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“It’s nothin’.”
Brands swarmed. “That was deliberate,” Willow said, while Lash grabbed his daughter and turned her around to inspect her.“I was too busy looking at the two of you to get a description,” he said.
“I’m fine, Dad,” Maria said.
Lash released his daughter, then grabbed Harrison without warning, and full-on hugged him, clapping his back multiple times. Every clap sent reverberations of pain through his shoulder. “You took that hit for her. You just saved my little girl’s life.”
“Anyone see the truck well enough to get a description?” Maria asked. She was holding a red bandana with some ice in it to her forehead. A young woman from the diner had brought it out for her, muttered that the boss had called 911, and retreated inside again. “What did it look like, Harry?”
“Big and fast,” Harry replied. “Text your mom. We should…” He turned to look at Bubba, who surprised him by reading the look and nodding.
“I’ll get the truck.” He hurried away.
“It was a white Chevy,” Willow said while tapping her phone. “Not sure about the year, but it was an older model. I got a partial plate.”
“I got a photo,” Garrett said, holding up his phone.
“You got aphoto? Dang, you’re good,” Maria said. “Well, let’s see it already.”
He tapped his phone and handed it to Maria.
She looked at the photo, and Harrison looked at it, too, because he was standing close to her. Garrett must’ve snapped it just as the truck had connected with Harry’s shoulder, and from the angle of the shot, you’d have thought the rig would have flattened him. It also caught Maria in motion, a blur, as Harry had pushed her so hard.
Harrison had been looking at her, not at the truck. Lash had his hand out, so Maria passed the phone to her father. He lookedat the screen, and then he looked at Harrison again, lips pressed, nodding, respect in his eyes.
Bubba pulled up with his big motor rumbling. “Anybody need a need a ride home?”
“Thanks Bubba,” Willow said, then she addressed Maria. “We have to stay here. It’s a crime scene. We need to follow up on that truck. You be careful.” Then to Bubba again, “Straight back to the ranch, no stops, you hear?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Harrison opened the passenger door and went to help Maria up, but she hopped up on her own without a problem. Then he got in behind her. Before Harrison shut the door, Lash handed up his hat, which had been knocked off in the collision.
“It’s a good hat, Harry,” he said. “I like it.”
Harrison took it and put it back on his head. “Thanks. I like it, too.”
“All he needs now’s a white horse,” Willow said with a wink Maria’s way.
Maria rolled her eyes, and Harrison closed the door.
“So, this is the bunkhouse?” Harry asked as Bubba pulled up in front of the one-story clapboard building.
Bubba got out immediately, took his bag from the back of the pickup and headed toward the long narrow building, leaving Harrison and Maria alone in the truck.
“Aren’t we putting the ranch hands out?” he asked.
“Oh, other than special occasions, they don’t stay on the ranch anymore like back when my dad worked here,” Maria said. “They work regular hours, clock in and out. A few have homesand families of their own, but most are single men. They fill every room at the little Quinn Hotel.”
“I saw the Quinn Hotel in town. Bar downstairs, rooms upstairs. Like something out of the old west.”
“Itissomething out of the old west,” she said. “It’s two and a half centuries old. But today, the bar kitchen makes a mean pizza.”
“We should’ve picked one up,” he said. “Now that the drama is over, and I’m sure you’re okay, I’m starved.” He reached for the door handle.
She covered his hand with hers. “Now that you’re sure I’m okay, you’re starved?” she asked. “That requires clarification.”
He looked at her, looked away. “I was worried. It made me sick to my stomach.”
