The Delivery of Decor (Shiloh Ridge Ranch in Three Rivers #7) - Liz Isaacson Page 0,68

swearing, and then looked at his phone. Bear Glover’s name sat there, and the man wouldn’t be calling just to chat. Jeremiah wasn’t even sure Bear knew the meaning of the word chat.

“Bear,” he said, getting out of bed and hurrying toward the door. “What’s goin’ on?”

He pulled it closed behind him as Bear said, “Do you still have that crane? I saw it drivin’ by your place last week. Micah said y’all had rented it to haul in some pavers.”

“Yeah,” Jeremiah padded into the kitchen and looked at the clock. Almost three in the morning. He probably should’ve pulled on some pants before leaving the bedroom, because this didn’t sound like an easy problem to solve.

“We had a landslide here today,” Bear said, and Jeremiah froze.

“You did?”

Bear sighed, and it sounded almost like a growl. “Yeah. We can’t get on or off the ranch. Well, we’ve got someone here who needs some medicine in a real bad way. She should probably go to the hospital too, but we’re not sure how to get her there.”

“Okay,” Jeremiah said, nodding along.

“Her brother is here with the insulin she needs, but we can’t get it from him.”

Jeremiah leaned against the island. “What about that service road up at Rhinehart?”

“Wade’s truck is stuck in the mud. We tried that. It’s impassable until the road dries out.”

“To get there from the west, you’d have to go all the way to Amarillo,” he mused. “And drive back on dirt roads no one knows about.”

“Too long,” Bear said. “So I thought…we need something to extend over the landslide. The back yard of the homestead and Bull House overlooks the road leading around to Preacher’s place. If we could get that crane there, and put the insulin in a bag or envelope or something…maybe it would extend far enough to get it to Ward.”

“It moves real slow,” Jeremiah said, pushing away from the counter. “But I’ll be on my way in five minutes.”

“We’re getting out all the spotlights we’ve got. Brady’s here with Tyson Crockett, and they both brought their cruisers. They have bright lights too.”

“I won’t miss them then,” Jeremiah said. “Who’s diabetic up there?”

“Ward’s new girlfriend,” Bear said. “Dot Crockett?”

“Got it. Give me a few minutes.” Jeremiah ended the call before he went back into the bedroom. He detoured through the bathroom and into the master closet to get dressed, and he took a moment on Whitney’s side of the bed to tell her what he was doing in three sentences.

“Be careful,” she said, sitting up. “Do I need to call anyone?”

“Nope,” Jeremiah said. “I’ll call you when I can.”

She fisted the blankets and nodded, and Jeremiah hurried to grab the keys and get to the crane.

Outside, he found Micah walking at a brisk pace down the lane toward the homestead. His brother lived across the dirt street from the main homestead, in a custom-built house he’d constructed with his bare hands.

“I’m going with you,” he said. “There’s room for two of us in that crane cab, right?”

“Two of us, yes,” Jeremiah said, noting the huge duffel bag Micah carried. “What’s in that?”

“Ropes and carabiners,” he said. “Pulleys. Stakes. Anything else I could think of that could be used to build something to get that insulin across a gulf.” He hefted it onto his shoulder. “I’ll carry it if I have to.”

“Okay,” Jeremiah said. “Let’s go.” He’d parked the crane out in the field next to Micah’s property, and they walked with purpose to reach it. The vehicle had big, round tires, and as Jeremiah got behind the controls of it, he looked down at the speedometer. “Oh, this thing can go fifty miles per hour.”

“Doesn’t mean you should go that fast,” Micah said, stuffing his bag of supplies into the space at his feet. “But let’s go. Apparently, Dot is in bad shape.”

“Did you talk to someone?”

“Bear,” Micah said. “He saw the crane and thought it was mine. I told him that we’d rented it, but you had the keys and he said he’d call you. I tried to tell him I could get them and come, but he was already gone.”

Jeremiah nodded and fought against a yawn. “No problem. They all came to help with the fire. We can give up some sleep for this.”

“I can’t believe they had a landslide. They’re barely up any sort of hill at all.”

Jeremiah pulled the lever toward himself and the crane backed up. It felt like it was swaying forward and back as the motion had