Dark River Road Read Online Free PDF Page B

balancing it lightly. “It’s not easy to take on feedin’ a pup, Chantry. And Rainey most likely won’t thank you.”
    “I’m not doing it for Rainey.”
    Dempsey nodded. “All right. Think Rainey’ll pay for the milk?”
    Probably not. Chantry chewed his bottom lip a minute, then looked up. “Got any extra work I can do?”
    “Sure. Be at the end of the street by six in the mornin’. Bring heavy gloves. We got a lot of diggin’ to do.”
    Chantry was right about Rainey not wanting to pay for milk. When he took Belle out some of the cheap food Rainey’d brought home for her that afternoon, Beau and Rafe were out there too, looking at the pups.
    “Might just as well drown that li’l un,” Beau said. “It ain’t gonna live anyway.”
    Chantry set the pan of food down carefully and looked up at Rainey. He was nodding his head like he agreed.
    “And lose three hundred dollars?” Chantry said as if surprised, but he felt all tight inside.
    “Huh,” Rafe said, “lose that much just tryin’ to keep it alive. Cut losses, I say.”
    Rainey nudged the tiny pup with his boot toe. It made a weak sound and barely moved. “Yeah. It ain’t gonna make it.”
    “Yes, it will.” Chantry stepped forward to put himself between Rainey and the pup. “I’ll help.”
    Beau gave him a funny look, kinda surprised and suspicious all at once. He was near as big as Rainey but more solid, thick through the shoulders and just as freckled, big splotches across his square-jawed face. Rafe was taller, not as brawny, with close-set eyes in a thin face. Both of them looked at him like he’d just said something really stupid.
    “What you wanna go and do that for?” Beau asked. “You think you’re gonna get the money for it?”
    “No. Nothin’ like that. I  . . . it just seems like a waste to not try to save it. Won’t cost much to feed it a little extra. I’ll make sure it gets it. Hate to lose that three hundred dollars.”
    It was the thought of the three hundred dollars that finally swayed Rainey, as Chantry had hoped it would.
    He gave him a narrow look but nodded. “You can try, but I ain’t wastin’ a lot of time or money on it. And don’t be thinkin’ you’ll get to keep it if it lives, neither. I’ll sell it first if I can.”
    “I don’t. Won’t. It’s okay.” He put his head down so none of them would see his relief. It didn’t matter if the dog got sold as much as it mattered that it had a chance at living.
    Beau gave him a shove that almost knocked him into the pups. “Candy ass.”
    He didn’t care. He let it pass without saying anything. It wouldn’t do any good anyway. Not with Rainey standing there watching and listening. He’d only laugh like he usually did when Beau and Rafe ganged up on him. He liked to brag about how well his boys were doing, making good money as rod busters, buying new trucks and giving him money sometimes. Chantry thought they probably spent more than they made, but that wasn’t his concern.
    He’d already mixed up the bitch’s milk just like the directions said, and when they all left to spend father-son quality time over at the Tap Room, he took it out to the pen.
    “Come here, little bit,” he murmured to the tiny pup, and lifted it in his hand. The pink mouth nuzzled his palm. He remembered what Mama had called it. It did look almost like a shadow, a bare whisper of life. “Come on, little Shadow. Let’s get you fat.”
    He took a soft rag and dipped it into the milk, then let the pup suck at it. It wasn’t the best substitute, but all he could manage for the moment. He just felt so big and clumsy and the pup felt so small. He tried squeezing milk into the little mouth but that didn’t seem to work well either.
    “That ain’t gonna work, Chantry.”
    When he looked up, Tansy knelt beside the pen. She grinned at him. “Daddy sent me down with this. I used to use it to feed my dolls.” She held up a small plastic bottle, waggling it between her thumb