Heck of a kiss

Chapter Twenty

Needless to say, I got away from that conversation as fast as possible, praying desperately that he hadn’t seen through my act. When I got to the truck, I leaned against the truck bed and bit my knuckles raw as I replayed what I had seen over and over in my head. Maybe it wasn’t what I had thought, my nerves were shot from Jabe’s accident and I was imagining things that weren’t there.

I had no proof that anything illegal was going on. My more logical half told me, there could have been anything in that bag, there is no proof that Tucker is a drug dealer. Loudly my emotional side began protesting that while I didn’t have proof of illegal activity, I had no proof that it wasn’t either. Why would they be outside doing their deal during the middle of a rodeo? 

I heard voices drifting down the aisle and straitened to see Isy, pushing Lesley who held Mila on her lap. Quickly I walked to meet them, scooping Mila out of Lesley’s arms and walking to the truck to strap her into her booster seat. Isy and Lesley talked quietly but I was full of nervous energy and so I concentrated on getting ready to leave, rolling up the sleeping bags and pulling the cover over the bed. When everything was packed up, I slammed the tailgate shut and rounded the side to stand beside Isy towering over both her and Lesley.

Lesley looked up at me. “Is everything ready?”

Wordlessly I nodded and together, Isy and I helped load Lesley into the truck. When she was settled, Isy helped me fold up her wheelchair and load it into the back. Stepping back, Isy put her hands on her hips and smiled up at me. 

“Would you have Lesley text me when ya’ll get home? She already has my number.”

“Sure.” 

Isy reached out and squeezed my arm. “Everything is going to be okay, don’t stress out too bad.”

I gave her a tired smile. “Thanks.” If only she knew just how bad I was stressing.

The drive home was long and very quiet, Lesley and Mila nodded off soon after we got on the highway and Jabe was swinging between dozing and unconsciousness. I tried to focus on driving, but my brain still was screaming about Tucker no matter how much I told it to shut up. I was also worrying about Jabe, he should have gone to the hospital, a lot of really bad things could be happening right now but with head injuries you never knew. 

When we finally got back home, I drove Lesley and Mila home and was surprised to see Tasha waiting for us.

I asked her what she was doing there and she smiled. “Lesley called me and told me she needed someone to stay here while you took care of Jabe. I think Abby and I are having a sleep over.” She gave me a wink and I almost melted into the floor with relief, the only thing I was more worried about than Tucker was leaving Jabe alone for the night.

I drove Jabe home and helped him inside, putting him to bed still fully clothed and then bedding down myself on the couch. I tossed and turned for a long time, trying not to think about everything too much, it was night, I wasn’t think clearly, and right then all I needed was sleep. 

When I did, I dreamt of Jabe falling off over and over again, his head cracking against the cement and shattering. 

The next morning I woke up early, and checked on Jabe, who was still sleeping, only his arm sticking out of the covers. As quietly as I could, I made myself some breakfast and then began cleaning to relieve some stress. As bachelor pads went Jabe’s wasn’t bad, he had a colony of spiders living in the ceiling corners but I killed most of them with the vacuum cleaner, trying to stifle my girlish squeals.