Chapter Thirty-Two

Reality Sucks

T en minutes after Willow left a message for Louisa, she called. “We’re in the valley for a doctor’s appointment,” Louisa said. “Is Daisy, okay?”

Willow hadn’t told her about the writing on the barn. “She’s doing better,” Willow answered honestly. “Dale is on his way back, and we’ll be okay until he returns.”

“Is the leg broken?”

Dale had told Willow that Louisa was a rancher’s wife, and there were no tougher women born on this earth.

“I don’t think so, just deep cuts, but in one, I can see bone. Dale will know more about it than me. Daisy seems comfortable for now.”

“Give her two aspirin if it’s not bleeding heavily.”

“I wrapped it, but no blood is showing on the outside. I’ll give her the aspirin.”

“Okay. Call if you have questions and send a text when Dale gets there.”

“I will, promise. And thank you for calling me back.”

“We gotta stick together. I’ll let the ranch board know that someone put out a leghold trap. They’re illegal, and we’ll find who did this. They better hope it’s not me who comes across them first. He won’t have a strip of skin left on his backside.”

That made Willow smile.

“They’re calling Roger to the back, so I gotta go.”

“I’ll text as soon as Dale is here,” Willow said.

After disconnecting, she walked to the bedroom window that looked out at the barn. Who would do this? Her father had no family, or at least no one who claimed him. Willow didn’t know anyone around but Dale, Louisa, and Roger. She’d said hello to a few people in town but hadn’t made conversation.

She thought about prison. Because she kept to herself, she was considered conceited. A few of the older inmates stuck up for her because they knew she’d been inside since she was fifteen. Willow couldn’t imagine one of the idiots who tried to provoke her coming up here to terrorize her. They were women, and the print was larger than Dale’s shoes. It made no sense. She didn’t understand how she could have made an enemy.

An hour later, Dale’s truck rolled up. She sent a quick text to Louisa, unlocked the door, and ran outside. Dale pulled her into his arms, but she’d seen the look on his face when his eyes caught the painting on the barn.

“You’re okay,” he murmured against her hair. “I promise that son of a bitch won’t be.” His hold cut her panic in half.

Daisy limped outside and slowly made her way to Dale. He leaned over and picked her up, carrying her back inside the house. His angry expression didn’t change.

He called the sheriff’s department. Three hours later, a deputy arrived to take a report. He was young, maybe Willow’s age, and he showed no compassion for Daisy’s run-in with the trap. He also didn’t want Max anywhere near him, so Willow had to take the dog inside.

The deputy didn’t stay long.

“That moron was a wet-behind-the-ears rookie when I left. Now he’s an arrogant prick.” Dale’s face reddened. “Pardon my choice of words,” he said.

Willow smiled more to relieve Dale’s worry than for herself.

“The deputy barely paid attention when I told him about the shoeprint and peeping Tom,” he continued. “The entire department is worthless.”

Louisa and Roger showed up soon after the deputy left. Louisa examined Daisy.

“She’s lucky,” Louisa assured them. “Those traps can really injure an animal. I hunt, but I’d never use one of those things, they’re evil.”

Dale slept in the house that night. He used the pullout couch, which had to be uncomfortable, though he didn’t complain.

“We need to order a bed,” she told him the next morning while they drank coffee. “We can put it in the office so you have privacy. I’ll move some clothes and boxes out of the closet and store them in the barn loft so you can have space for your personal things.”

He gave her a long, assessing look. “You’ll get tired of me before you know it.”

Willow walked over, sat beside him, and rested her head on his shoulder. “You’re my grandpa. I’ll never get tired of you.”

“Don’t make an old goat cry,” he muttered, placing his arm around her and squeezing. They sat like that for several moments.

“We need to talk,” he said. “I may know who this is.”

Willow pulled away and stared at him.

“One of the Hogg sons was never found,” he began. “There’s no one else it could be. You practically never leave here, and when you do, I’m with you. You get stares from some of the men in town—”

Willow shook her head.

“Don’t give me that. It’s normal for a pretty girl to get looks. When the man’s too old, I give him a look of my own. But anyway, the Hogg kid is the culprit. I was a deputy, and I’m sorry it took me this long to figure it out. I bet he’s staying in one of the deserted homesteads. He’s probably not far from here. I’ll head out tonight and scout around.”

Willow panicked. “You can’t leave me here alone at night. We need to call the deputy back. It’s their job. They can look for him.”

“I wish it was that simple. They don’t care about the people out here and call us cedar rats. I’ve always hated that name. Sure, we have our share of weirdos, but we also have people like Roger, Louisa, and you. The name cedar rats is derogatory on purpose, but that’s the local cops for you. The force leaches humanity out of the best of us.”

He stopped for a moment, and she could tell he was thinking about a bad memory.

“Two years before I retired, a man beat up his wife. It was one of the few times I was with another deputy. It quickly became apparent, when interviewing the three women in the home, that something was off. The deputy with me asked belligerently, ‘Is this one of those plural wife situations?’ The three women froze and clammed up, refusing to say another word. If I hadn’t been there, the man wouldn’t have been arrested. Other deputies gave me flack for getting involved in their marital situation.

“I could care less that a man lived with three women, if he treated them well. Basically, none of my business. The consensus at the department was the women chose him and could live with their choice.”

He paused in his rant, sadness taking over his expression. “I allowed so many things to slide when I shouldn’t have. My maker will judge me accordingly.”

Dale had never even mentioned a belief in God, and it shook Willow for a moment. She leaned back into him, placing her arms around his shoulders, breathing in the scent of the aftershave he always wore.

“Your maker will see everything you’ve done for me. We have time to make up for our wrongs. If you move in here, we can watch over each other. I don’t know what I would have done after my grandmother died if it weren’t for you. Each day, I feel luckier than the day before.”

Willow took a long breath, her decision made. “If you go out tonight, I go with you.” Her voice held the same stubbornness as Joan’s.

Dale gave a huge, overly dramatic sigh. “Just like your grandmother. The apple don’t fall far from the tree.”

She didn’t know exactly what that meant, but she got the drift.

They ate breakfast, and when they finished, Dale went to the barn to tackle the graffiti. Willow cleaned the dishes, then straightened the small office so a bed would fit. She would need Dale’s help to move the desk out. It wasn’t exactly heavy, but it was bulky. Things would be safer once he moved inside the house. He was thinking short term, while Willow was determined he would live out his life with her.

She’d never had a true friend or a grandfather. Her dad’s parents disowned him after he attacked his father and put him in the hospital. Willow’s attorney contacted them before the trial. They never replied. Her grandmother was the only one who cared, and now there was Dale.

By the time she went outside, Dale had the first coat of paint covering the hate.

“After another coat, you won’t see it at all,” he told her.

“How is Daisy doing?” she asked.

“She’s limping, but the wound looks good. She may be milking it.”

Willow laughed. “I don’t blame her. The trap scared me half to death.”

He came off the ladder. “We’re going to find this guy and stop him. Louisa and Roger have watched the dogs before, and they won’t mind doing it again. I don’t want Max or Daisy running into another trap. ”

“I’m ready whenever you are,” she said. “Are we scouting tonight?”

“No, tomorrow morning when the sun comes up is soon enough. I’ll call Roger and tell him we’ll put the dogs in his barn, so we don’t wake them.”

“I cleared out some things from the office. Can you help me move the desk?”

“You’re sure about this?” Dale looked skeptical.

“I’m sure. I’d like it to be a permanent arrangement. My cooking is better, and I can take over the meals.”

“If we do this, we’ll share meals and cleanup. You have a lot to learn about taking care of the property.”

“I doubt I’ll ever know as much as you.”

Dale laughed. “Joan beat us both. There was nothing that darned woman couldn’t learn. I complained about a problem with my well pump once, and she told me exactly what the problem was without looking at it. I have a feeling you’ll surpass her.”

“I doubt it,” Willow muttered, which only made Dale’s smile widen.

Dale insisted on paying for his new bed but told Willow to order it. He handed over his bank card.

“What’s your spending limit?” she asked him .

He actually blushed, then shuffled his feet for about ten seconds. “I’m getting up there, and it would be nice to have one of those fancy beds that I could read in while sitting upright. If you call it a medical bed, I’ll move back into the trailer.”

She shook her head at how ridiculous he was and purposely hid her smile. “I’ll order a medical bed.”

Dale cussed a few times. She heard him mutter, “Dang blasted woman is Joan incarnate,” as he walked out the door.

Willow went to the computer and started searching.