Brett couldn't stand it. He paced the kitchen floor: it had been three weeks since Terri-Lee had sat at the table and told them about Jesse's offer. Maisey had retreated into herself, not pushing him away but not confiding in him. She'd even asked him to let her sleep alone, despite her nightmares. Andy had prescribed her sleeping pills, but she still thrashed and woke up several times a night. She wasn't sleeping well at all and neither was he.
He had tried talking to her but got nothing, no responses that could be termed responses. He was frustrated and caged. He was starting to resent that he needed to be on hand to watch over her and keep her safe and the resentment made him angry.
It was nearly two in the morning. He was feeling suffocated: he couldn't work on the ranch the way he needed to, keeping to the calf barns and feeding the fawn when Maisey wasn't willing to come outside, but she wouldn't let him help her either. Anna came by almost every day and Addie continued to cook for the ranch, Maisey barely spoke with them and when she did it wasn't with the same joy she'd had before. He didn't understand it. Tony drove into the yard and closed his door softly, careful not to wake Maisey.
"Are you sure about this?" Tony spoke softly.
"I'm going crazy." Brett told him, "I can't keep being her shadow when she doesn't want it, and I can't sit here watching her fall apart--she won't let me help her, I haven't slept all week---I just need to get away for a couple of days."
"And leaving in the middle of the night is a good idea?"
"I'll feel guilty and put it off if she's awake when I try to leave. She won't understand, she'll think I'm abandoning her. But I have to go now, before I lose my mind. I know she's hurting and healing but I'm going insane. The house isn't mine--I don't belong in it except that I have no where else to go--the ranch is mine and I can't even be a part of it because I have to keep babysitting her. I don't know how much more of it I can take. Before she came along I knew what I was doing from one day to the next, now I never know if she's going to even get out of bed and I can't keep putting my life on hold!"
Tony nodded and patted his cousin on the shoulder, recognizing the other man's frustration, "I'll watch after her," Tony told him, "You go get your head on straight."
Maisey was standing in the kitchen, her hands wrapped around her waist, face pale and eyes flashing with the fury she felt when Tony walked in. Brett's truck fired up and left, Tony swore, "What did you overhear?"
"Enough," she snapped, "Get out."
"Now Maisey," Tony closed the door, "You need to know..."
"GET OUT!" she shouted furiously wishing she had something to throw at him and Henry began to growl, coming to stand next to his mistress. Tony had never heard her shout before. "You can tell Brett not to worry about me anymore, that I'll look after my damn self and he can go to hell." Tony tried again but she pointed, "Get out Tony before I call the sheriff and tell him I have a trespasser." She had got her original panic under control and the hurt and sorrow was coming through in her tone.
Hot tears splashed down her cheeks as Maisey stared at the closed door. Henry whined.
Fury coursed through her body and she slammed into the master bedroom to pack. The Bogs was his and she would not keep him from his home, nor would she stay where she was not wanted. She would find a new home, Terri-Lee could help her get the house transfered into Brett's name. Sobs wracked her body as the pain hit her and she realized that despite everything she'd gone through that she loved Brett: knowing he did not feel the same broke her heart.
Dawn crested over the Bogs and Maisey watched it for the last time. She'd cleaned out the fridge, taken out the garbage and locked the doors after loading her truck. She'd been a fool to think she could stay here, that Brett would keep helping her when there was so much risk and uncertainty in what would come next. It had taken less time than she'd thought it would to erase herself from the house. She waved silently at Travis when the man crossed the yard to the barn.
Tony knocked on the door at ten thirty the next day, "Maisey, I need to talk to you," he called.
"She's not here," Travis shaded his eyes from the sun when he saw Tony on the step, "Lit out of here yesterday, about the same time I came to the barns for morning chores." He leaned on the porch rail, "I thought Brett said he was leaving you here while he went away?"
Tony swore and pulled out his phone, "She heard Brett and I talking but I think she only heard part of it." He dialed her number, it went to voicemail: he swore again, "Why didn't you stop her?" Travis raised an eyebrow at him, "She kicked me out and threatened to call Sheriff Curtis." he admitted.
Travis chuckled, "She won't have gone far," he patted the rail, "She loves this house and," he grinned, "she loves him." He turned away, "Frost coming, I need to get back to it or we won't be ready for winter, don't worry, I'm sure she'll be back."
Tony didn't want to call Brett, but he did anyway. It went to voicemail, he cursed and called Sheriff Curtis. "Maisey is missing," he told the man, "she left yesterday, she was upset, no one has seen her or heard from her since."
"Are you kidding?" Curtis sat upright at his desk, "I was just going to call her with the good news about Bandit. Oh, there was a package delivered to the station for Brett, could you let him know and he can pick it up anytime, I'm not sure why it didn't go to his house but it looks like legal documents so maybe they tried and when they couldn't get him they brought it here, I'm not sure. Have you checked with Anna or Andy?"
Tony was having a hard time following the conversation, while he was trying to think of all the places Maisey could have gotten to in a day and a half "Wait, what good news about Bandit?"
"Doc says he'll make a full recovery. The jaw needs to stay wired a little longer but he's sitting up, moving around and they've given him some training on one of these computer things that will make it so he can testify in court next week."
"Next week?" Tony swore, "That happened fast."
"That Terri-Lee has a good reputation as a lawyer," Curtis admitted, "She's very good at her job."
Tony didn't care about Terri-Lee, "Can you have your guys watch for her truck?"
"Truck? I thought she drove a little electric car?"
"What? Not the lawyer, Sheriff, Maisey. We need to find Maisey." Tony was frustrated with the conversation.
For a minute he wondered if she'd left becasue the lawyer had called her, but then remembered that Travis had said she'd left around the same time he'd come into the yard for chores: that was too early for the lawyer to call. The Sherrif was no help, Tony hung up, frustrated. He didn't even have the lawyer's number.
He kicked the wall, Brett was going to be furious and he was going to blame himself if anything happened to her. He threw his hat down on the porch swing and sat with his head in his hands. She'd been through so much and now she was gone, out of reach of their help.
Nothing Brett had said should have made her feel like she needed to leave: the Bogs was her home now, Brett and Ned were family. She was as much a part of the ranch now as he was. She'd been hurt in the past, her future was so tumultuous, and now she was missing. Brett was going to kill him.
He ran his hands through his hair roughly, before putting his head in his hands, he needed to find her.