Summer Days (Fool's Gold #7)(70)

The woman rolled her eyes. “Fine. Just stay out of my way. I got here first.”

“By about one minute.”

Heidi stepped around Rafe. “If you’ll excuse me, I need to see to the reporters.”

He watched her walk away. When he was alone, he pulled his cell phone out of his pocket and scrolled until he found Dante’s number.

“You won’t believe what’s happening,” he said, when his friend had answered. “We have cave paintings.”

He explained about the reporters and the potential issue of “sacred” ground. When he was finished, Dante began to laugh.

“You have to admire her originality,” Dante told him.

“The hell I do. We have a problem and it has to be fixed.”

* * *

MORE MEDIA TRUCKS ARRIVED. Over the next couple of days, reporters swarmed, their cameras and lights littering the yard. Heidi set up a small stand to sell her cheese, while May charged two dollars for bottles of water and soda.

Rafe avoided the women in his life. He decided this was a fine time to go back to San Francisco. He could deal with his pressing business problems, sign some paperwork and figure out his next move.

Now, in his office, he waited for a sense of rightness to fill him. For the calm to take over—calm being a relative term. He was in a suit, behind a computer. All should have been right with the world.

“What?” Dante asked, leaning back in his chair, looking almost hurt. “Those are the best terms ever. I worked my ass off for them.”

“Sorry, what?” Rafe glanced at the file in front of him. “Oh, right. Great job.”

His friend clutched his chest. “Hold on. That was so emotionally meaningful, I think I need a tissue.”

Rafe got up, walked to the floor-to-ceiling window and looked out at the bay. It was one of those perfect days, with clear skies and the sun glinting off the water. The city at her best.

“It’s not you,” he muttered.

Dante chuckled. “We’re not dating, Rafe. It’s never gonna be me. You still have your head up your ass.”

Rafe faced his partner. “I what?”

“You heard me. If not your ass, then it’s back in Fool’s Gold. You’re no good to me like this.”

“I’m fine.”

“You’re distracted. You’re pissed because she surprised you, and you don’t like that.”

“She’s cheating.”

“She’s working outside the box. You should admire that.”

Rafe turned back to Dante. “I thought she trusted me. I thought we were…”

Dante raised his eyebrows. “Involved?” He swore. “Do not tell me you’re sleeping with her.”

“It’s not like that.”

But it was exactly like that.

Rafe still couldn’t pin down what was wrong. He was pissed—that was a given. What he couldn’t understand was why Heidi had done it. And why her actions bothered him so much.

“I’m going back,” he said, grabbing his suit jacket from the back of his chair.

“Color me surprised.”

“I’ll call you.”

“They all say that, and they never do.”

Rafe didn’t bother changing. He just got in his car and headed east. When he finally drove onto the ranch, it was to find yet another truck by the barn. Only this one wasn’t from any media outlet, and what was slowly backing out of the trailer had him as openmouthed as any cartoon character.

“What the—”

“You see it, too, then,” Heidi said coming up beside him. “I thought maybe I had brain damage from the flu.”

He turned to stare at her, taking in the green eyes, the full mouth, the return of the goat girl braids. Pleasure welled up inside him. Pleasure and need. He wanted to grab her and kiss her, then maybe shake some sense into her.

“Are you going to tell me what’s happening?” he asked.

“I don’t know, either.”

He returned his attention to the elephant backing out of the trailer.

“Any chance that’s a rental?” he asked.

His mother burst out of the house. “She’s here. Look at her. Isn’t she beautiful?” She came to a stop beside him.

Rafe watched the incredibly huge creature come to rest beside the barn.

“It’s an elephant, Mom.”

“I know. I’ve always wanted one.”

Heidi shook her head. “You’re impressive, May. You know how to do things in a big way. I’m thinking Dr. McKenzie is going to have to read up on elephants.”

“Our vet is a smart man. He’ll figure it out.”

Rafe wondered if the vet would want to have his mother checked out by local mental health professionals.

“You know where you’re going to put her?” he asked.

“Of course. While you were gone, I had a shelter built.”

He nodded, feeling as if he was trying to empty the ocean with a teaspoon.

“I’m going to guess elephants are expensive.”

“Yes, they are. Even when they’re old.”

“So there was paperwork and I probably signed it.”

His mother leaned her head on his shoulder. “You did.”