Page 29 of Saddles

But this. It’s like someone is beating me back down with a baseball bat.

The tears freeze to my face, and feel like needles when I brush them away.

I can’t do this anymore.

I’m ready for the pain to stop.

When I stand, I brush off my jeans and right my hat.

Roscoe dances near the door, glancing at me over his shoulder.

“Yea, I know. I’m cold as fuck too.” The biting wind eats into me when I step back outside.

The steps I took through the deep snow are already full making it difficult to step through the deepening drifts.

She won’t be able to leave in this.

I have to keep my shit together for just a few more days.

Panic wars with me when I reach for the handle.

She might be better off without me. She has a phone. The GPS on it will get a rescue team to her.

There’s food and water.

But I don’t know if she’s strong enough to haul the wood.

I guess I’ll keep the fire going.

She’ll need me for that.

Pushing into the warm cabin, I’m glad to see she’s sleeping.

There’s a little color in her cheeks, but her lips look cracked and dry.

I toss a log into the stove, and pour some water into the pot that lives on top to start heating up.

Once she’s feeling better, she might want to clean up.

In the meantime, I’ll get some stew cooking. Who knows when she ate last.

When the sat phone rings, it startles me.

She doesn’t even flinch.

Is she okay? Maybe she shouldn’t be passed out?

“Yea?” I bark into the receiver.

“Ford?” Wade’s voice cuts through the static.

“Yea. Who else?” I glance down at her tangled blond hair poking out of the covers.

“I figured it’d be you. Dispatch got a call from this number from a girl named April. Said she had been taken but she was safe. Is that who’s with you?” He doesn’t have the same teasing lilt like he did last time.

“I don’t know her name. She’s out cold. Are you coming to get her?” Maybe he can wave his magic sheriff wand and get her out of her early.

“Fuck no. It’s storming like hell down here, I can’t imagine what it’s doing up there in the boonies.” He sighs into the speaker. “I’m sorry you’re stuck with this. We’ll get up there as soon as we can. At least I know she’s safe. When she’s ready to give me some more details, give me a call.”