we’ll wait. Sorry to get you into this. I’m sure you have better things to do.”
“Not really. Not until some of this snow has melted. We’re in the middle of the tree season right now. But I don’t expect many people to be out today looking for a Christmas tree.”
He went on to talk about how the business had changed since he was a kid. Matthew ran his tree farm with his brother, Tom. “My mom has retired from it. She watches my son for me while I’m working.”
“Oh. You have a son? How old is he?”
“He just turned five this year. His name is Peter.”
“Does your wife work in town?”
“I don’t know.” He glanced away as he answered. “We haven’t seen her since Peter was born.”
“I’m sorry. It’s good you could be there for him.” She wished she wouldn’t have asked.
“Where else would I be? Mara didn’t want Peter, but I persuaded her not to get rid of him. As soon as he was born, she was gone. We weren’t married. It was an accident. Not a pleasant one for her.”
That hit a little close to Bonnie’s heart, and she stopped asking questions. It was hard to sit around with someone and not talk about their lives.
As if he could sense the truth about why she’d left Christmas Tree Valley, he asked, “What about you? Any kids? Married? Why did you leave the valley?”
She wished she could get out of the truck and walk away, but the situation didn’t allow for that. “No kids. No husband. I was young and looking for something else, I guess.”
“Something you found in Alabama that you couldn’t find here,” he guessed. “Until now. And still, only the most dire circumstances bring you back.”
“I visit every year. It’s not like I haven’t seen my family in ten years.
“Yeah. I get that.”
The sun played through the tree tops above them as the sky slowly turned blue. The ice on the trees looked like a diamond glaze that sparkled and shone with prisms of light. It wasn’t long before the heavy snow on the branches above them started falling on top of the truck.
“It never takes long,” Matthew finally said. They’d been quiet for a while, each lost in their own thoughts. “Most of this will be gone by tonight.”
She laughed. “Just in time for everything to freeze again when the sun goes down. I haven’t been gone that long.”
John Trump pulled up in a jeep. Just as Matthew got out to talk to him, Bonnie got a call from her brother.
“I’m going to miss my plane if you don’t get here soon,” Eric said in an irritated tone.
“You told me it was okay to leave Mom alone for a while each day while I’m working,” she answered. “Get on your plane. I’ll be there as soon as I can. Some things came up when I got to Sweet Pepper, worse things than the snow and ice.”
“Look, this is a great opportunity for me. You’ve already wasted your life. I shouldn’t have to waste mine too.”
This was the way their conversations always sounded. Eric resented her for leaving the valley but had still chosen to stay, even before their mother got sick. Bonnie felt guilty that he’d always been there for her mother and put up with his annoying tone.
“I’m not saying you should waste your life. I’m stuck here right now. I’ll be there as soon as I can.”
His end of the phone went dead. She knew the conversation was over. Matthew had opened the driver’s side door as she’d finished speaking, so both he and John Trump had heard the last of her heated words to her brother.
“We found some tracks going from the back of the ice house,” Matthew said without mentioning her phone call. “John wants me to help him follow them in case it’s the person who took Harvey.”
“If you have somewhere you need to be,” John said, “take my jeep. We can trade cars later. I’ll come back with him.”
Bonnie stepped out of the truck. “I’ll go with you. I found Harvey, and I owe it to him. I’m sure the Wildlife Agency would want me out