by Finch, Carol
And then it started raining...and it got dark....
Zack hated to admit it, but he’d gotten scared when that greasy-haired creep who looked as big as a gorilla started following him. Zack had hightailed it down the nearest alley, and he didn’t even cry when the goon started yelling foul curses at him. Zack wasn’t a crybaby. He was just a little shook up right now, that was all.
Thunder boomed overhead, and Zack ducked instinctively. Pea-size hail thudded into the overhanging cedar limbs. Zack shrank deeper into the protection of the tree.
Soon as the rain let up, he had to come up with a plan. He couldn’t stay here all night, not with that greasy baboon roaming around out there.
Zack had swung by Aunt Debs’ shop when he got real hungry, but she had closed up for the night. He considered hiking to her house to call home, but he figured his mom would be pretty mad about the whole thing. Better let her calm down, Zack reasoned. If he could have found Aunt Debs or Chance, things might have been okay.
As rain dripped off the tree limbs, Zack tucked himself into a tight ball and battled his tears. He wasn’t gonna cry. Chance wouldn’t have cried. Mostly he laughed and smiled and did what needed to be done without complaining. Zack wanted to be like that when he grew up.
When the rain finally slacked off, Zack made his decision. He’d finally figured out what to do. There was one place he could go that was a sure thing. He was annoyed with himself for not thinking of it earlier. That sure was dumb of him. His grandpa was in the hospital, and he wasn’t coming home for a week. Zack could visit Grandpa and call Aunt Debs.
Zack wasn’t ready to face Mom yet. He’d worry about that later, he decided.
Peering from the thick tree branches, Zack tried to get his bearings in the darkness. He’d follow the alleys through town until he reached the hospital. He wished he had enough pocket change to buy a snack from the hospital vending machines. He sure was hungry, and tired. His legs were aching something fierce from all that running and walking.
Chilled to the bone, legs wobbling, Zack scrambled through the park toward the alley. Dogs raised a ruckus, and Zack got scared all over again, because he couldn’t see where he was going in the darkness and rain. He had only streetlights to guide him, but he told himself he could find Grandpa. Grandpa Tipton would make sure Mom didn’t yell at him too much.
And next time Zack decided to track down Chance, he needed to come up with a better plan. This one had turned out to be a complete flop.
“We’ll try the park,” Chance announced after a futile thirty-minute search-and-rescue attempt.
Alexa shook her head and squirmed worriedly. “How can an eight-year-old boy drop out of sight so fast? And how old does Zack think he is anyway? He knows better than to go traipsing off alone. We’ve had that talk several times.”
“Calm down,” Chance soothed. “We’ll find him. Working yourself into hysterics won’t help. Zack is usually a levelheaded kid.”
“He’ll be levelheaded after I pound some sense into him for scaring ten good years off my life,” Alexa erupted.
“Kids are more durable than you think,” Chance told her as he cruised toward the park. “When I was eight I was taking care of an alcoholic father. Granted, it should have been the other way around, but I survived the ordeal.”
Alexa reached out to touch his arm. “I’m sorry,” she whispered. “I wish you’d grown up differently. I wish my own mistakes hadn’t sent Zack out alone tonight.”
“And I wish you’d stop blaming yourself. We’ll find him, Alexa.”
Chance hoped to hell he located the kid before disaster struck. Fact was, he was every bit as worried as Alexa. Chance would lay down his life if it would ensure Zack returned home safely. Until that kid was found, Chance vowed to search low and high. Someone had to have seen that kid, Chance reassured himself.
The police department was doing their thing, he mused. Every boy in Zack’s class was being contacted, and word spread fast in small towns like Willowvale. The community was like an extended family that pulled together during a crisis. Chance liked that. He wished he could be around to enjoy that aspect of the community.
Sooner or later, Zack would be home where he belonged. Chance sincerely hoped it was sooner. He couldn’t bear to see Alexa fall apart. She was still recovering from her mishap. He wanted to offer her all the moral support she needed, but hell! Fretting about Zack had Chance tied up in knots!
Chapter Fifteen
“Mildred?”
Mildred Whitmier wheeled around to see nothing but an abandoned hall beyond the nurses’ station.
“Yes?” she said to the hall at large.
“It’s me. I’m down here.”
Mildred leaned over the tall counter to see a wet head and green eyes peering up at her. “Zack? Where have you been? Everybody in town is looking for you.”
“I came to see my grandpa,” Zack announced. “I forgot which room he was in. They all look alike.”
Mildred whizzed around the desk and grabbed the soggy youngster by the hand. “I’ll deliver you personally to your grandpa. I want you to promise to stay put until your mom comes to pick you up. She’s worried sick.”
Zack groaned miserably. “You aren’t going to put her back in the hospital, are you?”
“No, sugar, she’s not that kind of sick,” Mildred clarified as she tramped down the hall. “But you have to make sure your mom gets plenty of rest after she chased around town all night trying to find you.”
“She’s gonna be pretty mad, I guess,” Zack mumbled uneasily.
“Can’t say I blame her,” Mildred harrumphed. She halted at Howard’s door. “Go snuggle up with your grandpa and I’ll make some phone calls. Have you had supper yet?”
Zack shook his head.
“I’ll send one of the nurses down with a few snacks to tide you over.” Mildred shoved Zack into the room. “Go on now, sugar. Keep your grandpa company.”
When the nurse galumphed away, Zack approached the bed. Grandpa was sleeping, and Zack didn’t know if he should disturb Howard.
His wet shoes squeaking, Zack tiptoed across the floor. He climbed onto the chair, then onto the bed.
When Howard’s eyes fluttered open, Zack smiled. He sure was glad to see his grandpa.
“Zack? What are you doing here?” Howard questioned. “What happened to your clothes?”
“They got wet,” Zack replied. “I’m kinda cold. Could I crawl under your cover?”
Howard scooted sideways to accommodate his grandson. The twosome snuggled up, nice and cozy, waiting for the nurse to bring snacks.
“Mildred told me to remind you to stay put,” the nurse said as she whizzed into the room. “We’re trying to track down your mother.”
Howard raised an eyebrow, then stared at Zack who squirmed uncomfortably. “Your mom doesn’t know where you are? How did that happen?”
Zack ripped open the sack of potato chips the nurse provided. “I decided to go see Chance after school,” he explained. “But I couldn’t find him anywhere in town.”
Howard’s face paled. He told himself to remain calm. This was no time to hyperventilate. “Why did you need to find Chance? Was there a problem at the ranch?”
“It’s like this.” Zack paused to cram a handful of chips in his mouth. He chewed hurriedly, then chased the food with the can of cola the nurse had given him. “Chance isn’t staying at the ranch. Mom is awfully unhappy. I could tell because her eyes were all red and puffy when I came home from school yesterday. She was happy when Chance was around, and she smiled and laughed a lot. Chance was good at making her do that. He was good at making me happy, too, because we played ball and stuff after school. We even baked cookies for Mom when she was injured. I was going to bring some to you, but that was the day you weren’t feeling so good and the nurse wouldn’t let me come see you.”
Howard clenched his hand in the sheet and waited for Zack to gobble up the remainder of his chips. Howard hadn’t realized how muc
h the turmoil between him and Alexa and Chance had affected Zack. It hurt to learn that Zack had run to Chance to make everything right again.
“What did you need to see Chance about?” Howard asked.
“He seemed kind of sad, because he couldn’t stay at the ranch, so I thought I could talk him into marrying Mom. Then we could all be a family.”
Howard gasped for breath, but he swore he was not going to collapse in front of his grandson. The boy didn’t need another scare. “But you have a dad, Zack. Just because he can’t be here in person doesn’t mean he isn’t with you.”
The look in Zack’s eyes nearly broke Howard’s heart—and it wasn’t in good shape at the moment. “I love Chance, Grandpa. When Mom was in the hospital Chance took real good care of me, and I tried to take care of him, too. And Chance said we had to take care of things for you, because he didn’t want you to overex...ex—”
“Overexert,” Howard supplied.
“Yeah, that was the word. Chance said it means to do too much when you’re not feeling good.”
Zack paused to sip his cola, then continued. “I thought if Chance liked Mom that I could tell her so, then I could let Chance know if Mom liked him, too.”
Howard smiled despite his own tormented emotion. “Is that how the kids at school go about lining up boyfriends and girlfriends?”
Zack nodded his head, while unwrapping his candy bar. “Yep. That’s exactly how it works. You tell your friend if you like a girl, then he asks the girl if she wants to be your girlfriend. If she says yes, then it’s set. Chelsea McClain is my girlfriend. We worked that all out last week at recess. It doesn’t take long if you don’t have to run all over town passing the word back and forth.”
“Shorty McClain’s granddaughter is your girlfriend?” Howard questioned. “She’s a cute one, all that long blond hair and blue eyes.”
Zack nodded, then bit into the candy. “I want to get things worked out for Mom and Chance, but I can’t find him. I sure hope he didn’t leave town. I want him to come back and stay forever. Don’t you, Grandpa?”
The question went unanswered. Howard flicked on the TV and stared at the screen while Zack polished off his candy bar and cola.
Halfway through the ten o’clock news, Howard glanced down to see his grandson nestled beside him, fast asleep. Tenderly, Howard tucked the quilt under the boy’s chin.
Howard’s tears fell unnoticed, and Zack missed the sports report. The Atlanta Braves clinched a double header against the New York Mets. Chipper Jones had knocked one out of the park.
And the words of an eight-year-old boy spun around the old man’s head, leaving him to do some serious soulsearching.
Chance applied the brake when he recognized Deb’s car—with its emergency lights blinking. He rolled down the window when Deb halted beside him.
“Any news?” he asked.
“Kurt just received word that Zack showed up at the hospital to see his grandfather,” Deb reported.
“Is he okay?” Alexa questioned anxiously.
Deb bobbed her blond head. “Soaked to the bone and hungry, but unharmed.”
“Thank God!” Alexa slumped on the seat. “Thank you, Deb. We’ll swing by your shop to get my pickup.”
Chance made a U-turn to follow Deb. He figured he was about to be cut out of the loop, as soon as Alexa manned the wheel of her own vehicle. But Chance needed to see—with his own eyes—that Zack was safe and sound. He felt responsible for Zack’s ordeal.
“I’m going to the hospital to see Zack before you haul him home,” Chance declared, then stared intently at Alexa, daring her to object.
She smiled at him. “I thought you would.”
“You don’t mind?”
She shook her head. Long strands of corkscrew curls danced around her face. “When a boy goes to such extremes to find you, and I’m pretty sure you were his destination, he’s entitled to say whatever it was he wanted to say to you. He was gravely disappointed when you left Surely you know that.”
Chance let out the breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding. “Thanks, Alexa. And surely you realize how much I care about that kid.”
“Yesterday, when you asked me if I would give up everything to—”
“That was a selfish demand,” Chance cut in quickly. “I know the ranch is your home. You have your feet firmly planted in Rocking T soil. I guess I just wanted to know if you loved me enough to make a fresh new start, if it turned out that was the only way we could be together.”
Alexa graced him with a watery smile. “What I want, and what I feel necessary to repay a long-standing debt to Howard are in direct conflict. I know I can’t have it all, Chance, but it doesn’t mean I hurt any less.”
He sighed audibly as he reached for her hand, giving it a gentle squeeze. “I knew I was asking for the moon, but I guess I’ll settle for a few stars. I made a commitment to Howard to manage things during his absence. I want to see you and Zack as often as I can. I want the right to return occasionally. Can you at least give me that, Alexa?”
Alexa felt like bursting into tears again. Until recently she’d had no idea she had so much water in her. Heavens, she could have filled a dried-up farm pond! She loved Chance so deeply, so completely, for a thousand justifiable reasons. She was prepared to settle for bits and pieces of his time, to treasure every stolen moment.
It wasn’t so long ago that she swore off professional rodeo dynamos and their here-today-gone-tomorrow life-style. But Chance proved to her, time and again, that he wasn’t just another cowboy. He had seen Alexa through every crisis, seen her at her best and worst and every mood in between. He pitched in to help when she needed an extra hand. He taught her the gentlest kind of passion and the hottest, sweetest brand of desire. He treated Zack like his own son, compensated for the emptiness in Zack’s life. Chance Butler had come to mean all things to Alexa and Zack, and she longed to dream the forbidden dream.
Alexa needed Chance, wanted him more than she’d wanted anything in life—including the bed-and-breakfast that she had poured her time and labor into.
“Alexa?” Chance prompted as he pulled into the parking lot of the arts and crafts shop. “You didn’t answer me. Can I see you and Zack when I’m going to and from rodeos—”
She was in his arms before Chance could punctuate his question. He didn’t even care that she whacked him on the shoulder with her plaster cast. She held on to him as if she didn’t want to let him go. Chance knew, there and then, that no matter where he was, no matter what geographical distance separated him from Alexa, she would always be home to him. He would carry their love for each other with him wherever he went.
“Any time, any place, cowboy,” she whispered as she clung desperately to Chance. “I’ll find a way to come to you, to savor the minutes you can spare. I want my goodbye back. Yesterday nearly killed me. I love you and nothing is going to change that.”
Chance crushed her to him, ever mindful not to apply pressure to places still tender from her fall from Grace. “Don’t ever stop loving me, honey. If I can’t have you and Zack with me all the time, I need to know you’re there, that I can pick up the phone and hear your voice. You’re the home I never really had. You’re my heart, I swear it—”
“If the two of you can tear yourselves away from each other for a few minutes, there’s a kid at the hospital. Remember him? Big green eyes, reddish-blond hair. Fires questions like torpedoes?” Deb taunted as she mashed her nose against the steamed-up window and made comical faces.
Reluctantly, Chance released Alexa so she could scoot across the seat. He could have sat there all night, holding her, filling up his heart so he could leave on a full tank.
That was what his life had come down to, he realized. He had to make pit stops at Rocking T when his heart and soul ran on fumes. He’d have to refuel, then be on his way. He wanted more than a roadhouse, yet circumstances at Rocking T forced him to run on half-empty dreams.
“Here’s how I have this planned o
ut,” Deb said as Alexa hobbled to her truck. “I’ll bring Zack to my place for the night I still have a few of his clothes in the laundry. I’ll feed him breakfast and take him to school while the two of you—” She smiled wryly at Alexa, then glanced at Chance. “Well, you’re consenting adults. I don’t have to tell you what you can do.”
“I think Zack better come home,” Alexa insisted, though she appreciated her sister’s offer to grant them privacy.
“Are you kidding?” Deb sniffed. “Zack will leap at the chance to avoid you. I predict he expects you to yell at him for scaring you witless. He’d probably like to wait until you cool down before he faces the music.”
Chance’s heart lurched when Alexa glanced at him, as if she were including him in the decision-making that affected Zack. The faith and trust she placed in him was overwhelming.
“Thanks for the offer, Deb, but I think the rookie needs to be tucked in his own bed after the night he’s had. The ranch is his querencia.”
“His what?” Deb and Alexa asked in unison.
“Querencia, his safe, secure haven,” Chance translated the Spanish word. “Zack also needs to know that running away from a difficult situation, one in which he might receive a reprimand, is unacceptable. He has to learn that you hang around to work out problems.”
Alexa met Chance’s gaze, seeing the sparkle of reassurance, of commitment. “He’s right, Deb,” she chimed in. “Zack needs to go home with us.”
Home with us...Alexa’s words whispered through Chance’s mind during his drive to the hospital. She wanted him with her as much as possible, until Howard came home. And then...
Chance decided to cross that bridge when he got there. He had promised Howard that he’d leave when the old man came home, but Chance hadn’t promised not to leave his heart and soul behind. Alexa was his querencia.
Alexa mentally prepared herself for her encounter with Howard as she walked down the dimly lit hall of the hospital. She knew Howard would be upset with her for neglecting to tell him about Zack’s disappearance. But she had tried to spare him the stress of worrying about his grandson. She also wished she could spare Howard from confronting Chance, who was right beside her, every step of the way.
