“I can’t believe you just said that,” Renata said from her spot, leaning against the door frame.
“It was scary good,” Scarlett agreed.
Tandy smiled, hooking her backpack over one shoulder and lugging a large suitcase with the other. She’d lived too much of her life worrying over Click Hale. That was going to stop, now.
* * *
CLICK SHIFTED PEARL to his hip and unhooked the gate between Lynnie’s and Woodrow Boone’s properties. A gate he had put in years before. It was rusty after sitting so long, but a solid push had it swinging open. How many times had he and the girls met up after the moon was high? They’d been damn lucky never to have run into a rattlesnake or javelina—or any other trouble. Those were happy memories. When he came to Lynnie’s, he’d pretend that this was his home and life was easy and carefree.
“Da-gee,” Pearl said, reaching for Banshee and kicking her little legs.
“Doggie.” Click nodded, repeating her words.
She smiled at him. “Da-gee. Do-gee. Da-gee.”
He laughed. “You like that doggie?”
Banshee stopped, looked back at them and took off.
“He wants us to follow him,” Click explained. He didn’t know enough about babies to know if Pearl listened or not. Half the time he thought she understood everything he said. Others, not so much. Like when he was trying to rock her to sleep at 2:00 a.m.
“Da-gee?” she asked, leaning forward in his arms, searching for Banshee.
“He’s over there,” Click said, pointing. “Right there. Banshee,” he called.
Banshee came trotting back.
“Da-gee!” Pearl squealed.
Banshee barked, making Pearl jump. Click smiled at her wide, startled eyes.
“Doggie said hi,” he said. “Say hi, Pearl.”
Clearly, his daughter wasn’t sure she liked the barking part of the dog. Her little mouth was puckered. The excited kicking and hand waving had stalled out, too.
“Hi, doggie,” he repeated, smiling. “Hi.”
She looked at him. “Hee, da-gee.”
Banshee barked.
“See, he likes it.” Click nodded.
Pearl nodded. Whether she was agreeing with him or doing what he did, he wasn’t sure. But she wasn’t crying, so he was satisfied. How she’d react to leaving Banshee with Tandy was another matter. How something so little could make such a loud noise was beyond him. Pearl had champion lungs.
“Howdy,” Scarlett said.
He nodded. “Banshee showed up. Didn’t want Tandy worrying over him.”
“I sent him,” Tandy said, patting the dog on the back. “Sounded like Pearl needed some distracting. He loves kids.”
Click couldn’t have been more surprised. “You sent him?”
She glanced his way, barely. “He gets upset when he hears a baby cry.”
“That makes two of us,” he said.
Did she smile? A small smile, but a smile nonetheless.