Bailey's Comet

Ch. 6 - It's Only The Thrill

Hello! Yes, I'm alive and I'm here. I could give you a handful of excuses as to why I haven't updated in so long, but I won't do that. However, I do appreciate those that have reached out to check up on me.

Did I mention this was a slow burn?

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Cheryl was awake well before Jason or Sweet Pea joined her in the kitchen for breakfast and coffee, both of which she had made. She had possibly the most restless night of sleep she had ever had, not quite sure if she had ever actually fallen asleep. She was too worried about Britta.

The trio were mostly silent while they ate, save for Cheryl going over the route that Sweet Pea would be driving. He promised to give her updates every time he stopped for food, gas, or to use the restroom.

All the redheaded woman could think about was Britta. On one hand, she was glad it wasn't winter, and she didn't have to worry about the young girl freezing to death. But on the other hand, it was summer, and Britta might get too hot or dehydrated. She might even have a heat stroke.

If they found her, and she had to be taken to the hospital, Cheryl isn't sure what would happen or what she would do. Hell, even if Britta was fine, Cheryl isn't sure what would happen or what she would do.

She bid Sweet Pea goodbye with safe travels and watched Jason walk to the barn to get his horse ready to move and feed cattle. Cheryl was exhausted, worried, and maybe even a little heartbroken. She desperately wanted to find Britta, but she also had a job to do. Her priority was taking care of the horses.

Like normal, Cheryl grabbed her wagon and filled the buckets with grain. But before leaving the tack room, she checked the fridge. Late last night, she had put more sandwiches and a few other snacks in the fridge, to confirm her suspicion. When she confronted Jason, he had said that he never took the sandwiches from the previous day, because there weren't any when he had opened the fridge.

The sandwiches were gone, and Cheryl was more than positive that Britta was on the property.

The redhead continued through feeding, giving each of the horses some love, before moving on to rotating them out to the pasture and cleaning the stalls. She hadn't gotten any responses to her ads, but she was hopeful.

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Toni woke up to the sound of her alarm at a very early hour. Her phone read 5:30am, but she wanted to get a head start on the day, and hoped that Anthony slept for a few more hours. She slowly moved out of bed, out from underneath her son's body that was strewn all across the bed, and slowly walked out to the kitchen where made coffee and a bagel.

She yawned as she watched the coffee drip, listening to the machine brew the hot liquid, and she wasn't sure that she had actually slept at all last night. She was too worried about Britta, and she wondered how Cheryl was doing.

The coffee pot beeped, announcing that it was done brewing and Toni was quick to fill her mug. The sun wasn't up yet, but she opened the curtains for when it would be in the next hour or so, and started sorting through what to pack and what to donate. It was a lot for one person, but Toni was sure she could manage.

At some point, Toni found herself sitting on the floor cross legged. An old photo album on her lap from her and Fangs' wedding. Tears were in her eyes as she thought of the memories she was looking at. Another moment where this wasn't how she pictured her life; a single mom; recent divorcee; practically homeless.

She wiped her tears away. It wasn't really her marriage ending that made her sad, it was more about the other people. Her grandparents weren't around anymore to see little Anthony grow up, and her parents were disappointed with her for getting a divorce. God forbid someone gets a divorce because they aren't happy in their marriage.