Vetted

by K'Anne Meinel

  Allyssa nearly laughed. She wished her mother well. Real estate. That was interesting. Her father would have had a fit about her going into strangers’ homes in the city instead of staying home and taking care of his home. Now, he had no choice in the matter.

  Allyssa talked Carmen into going out on the horses. She let her sister change her clothes in the cabin while she took a shower in the mobile home. She’d worked hard and the place was a lot more presentable than it had been last winter when Fiona and Allyssa arrived. She was planning on letting her sister sleep in here. At least it had a new mattress and was clean. She quickly cleaned herself up, washing her hair before brushing it out, banding it, and putting on clean clothes. She wore another wife-beater, but her other pair of Gloria Vanderbilts were barely clean. She had planned to make a laundry run into Sweetwater in the morning and would have to take Carmen along.

  They rode out into the hills. Cattle were grazing intermittently as they went along, the large Anatolian Shepherd with his tail waving high above his back leading the way. Sometimes the cows stopped and stared, other times they snorted unappreciatively at them, and still others just ambled out of the way. Allyssa had seen the cowboys that Toby used pushing them into other valleys to graze when they arrived.

  “This is a long way from Mrs. Martin’s Academy,” Carmen commented as they rode Western style.

  “It takes some getting used to, but now I wouldn’t have it any other way,” Allyssa smiled at her sister. They had both taken those snooty lessons with other club members.

  “You have more horses!” Carmen exclaimed, delighted as they could see a small herd.

  “Well, they aren’t ours,” she admitted, but she too was excited to see them as they began to run away. Their eyesight was excellent, and since they were wild, they were very alert.

  “Are these the ones that guy put on your land?” she asked, watching them.

  Allyssa remembered sharing lessons long ago at the stable as they learned to ride. Her sister had been horse-crazy at one time, a lifetime ago. “No, he didn’t say anything about bringing horses out here. Those might be the mustangs that are up here.”

  “Mustangs!” she said, even more delighted. It conjured up all sorts of Wild West imagery and fired up her imagination.

  “Yes,” she nodded. “Fiona had shown them to me soon after we got here,” she admitted as they watched them run out of sight. She frowned as she saw they weren’t running from them, but were being chased. “What the hell?” she murmured, trying to see in the lengthening shadows, but they were too far away. It looked like guys on ATVs.

  “Is that how they herd cattle and horses these days?” Carmen asked. “It doesn’t seem very sporting of them.”

  “Oh, I’ve heard they use helicopters and all sorts of modern technology, but I don’t think they are herding them,” she answered. “Maybe we should get back to the ranch. Fiona should be home any time now.”

  They slowly made their way back towards the ranch. Allyssa looked over her shoulder a few times at the distant and now hidden area of the ranch. Fiona wasn’t home yet, so she went ahead and served up the meal she had planned for their dinner. She’d finally learned to cook a roast in the oven. She had started it early that morning on low heat and dumped the carrots and potatoes in before they rode.

  After washing up she set the table for three, just in case Fiona came home, and began to serve.

  “Hey, whose car...” Fiona said as she came into the mobile home and saw Carmen sitting there. “Oh, hello,” she said, recognizing her.

  “You remember my sister, Carmen, don’t you, Fey?” Allyssa asked by way of introduction in case she didn’t remember where she had seen her before.

  “Hi. It’s good to see you,” she said politely and held out her hand to shake.

  Carmen shook it, noting how clean and proper the doctor looked despite having worked all day. Then she remembered that Allyssa had told her there was a shower and bathroom in the camper on the back of the truck that her wife frequently used.

  “What smells so good?” Fiona asked as she turned to her wife. Her eyes lit up when she spotted her favorite meal. “You made roast?” she asked, incredulous and enormously pleased at the prospect.

  “Yeah, I think this one turned out okay too. I added more carrots and potatoes when I knew we had company,” she smiled. They had tried to cook on this stove a couple of times and one ended up almost black on the outside and raw on the inside because they didn’t defrost it properly and another had nearly caused a fire when they got distracted by each other.

  “I’m hungry enough to eat a horse,” Fiona admitted as she went to help.

  “You go sit down,” Allyssa ordered, but stole her customary kiss, not even thinking about her sister or her reaction.

  Carmen was surprised, but it seemed so natural and spontaneous, she couldn’t object. It was obvious they were compatible too. All during the delicious dinner Fiona shared stories of clients and their animals, and Carmen was enthralled.

  They cleaned up the dishes and set out for the cabin, chatting through the evening until bedtime.

  “Why don’t you two take the loft and I take the mobile home?” Fiona offered.

  “Nuh uh, that has that little air conditioner for my sister,” Allyssa objected. She’d already taken Carmen’s overnight bag down for her. She’d also found out that Carmen had boxed up all her childhood things and brought them from their parent’s home. She had some sorting to do.

  Carmen was a little nervous being alone in the mobile home, but Allyssa had offered the companionship of the big dog, and Carmen had accepted. She locked the door and turned on all the lights, realizing how silly it was as she turned them off one at a time. Rex settled right down, clearly unworried except for the odd woman he was sharing the mobile home with.

  “So, why is she here?” Fiona asked as they settled into bed that night.

  “My parents are getting a divorce and selling the house, so she brought the rest of my stuff.”

  “She drove all that way to bring you that stuff?” She knew Allyssa’s childhood memories were not important enough for anyone to drive that far with them.

  “Well, I think she wanted to see me too, which is strange. She never wanted to see me before.”

  “You’ve changed,” she pointed out, snuggling closer on the bed. They were only sleeping with a sheet because it was too hot for the comforter, which was folded neatly over the end of the bed. The window was ajar, the new mosquito netting in it keeping out any bugs.

  “That’s what Carmen said,” she exclaimed, surprised they had both said it.

  “You have. You’re more confident. You are used to running this whole place and it shows in your attitude,” she smiled at her wife, proud of her. She reached out to caress her exposed shoulder, the touch pleasant to them both.

  Allyssa smiled back, pleased with the compliments and her wife’s obvious pride. “I was running the backhoe and digging out the dirt that the rain ran into the hole of the basement when she arrived.”

  “I bet that impressed her.”

  She shrugged. She knew she had accomplished a lot since she had been there. She took pride in what she had done. “She told me my mother is going back to school.”

  “She is? Way to go! That’s hard to do the older you get.”

  “She’ll have a degree before me,” she teased.

  “If you want, you can go back anytime. We can put some of our plans on hold while you–” she began earnestly.

  “I was only teasing. I can take some courses online if I want. I don’t want to, not yet. We’re still establishing this place and I want to enjoy it while I can, not stick my head in a book.”

  Fiona tried to see Allyssa’s face in the light of the moon shining through their window to see if she was just placating her or was being honest. She chose to believe her. She needed her much more than she knew.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Carmen couldn’t believe how well she slept. The ma
ttress had been just springy enough and firm enough all at once, and she felt wonderful. She used the small bathroom, marveling at its compact fixtures, and was frying up eggs for her sister and her wife when they arrived for breakfast. Allyssa had explained that Fiona frequently got them fresh from grateful clients.

  “Good morning,” they greeted each other all around.

  “What’s on today’s agenda?” Carmen asked.

  “I have calls all over hell and gone,” Fiona lamented mockingly, but she didn’t sound that upset by it. She confessed she enjoyed the farms and ranches she drove to, sometimes many miles back in the hills. “You meet the nicest people,” she had added. She still met a few that reminded her of the man Allyssa had described from where she bought the cabinets, and those were just not social at all. They seemed to regard outsiders, even ones who had been raised out here, as just that … outsiders.

  “We are going into Sweetwater to do the laundry,” Allyssa told her firmly. “I also have to get the Jeep gassed up. Remind me to take a couple of extra gas cans for the ATVs and the backhoe.”

  “We have got to arrange for someone to put in a gas tank out here,” Fiona reminded her.

  “I’ll put it on the list,” she answered automatically, and the two of them started to laugh.

  “What did I miss?” Carmen asked as she scooped the last of her scrambled eggs up on her toast.

  Allyssa explained about ‘the list’ since it was really comprised of several lists. They were always adding to it; it was never-ending.

  “I also want to remind the builder he can come out next week and start the forms for the basement,” Allyssa said firmly.

  “You go get ’em, girl,” Fiona teased, finishing her own breakfast.

  “I will!”

  Allyssa had explained about the building of the house and how the builder who used a combination of the pre-fabs and his own workman was annoyed that she had dug her own basement.

  “I think if you can save some money you should be able to do that,” Carmen stated. She thought her sister was brilliant to do that herself. She knew she had no idea how to do that.

  “It will also give you a chance to see around the countryside,” Allyssa explained.

  “Unless you want to go with me and then you will really see some things,” Fiona teased. She was planning on castrating a bull for one rancher and hadn’t gone into details in deference to their guest.

  Carmen wrinkled her nose and declined gracefully, which brought on a series of laughs for them all.

  * * * * *

  “Can you believe that? He wanted to charge us for digging the basement!” Allyssa fumed as they left the builder’s office with a bill in hand.

  “I thought you told him off rather city-girl style,” Carmen teased and laughed at her expression. She had been impressed how her sister had stood her ground and hadn’t been taken advantage of.

  “Well, his receptionist better not change that appointment again on me,” she said, indicating the heated conversation they’d had over the man’s schedule. “I know she said he was available next week, and I planned for that. He better keep it too!”

  Carmen was continually amazed by her sister. After they had dried and folded the clothes and put them into two baskets in the back of the Jeep, Allyssa offered to take her up to ‘town’ as in Pendletown up near the interstate.

  “I don’t want to keep you from your chores on the ranch,” she hesitated to agree.

  “They’ll still be there when I return,” she admitted. “Besides, I have to whittle down these lists,” she indicated the pad she had with her in the Jeep.

  They had a nice time in Pendletown, shopping and chatting. It wasn’t like old times at all. They were equals now and it surprised them both. No longer was it the domineering older sister trying to dictate what her little sister should do or say. They had both changed and they liked it.

  As they were heading down the highway returning to the ranch, they stopped at a roadside stand to purchase some locally grown produce. Allyssa recognized the owners as some who had come out for the low-cost spay and neutering clinic and greeted them. They were thrilled to see her and asked how she was. As they were weighing her purchases, some large, empty cattle trucks went down the road, blowing up plenty of dust as they went whirling by.

  “There they go again,” the husband said shaking his head.

  “Again?” Allyssa asked, wondering what he meant.

  “I’ve seen those trucks a lot these days,” he answered mysteriously. “I don’t know where they are going, but it seems they always come back full, if we see them come back at all.”

  Allyssa thought about what he had said as they drove back to the ranch. Toby had brought trucks like that into their yard to offload the many cows he was running on their range. He’d been thrilled to find the back roadway in, so he could offload more there. She hadn’t thought about where he had kept them before, and now she did.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Carmen stayed three days, and they had a lot of fun getting to know each other. She even got to see their basement started. The builder and his workers came out and made wooden molds where the concrete truck would come in and it would be poured. It was fascinating, and they watched like wide-eyed children as the men made molds or put pre-made molds in place.

  “How long will that last?” Allyssa asked the builder as she watched his men working efficiently.

  “It should last forever,” he told her, mystified why she wouldn’t know that.

  She stopped asking questions, hoping he knew what he was doing as she and her sister wandered away, took out the horses, and went for a ride. Today, they went to another part of the ranch, and it was just lovely the way the bluff rose, the pine trees barely holding on as mother nature eroded the dirt from the bluff.

  “Why don’t they all fall down?” Carmen asked, looking at the tenuous grip they had on the side along the creek that wound through the ranch.

  “You’d think one good wind and there they would go, eh?” Allyssa agreed.

  They saw the horse herd again, only it must have been a different one. They weren’t very sleek or well fed from their appearances. In fact, they looked a little sickly. Allyssa was determined to mention it to her wife.

  They wound their way along a trail and Allyssa began to tell Carmen about the time Fiona had taken her to what was essentially the back of the ranch. “There’s this beautiful lake there and it was very hot. She dared me to jump in, clothes and all, and I took the dare,” she started to laugh as she shook her head. “She didn’t tell me it was snow melt. It was ice cold and I thought I’d never warm up again. I couldn’t get out of there fast enough. I tried to walk on water. I think she peed her pants, she was laughing so hard.” She told of the lovely couple of days they spent on their own land, miles away from anyone, just camping out and looking at the stars. She didn’t mention the incredible lovemaking they had participated in under the canopy of stars. “The stars are so close up here you can reach out and touch them.”

  Carmen smiled at her sister’s memory. The relationship the two women had, while she didn’t really understand it, was a friendship that she envied. Her relationship with Derek wasn’t as easygoing or loving. She was happy for her sister and glad she had come all this way.

  “You know, I’m glad you are using all those business classes you didn’t want to take,” Carmen said to her.

  “I didn’t think I was using even one, but I guess you are right,” she admitted honestly. She had learned a lot, but most of it was from watching what others did, or so she thought. The classes had enhanced that. They had enabled her to realize she had something to work from.

  Allyssa was sad to see Carmen go. The ranch seemed a little lonely for a moment as she drove away, but the builder and his men were still there making plenty of noise, and Allyssa had her work to get back to. She was also reading up on everything she could find to keep her garden alive. She was afraid she simply didn’t have a green thumb. Sh
e realized she needed fertilizer or something, and it was only when Fiona reminded her of the horses’ piles in the pasture that she realized she already had some. “You also need a compost pile for grass clippings, the weeds you pull out, and the peelings from our potatoes, carrots, and leftovers. That will rot, and it’s rich to add to the compost.” It seemed obvious once she was aware of it, and once she put up a big circle of chicken wire she was able to turn it frequently to aerate it, water it to keep it rotting, and let the sun bake it.

  Once the builder and his men knocked away the forms from the now dried concrete, it was fascinating to see the walls of their basement take shape. They’d even used a textured form on the inside so it looked like individual bricks made up the solid concrete. Intermixed in the concrete was rebar and steel posts as thin as their fingers to strengthen the concrete. It was fascinating, and both women were excited by the idea they might soon have a house being built on this very spot. Once the foundation had set, the builder and his men would erect the first floor on top of it, waiting for the walls to arrive from the pre-fab place. Fiona was anxious to go shopping for the appliances, fixtures, and even furniture, but Allyssa held her off to see when the walls were coming; she didn’t want to move that kind of heavy stuff twice.

  One quiet night after the builders had finished and packed up their things, Fiona had no calls, and she and Allyssa were sitting in one of the Adirondack chairs together. Allyssa wasn’t looking at the fantastic view of the mountains that were behind her, she was facing her wife, her legs straddling her.

  “I saw a small swing that matched this set,” Fiona told her, caressing her wife’s hands with her own as she arched suggestively into her wife’s crotch, Allyssa’s knees on either side of the older woman’s legs.

  “Oh, really?” Allyssa asked, nibbling her way along her wife’s freshly cleaned neck. She smelled of soap and something so uniquely Fiona, she had to taste.