“Henry and I had them a few years ago. They like getting into the barn and eating the animal feed. Maddox will figure it all out for you. I think everyone in town has had a run in with them, to be honest.” She scrubs the tables with sanitizer behind me. “They really hit the jackpot here, though. This sugar must be like cocaine to them.” Cami stands up from the ground and leans against the table. “Question for you on an unrelated topic. I’m going to see Ms. Beaux for a psychic reading tonight. Are you interested?”
My eyebrows crinkle. “A psychic reading?”
She smiles and sips at a bottle of water she’s grabbed from the fridge. “Yeah. You’ve heard of her, right? She’s the old woman that lives up on the mountain top, by the river's edge. People can’t stop talking about how accurate she is. She predicted the whole miner boom and everything.”
I purse my lips. “I don’t know. I’ve never really gotten into that stuff. It seems kind of scary to me. What if the future’s bad? I don’t think I want to know. Why are you going?”
Cami shakes her head and goes back to work on the table as she talks. “Raven’s biological father has been trying to come back into the mix recently. Apparently, he’s a changed man. I want to know if we’re going to win the custody battle. It’s driving me nuts.”
“Biological father?I thought Henry was her father.”
She nods. “He is for everything that matters, but I was pregnant when Henry and I got together. He’s raised Raven like his own, but technically in the state of Colorado, Tag can file for paternity until she’s eighteen.” Cami deflates when she speaks. “We talked to a lawyer, and Henry’s been to see Tag more than once trying to talk some sense into him, but he won’t quit. We even tried explaining how bad this is for Raven. She’s nearly thirteen. The man is a stranger.” Cami sighs and looks away for a second before turning back with a shrug. “Anyway, I’ve been giving myself heartburn about the whole thing, and I want to hear someone tell me it’s all going to be okay.”
“What if the cards tell you the opposite of that?”
She stares toward me blankly as though that’s not an option, and I get a feeling this is her way of finding comfort in anything that even remotely resembles reassurance.
“Of course. I’ll—”
The back door knocks and subsequently opens. “The racoon hunter is here.” I recognize the voice, and it’s not Maddox.
Wyatt steps through the back door, towering over me with camo pants and a tight black tee, his biceps flexing as he puts on a show with a fishing net and a canvas bag.
“Dear God. What are you doing with that?” Cami exclaims. “Where’s Maddox?”
Wyatt smiles and bends in to kiss Cami hello on the cheek. “Good to see you too, Cami.”
She smiles. “Sorry. Of course it’s good to see you, Wyatt. We were just having a tense conversation before you walked in. What’s the net for?”
Wyatt grins. “Trash pandas. I’m going to scoop them up, but them in the sack, and take them to the woods.” I rub the side of my face with the inside of my elbow and look toward him as though he’s lost his mind.
My mouth opens once to question his logic, but then closes again as Cami begins to speak. “I’m going to head out, then. Wyatt looks like he needs space to work.” She leans in to hug me and smiles. “I’ll meet you at five?”
I nod and squeeze her tight. “It’s going to be okay. We’ll all make sure of it.” In a lot of towns, people talk like that, but don’t follow through. In Rugged Mountain, it’s different. We are a force to be reckoned with. Everyone knows everyone and we all have each other’s back. It’s almost a creed for living here.
When Cami is clear out of the shop, Wyatt looks toward me and a gush of energy rushes warm to my belly, just as it does every time I see him. God, I need to get a hold of myself. He’s too old for me, too slow for me, and insane if he thinks he’s going to catch a raccoon in a net.
“Everything okay with Cami?” he asks. “She seems stressed. That’s not like her.”
“Yeah,” I lie, not wanting to tell her business. “We were just making plans for tonight. It’s girls’ night, and we need to blow off some steam.”
“You two should come over to Skully’s. There’s a live band playing. I think it’s half off drinks for the ladies, too. I’m going to be there. That is unless I have to fix a water heater again.”
“Let me guess… you’re fixing it with water balloons and super glue? Because if that’s the case, I see why you’ve had to go back so many times.”
He smirks and twists his baseball cap backward. “Smart ass, I like it. And the water balloons are quite helpful. They give me a place to put all the leaking water.”
How does turning his hat around make him somehow hotter? I look away and shake my head. “Anyway… I think the raccoons are in the attic. I heard something up there when I first got in this morning. I just can’t figure how they’re getting down here or how they got into the attic to begin with.”
Wyatt nods. “They probably got in through the soffits in the roof. They’ll chew their way through an attic and can make their way through the drywall pretty easily. I’ll chase them out of here and block everything back up. It’ll be a little noisy, though. Are you okay with that?”
In an effort to remain as uninterested in him as possible, my tone turns snarky. “Of course. I want them out of the shop.”
He takes it in stride and grins. “Man, someone needs their coffee this morning.”
I glare back at him and cross my arms over my chest. “Let me know if you need help with your net and bag. I’ll be down here looking for a mixer or something else to help you with.”
Smirking, he pulls down the steps to the attic and makes his way up. “You know, you’re going to get yourself in trouble with a mouth like that.”