The Stars at Night

by Gerri Hill

  Then her relationship with Cathy turned sour and she knew she needed to end it. When she finally had had enough of Cathy’s jealousy—Cathy had accused her of having an affair with Trish—and told her they were through, an argument escalated to the point of items being thrown against walls. Nearly all her dishes had ended up smashed. A week later, her car was stolen. Since Cathy had a key to it, the police were hesitant to call it “stolen” even when it was found submerged in Town Lake.

  She slowly shook her head. What a hell of a summer it had been. Eight months without a job, six months of dealing with her crazy ex, and then a rapidly dwindling savings account had her on the road to the Davis Mountains, of all places.

  She sighed once again, trying not to think about what she’d left behind. The holidays were her favorite time of year. The group dinner for Thanksgiving had been fun and not nearly as emotional as she’d expected it to be. She hadn’t made a big announcement about her leaving, mainly because she knew most of their attitudes would be like Trish’s had been. Besides, she was going back in January. The dinner, though, kicked off the season every year, and nearly each weekend someone was having a holiday party of some sort. Even though her parents and brother were no longer in Austin, she never felt cheated. Trish and her family included her in all their Christmas activities and then her parents would come for two weeks after the first of the year. It was a pattern that had held true since her parents had owned the lodge.

  But not this year. No. She was going on a trial run. She would have her own room—Mark’s old apartment—rent free. She could eat at the restaurant—also free—or eat with her parents. And she’d get a salary for running the lodge. A small salary, but with free room and board, it was more than she could turn down. At least for now. She’d stay through the holidays. Her lease wasn’t up until the end of January. She had time to consider her options, as limited as they were. She would do as she planned. She’d evaluate her life and her future. She would take a break. She would slow down. She would exhale and give this thing a chance. Keep an open mind.

  Yes, she would. This was a choice she’d made, but it wasn’t written in stone. If, after the New Year, she found herself going totally stir-crazy out here, she’d simply head back to Austin, swallow her pride, and apply for any and every job she qualified for and some she didn’t. She would start over. She was only thirty. She wasn’t that old.

  Before long, the exit for Balmorhea appeared. She felt a little bit of apprehension hit as she turned off the highway. Balmorhea was a tiny desert town whose claim to fame was a spring-fed pool. The San Solomon Springs dumped clean, clear water into the pool and canal that ran through town, supplying farmers in the area with free irrigation. She only knew that because Mark had sent her several links to the area’s attractions for her to check out. The Balmorhea pool was about twenty miles from Ft. Davis. Which was about five miles from the state park and lodge. Which was in the middle of nowhere.

  “This is so crazy.”

  Chapter Six

  Kyler rushed over when she saw Susan Walton struggling with the fifty-pound bag of birdseed.

  “Let me help.”

  “Oh, Kyler, you’re a godsend.”

  “I told you to call me when the feeders need filling. I talked you into this bird garden. The least I can do is help.”

  Susan waved her protest away. “You have your own job and own bird feeders to tend to.” She paused to rest. “The feeders seem to empty every other day now.”

  “The winter birds are here. They’re going through the suet like crazy.”

  “Oh, yes. Thank you for those suet feeders you brought over. The guests love them. So unique. Of course, the birds do too.”

  “Thank you.”

  She’d made two for the park. She’d found a dead-standing juniper tree that had fallen along Limpia Creek. She and Todd had taken the chainsaw with them to move it and she’d salvaged several slabs. She’d drilled diagonal holes on both sides and then—with a paint scraper—shoved suet into the holes. She’d hung the feeders among the trees in the bird blinds and the birds loved it. So she’d gone back to the tree and cut a couple more slabs and had given them to Susan as a gift.

  She lifted the birdseed bag now, storing it in the garage where Susan kept her bins and other supplies. “I can fill them for you. I don’t mind.”

  Susan patted her arm. “You secretly love it, don’t you?”

  “Don’t tell anyone. Especially Mark, but yeah, I’ve kinda gotten into the birding thing.”

  She laughed. “Yes, Mark would tease you, I’m certain of it. Well, if you’re sure you don’t mind, I think I will take you up on your offer. I have a million things to do still. Lexie should be here within the hour. Are you coming for dinner?”

  “Oh, I don’t know. I’m sure you guys want some family time.”

  “Don’t be silly. You’re family too. Besides, I can’t wait for you to meet Lexie.”

  She held her hand up. “Look, I already told Mark and I’ll tell you—do not try to set us up. I am not interested, so don’t even think about it.”

  “Set you up?” Susan laughed again. “I wouldn’t dream of it. You and Lexie are complete opposites. That would never work. I was going to ask, however, if maybe you could try to draw her out some, show her around the park. She’s coming up here with a closed mind, I just know it. If she would give it a chance, I think she could learn to love it up here.” She pointed at her. “Look at you. When you first came here, you were—”

  “It was culture shock.”

  “Exactly! I think for the first six months, you threatened to leave nearly once a week.”

  Kyler laughed at the memory. “Yeah, I did.”

  “But now you love it.”

  “I wouldn’t think of leaving.”

  “See? Maybe you could make friends with her, show her around.” She moved closer and linked arms with her. “She thinks she’s moving into the middle of nowhere—which she is—and will go batshit crazy—her words, not mine. So maybe you could show her around, take her places.” Her eyes widened. “What about taking her down to Big Bend?”

  “Is she into hiking?”

  “No, I don’t think so. So Big Bend is out.”

  “I could take her to see the Marfa lights,” she suggested.

  “Oh, yes! If they show themselves. The last two times we’ve gone—nothing.”

  “I’ve seen them three or four times.”

  Susan squeezed her shoulder. “You have? Great! You have luck then! Plan on taking her there.”

  “McDonald Observatory? Is she into stars?”

  Susan’s brows drew together. “I don’t know. I’m going to guess not. But up here, the stars are—”

  “Incredible. The observatory is best in January, after the holiday crowds are gone. I’ve got a little telescope. If she’s interested, I could set it up for her one night.”

  “You’re so sweet, Kyler. I knew I could count on you.” She leaned closer and kissed her cheek. “Dinner is at seven, as usual. Nothing fancy—a casserole. Just need to pop it in the oven. After the big Thanksgiving meal yesterday, I wasn’t up for cooking.” She turned, then stopped. “We’re decorating for Christmas too, you know.”

  “Yeah, I noticed you’d already started on the lodge.”

  “That’s an all-day affair that I’ll tackle over the weekend. But we’ll be trimming the tree at our place, so plan to stay after dinner, won’t you?”

  She nodded. “You know I love doing that.”

  “I know you do. Good family time.” Then Susan’s expression softened. “I wish your parents—”

  “It’s okay, Susan. This isn’t their thing, up here. I’ve accepted it.”

  Susan stared at her a beat longer, then leaned closer and kissed her cheek once again, then left her.

  Kyler smiled as she scooped birdseed into the bucket. Yeah, she loved it up here. The Waltons always made her feel like part of a family. Even that very first year, they’d included her during
the holidays.

  Her smile faltered a little. Her own family had made the effort to come see her exactly one time. They weren’t into camping, so she’d booked a room here at the lodge for them. Unfortunately, to her mother that was only a very tiny notch above what she perceived camping to be. Their planned weeklong visit lasted four days. They hadn’t been back since and she hadn’t been to Houston to see them either. She frowned. Actually, the whole time she worked on Mustang Island, they’d come to visit her only once too. A quick overnight stay—at an expensive hotel in Corpus with a view of the bay. They had treated her to a fancy dinner, though.

  Her parents were both from the city, both well educated, both in the medical profession. Her mother was a doctor, her father a pharmacist. Her becoming a park ranger was probably the farthest thing from their minds when they were planning her future. Hers too, for that matter. She’d been a biology major with aspirations of medical school. Her mother had been thrilled, of course. But she’d switched to environmental sciences after one year, still not knowing what she wanted to do. A college buddy had put the idea of working as a park ranger in her head and the more she researched it, the more she fell in love with the idea.

  Her parents had never warmed to it, to say the least, and their focus had turned to her younger sister. Kinley hadn’t disappointed them. She’d zipped through college and gone on to med school in the blink of an eye. She’d married a nice man, ten years her senior. He, too, was a doctor. They had a family practice in The Woodlands, north of Houston. Kinley juggled all of that and a baby. A girl. Her parents were beyond proud. Kyler supposed she was nothing more than an afterthought now. They had their perfect little world down there, a world that Kyler simply didn’t fit into.

  It didn’t matter. As she’d told Susan, she’d accepted the relationship she had with her parents. She was happy up here. Maybe if she’d stayed at the coast—a couple of hours from Houston—she and her parents would be closer. Maybe. But she wasn’t at the coast, was she?

  She thought back to the reason she was even up here in the first place. Damn stupid thing to do. But she’d been lonely and Tina had been really, really persuasive.

  “And married, let’s don’t forget,” she muttered as she filled the first feeder.

  Oh, yeah. Married to her boss. Their affair was uncovered a mere two months after it started. And then she was basically screwed. Bart had wanted to fire her on the spot. He had no cause, though. Well, no work-related one. He’d made her life hell for three weeks instead. She got all the shitty jobs. Then he’d offered a compromise. Transfer out, somewhere far, far away. Or quit. Or be stuck with the shitty jobs until she broke…and quit anyway.

  His idea of far, far away had been different than hers. She’d applied at parks within a few hours’ drive. He refused to give her an endorsement. He sent her an email a few days later telling her he’d given a glowing recommendation to Jim Turner, the superintendent at Davis Mountains State Park. Seeing the writing on the wall, two weeks after that she’d packed her Jeep and made the trip out, her first and only venture to far West Texas.

  She paused as two white-winged doves landed under one of the hanging feeders. She listened, hearing the chatter of the tiny bushtits in the trees as they foraged for spiders and insects. She’d learned to recognize other bird sounds as well: the black-crested titmouse, the mountain chickadee, the house finches. The trees seemed to be full of birds, as if they were all waiting for her to fill the feeders and then get out of their way. She smiled contentedly, feeling a peacefulness settle over her. Yeah, she’d had a bumpy road to get out here, but she’d fallen in love with the place as surely as Mark and his family had. It was home now.

  Her mother had told her—after they’d come for their one short visit—that she wouldn’t last a year. Who in their right mind would want to live in such a remote place? she’d asked. Maybe it was only defiance on her part, but Kyler had wanted to prove her mother wrong. Now? It was that very remoteness that drew her. The wide-open spaces. The quiet. Dark, dark skies that offered an unparalleled view of the stars at night. The dry air, the cool breeze—and, yeah, the birds and wildlife. She’d grown to love it all.

  She moved on, chasing the doves away as she lifted the feeder from the hook. She refilled it quickly, then hung it again. She went about the chore absentmindedly, filling all seven feeders to the brim. The suet feeders still had enough to last the day, so she’d let Susan tend to them tomorrow. She hauled the bucket back to the bin and latched it, turning to watch as the two doves returned, joined by a group of chipping sparrows.

  She was still smiling as she walked away. It wasn’t so bad being a birder. There were worse hobbies to be had.

  Chapter Seven

  Lexie paused at the intersection, glancing quickly at her GPS, making sure she was still on track. Left would take her into the tiny town of Ft. Davis. Right would take her up the mountain to the lodge. There was no traffic behind her—she hadn’t seen another vehicle since she’d left Balmorhea. She peeked around the curve to the left, seeing a few buildings that seemed to indicate that there was indeed a town there amongst the rocks and the smattering of trees.

  “Yes. Population twelve hundred. I’ve lost my damn mind coming here.”

  With a sigh, she turned to the right, winding her way around the mountain, steadily climbing. The terrain changed suddenly. Rocks—boulders really—lined the edges of the roadway and trees similar to the cedars she knew from Austin took hold, replacing the barren landscape she’d just traveled through. She had to admit, it was quite pretty. Of course, after where she’d just been, any sort of tree would be pretty.

  Three miles up, she saw the sign for the state park. She automatically slowed, glancing to the left at the entrance, then sped up again. Her mother said the lodge entrance was three miles past the park. A lovely, hand-painted sign—she knew that because her mother had told her so—directed her to turn left for Cottonwood Creek Lodge. The trees seemed thicker now and she saw no indication that the lodge was nearby. She kept going, minding the “slow down” sign as the road curved to the right, then cut through the trees again. Up ahead she saw the reflection of cars in a parking lot and finally she came to a clearing and got her first view of the two-story lodge. Off-white adobe siding with natural log beams, it blended in beautifully with the landscape.

  She followed the signs to the office, remembering her mother said to park up front instead of going around back to where the little apartment was. She got out, feeling a bit of excitement hit her at the prospect of seeing her parents again. And Mark, of course. She’d missed them all. The wind wasn’t nearly as blustery up here and she assumed the trees helped to temper it. She didn’t bother with her jacket as the bright sunshine seemed to warm the air. The sweatshirt she’d slipped on in Ft. Stockton was enough.

  “Home sweet home,” she whispered under her breath as she made her way up the rock steps to the office. It, too, was two-stories tall, with the office downstairs and her parents’ living quarters upstairs. She paused, seeing her mother tidying the front counter. She recognized the nervousness of her actions and she smiled, feeling a rush of something—relief, maybe?—at the sight. The tension she’d felt from the drive out here, the stress of being unemployed, and the constant worrying over her future all seemed to fade away as she watched her mother. She smiled—yes, it was relief—and tapped on the glass. Her mother looked up sharply, then grinned at her before rushing over.

  The door was jerked open and she found herself in a tight hug, being bent side-to-side by her mother’s exuberance. She held on to her, still smiling, knowing her mother would release her when she saw fit.

  “You made it finally!” Her mother held her at arm’s length. “Oh, my. You look lovely, Lexie.” She touched her hair. “You’ve let it grow. And wasn’t it blond when we saw you in January?”

  “It was. I got tired of coloring it.” The reality was, she’d skipped her last two appointments because she couldn’t justify the cost. “Do you l
ike it?”

  “I love it. You look like you with your light brown hair again.” She hugged her once more. “So good to see you, honey.”

  “Good to see you too, Mom. I’ve missed you.”

  “We’re so happy you’re here. We haven’t all spent the holidays together in forever. How long has it been?”

  “This would have been seven years.”

  “Can’t believe we’ve been here that long already.” She stepped back. “Come in, come in. This is the office, obviously.”

  She looked around, seeing a neat and tidy desk behind the check-in counter. A rack of brochures was next to the wall and a cute wooden bear—chainsaw art, she guessed—stood guard. On one side wall were shelves selling T-shirts and books, coffee mugs, and other trinkets.

  “Where’s Dad?”

  “Tinkering with one of the hot water heaters last I saw him.” Her mother drew her behind the counter and motioned to a chair. “You want some coffee?”

  “It’s four o’clock in the afternoon. I’m way past coffee.”

  “You and your brother are just alike. I swear, he won’t touch the stuff after ten. Me? I drink it all day long.” She was about to pour a cup, then stopped. “Do you want to see your apartment? Unpack a few things? Relax for a bit?”

  Her mother seemed nervous and fidgety and that surprised her. “What’s your plan?”

  “Well, Mark said I was to bring you over as soon as you got here. He’s anxious to see you, obviously. Nothing fancy for dinner. After yesterday’s big meal, I was all cooked out. Just a simple casserole. We’ll trim the tree tonight and celebrate you being here.” She paused. “Oh, and our friend Kyler will join us too.”