Page 68 of Let Me Be the One
Decisively, Callie stepped through the gate and secured it behind her. She’d hunt for the goat right now, before the storm started in earnest. Surely, the critter hadn’t gone far. Once she found him, she’d get him put away and then, only then, would she get safely into herown home.
The place where she would stay.
Where eventually she would belong.
It was ridiculous for a grown woman to fear a little storm, the woods, or… Being alone.
“Goat,” she called out, hoping that if he heard her voice, he’d come to her. In the distance, she heard a sound that, to her beleaguered ears, sounded like that of a creepy goat wail. It certainly sent shivers down her spine.
A smattering of raindrops turned into a steady sprinkle.Anicysprinkle. Thankfully the honeysuckle was tall and thick, shielding her from much of it. She wrapped her arms around herself and picked her way forward, doing her best to venture in a straight line without wandering too far toward the Garmet property.
Her unruly neighbors continued to plague her on occasion. Wolf whistles, loud parties—to which she was occasionally invited, but always declined—and casual drop-ins, as if she hadn’t been clear enough already. From an early age, she’d had good manners pressed on her so she dodged the brothers without being rude, finding polite excuses galore. Yet they persisted.
On the other side of her property, Addie wanted to see her more often, Tanner clearly didn’t want to see her at all, and Kam was annoyingly upbeat about it all, as if he found it endlessly amusing.
Oh what she wouldn’t give to have Kam out here with her now. He’d help her look for the goat while also teasing her. Never, not once, did he act as if he was doing her a favor. He treated everything like a lark, not a chore.
She really liked that about him.
The way he’d taught her to collect the chicken eggs would always be a favorite memory. He’d alternately instruct her and then heckle her for her nervousness, until she’d gotten it right. Kam was the type of brother she envied; she wished she’d had him for her own.
When Callie heard a laugh, she froze. It came from somewhere nearby. Then she heard parts of a conversation and knew the Garmet brothers were close. Had she encroached on their property?
Or were they on hers? Honestly, she wasn’t sure.
“Tanner’s away,” one of the brothers said, his voicetraveling even through the steady rain. “She can’t call him, and I doubt she wants Addie out here in the rain.”
“Doesn’t mean she’ll come out,” said the other.
Another chuckle. “She will. Feels all responsible for those fucking goats, you know.”
So… They had taken her goat and they assumed she’d come look for it—and shehad. Now what? Had they lured her out here? To what end?
She didn’t know and she didn’t want to find out. But if she moved, they’d hear her. If she didn’t move, they’d find her.
Realizing her vulnerable position made her start to tremble. Her heart tried to punch right through her chest, especially when she heard the goat again. The animal didn’t really sound distressed, but then, she had no idea what a distressed goat might sound like. To her, they always sounded weird.
In so many ways, she’d messed up. In even more ways she was out of her element.
Pity party later, she sternly told herself.Now get your butt in gear.
Right ahead of her was an enormous oak tree with branches that stretched far out in different directions. Some of those limbs dipped lower, almost within reach. Not that she’d ever climbed a tree, but surely she’d be safer up there.
Of course, if she could get in the tree, so could the brothers, she reasoned. If she was already up there, though, anyone who tried to follow could be kicked in the face.
Brush moved around her. Footsteps closed in.
“I can’t believe you talked me into this,” Lang said.
Dirk answered, “Playing the hero once won’t kill you. And think what we might gain.”
Knowing they’d run into her any second now, alarm bells began clanging in her head to the tune ofdo something, do something, do something.
And then, they stepped out to her right.
Spotting her, Dirk’s frown turned into a smile. “Ah, Callie. What are you doing out here in the storm?”
Without another single thought, she spun around and took off running, reached the tree, and lunged. By some bizarre miracle, she caught a low-hanging branch. Her work boots slipped on the trunk before she caught enough traction to help lever herself up. It took a lot of absurd fumbling and straining and surely laughable acrobatics, but she finally hooked a leg over and hauled herself up.
