasn’t turned up.”
I considered telling her about my visit to Skeeter weeks ago, but I worried I’d let on about my complicated feelings for Jed. Besides, I still didn’t want her to know how badly I needed closure. I was tired of looking weak and pathetic. I needed to suck it up and move on.
Sins of the Father: Rose Gardner Mystery Novella 9.5 Page 6