by Dana Pratola
I nodded. “Had a problem with her landlord and some other things happened.”
His expression was doubtful. “That’s what she told you. Can you know if that’s the truth?”
Anger clawed its way up for an instant, but he had a point, at least from his perspective. She was a stranger squatting in an abandoned house like a hobo. Could I blame him for thinking she might be lying? I don’t know why it hadn’t occurred to me, it just hadn’t, even hearing it now. I would bet almost anything she was telling me the truth.
“I know what you’re thinking,” I said.
“Do you?”
“Yeah. And you’re wrong.”
“Well let me ask you this. Does she know you have money?”
“She’s not after my money, Ben. But I do want to help her.”
Ben groaned and rolled his eyes again. “Come on, Kash, she’s probably working you.”
“She’s not. She’s a sweet girl. She saved my life.”
“Saved your life?”
“The other night. She called you, and the ambulance, not me.”
That shut him up.
“I trust her. I want to help her.”
He returned a grunt. “So, you’ve been … what … playing house with her since you got here?”
“No, I didn’t know she was here. I thought something might be….”
“Ah, when you had me checking.”
“Right. I wasn’t sure until yesterday.”
“What do you know about her?” Ben asked.
I did not appreciate his skepticism. Not now.
“You don’t even know what she looks like?”
“No. Why, does that matter?”
Ben shrugged. “It shouldn’t.”
“You’ve seen her, you tell me.”
“She was too far. I could only tell she had long hair. I knew it was a girl by the way she rode.”
“She told me she has dark hair and gray eyes. She feels like she’s five-seven or so, thin.”
“Feels? What do you mean feels? I thought it—”
“I held her for a few minutes.” I shook my head. “She was upset, she’s afraid of thunderstorms. Terrified. Like Meg, my brother’s oldest.”
“I know who Meg is. But I thought I heard moaning, too,” Ben said.
“Yeah, I was rubbing her back. To calm her.”
He just stared at me.
“She’s not working me, Ben. I know you’re protective of me—weird, by the way—but you can stand down. She’s fine.”
Ben sighed. “Hey, I’m just happy your sight is back. That’s … amazing!”
I knew he wouldn’t let it end here, but as a surge of emotion suddenly crested and broke in the center of my chest, threatening to overwhelm me, I shifted my weight to my other foot.
“Can I have a few minutes?” I asked.
He seemed to know intuitively what I needed, and with a short nod, walked out. I went into the bathroom, closed myself in, and looked in the mirror. There I stood, the way I remembered myself—almost. My hair poked in all directions and I leaned into the mirror and moved some of it aside to have a look at the scars on my head. Bad, but not as terrible as I’d imagined, honestly.
I stared at myself for what must have been a good, long minute, shaking my head, only mildly surprised by the tears running down my face. I spent the next minutes telling God how grateful I was, stopping short of making any promises I knew I wouldn’t keep, like attending church every time the doors opened, or giving my salary to help the needy. Me and God were alike in that respect, preferring no vow to a broken one.
I spent some time reflecting on what to do with Brenna, too. She was independent, strong—or wanted to believe she was—so I doubted she would just come along with me and let me help her. Could I really take her to the ranch anyway? She had a job, and would have no way to move around. Unless I loaned her a car. But that seemed like getting in over my head. The longer I thought it over, my head started to hurt. By the time I’d splashed water on my face and stepped out of the bathroom, Ben met me on the stairs.
“I packed your things, except whatever you have up here. I guess I’ll close these windows in case it rains.”
I nodded, half listening. I still didn’t know what to do.
“What’s wrong?” Ben asked, eying me curiously. “You okay?”
I nodded. “Yeah, fine.”
He rapped my chest with the backs of his fingers. “Hey! You were blind, now you can see! I know it’s an emotional thing, but it’s time to celebrate! We need to put together a party.”
I didn’t feel like celebrating. “Let’s not.”
“Something bothering you?” he asked, homing in more closely, alarmed now.
“I’m fine. Fine.”
“Kash, tell me if something’s wrong. Dizziness? Headache?”
I shook my head, walking past him into the hall. “I feel fine.” He followed me into the bedroom, where I sat on the bed. “I can’t leave her here alone.”
“The girl?” His shoulders dropped, relieved. “It’s the girl, right.”
“Of course, the girl, who else?”
“Hey, I know you feel bad, but she’s not your responsibility.”
“I know, I just want to help her.”
“Help her how?” He shook his head. “Look, if, like you say, she was living here before you came, she was managing, right? She knows how to handle herself.”
I shook my head back. “I don’t mean give her money. I’d like to find out what she makes at the dry cleaner. I don’t know if I told you she works there. I can do better.”
“You mean hire her? What does she know about working on a ranch?”
“Maybe nothing,” I said. “She probably didn’t know anything about working at a dry cleaner before she started, either.” Ben gave a patronizing nod. “She’s nice, good with people. She can do Tracy’s job.”
“How do you know she’s good with people?”
“Well, she’s good with me.”
“Yeah, you are hard to get along with.”
“Whatever. At least she’ll have a place to live.”
“Like Tracy did?”
I shot him a searing look. I know it seared because I felt my eyes burning. “I’m not moving her in with me, no. There’s the room off the office. Or the cabin. It’s empty now.”
He raised his hands, palms up. “Not my business.”
“Why are you so set against her?” I asked.
He stuffed his hands in his front jeans pockets and looked around the room before returning his gaze to me. “Kash, I know you’re all overflowing with compassion and gratitude—she may have saved your life, I get it. But you don’t think this is all a little … questionable? She says she got here before you, maybe she did, I don’t know. She’d have no way of knowing you were going to come to this house and meet you here—”
“That’s crazy.”
“Hear me out. If she did somehow know…. Or, okay, say she’s a drifter looking for some type of score, never heard of Josiah Kash before you darkened her already darkened doorway, you’re going to take her to your home? Give her access to your office, your business?”
Hearing him voice his suspicions and concerns, forced me to look at them. It was the logical thing to do. I had a lot to lose if a person decided to take advantage. Just in personal possessions alone, they could run away with a fortune in antique weapons if they robbed my home, and a bundle of cash if they robbed the office. Not to mention the several other ways there were to steal from a company. Brew came to mind and I touched a finger to one of the scars on my head.
“You have a point. I’m going to think on it a bit.”
“Does that mean you already made up your mind, now you’re humoring me?” Ben asked.
“No.”
“Because you do that.”
“No, it means I’m going to think on it. I’m responsible for other people, I can’t risk bringing in a possibly dangerous outsider. I don’t think she’s tro
uble, but I’m going to look at it from all angles.”
“That’s all I’m suggesting.”
He was right. As much as I trusted her, I trusted Ben more. I had to be careful. “I’m still not leaving her.”
Ben drew back, dropping his hands on his hips. “I thought we were going to talk to the staff?”
“We are. I want to come back here after.”
He nodded, reluctantly.
CHAPTER 16
“Hey, do me a favor. Let’s swing into town before we head home.”
“Sure. You need something?” Ben asked.
“I want to drive by the dry cleaners and take a peek.”
Ben didn’t make me explain my curiosity, just turned left instead of right out of the driveway.
“You think I’m crazy, don’t you?” I asked.
“I guess I’d do the same in your position.”
“That’s a yes.”
I was quiet the few minutes it took to drive to the town center, taking in all the sights I’d doubted I’d see again. A blue car passing. The gray and yellow dappling of light and leaves on the road, a red-tail hawk soaring silently over the yellow-tipped treetops. Had there always been this much underappreciated color?
Ben pulled into a space across the street from the dry cleaner. Someone walked around in the store, but the reflecting light both from outside and within made it impossible to tell if it was a man or woman, much less make out a face. It could be two people.
“Want to go in?” Ben asked.
“No.” This kind of news should be broken privately.
“There’s a guy in there,” he said, leaning forward in the seat.
Just then a man stepped half way through the doorway, turned back to wave at someone inside, then disappeared into another door a couple buildings down. The bike shop. Ah, so that’s Wally. Built like a rectangle, body and head. Looked soft in the middle, too.
Someone passed on my side of the sidewalk and I looked over to see Smitty Jones. He kept going without a glance and it was just as well. I didn’t know how far word of my blindness had travelled, but it occurred to me if anyone I knew saw me, word might somehow get back to Brenna even in passing. She told me she went to my church and knew many of the same people, though we’d never seen one another.
“Okay, I’ve seen enough. Let’s go home,” I said.
“You haven’t seen her, though. Want me to—”
“No.”
“You’re the boss.”
*****
My return was met with hoots and shouts like a scene from a wild west show. Only thing missing was gunfire and a brassy saloon girl to perch herself on my lap. Tracy wasn’t there.
“It’s a miracle!” Tory said, throwing her arms around my neck. “A miracle’s what it is.” She kissed my cheek and stepped back to adjust the front of her red plaid shirt.
Her reaction was the miracle. She never kissed or hugged anyone that I’d seen in all the time I’d known her. Even her daughter, who was one of the ranch vets, only got a ‘love you,’ when she came and went.
“Good to be back,” I said, shaking hands with Cull, Mac, and Jim as we stood outside the small cabin that housed the main office. I looked Mac up and down, knowing he was one of the ones who would leave. “Wish it was under better circumstances.”
“What do you mean?” Jim asked. “You’re all right, aren’t you?”
“Oh yeah, I’m fine. The ranch is fine, too. We’re going to have a little sit-down in a few minutes to talk it over. Do me a favor, call in the others, will you?”
Jim gave me a nod and strode out toward the barn. He was young yet—twenty-two or so—and hadn’t yet learned to think for himself. He might have to learn the hard way not to fall in with the wrong people.
As soon as he disappeared into the darkness of the barn, Vanessa came charging out of it straight at me, jumping into my arms, wrapping her muscular thighs around my waist.
“My sweet man is home!” she yelled, rubbing her smooth ebony cheek over my stubbled jaw.
I chuckled. “Had to come home to my girl, right?”
“You bet your sweet behind.” She planted a smacking kiss on my lips and dropped her feet to the ground. “I came to see you at the hospital, but they said you checked yourself out. I said, yup, that’s Kash, never sitting still even half dead.” She gave me the twice over, parting my hair to inspect my injuries. “You are lu—”
She lost it then, broke down and cried, stepping forward to dampen my shirt as I patted her back. She was strong on the outside, soft as a kitten inside. It was one of the reasons I’d hired her.
“I’m okay. I am.”
She nodded, cracking her skull into my chin, then pulling away, apologizing. “Sorry, sorry.”
“It’s okay.”
“I don’t need to be causing any more damage,” she said.
I gave her a tight squeeze. “That’s not possible.”
“I see Brew anywhere in this world, I’m going to—”
“Never mind that now, Vanessa,” Tory said. “Today’s for happy thoughts, not vengeance.”
“I know, but if I ever….”
“I hope for your husband’s sake you don’t,” I said.
She swept tears from her eyes with her fingers. “Yeah, you’re right. With me in the state pen, Carl will never survive. Can’t even use the microwave without everything coming out hard or fused together.”
“So, you really think Brew…?” Andy began.
“Yeah, I really think,” Tory snapped. “And so do you.”
Andy was a peace-loving type, good and solid, and I knew he simply didn’t want to be on the wrong end of accusing somebody of attempted murder. I knew, too, that he wouldn’t have said that much if he didn’t hope to bring it into the open so something could be done. Andy was all about results, which was why I’d just decided to promote him to ranch manager. First things first.
“So do I,” I said. “I want to see everyone at my place in two minutes.”
Exactly two minutes later, joined by Sandy, Mac, Tucker, and Dave, eleven of us—including me and Ben—stood or sat in my home office. There were ten others out on the property or on the road transporting animals, but I knew the word would spread.
“First, thanks for not visiting me.” Sheepish looks passed from one to another. “No, I mean it. I would’ve had to kick some butt for leaving the ranch short-handed. Being blind and all, that saved me some serious embarrassment.”
A ripple of uncomfortable laughter moved through the group.
“Nobody wanted to see you in that hospital gown,” Sandy joked.
“Ooo, I did,” Vanessa replied. “All open in the back. You may sit a horse all day, but you still have a nice round butt.” Everyone laughed, including me.
“You are shameless, Vanny,” Sandy said.
“And don’t I know it.”
When the amusement passed, I linked my fingers on top of my desk, looking each one in the eye as I spoke. “I appreciate your patience, with things up in the air. I know it wasn’t easy.” Silence. “But I’m going to tell you right now, those of you who were thinking of jumping ship are welcome to go.”
More silence and a lot of looking in one direction. Well, two. Mac and Jim, who happened to be standing together.
“In fact, I insist on it,” I said, looking at them. “I can’t afford to have this business in danger of grinding to a halt whenever something happens. I need people I can rely on. Trust.”
“We—I only said if anything should happen, like, you know, you can’t work anymore….” Jim started. “I didn’t say it to be disloyal, I meant about how awful it would be having to find new jobs….” He hung his head.
Mac kept his mouth shut.
It was a tough position to be in, I admit it. Ordinarily I might not have this level of animosity over a subject. Seeing how I had no option but to take this particular situation personally, and they were the closest things to friends Brew had while he was here, I found it
pretty easy to direct my hostility in their direction.
“I could have been killed,” I said, watching their faces for the slightest twitch that might have told me they’d been in on it. There appeared to be only horror and discomfort from Jim. Mac’s face remained impassive.
“You think Brew meant for you to die?” Jim asked. “Not just scare you?”
He looked like he caught himself in a noose, realizing, as I did, that I never mentioned Brew’s name in association with this. Though it was plain the crew had discussed it among themselves, so that could have been it. …no, that wasn’t it. Since hearing it was Brew, I’d also asked who else might be involved—maybe even Tracy—and now I knew. Jim and Mac. I doubted Jim at least, knew what he was getting into.
“Only God and him know for sure. But if I’d died, he’d be just as responsible as if he’d done the job himself.”
“He’s already responsible for hurting you, and stealing your clients,” Sandy said, with a single annoyed nod.
“Trying,” I said, as a murmur of agreement made the rounds. “Trying to steal. I’m going to make sure that doesn’t happen.”
How the snake would think people would rather drive another thirty miles to that run-down outfit he’d inherited last year, was beyond me, but I guess offer people a cheaper price and some might try anything out once. However, keeping clients was as important as finding them, and he’d never do that.
I looked up at Ben, positioned in the corner out of the way, watching. He was an even-tempered man—ordinarily—but since I was hurt, he was chomping at the bit to get his hands on the responsible party. I wouldn’t stand in his way. I filled them in on changes I planned to implement, both business-related and not, letting them know I’d be looking for a replacement for Tracy—business-related. Brenna was first in my mind, of course.
After announcing Andy as the new ranch manager, and after the usual round of congratulatory hub bub and profuse thanks from Andy died out, I dismissed everyone except Jim and Mac. Ben came to stand by my side as I addressed them.
“Which of you wants to go first?”
They looked at one another, then at me.
“First for what?” Mac asked.
“Telling me what the plan was and what Brew offered you to screw me over.”
