by Forsaken
He must have sensed her watching, because his gaze came up. She held her breath, for no reason except that she didn’t want him to think she was spying on him. Standing under the pines in the dark, she didn’t think he could see her.
Evidently, she’d been right because he went back to what he was doing, then closed the pickup door and headed upstairs to the apartment over the store. This time he didn’t lock the pickup.
* * *
FROM HER SPOT in his old recliner, Bethany watched her husband pack. He was meeting the men early in the morning up the Boulder for the hike over the mountains into Yellowstone Park.
“How long do you think it will take you to reach Hellroaring Ranger Cabin?” she asked.
“Depends on how bad of shape these guys are in,” he said without looking up.
“I still don’t understand why they want to make this hike, especially this time of year. Didn’t I hear there is supposed to be a storm coming in up in the mountains?”
When Clete glanced up, he was wearing his irritated expression again. “I don’t really care what their reasons are. Remember? I’m not doing this for the fun of it, okay?”
She remembered. She clamped her mouth shut, nodded and was glad when he went back to his packing. He didn’t need to remind her that, while the bar was doing all right, it would be harder to support them since she would no longer be working as a waitress at the Branding Iron Café. She’d been working there since she was fifteen and hoped she’d never have to go back.
“Did I tell you that my aunt is going to teach me how to sew?” He didn’t answer. “I was thinking I would make all of the baby’s clothes except for jeans. But he won’t need those for a while.”
“My son won’t have to wear homemade clothes,” Clete said as he swung the pack up from the floor. “I’ll do whatever I have to do to make sure of it.”
She hated when he got his back up like that. He hadn’t been any poorer than she and her family had been. People in this part of Montana lived conservatively. If they had money, they didn’t waste it or show it off. Except in the case of W. T. Grant, she thought. He’d built himself a mansion and become the laughingstock of the community. Not to speak ill of the dead, she quickly reminded herself.
But it wasn’t until Clete had gone off to college that he’d become obsessed with the haves and have-nots. Before that she didn’t remember him being so sensitive about money.
“It’s all going to be fine, you know,” she said before he banged out of the house to go load their SUV. She tried not to worry. Clete knew those mountains. But did he really know those men he would be taking with him?
* * *
ON THE TWENTY-MILE ride to Big Timber, Nettie and J.D. talked about the old days. They had the pickup windows down, the spring night blowing in. It made Nettie feel like a kid again.
At dinner at the Grand Hotel on the main drag, J.D. amused her with stories about his adventures away from Beartooth. She knew most weren’t true or at least were highly exaggerated, but she didn’t care. She felt as if she’d been in cold storage for years. She found herself laughing and enjoying herself for the first time in a very long while.
“I’ve missed you,” she said after they’d ordered dessert. “Why have you stayed away so long?” It was on the tip of her tongue to ask the obvious question: And why have you really come back now? But she didn’t.
She didn’t want to spoil the moment, and she feared that that the question would ruin the whole night. J.D. seemed determined to put his day behind him, whatever had gone on. She couldn’t help thinking of the pile of dirty rags she’d seen him discard.
When she’d gotten into his pickup, there’d been an odd smell. He must have seen her expression because he’d apologized, saying he’d hit a skunk on the way back to the apartment. It didn’t smell like any skunk she’d run across, but what did she know.
“So have you heard any more about that missing sheepherder?” he asked.
“Just that the new deputy has gone up there with Maddie Conner. The ranchers at the Branding Iron this morning got a good laugh out of that. The new deputy is from back East, and Maddie is a force of nature.”
“There’s a storm blowing in up there,” J.D. said. “I would think they’d have to turn back.”
Nettie shook her head and realized he was just making small talk as if a little nervous. She knew the feeling. This felt like a real date, and she couldn’t remember the last one she’d been on.
“I think I heard they left right away. They should be up there by now.” She took a sip of her wine, afraid it would go to her head. “So you never married. Weren’t you ever tempted?”
J.D. smiled and reached across the table to cover her hand. “You were the only woman who ever tempted me.”
She scoffed.
“I was crazy about you all those years ago, don’t you know?”
She shook her head, but in truth, she did remember J.D. following her around, always trying to get her attention.
“I was so jealous of Frank. Everyone knew even all those years ago that he’d stolen your heart.”
She laughed off his words as casually as she could, but just the mention of Frank’s name made her pull back her hand. She regretted it at once. Why was she waiting around for Frank? He must think her a complete fool.
She finished her wine and felt her toes begin to tingle. The dark booth felt too intimate, the tiny twinkling lights hanging from the old tin ceiling too romantic. The place, the night, this moment felt magical as if it had captured her and taken her far away from her real life to a fantasy one where she was young again and beautiful and...desired.
“You never even gave me a chance back then,” J.D. said.
“You were just a boy.”
“Three years younger than you. Doesn’t matter now. We’re both adults.”
That made her laugh. “In our fifties, I’d say we were adults.”
“Not too late.”
Nettie shook her head. “J.D.—”
“What did happen with you and Frank?” he asked as he poured her more wine. “That is, if you don’t mind me asking.”
Nothing. “I married Bob.” She shrugged as if that covered it. “A while after that Frank married Pam Chandler. She wasn’t from around here. The marriage didn’t last.” She shrugged again. “They have a teenage daughter who is...scary.”
“So your husband, Bob—”
“We’re in the process of getting a divorce. He lives in Arizona.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be. Bob and I never...” She searched for the right word. “Clicked.”
J.D.’s gaze softened. “You deserve some happiness, Nettie.”
She felt tears blur her eyes for a moment. “What about you?” she asked to fill the uncomfortable silence. “Have you found happiness?”
“I never stayed in one place long enough to even look for it,” he said with a laugh.
“But you’re back now.”
He nodded thoughtfully.
“You aren’t staying, are you?”
His gaze met hers, and a smile turned up the corners of his lips. “I don’t know yet. I’m certainly tempted.”
Her heart began to beat a little faster at the look he gave her. She drew away first, feeling guilty as if she were cheating on Frank. What a joke. She couldn’t even be sure Frank cared about her. He certainly hadn’t made any kind of move to even ask her out.
“So was your brother surprised to see you?” she asked, determined not to let thoughts of Frank ruin this evening.
“You know Taylor. And Rylan’s married.” He shook his head as if surprised even though she’d told him the news when he’d rented her apartment. “The last time I saw him, he was a baby. I didn’t realize how much time had passed.”
“Years.”
J.D. suggested an after-dinner drink, but Nettie was feeling the wine and said she’d had enough for one night. She seldom drank and, as it was, she was feeling light-headed enough bein
g in a nice restaurant with a handsome, charming man.
He walked her out to his pickup, opening the passenger-side door for her. As she climbed in, she saw a small piece of white paper that had gotten stuck between the seat and console. Retrieving it without thinking, she saw that it was a receipt of some sort. Thinking to throw it away, she balled it up and stuck it into her pocket as J.D. climbed behind the wheel.
On the way back to Beartooth, they were both quiet as if lost in their own thoughts. Or maybe J.D. was simply enjoying the spring night. Nettie hated for it to end. The wine, the wonderful meal, the companionship—it had all been so nice.
“I had a great time tonight,” she said when he dropped her at her door.
“Me, too. Thanks again for renting me the apartment. Give me a holler in the morning before you open. I make a killer breakfast burrito. My salsa recipe came from a little hole-in-the-wall café in El Centro, California. I think you’ll like it.”
She hesitated but only for a moment. “Okay.”
It wasn’t until she was in the house and was taking off her coat that she remembered the receipt she’d stuffed in her pocket. She was about to toss it into the trash, when she noticed it was a gas receipt from a station in Gardiner, Montana.
She looked at the date and time stamped on the receipt. J.D. had gotten gas in Gardiner, the north entrance to Yellowstone Park, last night at 2:00 a.m.? What was he doing in Gardiner at that hour?
Nettie thought the receipt had to be wrong. Otherwise J.D. had rented her apartment then taken off in the middle of the night to go to the park.
Her head began to ache from the wine, from her misgivings. The receipt was wrong—that was the only thing that made any sense. She tossed the receipt in the trash, wishing she wasn’t so nosy sometimes.
That was when she saw the blinking light on her answering machine.
She almost didn’t listen to it. She’d had such a nice night she didn’t want anything to spoil it. But she got so few calls that she pushed the play button.
“Nettie? This is Gladys at the hospital. I thought you’d want to know. Frank’s in the hospital.”
CHAPTER TEN
THE SHOT BROUGHT Jamison out of a fitful sleep. He sat up in the darkness from where he’d fallen asleep on the mountainside and grabbed for his shotgun.
He hadn’t gone to the tent. Instead, he’d camped himself out against a part of the mountainside where he’d be ready if Maddie did need him. Nor had he planned to fall asleep, but clearly he had.
Overhead the seemingly endless midnight-blue sky was filled with starlight. He blinked, still caught in the remnants of a dream. He’d been holding his wife, Lana. He could still remember the feel of her in his arms. She’d been crying. He frowned, trying to remember why.
Another rifle report echoed across the mountainside. He rolled to his side, keeping his head down, confused as to where the shots were coming from and what was going on.
A dog barked, followed by another shot. This time he spotted the flare from the rifle barrel. It lit the sky just long enough for him to see the shooter.
Maddie? What the hell?
A heavy-duty flashlight beam came on, the golden sphere skittering over the flock until it lit on something large and dark. In the glow of its beam he saw the bear. The huge grizzly stopped on the side of the mountain. The dog began to bark again. The light went out. Another rifle shot filled the night, and then the flashlight beam followed the grizzly as it loped up over the ridge and disappeared.
Jamison got to his feet and rushed across the mountainside in Maddie’s direction. He was breathing hard, still caught between waking to find himself up here on this mountain and being trapped back in the dream with Lana.
“I just fired warning shots, in case you thought I was trying to kill it,” Maddie said when he came charging up.
He stopped to catch his breath. He remembered why Lana was crying. Of course it was because of something he had done. Or not done, which was more often the case.
“I figured that’s all you were doing, since killing grizzlies is illegal,” he said to Maddie as he fought to leave the dream behind.
She smiled at that. “Exactly. Didn’t mean to wake you.”
He couldn’t miss the sarcasm. Earlier he’d said he would be around to help her if she got into trouble. “Yeah. I must have dozed off. Sorry.”
“Don’t be. You should sleep in the tent on a cot, though. Would be more comfortable.”
“What about you?” he asked, wondering if she’d been awake all this time or if the dog had warned her of the grizzly.
“I think I’ll stay out here. It will be daylight in a few hours, and that bear will be back.”
He followed her gaze toward the eastern horizon. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen that many stars before,” he said more to himself than to her.
“Not even at summer camp?”
He glanced at her again. “A woman who can joke at this hour of the night, scare off grizzlies and still look beautiful in the starlight. You really are something, Mrs. Conner.” He tipped his hat to her. “I’m wide-awake now. Please, let me watch the sheep.” He saw her automatically open her mouth to turn down his offer. “Bet that cot would feel like a feather bed about now. I’ll wake you if I need you.”
To his surprise, and maybe hers as well, she handed him her rifle. “That bear won’t have gone far. Make sure it doesn’t get any more of my sheep.”
* * *
NETTIE WAS WELL aware that visiting hours were long over, but she had to see Frank. She had to make sure he was all right.
The hospital was like a morgue this time of the night. As she started down the deserted hallway, she was assaulted with guilt. While she was having a wonderful night with J.D., Frank had been lying in a hospital bed.
She would never forgive herself. On the way into town, she’d remembered those days when she and Frank had been in love. He’d been the most handsome man she’d ever seen. But it was the danger surrounding him that had drawn her. Life with Frank would have been an adventure. She’d known that intuitively. Just as her mother had.
She thought of her mother’s pinched expression and the advice she’d given her the day Frank had come riding up on a motorcycle to their ranch yard. Marry Bob. Stability lasts. Adventure doesn’t.
Nettie had wished a million times she hadn’t listened, but in truth, she’d been scared. Frank made her heart pound too wildly. Just the look in his eyes promised things that had made her blush.
So she’d chosen Bob and regretted it ever since. Her mother had been the kind of woman who wanted security more than passion. Nettie had sacrificed passion and feared it might be too late to ever find it again.
There was no one at the nurse’s station, so Nettie kept going. The doors were open on the rooms. Most were empty. It was a small hospital, and right now there wasn’t a lot going on apparently.
She found Frank in the fourth room she looked in. Stepping inside, she closed the door and moved to his bed. His eyes were closed, his head bandaged. He looked terrible. What had happened to him? All her friend had been able to tell her was that he’d been attacked. She was surprised there wasn’t a guard outside his door, but maybe whoever had done this had been caught. Or Frank had refused a guard. That would be just like him.
“Frank?” she whispered next to his bed. “Frank?”
His eyes opened slowly. He blinked, and she saw surprise in his expression and pleasure before he frowned. “What are you doing here?”
“I heard you were in the hospital. Frank, what happened?”
“You can’t be here, Nettie,” he said, glancing toward the door.
“I’m not worried about breaking the visiting rules, Frank. I had to see if you were all right.”
“I’m fine.”
“You don’t look fine.”
“Nettie, you have to leave. You shouldn’t have come.”
The door opened behind her. A shaft of light spilled across the floor toward her and Fran
k. “Excuse me?” the nurse said. “Visiting hours—”
“I know all about visiting hours,” Nettie snapped at the nurse then turned back to Frank. “What’s going on? I was so worried—”
“Nettie, I need you to stay clear of me, you hear me? Just keep your distance. I can’t be around you.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Ma’am,” the nurse said. “You need to leave now.”
Frank closed his eyes. “Please, Lynette. You have to leave me alone.” His eyes opened, and she saw pain as well as anger in them. “You just have to leave me the hell alone.”
She felt her heart snap, a break as clean and painful as a bone. “Don’t worry, Frank. I won’t bother you again.”
* * *
CLETE REYNOLDS GLANCED at the clock and quickly reached over to turn off the alarm so it didn’t wake his sleeping, pregnant wife.
Bethany lay on her side, facing him. He could see her face in the early-morning light coming in the bedroom window. To his surprise, he was reminded of the first time they’d danced. It had been at the yearly fall festival held at the local fairgrounds. He smiled at the memory of that young, innocent Bethany. She’d been so brash and confident, coming up to him and telling him she wanted him, when in truth, she was scared out of her wits.
He shook his head now as he studied her. She’d been ready to give herself to him, fool girl. And he’d been ready to let her, driving her to a spot he knew down by the creek, far enough away from the rodeo grounds that they would be alone.
But he hadn’t been able to do it. She was too sweet. Too scared. He remembered the way she’d trembled when he’d kissed her. She’d told him later that day when he took her back to the festival and danced with her that she was going to marry him.
He had laughed, telling her she was too young for him, too...sweet. She was still that way, he thought as he reached under the covers and placed his hand on her swollen belly. He hadn’t been a good husband and blamed himself for what had happened to them last year.
Hell, what did he know about being a husband, anyway? His old man hadn’t been much of one. Or a father, for that matter. Sure, Clete had seen the way some husbands acted in television commercials and chick flicks, but no man he knew behaved like that. He was trying to give Bethany what she wanted now, though. What she needed. Because he couldn’t lose her.
