Wife Wanted in Dry Creek

by Janet Tronstad

  But then he heard footsteps coming down the stairs. Even that wouldn’t have caused him to stir as she might have gotten thirsty and wanted a drink of water from the kitchen. But he could tell from the clicks that she was wearing her high heels. Now, why would she wear heels to the kitchen when his aunt had given her those cozy slippers?

  Plus, given the way she was tiptoeing around in those heels, it seemed she didn’t want to wake him up. That couldn’t be good if she was going somewhere without telling anyone. She was still under suspicion, at least a little.

  There were no lights in the living room and it was dark outside. His aunt had left a small light on by the dining room table, though, so it outlined the furniture around Conrad. He shifted slightly on the sofa so he could see the stairs better. He knew Katrina couldn’t see him, but he saw everything as she crept down the stairs. He noticed that she had her jacket on. Even her hair was combed. He hoped that maybe she was just so excited about that heart sign that she was going to sneak out and look at it again. It would be another hour or so before anyone else would be there, though.

  Katrina didn’t head for the front door. Instead, she walked right into the dining room and picked up the keys for her sister’s car. He had left them on the table after searching the glove compartment of the car.

  He stood up and Katrina squeaked in alarm.

  “Going somewhere?” he asked. The blanket had fallen off him and he took a step closer.

  “I thought you were asleep,” she said as though he were the one in the wrong. “You scared me.”

  “Maybe,” he noted. “I see you’re going out.”

  “I was just going to see if your garage was unlocked,” she started to sputter. “I—

  “You what?” It had never occurred to him that she would break into his garage. “I don’t even keep any money over there.”

  She closed her eyes. He didn’t know how he could tell because he could barely see her face. But it was evident in the sudden hunching of her shoulders and the way she looked like she might take flight. “I’m not stealing anything. I just need to go move the sign we put up. Leanne is worried about it being there.”

  “You talked to your sister?” Conrad asked. If he thought about it, he knew she wouldn’t steal.

  “She saw my cell phone number on one of my new business cards—the ones for my photography business.” Her words were coming out breathless like she was frightened. He took a step closer to reassure her and was relieved that she didn’t move back from him.

  “It’s okay,” he said. “Take your time and—”

  “Breathe,” she added with a quick smile at him. “I know.”

  She took a deep breath and continued. “Leanne took my car and ran away from the house. She said Walker was angry that she’d lent their car to me and she was frightened. I didn’t mean to cause them any trouble. I wonder if he’s threatened her in the past.”

  “Did she say where she was?” Conrad asked.

  “She was calling from a pay phone at some truck stop along the freeway. I told her where we were, but she said we need to take the sign with the boys’ names down so Walker doesn’t see it.”

  “Then that’s what we’ll do,” Conrad said. “Just let me get my coat and we’ll drive out to the freeway and pick up the sign. Why don’t you write a note for my aunt so she’ll know where we are if she gets up early to fix breakfast. Usually, she doesn’t do that but she might want to make waffles since the boys are here.”

  Katrina nodded.

  “I think we can wait until it’s light out to call Sheriff Wall. He’ll be glad you heard from your sister. I suspect Walker might be back on the reservation by now anyway. The tribal officials will have to handle him if he is.”

  It only took a few minutes for them to be ready to leave. Then Conrad took her hand and they walked out to get his car. The night was dark and there wasn’t even a moon to light their way, but they went arm in arm through the silent town.

  “We’re here,” Conrad said as they came to his house and walked up his driveway. “I’m in the process of remodeling everything so—”

  “It’s you,” Katrina stopped. She was looking over at his yard. “You’re the one with the garden gnome.”

  Conrad nodded. “It’s a bit silly, I know. My uncle gave it to me as a housewarming present when I bought this fixer-upper. There’s a store in Miles City that sells them.”

  “You need another one,” Katrina said.

  He looked at her.

  She shrugged. “Two are better than one.”

  Conrad felt a lurch of hope inside himself. But then he told himself she didn’t mean anything by her words. She was talking about a wooden garden decoration, not him.

  They walked over to Conrad’s car and got inside. He then backed out of his driveway and they started down the road to the freeway. The car’s headlights cut a path through the black night.

  “It’s peaceful out here,” Katrina said.

  “There’s not a better place to call home,” Conrad said as he looked over at her. There was just enough moonlight to outline her features. Her profile reminded him of the calendar picture he’d looked at for so long. The funny thing was that, now that he’d gotten to know her, the calendar photo paled in comparison.

  “You’re beautiful,” he said without thinking.

  She looked startled.

  “I mean—everything is beautiful on a night like this,” Conrad said.

  It was silent for a moment, and then Conrad cleared his throat. “Tracy called to say she found someone to work with Pete on your picture. Lucy Morgan, the sister to the café owner.”

  “Is she old enough?” Katrina asked. “Linda talks about her as if she’s a child.”

  “She just turned twenty,” Conrad said. “Maybe you can make her look older.”

  As he drove over the hill that led down to the freeway, the sun was starting to rise and the skyline was turning slightly pink.

  “It’s going to be a beautiful morning for a picture,” Katrina said. “I hope Leanne gets here in time to watch us take it.”

  “I don’t think there’s any truck stops close enough for that to happen,” Conrad said. “I’d guess she might get here in time for Sunday school, though. Aunt Edith said the boys are looking forward to going.”

  Katrina nodded. “I think Leanne would want them to go.”

  “But not you?” Conrad asked softly.

  Katrina didn’t answer and in a few minutes they were at the freeway. Conrad stepped out and went over to the sign. It was nothing more than a piece of plywood nailed to a stake made from a two-by-four. It pulled out of the ground easy enough and he put it in the trunk of his car.

  He tried not to brood over Katrina’s answer about Sunday school. He needed to trust God when it came to her and that was all he could do. He was well-acquainted with the wounds of the heart that she suffered. No child should ever lose a parent. It ripped something right out of them and it was hard to get it back.

  He opened the door to the car and climbed back inside.

  “You like being with Aunt Edith, don’t you?” he asked as he turned the car around and started back to Dry Creek.

  “She’s wonderful,” Katrina said.

  “She is like a mother to everyone in Dry Creek,” he said, turning the heat on in the car.

  A few minutes later, he asked, “What makes you want to be a photographer?”

  They spent the rest of the trip back talking about the photos she loved to take. She even pointed out a couple of shots she’d like to take.

  “That sagebrush caught in those two rocks over there,” Katrina said. “If a woman with red boots was sitting on top of the rock and dangling her foot down, it would be stunning.”

  Conrad could picture it.

  “I keep lots of colors in my studio,” Katrina said. “I have this filing system so I can find them.”

  “Like I do with my bolts,” Conrad said. Maybe the two of them had more in common than he’d tho
ught. “In my shop, I keep everything in order so I can find things easily.”

  They were both silent for a few minutes.

  “We have a lot of good scenery around here,” Conrad finally said, which was as close as he’d ever come to trying to convince a woman to stay. “The mountains and the plains—you don’t get better than that for photos. Even those gullies can be striking. It all changes with the season, too, so there’s lots of variety. And we’ve got good light all the time. It’s big sky country, you know.”

  Katrina nodded. “The sunrise is certainly beautiful here.”

  Conrad decided it was time to stop telling her how wonderful Dry Creek was. He wasn’t ready to suffer the disappointment when she left. And she would leave. He didn’t dare hope for anything else. And he couldn’t feel sorry for himself, not when he had his uncle and his friends. He had a good life. His days might not be filled with joy, but they weren’t shattered with pain, either. He would have to be content with that.

  Chapter Eight

  The sunrise was in its full glory by the time Conrad drove them back into town. Bright pink clouds edged the eastern sky and turned the wet asphalt in front of the car a rosy color. There were no lights in any house windows yet, but a few of the dogs were starting to stir. Katrina thought she heard a rooster crowing from behind one of the houses as Conrad parked on the street by his house. She couldn’t blame the rooster for greeting a morning like this with such enthusiasm.

  Katrina wondered if the town had changed so much in the day she’d been here or if the change was inside her. Everything looked charming now as opposed to yesterday when she’d thought it had seemed rundown.

  “I’d invite you into my house,” Conrad said as he opened his car door. “But I have a construction zone going on inside.” He gave her a quick grin. “I wouldn’t want to scare you away. It’ll look good eventually, but—”

  “I don’t scare easy. And I love those before and after photos. I could shoot a couple for you, if you’d like.”

  “That’d be great,” he said as he slid out the door.

  Katrina opened her door, too, and walked partially around the car to meet him.

  “I need to get my camera from Leanne’s car,” Katrina said, knowing the gas station was just down the road from here.

  He nodded. “I’ve got the keys with me.” He reached in his pocket and pulled out Leanne’s car key and another key chain that must hold his gas station keys.

  He put the keys back in his pocket and put his arm around her shoulders as they started to walk.

  “It’s still dark enough that you might fall,” was all he said by way of explanation.

  Katrina wondered if he knew the fall she might take had nothing to do with her feet even though she was wearing her battered high heels. It was her heart that was already cracked and in danger of shattering completely.

  “When Leanne gets here, I can at least get my tennis shoes out of the trunk of my car.”

  It was best that she keep herself distracted. She wished she could pretend, just for a little while, that things would work out between her and Conrad, but nothing but sadness would come from letting her imagination go in that direction. She was a realist. If God didn’t save her parents, there was no guarantee He’d spare her from cancer. She couldn’t ask Conrad to suffer with her. He’d been so devastated by his mother’s death. How would he handle her illness?

  She took a step that put a little distance between them. He had to move his arm anyway because they were at the office door of his gas station and he needed to get the key out.

  “When should we be ready for the photo shoot?” she asked as they stood there.

  She needed to keep moving through this day and stop thinking about what might have been or could be if nothing else happened to stop it.

  “Everyone’s supposed to be there just after dawn,” Conrad said as he slipped the key into the lock. “I’d say another fifteen minutes. Tracy made all the arrangements and she called Pete and told him to be early.”

  Katrina smiled. “She probably has him running laps around that sign now just to make him suffer.”

  Conrad turned the key in the lock and gave the door a push. The inside of the station was dark until Conrad flipped a light switch. Then he led the way into his office.

  “We should call and leave a message for the sheriff to let him know that Leanne called you,” Conrad said as he walked over to his desk and opened a drawer. “I have his office number here. No need to call the phone he keeps by his bed in case of emergencies. There’s nothing he can do until later this morning anyway.”

  Conrad pulled a small notebook out of the top drawer and flipped a couple of pages. “Here it is. Do you want to call?”

  “Sure, although there’s not much I can tell him except that Leanne’s heading this way and is trying to stay away from Walker.” Katrina dialed the number Conrad had pointed to on the page. “But I’d like him to hear it from me first.”

  “He’ll want to call back and talk to you anyway,” Conrad said. “He knows you’re staying with my aunt and uncle so he’ll call before church. Either that or talk to you there. He and his wife, Barbara, usually help with one of the Sunday school classes.”

  Katrina left her message on the sheriff’s voice mail and hung up. “Now that Leanne called, I must be in the clear as far as the law is concerned,” she said.

  “That’s right,” Conrad said as he pulled the keys for Leanne’s car out of his pocket and started walking to door leading to the garage.

  “You’ll have to jiggle that key in the trunk,” Katrina said as she followed him. “It took me five minutes to get it open yesterday. You press it hard to the left and then back right sort of easy.”

  “I’m a master with keys,”

  Conrad opened the door leading to the garage for Katrina. “Even Houdini couldn’t break in here. You have to unlock the main door with this hidden button.” He pushed something on top of the doorjamb and the large door began to move. “That way no one can just break a window and come in and back out a car I’m working on. I don’t keep any money here at night, but I sleep better knowing I’ve protected my customers’ property the best I can.”

  Katrina nodded as he pushed the button again and the door came back down. They walked over to the car sitting in the middle of the garage. Conrad slipped the key into the trunk slot of Leanne’s car and two seconds later there was a slight pop and he pulled the trunk open and bowed. “Voila. The master at work.”

  “I’m impressed,” Katrina said with a smile. “But the real trick is to find the right bag. I have my camera in a black bag with a reflective strip sewn on the back. It shines yellow.”

  “There have to be half a dozen black bags in here,” he said.

  Katrina smiled. “There’re not all mine, but most of them are. I use one for my film. Another for my batteries and lenses. And, of course, one for my main camera. Oh, another for my backup camera. Usually I travel with a developing kit but that’s still in the Lexus. I think it’s that one.” She pointed at a bag.

  “I’ve got it,” Conrad said as he held the right bag up.

  “That’s it. Thanks. I’ll wait until we get to your house before I open it, though. I wouldn’t want to lose anything in here and have to come back for it later.”

  They went back through the office and out that door again. Conrad turned the lock and put the station key, along with Leanne’s key, back in his pocket.

  “I should make some coffee when we’re at my place,” he said as they walked down the street. “That might keep Pete happier.”

  “Unless I’m a poor judge of the way things are, Tracy will have made some for him,” Katrina said.

  Conrad had given her his arm automatically when they started their walk down here and she’d accepted it without comment. Sometimes people just did things for those they cared about without even seeming to be aware of it. Like Tracy making coffee for Pete. Not that, Katrina reminded herself, she and Conrad were—we
ll, they weren’t like Tracy and Pete.

  Katrina noticed there was a nice, golden cast to the morning. “It’s going to be a good day for pictures.”

  She needed to keep herself focused. Until she knew just how sick she was, she needed to keep lots of space between her and Conrad. Together, they stepped up on his porch.

  Conrad self-consciously wiped his feet on the burlap sack he kept by the front door of his house. He always made sure his shoes weren’t muddy when he went inside even though it might seem unnecessary to most people. “The floors are still plywood. I ripped them up because I had to rebuild some of the supports.”

  Ever since he bought this old house, Conrad had treated it with respect. He didn’t want to wait until he had the expensive flooring to live the way he planned to in this place. When he first saw the rundown house, he knew it had once been a happy home and could be again, someday. He liked knowing he was making that kind of difference.

  Katrina wiped the soles of her high heels as he opened the door.

  Conrad almost breathed a sigh of relief. Not everyone saw the house the way he did. The sunlight was being kind to him. The living room had large paned windows on three sides. The sills on the old windows had partially rotted from moisture over the years and he’d considered replacing them with the modern single pane ones with the hard plastic casings, but then he’d found a restoration catalogue and ordered rebuilt windows. It gave the room the look of an English cottage, especially with the fireplace he had partially finished along the long left-hand side of the room. He’d found country rocks to use in the fireplace and a solid length of oak to use as a mantel.

  “I’m going to put an oak wood floor in here,” he said. “And then have area rugs. I’ve painted everything white for now, but I might add some color when I finish up everything.”