Page 38 of The Moment He Saw Her

Chapter11

“So let’s get on with this before we all freeze to death and they find our decomposing bodies in a few days,” Brody said. “I swear it’s going to snow soon,” he added looking at the grey skies above him.

“It takes ten days, bud, and that’s if the weather is warm,” Dan said, doing some stretches. “In this cold, though, our organs will just shut down, and we’ll fall asleep and not wake up. When they find us, we’ll look pretty much like we do now.”

“Thank you for that lesson, Deputy Dan,” Ryder said. “But Brody’s right. Let’s get this done with.” He blew into his hands and tried to warm his frozen face. It was icy and one of those days the sun had stayed in bed, so the air was thick with mist. Gray and miserable, he thought, looking around them.

“You just want to get back to your hot roommate,” Sawyer taunted him.

“No, I have a cafe to run.” But she was hot, and that was becoming a problem he’d like to be done with too. The sooner Libby was out of his house, the less he’d imagine her in places like his bed. It was four days after she’d arrived, and while she was looking, no rooms had come available for her to move into yet.

“It’s only an hour, so shut up and focus,” Zoe said.

“Why are you even here when you’re running the relay with Nina, Cill, and Betsy?” Ryder asked his sister.

The Dukes were lined up along the start of the road most of the family lived on dressed in various exercise clothes.

“I want to be fit for my run,” Zoe added. “Besides, you four need to step up your game. I’m not having those Keller losers beating you.”

“How is it she’s the smallest and got all the competitive genes?” Ryder asked.

“It’s a mystery,” Sawyer said. He wore his hat so low and his jacket collar so high, he looked like a gnome.

“Are you ready?”

They all looked to Ally, who was on the back of Sawyer’s pickup holding a megaphone she had yelled into. Beside her was her little fluff-ball dog, Huffin, wearing a blue jacket.

“Who the hell gave her that?” Brody snarled.

“Birdie borrowed it from Tripp,” Sawyer said, waving at his niece.

“You’re running now. Then you’ll do a relay. I’ve marked out the exact distance with Birdie’s help!” Ally yelled.

“Why is she not in school?” Dan asked. “I’m sure there is some rule I could arrest you for connected with that.”

“Do it. Then I’ll lie in a cell warm until you idiots are done,” Brody muttered. “And it’s a teacher only day today,” he added.

They all grunted something to that.

“Go!” Ally roared.

They started jogging in a line with Ted and Sylvie, Sawyer and Birdie’s two dogs, running beside them. Reaching Uncle Asher’s house, Ryder noted the car of Ms. Jonas, the vet, parked in the driveway.

“That won’t help you win,” Uncle Asher called out the window.

All Dukes raised a middle finger.

“Who is keeping the citizens of Lyntacky safe if you’re both slacking off work?” Zoe asked.

“He’s on call, and there are two other deputies,” Dan drawled. “This is my lunch hour.”

“Are we going to talk to him about the vet?” Brody asked.

“So, Uncle Asher, you know what happens when you put your dick?—”

“Not that. Fuck.” Brody shuddered, interrupting Sawyer. “I don’t want to think about him doing that shit.”

“I bet you a hundred he is,” Zoe said.

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