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Cowboy Take Me Away(162)

By:Lorelei James


“Mr. McKay. Time’s up.”

“Come back to me. I’m right here. Where I’ve always been, where I’ll always be. I love you. Please. Come back to me.”

Punched a nun? Socked a priest? Really Carson?

Carolyn hadn’t strayed far from the last time he’d visited—or maybe she had and she just didn’t know it. But it seemed as if she’d been right there this time, hearing every word from the moment he started to speak. And she felt that pang of separation as acutely as he did.

I want out of here. Please. Let me go. Find a way to bring me back.

But whenever she fought against the darkness it enveloped her more quickly.

She batted aside the cobwebs in her mind, focusing on the memory until the thread appeared that led her straight to the phone call that started it all…

“Mrs. McKay?”

“Yes. Who is this?”

“This is Sister Grace from the Holy Rosary Church Camp in Grass Springs.”

Her heart about stopped. “Has something happened to Keely?”

“No, she’s fine, considering. She’s…”

Carolyn waited for the nun to stutter out the issue.

“Directly to the point, your daughter has become a bit of a discipline problem.”

Not exactly a newsflash. In the past two years, Keely resented going to church camp, even when she attended with her cousin Ramona, who she didn’t get to see often. But Carolyn had warned her to suck it up; it was only fourteen days out of her summer. “Is Keely playing pranks again this year?”

“Not to my knowledge.”

Carolyn didn’t want to ask, but at age fifteen, Keely was already turning male heads. “Has she been visiting the boys’ cabins? Because I’ll remind you that she does have five older brothers and a dozen male cousins, so she tends to prefer the company of boys to girls.”

“Mrs. McKay, that is not the problem either.”

“Then please tell me what my daughter has done to earn the discipline problem phone call.”

“She started a fight with not one, but two other girl campers. A fist fight,” Sister Grace clarified.

“Good Lord.” Carolyn bit her lip to stop from asking how bad the other girls’ injuries were because Keely knew how to throw a punch, take a punch, and had no qualms about using her fists to get her point across.

Just like her father.

Or just like you.

It shouldn’t have been a point of pride for Carolyn that her daughter never backed down from a fight—yet it was. Not that she’d ever admit that to anyone. “Was Keely injured?”

“Not as much as the other girls.” She paused. “In light of this latest infraction…we’re requesting that you come to camp and pick your daughter up.”

She froze. “Excuse me? You’re kicking Keely out of church camp?”

“Are you fuckin’ serious?” Carson said behind her. “That girl is givin’ me a goddamned ulcer.”

Carolyn whirled around and glared at him.

“I’m sure you understand our decision. We cannot tolerate that type of behavior at a church camp where young people are supposed to be learning to exhibit Christian behavior and live lives of kindness and compassion.”

“While I understand your reasoning, I’m just as interested to know what provoked my daughter into that type of reaction. Because she only comes out swinging when she’s backed into a corner or if a member of her family is threatened.”

Silence.

Which meant there was more to this incident than her hot-headed daughter just hauling off and slugging someone. “Sister Grace? What aren’t you telling me?”

“We’ve gotten a statement from two other campers about how the situation started—but the statements are conflicting. And the parents of the girls your daughter attacked are demanding that Keely be removed from camp.”

“I can drive up there today and get her,” Carson offered. “I always thought makin’ her go to church camp was punishment anyway.”

“Hush,” she hissed at him.

“Excuse me?” Sister Grace said.

“Sorry, Sister, I was talking to a yapping dog.”

Carson grinned and let loose a howl.

Not funny, she mouthed at him. “Am I correct in assuming the other girls involved in the altercation are also being sent home?”

“No, since your daughter was the instigator—”

“Did Keely admit she started the fight?” Carolyn demanded.

“Well, no.”

“So my daughter just got caught fighting with the other two girls. All you have is those girls’ word that Keely started it, and I’ll bet one of those conflicting reports you mentioned, backed Keely’s version of events, didn’t it?”