She hated pranks and jokes, because making someone else feel stupid wasn’t funny. She eased back into the house and closed the door, locking it behind her. The air conditioning blew, and Emma was surprised she hadn’t heard Frisco yowl when it had clicked on. The cat didn’t like the sudden whoosh of air, and sometimes he ran under Emma’s desk as if the devil was trying to get in through the vents.
Instead of returning to the kitchen, Emma edged over to the front window, which was a bay. It jutted out, and she moved to the other side before barely cracking the blinds, so she could see the whole front yard, the blue truck, the fence, and the road beyond.
That blue truck hadn’t been there earlier—at least Emma didn’t think so. She wasn’t sure. There were so many trucks on the ranch, and she didn’t even know if it belonged to Hope Eternal or not.
She held very still, her heart pounding in the back of her throat, and watched the landscape in front of her. Literally nothing moved. It was just another normal day, full of sunshine and blue sky, with the breeze gently disturbing the grass.
No one used the front yard unless Nate was throwing a ball for Ursula so Connor would cheer up. Everyone loved Ginger’s German shepherd, Emma included. Well, Frisco wasn’t a fan of the big dog, but even they got along okay.
Suddenly, a man emerged from the corner of the house, and he didn’t glance left or right as he went. He carried a clipboard and a handheld instrument, and Emma thought perhaps he was checking the meters on that side of the house. Energy or water or something. People did that, right?
But why would he ring the doorbell?
She watched as the man went over the fence instead of through the gate. Odd, Emma thought. He did look around suspiciously then, and he turned and looked right at the house. Emma sucked in a breath and shrank back, but there was no way he could see her.
She inched forward again, trying to memorize his face. He was white, and he stood almost as tall as the truck. He wore a blue baseball cap with a white letter D on it, and she wasn’t sure what team that was for.
He had on jeans and boots, but not the cowboy kind. The oddest thing was his jacket. It was nowhere near cold enough to wear a bulky denim jacket with fleece lining. He was definitely hiding something.
From this distance, she’d call his hair brown, and she couldn’t see his eyes.
She squinted as if that would help her see better, but she still couldn’t get any more distinguishing features. She’d left her phone next to her uneaten salad, and she wished she had it to snap a quick picture. She wanted one of the man and his truck, and she frantically searched for his license plate as he opened the door and got behind the wheel.
There was no license plate on the front bumper. He backed out and turned, and Emma noticed a logo on the side of the truck. A large grasshopper.
She started to relax; he was the pest control guy, and he’d probably wanted to drop off the bill before he left. They did knock on the door after a treatment. The blue truck trundled down the lane, and Emma did see a license plate on the back bumper.
She only caught a couple of letters, and she recited them to herself as she hurried to retrieve her phone.
She’d just typed them into her notes program when the back door opened and a couple of male voices filled the house. “…it’ll be thirty seconds,” Nate said, appearing from around the corner. He sounded slightly annoyed, but when he saw her, he brightened. “Hey, Emma. Ginger sent me over to get her pregnancy notebook?” He shifted his feet and cleared his throat. “She said you’d know what that meant.”
“It’s where she keeps track of all the births on the ranch,” she said, starting to move her hand to pocket her phone as Ted came around the corner too. She dropped her phone then, because she seemed to forget how to be human when he was around.
The device clattered to the floor, a terrible snapping sound filling the air. She gasped and looked down, the jagged crack in her screen obvious. “Oh, no.”
“We’re going to get Ted a phone,” Nate said. “You could come along.”
“No,” she said, though she did desperately want to. She bent to pick up the phone, thinking she’d just use it as it was until she could get to town. She had a screen protector; everything would be fine.
She tried to swipe and pain sliced through her fingertip. She cried out and looked up at Nate. “Yeah, okay. I’ll come with you. Can you give me a minute?”
“If you get me that notebook, I’ll take it to Ginger, and then we’ll swing by here again to grab you.” he looked at Ted. “It’ll be another ten seconds. Emma will literally jump in the truck as we’re moving.”
Ted nodded, and Emma deduced he must be in a hurry to get to town. She didn’t blame him. He was wearing the same clothes as yesterday, and he didn’t even have a phone.
“Give me a second.” She set her ruined phone on the counter beside her lunch and went into the office. Ginger kept meticulous records of the horse births on the ranch, and she loved the leather-bound notebook with a decade’s worth of data in it. Emma took it to Nate and said, “This is like her most prized possession. Don’t lose it.”
“I’m literally taking it from here to the stables,” Nate said dryly. “I think I can manage.” He nodded to Ted. “Let’s go.”
“I need to use the restroom,” he said. “Can I stay here, and you can pick both of us up on the way back by?’
“I
