Page 35 of Better Off Wed
Gideon followed me as I gave the geese a wide berth—devil creatures, as far as I was concerned—and started with the dog. He looked like a collie crossed with something big. A lab, maybe. He had dark fur with gray eyebrows, floppy ears, and a whipcord tail that wagged violently. He came panting up to the fence and put his paws up on the edge of it, aggressively happy to see us. The whole pen tilted as he did, and Gideon leaned against the wire frame to stop it from toppling.
“Hey, boy,” I said, scratching the dog behind the ears. “Aren’t you gorgeous?”
Gideon reached over to pet the dog, making clicking noises with his tongue and grinning when the dog licked his fingers.
An older man walked up to us, wearing faded jeans and an old T-shirt. “Still a soft touch with animals, eh, Gid?”
“Can’t beat a loyal dog,” Gideon replied, then nodded at me. “Sadie, this is my uncle Walter.”
“Congratulations,” Walter replied, and I recognized him as the snoring mustachioed man at the wedding.
“Thank you. I haven’t seen you at Etta’s Sunday lunches.”
“Too busy with the animals,” Walter said. “And too many people at them lunches. Mom doesn’t care that I don’t go as long as I show up for the important things.”
Gideon grunted, and I went back to petting the dog. “Etta is your mother?”
Walter nodded. “Me, then Angela, Susan, Peter, Mark, and then Jennifer.”
I’d met everyone but Mark. I guessed that was Gideon’s late father. I was starting to make sense of the family connections. “I see. You’re the eldest. Do you have any kids?”
“Sure do. Two boys and a girl. Their mother took them away when we split, but they come and visit often enough now that they’re all grown up.”
“Hard to keep people in this town,” Gideon replied, and it had the sound of an old, familiar line. How many people had they seen come and go? Was that why Gideon was so sure I wouldn’t want to stay?
Walter made a noise in agreement. “Mom’s gotten some crazy ideas in the past, but this is a new one,” he said, nodding at me. “But you’ve lasted two weeks, so you might last two more.”
“I actually really like it here,” I said, oddly offended.
Walter just laughed. “Can’t say that until you’ve had a winter here.”
Gideon grunted. “You coming to Grandma’s birthday party?”
“That, I can’t miss,” Walter said, and he laughed. “See you both there?”
Gideon nodded, and when Walter went to chat with someone else, I asked about the birthday party. “She’s turning ninety next week,” he told me.
“Do I need to get her a present?” I asked, looking around a little frantically. There weren’t even any knick-knacks at this terrible fair.
Gideon just smiled. “No. As long as we go, she’ll be happy.”
I nodded, gave the dog one last pat, then moved to the next pen. The llama looked a little angry, so I just gave it a tentative smile and went to the goat. It munched on the grass in its pen, then hopped up onto a bucket and bleated. I jumped back, startled, and laughed. Gideon chuckled beside me.
A moment later, the llama made a noise, and a stream of spit came flying toward me. I screamed, throwing my hand up too late, and stumbled sideways. Gideon tried to reach for me, but he bumped the goat’s pen. The goat leaped from the bucket, jumped the divider, and landed between the two geese.
Covered in llama spit, I watched as the geese began to honk with fury.
“Oh, my God,” I said, a moment before the goat panicked and leaped toward the pen’s wire fence. I saw its hooves, the whites of its eyes, and its little horns, and then the whole pen collapsed and the goat made a run for it.
Leaving me standing four feet away from the devil creatures.
The closest goose’s neck extended toward me, and a loud honk came blaring out of its beak. Its wings spread and started beating, sending flutters of goose-scented wind toward me. I screamed.
Gideon tried to put himself between me and danger, butone big, brawny man was nothing against two angry geese. Walter came hobbling toward us, but it was too late. The lead goose bit Gideon on the thigh, and he swore.
“Run!” I screamed.
Gideon ripped his pants out of the goose’s beak, picked me up around the waist, and threw me over his shoulder. And then he ran.
