Page 42 of Lost and Found Cowboy
But it was hard to feel alone when she stepped through the front door and was engulfed in hugs and hellos from Maisie, Elizabeth, Duke, Dodge, Ford, and an assortment of big, furry dogs. Thank goodness it was only the dogs who wanted to lick her face.
“We were so worried about you,” Maisie said, leading her to the big table that had already been set for supper. “You sure you and Max are okay?”
“I’m fine,” she told them. “And Max is excited about getting to eat a bunch of popsicles.”
“As many as I want, Aunt Maisie,” Max shouted from the floor where he was the center of a cuddle puddle of golden retrievers. “Help me, Uncle Dodge.” He shrieked with laughter. “I’m getting licked to death.”
Mack gave her a quizzical look.
“Earlier this year, when Leni and Chevy started planning the wedding, he took to calling your brother Uncle Chevy, and I’m not sure he understood that all your brothers and Maisie and Elizabeth weren’t also his aunts and uncles,” she explained, then smiled at the way Dodge was on the floor ruffling both dog’s bellies and her son’s hair. “They all seem to like it though.”
In their current situation, she was kind of glad Mack hadn’t been around when that had started, since it would sound quite awkward for her son to now be calling her pretend boyfriend, “Uncle Mack’.
A knock sounded then the front door opened. One of the local deputies, Knox Garrison, stepped inside and waved to the groupas he took his cowboy hat off and hung it from a peg inside the wall. “Hey, everybody.”
“Hey, Knox,” Dodge said, stepping forward to shake the tall cowboy’s hand. “Come on in. What brings you out this way?”
“You mean besides the offer of a brisket sandwich?” Knox answered with a grin.
Lorna gaped at Mack. “I thought we weren't going to call the police.”
“Mack didn't have anything to do with this,” Duke said, stepping up beside her. “I told Knox I had a bunch of smoked meat left over from the wedding and that if he stopped around, I’d send him back out with a hot brisket sandwich.” He touched Lorna’s elbow and lowered his voice. “It’s up to you if you want to talk to him about what happened this afternoon. But you know he’s a good man and someone you can trust.”
Ford gestured to Mack. “Knox, I don’t know if you’ve met our little brother, Mack, yet.”
“Haven’t had the pleasure,” the deputy said, extending his hand to Mack. “Good to meet you. I went to high school with most of the people in this room and played hockey with a couple of your brothers.”
“Good to meet you, too,” Mack said, shaking Knox’s hand. “But what the heck? Why does it feel like everyone I’ve met in this town either knows each other or somehow went to high school together?”
“Right?” Elizabeth, the only other person in the room who hadn’t lived most of their lives in Woodland Hills or the neighboring town of Creedence, said. “How big was this high school?”
Dodge laughed. “Not big at all. That’s why we know everyone around our age in this county. When there’s only eighty-nine kids in your class, you tend to get to know them, their siblings, and all their out-of-town cousins, pretty well.”
Knox shook his head. “Don’t even bring up my cousin Lisa. She still talks about sneaking off to the lake with Chevy that summer she turned sixteen and visited us for the weekend.” He grinned at Elizabeth. “Chevy took her midnight fishing, the boat flipped, and they both ended up in the lake.”
“From what I’ve heard about Chevy’s teenage years, it sounds more like a ploy on his part to get your cousin’s clothes off,” Elizabeth murmured.
As the laughter over old memories died down, Knox finally turned to her. “Hey, Lorna. Good to see you.”
“Hey, Knox. You, too.”
“I heard there was a little trouble with Lyle this afternoon.”
“This town has too many gossips.”
Knox crossed the room and lowered his voice as he spoke just to her. “Can I ask you—do you have sole custody of the kids?”
She nodded. “Yes. Lyle was so cheap, and I assume so anxious to move on with his young new girlfriend, he sent me the simplest divorce documents, which included full custody.” And knowing Lyle, he probably thought giving her custody meant he wouldn’t have to pay child support for a couple of kids he wasn’t interested in anyway.
“Then you can file charges against him for taking Max from school grounds without your permission.”
“I’m not sure…”
He shrugged. “I can just be here as an old friend, and we can leave it at that. Or I can be here in an official capacity, if you want to talk to me about what’s going on. I can tell you that the more reports we have on him now will sure help when we finally get a chance to haul this guy in. And if I know Lyle Williams, we’regoingto get him for something. But it’s up to you…”
He let the question hang in the air.
Funny how suddenly everyone else in the room found something to keep themselves occupied so it seemed like they weren’t paying attention to their conversation at all.
