Page 77 of Surly Sheriff
She fell to her knees and tears flowed down her face. “Kismet. I’m so sorry,” she whispered, her voice thick with emotion. She stretched her arm out. “Come here, boy.” Ever trusting, he moved back, and she rubbed both hands over his body and buried her face in the silky fur. “Look after Beau for me. Okay? He’s going to need some extra loving from you.”
Kismet licked her neck and gave a sharp, short bark. Rae managed a broken smile. “Good boy.”
She rose, swiping the back of her hand over her damp cheeks, and walked to the doggie treat jar, wanting her last interaction with the precious hound to be positive. Overjoyed by the unexpected boon, Kismet sat on his hunches, tail thumping hard, watching her approach.
“It’s all your fault. If it weren’t for you, I’d’ve driven right through Clearbrook and—” She stopped mid-sentence.
And what?
She’d never have experienced Beau’s all-encompassing love. His drugging kisses. His bearlike hugs. His beautiful laughter, his sense of humor, and strong loyalty. His warm body beside hers, and his passionate lovemaking …
Gah!
Rae grabbed the fallen bags by their handles and walked out the door.
18
Gone
“Raegan!” Beau bellowed, bursting through the open side door. When he’d received the call from Nate while driving back from Des Moines, he’d thought the man was playing a joke on him. A cruel and sick joke because there was no way Rae would just up and leave.
And for a moment, he was eight again. Arriving home from school to an empty house …
“Where’s Mommy?” Bella asked, flinging her schoolbag down. It landed in the middle of the hallway.
Beau dutifully picked it up and placed it against the wall. Mom did not like things underfoot. He shrugged. “Dunno.” It wasn’t the first time their mother was not at home after school.
Stomach growling, he walked to the breadbox. “Do you want a sandwich?” It also wasn’t the first time they made their own snack.
“Yeah.” Bella opened the fridge and pulled out the milk.
“Crap.” Beau stared at the single slice of white bread and the crusty end piece left in the packet.
“Don’t cuss. Mommy doesn’t like it.”
“She’s not here,” he snapped, reaching for a knife. He smeared butter across the bread, careful to cover it edge to edge because that’s how Bella liked it, slapped a thick layer of crunchy peanut butter on half of the slice, and folded it over. He repeated the process with the end piece, placed them on folded paper towels. And joined Bella at the kitchen table, sliding the non-edge piece to her.
That’s when he noticed the piece of paper in her hand. “What’s that?”
Bella lifted tear-filled eyes to him. “Mommy’s gone.”
Beau blinked away the memory of the worst moment in his life.
Until now.
The panic he had felt when reading his mother’s farewell note all those years ago was nothing compared to the despair surging through his body as his frantic gaze scanned the mudroom cum laundry and moved through to the kitchen, stopping at the sight of Nate seated at the breakfast counter.
The man’s drawn expression confirmed his story.
But Beau refused, absolutelyrefusedto accept the unthinkable.
He pivoted and raced into the front room where Rae did whatever she did on her laptop. He never quite got the hang of the confusing code filling her screen while her fingers flew across the keyboard.
But the sleek silver machine was not on the glass table hooked up to the monitors.
Next, he took the stairs three at a time and ran to their bedroom. Kismet barked and jumped from the bed. From Rae’s side, Beau idly noted. “Where is she, boy? Where’s Rae?”
Maybe the flu had returned, and she was lying somewhere in the house, unconscious.
