by Gloria Doty
They parted company with Jace getting behind the wheel for the first part of the trip.
“I don’t mind driving more hours, Jace,” Dani said hesitantly. “I know it must be uncomfortable and even painful for you to sit in one position for so long at a time. At least if you’re in the passenger seat, you can scrunch around until you’re more comfortable.”
He looked straight ahead. “I appreciate your concern but I can do my part of the driving just fine.”
“You don’t have to be so surly about it. I was only offering. If I was unable to do my part, I’m sure you would’ve made the same offer.”
‘Would you, Jace? Would you even think about someone else’s discomfort? Maybe not. What has happened to you? You used to be a really nice guy.’
Trying another avenue for conversation and perhaps wanting to redeem himself after his remark, he asked, “Lucy asked if I’d ever been married and now I’ll ask you the same question.”
She started to laugh. “No, never been married, never been engaged…never had a serious relationship. I had a few dates when I lived in Magnolia, but it was just friendly, y’know? Lucy even helped me choose an outfit for the first one. Too many years of dressing like this…” she indicated her jeans and western shirt. “Besides, my dad taught me that if you can’t do something with passion and with your whole heart, then don’t do it at all. Marriage takes a lot of work and I guess I haven’t found the person who makes me want to put all my effort into it.”
Jace was nodding agreement. “Yeah, I figured a long time ago, I would probably be alone forever. When I was with the rodeo, there simply wasn’t time. I was in a different town every weekend. You can’t expect a woman to put up with that kind of loneliness. Then I devoted all my time to taking groups of hunters or tourists out into the wilderness for weeks at a time…another bad scenario for marriage. When the accident left me with this permanent limp and disfigured leg, I gave up even thinking about it.”
“I hope you take this in the way it is meant…I cannot imagine you not having women fall all over you. I mean, come on…you’re young…”
“I’m 42. Not exactly young, Dani,” Jace interrupted.
“Well, you’re not a senior citizen either. I think 42 is young and as I was saying…you’re the proverbial, tall, dark and handsome man every woman wants.”
He had to laugh at that. “The only woman who wants me is Maggie and she doesn’t want me for a permanent type of relationship. She tells me all the time she wants to get me in bed. I genuinely love Maggie. She keeps The Branding Iron going but as tempting as her offers sound, I’m not into just sleeping with someone for one night, either.”
“Well that’s a moral decision and I’m glad to hear you have some…morals, that is. So, you’ve never had a serious relationship? I find that hard to believe even though you’ve explained it.”
“There was one woman I thought I could possibly spend my life with. At least, I wanted to spend more time with her so I could figure it out for sure. Her name was Lorna and she worked me like an expert only I was too infatuated to see it. I took her group on a week-long outing in the wilderness. To say she was attentive to me would be an understatement. Someone told her I owned lots of acreage and a successful bar and restaurant. That was what attracted her interest in me…nothing else. I was extremely gullible and believed she was falling in love with me. When she found out the land she was riding on was BLM land and belonged to the government and that The Branding Iron was in financial straits, she went back to California faster than a speeding bullet.” He looked over at Dani. “And that, my new friend, is the extent of my love life. Sad, isn’t it?”
They both laughed. “I think we’re smart to stick with horses. They don’t break your heart…well, unless you have to part with one or they die,” Jace commented.
Dani looked out her window, pretending to watch the scenery and also to hide the few tears that escaped and slid down her cheeks but Jace noticed.
“I’m sorry. I forgot about the mare you lost. Want to tell me about her? It helps sometimes.”
Dani wiped the tears and took a deep breath. “She came with me from Texas. She was going to be the foundation of my herd. She was a beautiful, smart and well-trained animal and I loved her. I had her bred and was so excited to think I’d have my first foal on the ground but it wasn’t to be. I went to the barn one morning and found her dead. There was no sign of a struggle like there would be if she had a twisted gut or something. I couldn’t afford an autopsy but my vet believed she had a weak heart. The strain of the pregnancy …” her voice trailed off. “Anyway, the diagnosis was that she died of a heart attack.”
“I’m very sorry, Dani. That had to be a shock. So how did you manage to afford the new mare, if you don’t mind my asking?”
“I called Cal for the names of some breeders I could trust to sell me a new mare and maybe take payments or something. He called back and told me he had a mare that was too closely related to the stud they planned on breeding her to and he wanted to give her to me so she’d have a good home.”
Jace gave a low whistle. “Wow. I’d say that was your lucky day. She’s beautiful.”
Dani nodded. “I don’t believe him for a minute, like I told him last night. I worked for the Frasiers long enough to know they’re regarded as one of the best breeders in the southwest. They don’t make breeding mistakes like that. They could have used her but wanted me to have her. Since they know I would be opposed to anything that looked like charity, Cal made up the story. I know he did…even if he’ll never admit it.
CHAPTER 17
IN THE EARLY afternoon, they reached the exit they needed to avoid the construction delay. They found themselves immediately on a two lane highway. It was in good shape but would definitely decrease their speed which in turn, would increase their time.
Dani had driven for a while on the detour and Jace had just taken over again. According to their GPS, they were an hour away from getting back onto the interstate.
“This really isn’t a bad highway and I kind of enjoy all the little towns and villages, don’t you?” Dani asked.
“I would enjoy them more if every one of them didn’t have a stop light and a 30 mph speed zone. I’m getting tired of shifting,” he answered.
“I meant to ask about that. Did you buy the truck with a manual transmission because of hauling the trailer?”
“Yes and no,” was his answer. “It did seem like a good idea when I needed to haul numerous horses at one time but the main reason was because it was a hard sell for the dealer and he gave me a really good price on it.”
“We have to take our savings where we can find them,” she agreed.
“Do you mind if we stop in the next town for a bite to eat? Breakfast was a long time ago and our snacks are non-existent.”
“Sounds like a good idea,” she agreed. “My stomach is touching my backbone.”
The Main Street Café looked like a clean little eatery. Jace parked the truck and trailer, taking up two parking spots and they went inside. If they thought the town resembled Mayberry, they were sure of it when they entered the café. There were a few tables with chairs, booths along one wall and round stools at the counter. They were greeted with nods of heads and small waves as they found a booth and slid in.
The chairs around one table were occupied by several local farmers or ranchers. Jace thought they looked just like the ‘regulars’ at The Branding Iron.
“Where you folks from?” asked one of the men.
“We’re headed to Bozeman, Montana. We left Loveland, Colorado this morning,” Jace volunteered.
One of the men whistled. “That’s a helluva drive, Sonny. We seen your rig. What’re you and the missus haulin? Cattle?”
“Oh, she’s not my…I mean, we aren’t…never mind…we’re hauling a very special mare home to Bozeman.” He looked at Dani and shrugged.
She had a smile playing around her lips at his discomfort. ‘Maybe I should really make
him uncomfortable and act like I’m offended that he doesn’t claim me as his ‘missus.’
She decided to behave herself and explain. “He’s a friend who agreed to help me get this mare home. It’s his truck and my trailer.”
The men went back to drinking their coffee and bullshitting about various subjects. Neither Jace nor Dani thought the men around the table believed the ‘only friends’ part of the explanation but it didn’t matter. They were going to have a sandwich and be on their way.
Jace paid the bill saying, “My treat this time since you’ve done more than your share of the driving today.”
They climbed back into the truck for what they hoped would be the last leg of the journey. Jace turned the key but nothing happened. He tried several more times to no avail. He pushed his hat to the back of his head and muttered, “What the heck? I know I’ve got a half tank of gas but it doesn’t seem to be getting any fuel. Damn!”
He exited the cab and lifted the hood. Everything seemed okay but he wasn’t a mechanic.
He went back inside and asked the men if there was a garage or a mechanic in town.
They all nodded. “Yessir. Eddie’s the best mechanic in a hundred-mile radius. His garage is just down that side street and around the next corner.”
“Does he have a phone number?”
They laughed and one slapped his knee. “Well he’s got one but he never answers it. Says he ain’t got time to talk on a phone.”
He went back out, told Dani to stay put and started walking to the garage.
He convinced Eddie to come back with him since the likelihood of having a wrecker tow the truck to Eddie seemed remote at best.
Despite their circumstances, Dani had to chuckle. It really did seem they had dropped into Mayberry. She fully expected Eddie to look like Gomer and to see Floyd on the bench outside the barber shop.
Eddie wiped his hands on a garage towel he had in his back pocket and poked around a bit under the hood. “It’s your fuel pump. Those darned things can just up and quit on a person. Just that quick,” he said as he snapped his fingers.
“I’m glad to hear that’s what it is,” Jace said. “That’s an easy fix, right?”
“It’s an easy fix if I had a fuel pump for your truck,” was Eddie’s answer.
Jace’s heart sank. Things weren’t getting any better, for sure. “So how long will it take to get one?”
“Well, if I can get over there to NAPA first thing in the morning, I should have you back on the road before noon.”
Jace turned to look at Dani. “What do you think?”
“Well, I think we better find out if there’s a place to stable my horse and then find a hotel.”
“Our town ain’t got no motel or hotel but there’s Mandy’s Boarding House a few blocks up the street. I don’t know if she’s got room; there’s several workmen from the highway construction crews stayin’ there right now.”
“Great,” was Dani’s only reply.
They walked to Mandy’s and rang the bell. A middle-aged woman with curly hair came to the door, wiping her hands on a kitchen towel.
“Yes? Can I help you folks?”
“We certainly hope so…umm…Mandy?”
“Yes, I’m Mandy. I’m sorry for being rude.” She offered her hand while saying, “I should have introduced myself right away. Now what can I do for you?”
“We need lodging for the night. My truck needs a new fuel pump and Eddie can’t put it on until tomorrow.”
She frowned and looked distraught. “I’m so sorry. I don’t have any rooms available. The men from the highway are renting all of them…which is good for my pocketbook but obviously not good news for you.”
Jace and Dani looked at each other and shook their heads. “I guess we’ll sleep in the truck or the stock trailer. It’s just one night.”
“Oh you two can’t sleep in no stock trailer, for goodness’ sake.” She seemed to be thinking for a bit. “I have an idea. I live right next door and have an extra bedroom. You kids can have that. I put clean sheets on the bed just yesterday.”
Dani opened her mouth to say they needed two rooms but Jace jumped in. “That’s very kind of you. We’ll take your offer. How much will that be?”
Mandy waved her hands. “I don’t know. I’ve never rented it before. How about twenty dollars? Is that fair? And my husband will show you where you can put your horse for the night. We have a small barn with a stall. There’s no animals anymore but there’s still some clean straw out there.”
Dani led Star to Mandy’s barn and got her settled in. They brought hay, a little grain and the water bucket from the trailer.
“You know, Dani, I think I should sleep out here with the horse. That way, you’ll have the room to yourself and I can keep an eye on things in the barn.”
“That sounds like an excellent plan but after driving all day, I know your leg and hip have to hurt, Jace. You are not going to sleep in a barn. Come on, we’ll sleep in our clothes if that makes you feel better. Besides, think what a great story this will be for the ‘regulars’ you talk about at The Branding Iron.”
Mandy asked them to sign the register even though they would be in her house instead of the rental rooms. She turned the register around after they each signed in, frowned a bit and mentioned, “You must be one of those modern women that don’t take the husband’s name when they get married. Y’know, Earl and I have been married for 35 years and I’ve always been proud to have his name.”
Worried she might disapprove enough to change her mind about the room, Dani said quickly, “Oh no, I did it again.” Turning to Jace, she asked, “When do you think I’ll get used to having a new name, Honey?”
Turning back to Mandy, she smiled and said, “We’ve only been married a few months and I keep forgetting I have a new last name. Silly of me, isn’t it?”
Mandy’s smile returned and lit up her face. “Not at all, Dear. I did that at first, too. And you are still practically newlyweds. How cute is that?” She clapped her hands together.
They sat in two rocking chairs on the front porch of the house, and listened to the sounds of the approaching night. “This is serenely peaceful,” Jace commented. “I think I could live in a small town…maybe not quite this small…but small. Get married, have a family, raise them far away from the evils of the big world.”
“Is this the same man who never dates and doesn’t want to get married? And having children…where did that come from?”
“I don’t know. Somewhere in my heart of hearts, I guess I belong to the ‘white picket fence’ group of dreamers.”
“That’s not a bad place to be. I think we all would like the thought of a peaceful home and a peaceful world. My biological clock is ticking, though. One of these days, it will be too late to dream those dreams of marriage and children.”
Jace leaned his head back on the rocker and thought about what a good person Dani was. She would make some man a perfect wife and be the perfect mother of that lucky man’s children.
They stayed and talked for an hour or two longer, touching on many subjects, alternately laughing and being serious. Since the repair wouldn’t be done until midday, they didn’t have to be up at the crack of dawn.
The bed was, of course, a double: it couldn’t be a queen or king, but a double. They both stood and looked at it for a minute. Jace cleared his throat and offered again to sleep on the floor or out in the stable. She shook her head and told him that was ridiculous.
“Don’t be silly, Jace. I’m not afraid to share a bed with you, for heaven’s sake. I’m pretty sure you’re not going to attack me in the middle of the night. Let’s just make the best of a silly and unavoidable situation.”
He agreed and asked which side of the bed she preferred.
“I don’t care which side but tell me, do you snore?” Dani asked as they climbed into bed after removing their boots.
“I don’t think so, but I sleep alone so I have no one to tell me if I do or don’t. If I
find some woman on the dating site, maybe she can answer that question after we spend the night together.”
For some reason, that statement instantly made Dani mad, sad and unreasonably furious.
“You have your name on a dating site?” she asked.
“Well, Maggie and Mitch have my name on a site. In fact I recently found out they have it on two sites. It started as a way to find me a date. Maggie says if I won’t sleep with her, I have to find someone else so I stop being such a morose grouch all the time. Then they reasoned, if they put my profile on a senior dating site, perhaps I could wine and dine an older woman who would be willing to bail me out of the financial mess I’m in.”
“Good luck with that, Jace. Sounds like a wonderful and moral plan…not.”
She rolled over and tried to sleep. ‘What happened to those morals he was talking about when he said he wasn’t into one-night stands?’
Why did it bother her what he did? It wasn’t like they were interested in each other. She was ready for this trip to end.
CHAPTER 18
CAMILLE HAD HER laptop as well as her phone up and running with the available wi-fi although she did have to resort to calling Collier to help her with it. Her tech skills were adequate for her needs most of the time. At the office, if something failed, there was a tech support person available. Here, however, relying on only her own knowledge was a different story. Perhaps she should’ve enrolled in a few courses before she came to Montana. She dismissed that thought as she always found that hindsight was a wonderful but unproductive thing.
At an attempt at small talk, when he came to fix her router settings, she apologized for needing him again for such a small matter. She assured him she was capable of many things but she had indeed become spoiled by the availability of help where she lived and worked. It had been since college that she needed to do ‘fix-it’ tasks for herself. Being careful to not divulge too much personal information, she chatted without giving specifics.
