FIFTEEN

Carl told him it was a short walk to his house, but Clint wound up covering twice as much ground as he’d anticipated. Delilah only let him out of her sight after making sure to tell him about a dozen times to rest up and prepare for the following day. By the time he finally arrived at the little cabin on the farthest edge of town, Clint was ready to get his rest in the closest convenient pile of straw.

Despite being within a stone’s throw of town, Carl’s house felt more like a small ranch on its own little piece of property. Only one side of the house faced the town of Trickle Creek, while the rest of it looked out onto open country, a small rise, and a crooked, sorry excuse for a stream that may very well have been the town’s name-sake. Even at this late hour, someone was at the door to greet the two men before they got close enough to open it for themselves.

The woman was a foot shorter than Clint and had her full, wavy hair tied back by a bandanna. Clint couldn’t tell much about her build because she was dressed in a sleeping gown that hugged her figure almost as well as a gunnysack. Her skin wasn’t as dark as Carl’s, but her eyes and facial features showed the family ties that bound them.

“What took you so long to get here?” she asked as she propped her hands upon her hips. “I was worried sick.”

“Ran into a bit of trouble,” Carl said.

“Trouble? Are you all right?”

“I walked all the way home, didn’t I?”

She scowled at Carl and then turned her attention to Clint. “And who’s this?”

“I’m Clint Adams. Pleasure to meet you.” As he stepped forward, Clint held out his hand. She shook it reluctantly, which also gave him a chance to get a better look at her face. Even in the dark, he could make out her high cheekbones and full lips. Her eyes may have been angry at the moment, but it was easy to tell they’d be pretty once there wasn’t so much fire in them.

“Since my sister isn’t of a mind to be neighborly, I’ll do the honors,” Carl said. “Her name’s Sadie and she’s pleased to meet you.”

“I can say for myself who I’m pleased to meet,” she snapped. Shrugging as if she was surprised to hear that come from her own mouth, Sadie nodded to Clint and asked, “Did you help my brother out of his trouble?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

She smirked at the formality in Clint’s tone and said, “Then I am pleased to meet you.”

“Can we come inside now or should we just freeze out here?” Carl asked.

“Come on in. Nobody’s stopping you,” Sadie replied as she stepped aside so both men could walk through the door.

The cabin was somewhat bigger than Clint had been expecting. There was a large space in the center that consisted of a kitchen and dining area at the back, with a sitting room at the front. On either side of that space was a door leading to what must have been bedrooms. The structure was sound enough, but wasn’t quite like anything Clint had seen before. “Did you build this yourself?” he asked.

“I had some help from my uncle and a few cousins, but I had a hand in all of it, more or less.”

Sadie chuckled once under her breath and said, “Less rather than more, if I remember correctly.”

“Maybe Mister Adams would like some coffee,” Carl said as he glared at his sister.

Clint shook his head. “No, thanks. I’ll just take a look at those tools.”

“You’re here to look at tools?” Sadie asked. “At this hour?”

“Will you hush?” Carl scolded.

This time, Sadie wasn’t about to fight back. She raised her hands in surrender and walked into one of the side rooms. When she opened the door, Clint got a glimpse of a good-sized bed and a wardrobe. He couldn’t see much more than that before she shut herself in for the night.

“This is a nice home you’ve got,” Clint said.

“Thank you. I’d hate to have to pick up and leave this place.”

“Why would you have to do something like that?”

Carl lowered his head and retreated into his shell like a turtle, in much the same way he’d been doing since Clint had first met him. He didn’t answer the question, but he had to have been thinking along the same lines as Clint. Finally, Carl said, “Tools are in a shed outside. Come see for yourself.”

Following the other man back outside, Clint didn’t even bother looking for a shed. Instead, he let his eyes wander along the jagged line of the horizon that looked out onto Trickle Creek. The town was dark for the most part, but had a few torches lit along the streets. Some of the windows had flickering lights behind them as well, but the whole area seemed to mostly be asleep.

Stopping at a small shed, Carl dug in his pocket for a key and took his time fitting it into a lock on the narrow door. “So, do you think they’ll come?”

“Who?”

Carl looked over to Clint with a crooked scowl on his face. “You know who. And before you waste your breath, don’t bother trying to tell me you came all this way at this ungodly hour just to look at a shed full of tools.”

“Maybe I did and maybe I didn’t,” Clint admitted. Judging by the way Carl shook his head, he was having a much easier time believing the former rather than the latter.