Indian Summer

by Amy Elizabeth

Shania was silent for a moment. “So what do you need me to do?”

  “Come on out tomorrow. Anytime is fine. I’ll have housekeeping get a cabin set up for you.”

  “Does it have a real bed?”

  “It has a real bed.”

  Her eyes lit up. “And a real shower?”

  “Yep. Three home-cooked meals a day, too.”

  “I’m sold. Where do I sign?”

  He laughed. “Seriously, Shania, I won’t be offended if you say no. I’m sure you’ve got a million other places you’d rather spend your time.”

  “You think so?” She leaned closer and lowered her voice. “I’m going to let you in on a little secret, Alec.”

  “What’s that?”

  “The only person who’s not in love with your ranch is you.”

  *

  The drive home was a quiet one. Rebecca leaned her head against the window and closed her eyes, clearly uninterested in talking. Alec rested his hand on hers and couldn’t help but feel relieved when she laced her fingers through his. He knew she was disappointed with her performance.

  He also knew she was dying to ask him about Shania.

  She disappeared upstairs as soon as they got home. Alec checked on his father–sleeping like a baby–before he opened the liquor cabinet and poured himself a small glass of scotch. Then he settled onto the couch and took a long sip, welcoming the calming effect on his nerves.

  Rebecca reappeared a few minutes later in her pajama pants and Bruins sweatshirt. She yawned and plopped down beside him, resting her head against his shoulder. He hated to spring something else on her at the end of such a long day, but he’d have even more explaining to do if he didn’t tell her about their newest employee.

  “By the way,” he said softly, “Shania’s going to help us out for a little while. Or at least until we hire another wrangler.”

  Rebecca lifted her head. “She knows horses?”

  “I wouldn’t have asked her if she didn’t.”

  To his relief, she didn’t seem upset. She took the glass from his hand and took a slow, thoughtful sip before she handed it back to him.

  “How do you two know each other, anyway?”

  He’d known all day that she was going to ask, but he was still no closer to formulating a simple response. “Our mothers were friends,” he replied, hoping that would suffice. “Her family used to come out from Michigan every summer when we were kids.”

  “And she lives in Oregon now?”

  “Yes.” He frowned. “How did you know that?”

  “Because I met her about a month ago.”

  Alec was startled. “You did?”

  “It was the night I drove home from Laramie, right after my finals. I saw her car parked at the entrance to the ranch and I stopped to ask if she needed help.” She paused. “She was crying.”

  His stomach lurched. There was no point in pretending to be confused or trying to brush it off as nothing. Rebecca had an incredible gift for reading people, especially him. She’d see right through it.

  “I believe that you were childhood friends, Alec,” she added. “But I also believe there’s a little more to it than that.”

  He turned his gaze to the fireplace. “It was a long time ago, Bec. Why does it matter?”

  Rebecca rested her hand on his arm. “Look, I know you don’t like to talk about yourself. And most of the time, I’m fine with that. But if there’s going to be a woman living here that you have history with, I think I have a right to know about it.”

  There was nothing accusatory about her tone. And as much as he wanted to, he couldn’t argue her point. She had every right to know about the woman who–until Rebecca came along–exerted the greatest influence in his life.

  “It’s kind of a long story,” he said.

  She settled back against the cushions and gave an encouraging nod. “I’m listening.”

  Chapter 12

  Twenty years earlier

  “Race ya!”

  Thirteen-year old Alec grinned and gathered the reins. “You’re on.”

  Shania laughed and leaned forward in the saddle. Beneath her, Cheyenne transitioned from an easy trot to a full gallop, charging forward across the meadow. Alec’s gelding, Midnight, snorted and tossed up his head, but Alec skillfully held him back.

  “Not yet,” he told the horse.

  He gave Shania more than a fair head-start before he released his hold on the reins. Midnight powered forward, his muscles bunching and stretching as he tore through the tall grass. They’d almost caught up with Shania and Cheyenne when they neared the end of the meadow, but to his surprise, she didn’t slow her horse. Instead she pushed him right into the pine trees, hurtling headlong down the narrow path. Alec checked Midnight’s speed when they entered the grove, then he thought better of it and urged him forward again.

  He wasn’t about to lose to a girl.

  They raced at breakneck speed, pulling their horses left and right through the trees. Then they rounded a bend, and Alec gasped when he saw a fallen aspen lying directly across the path. It wasn’t terribly high–maybe three feet–but it was high enough to make him sit up and pull back on the reins. Midnight obediently slowed his pace, but Shania and Cheyenne kept going.

  “Shania!” he cried.

  She gave an excited shout as Cheyenne lifted his knees and launched into the air, soaring over the tree like he’d sprouted wings. Then they connected with the ground again and she pulled back to a trot, spinning her horse around to face Alec.

  “That was awesome!”

  He shook his head as he stopped Midnight on the other side of the tree. “That was dangerous,” he corrected her. “You guys were going way too fast.”

  “Oh, please. I jump my mare twice that high back home.”

  “Well, she’s a trained jumper. Cheyenne isn’t.”

  She sighed and gave an exaggerated roll of her eyes like only a twelve-year old could. “Alec, you worry too much.”

  They rode the rest of the way to the valley at a leisurely pace. When they reached the shore, they followed the river east for another mile to the rocky outcropping that marked the end of the Westin’s property. The river turned south there in a dramatic horseshoe bend, sculpting out a wide stretch of uninterrupted sand on the far side of the rocks.

  They’d discovered it two years earlier, and it immediately became their favorite spot to hang out whenever Shania came to visit. To Alec, this place didn’t seem like Wyoming. On a hot summer day like today, he could lie in the sand and close his eyes and pretend that he was somewhere else…somewhere far away from here.

  Alec and Shania guided their horses into the shallow water and rounded the outcropping until they emerged onto the beach. They’d already been here every day this week, but that didn’t diminish their enthusiasm as they dismounted and tied their horses to a low-lying branch. Then they unloaded their saddle bags and settled in the sand to devour their snacks.

  “I don’t want to go home tomorrow,” Shania said as she bit off the end of a Twizzler. “It feels like we just got here.”

  “So ask your parents if you can stay and fly home later. School doesn’t start for another month.”

  “It starts earlier in Michigan. I go back in two weeks.”

  “Yuck.” He poured a handful of M&M’s and sifted through the colors. “Here. Just for that, you get all the green ones today.”

  Despite Alec’s insistence that the flavor was exactly the same, Shania was fully convinced that the green M&M’s tasted the best. Her grin revealed a mouthful of shiny braces when Alec dropped the candy into her hand.

  “Thanks,” she said as she popped one into her mouth. “So is seventh-grade math really hard?”

  He shrugged. “I didn’t think so.”

  “I hope it’s not. I hate math. I wish I could just take science for every class.”

  It was Alec’s turn to roll his eyes. “You’re such a dork.”

  She giggled and tossed an M&M at him. “So are you.�
�

  They lounged on the sand for most of the day, lamenting how much they hated middle school. When the sun reached its highest point, they stripped to their swimsuits and waded out into the river. They floated lazily in the water for a while, letting the current carry them downstream, before they swam to shore and hiked back to their horses.

  “We should probably start heading home,” Alec said.

  Shania pulled her wet hair into a ponytail and gave a reluctant nod. “Okay. But can we come back here again tonight and camp?”

  “Sure.”

  “With extra s’mores, since it’s my last night?”

  He chuckled. “With extra s’mores.”

  Alec scarcely had a summertime memory without the Thompsons in it. Their mothers had grown up together in rural Saskatchewan in a community composed mainly of Native Americans. Alec’s mother, Julianne, was half Cree; Shania’s mother, Kim, was full-blooded Nakawe.

  After high school, the girls crossed the border to attend university in Montana. It was there, at a horsemanship clinic, that they met their future husbands–Walter Westin and Charles Thompson. Soon Shania’s parents headed east to Michigan, while Julianne returned to Wyoming with Walter.

  Alec was born first; Shania came along a year later. The Thompsons drove out from Lansing every July and stayed in the guesthouse on the ranch, giving their mothers the opportunity to catch up. Meanwhile, Alec and Shania spent long hours glued to Walter’s side, absorbing his wealth of knowledge about all things equine.

  As far as Alec could tell, Walter loved having them around. He always referred to Shania as the daughter he never had.

  “Can we take the long way home?” she asked, bringing him back to the present.

  “Sure,” he replied as he swung into the saddle. “If that’s what you want.”

  Rather than circling back the way they’d come, they forged a fresh trail up the steep hillside and reentered the ranch through the back paddocks. A few cattle lifted their heads when they rode past, but the majority seemed unconcerned with their presence while they grazed in the tall summer grass.

  Alec smiled as he stretched his hand out and let his fingertips slide through the tops of the stalks. He loved when the grass reached this height. It would only stand this tall for another few weeks before it would start to wilt under the shorter days of autumn.

  He opened the gate and they exited the paddock, strolling unhurriedly through the aspen grove. He didn’t know what possessed him to do it, but as soon as they reached the meadow he squeezed his heels into his horse’s sides. Needing no further encouragement, Midnight charged ahead.

  Alec heard Shania give a little shout and send her horse after them, but they didn’t stand a chance. Midnight was faster than Cheyenne, and they already had a good head-start. This was one race that Alec was definitely going to win.

  Sure enough, he was the first to reach the far end of the meadow. He started to turn around to gloat about his victory when he noticed a blue blanket spread across the grass beneath the pines. With a frown, he pulled his horse to a stop, studying the picnic basket and empty wine glasses that littered the blanket. Then he heard the unmistakable sound of his mother’s laughter, and he peered through the trees until he spotted her.

  At first, he didn’t understand what his eyes were seeing. Julianne’s dark hair cascaded over her cotton dress as she tilted her head back and laughed again. Then an arm stretched up from the grass, reaching for her face and pulling her to the ground. Seconds later she stood and extended her hands, and when Alec saw the man who rose from the grass, his stomach lurched into his throat.

  It wasn’t his father.

  It was Shania’s.

  *

  “That wasn’t fair!”

  Alec nearly jumped out of his skin when Shania’s voice sounded behind him. “It doesn’t count if you don’t give me any warning,” she panted as she and Cheyenne trotted towards them.

  His eyes darted back to their parents, who were walking hand-in-hand into the pine grove. By some miracle, they hadn’t seen him.

  But Shania would certainly see them if she came any closer.

  “Fine,” he replied, trying to play it cool as he spun his horse around. “I’ll race you home, then.”

  He’d race her anywhere. He’d race her all the way to Mexico, as long as he could spare her from seeing what he’d just seen. Automatically he released his hold on the reins so Midnight could sprint after them, but he barely noticed he was doing it.

  No matter how many times he replayed the scene in his mind, the image still didn’t compute. There was no possible way that Julianne and Charles were having an affair.

  Shania made it back to the barn before he did, but for once he didn’t care. He cringed when he saw his father in the round pen, unaware of the travesty that was taking place on the other side of the pines.

  Walter stood tall with his arms outstretched, watching a beautiful golden filly circle around him. He’d purchased Sundance last year as a yearling from a well-known breeder in Oklahoma, and he’d already used her in several of his clinics over the winter. Even in front of a large audience, the filly responded like a seasoned show horse.

  “She’s so pretty,” Shania said, following his gaze to the round pen. “I can’t wait ‘til she’s old enough to ride.”

  Alec had no choice but to act normally. “Me, neither.”

  Walter spotted them near the barn and signaled Sundance to stop. “Hi, kids,” he called. “Have a good time?”

  Shania nodded enthusiastically. “Guess what, Pop? I won two races today!”

  “You did? Good for you!” Walter gave one of his megawatt smiles and turned to Alec. “Once you’re finished with the horses, go ahead and get cleaned up. Your mother should be just about done with dinner.”

  Unlikely, he thought, but he managed not to say it.

  After they’d untacked the horses and replaced them in their stalls, Shania headed to the guesthouse. Alec collected their damp towels and started up the hill towards the farmhouse, still trying to erase the nauseating image from his mind. He trudged up the steps and kicked off his muddy boots before he opened the screen door.

  To his astonishment, Shania’s father was sitting on the couch with a beer in his hand. “Hey, kiddo,” Charles greeted. “How was the river?”

  Alec stared at him in disbelief. How in the world had they gotten back to the farmhouse so fast? Had he imagined the whole thing?

  “It was fine,” he managed to say.

  If Charles noticed the tremor in his voice, he didn’t indicate it. He turned his attention back to the television and picked up the remote, raising the volume several notches. Alec glared at his profile for another minute before Julianne appeared in the doorway.

  “Hi, honey,” she said breathlessly. “Can you set the table while I finish up in here?”

  One look at the flush on her cheeks told him that he hadn’t imagined a thing. “Sure,” he replied, spinning on his heel so he wouldn’t have to look at her face.

  He didn’t know that it was possible to go from loving someone to abhorring someone in the space of a couple of seconds.

  Alec left the dirty towels on the floor of the foyer and shuffled over to the china cabinet. The world seemed to move in slow motion as he opened the glass doors and pulled six plates from the shelves. He kept waiting to wake up from this nightmare; to walk into the kitchen and see his parents laughing as they made breakfast together.

  That was real, wasn’t it? Hadn’t he just seen it this morning, before he and Shania left to go riding?

  So what the hell was going on out in the meadow?

  He was just setting the plates on the dinner table when the front door swung open. “Jules?” Walter called. “I’m home.”

  Alec wanted to scream, but his throat was too tight. He wanted to race out the door and run all the way to the ocean, but his feet were filled with lead. He watched in despair as his father stepped out of his boots and glanced into the dining roo
m.

  “Hi, son. Where’s your mother?”

  Before he could respond, Julianne appeared in the foyer. “I’m here,” she replied, sending Walter a brilliant smile. “Dinner’s almost ready.”

  “Is there anything I can do to help?”

  “Everything’s under control.” She motioned towards the living room. “Charles is watching the last of the Tigers game, if you want to relax before we eat.”

  He returned her smile and leaned over to kiss her cheek. “I think I’ll do that.”

  Alec felt like he was watching a horror film when his father took a seat beside Shania’s. Charles said something and Walter tilted his head back, letting out a deep, hearty laugh. From the kitchen, he could hear his mother moving around, humming to herself as if she wasn’t hiding a disgraceful secret. Just when he was certain that his brain would explode, Shania and her mother entered the farmhouse.

  Kim gave Alec a quick greeting as she brushed past him into the kitchen. “Sorry it took me so long,” she said to Julianne as she set her shopping bags on the counter. “I always have a hard time finding the store.”

  “It’s fine,” Julianne replied. “I appreciate you running into town for me.”

  Kim smiled as she emptied the bags. “How’s your headache?”

  “Much better, thanks. I just needed to rest.”

  Only then did Alec notice that Shania was still in the foyer, sending him a quizzical stare. “What’s the matter with you?”

  At last Alec found his voice. “Nothing.”

  “Shania? Alec?” his mother called. “Come help us bring the food to the table.”

  Moments later they all sat around the table, the perfect portrait of two united families sharing a meal. Everyone bowed their heads when Walter said grace, but Alec lifted his face midway through the prayer and glared at his mother’s forehead.

  They passed the platters around and Alec placed the obligatory servings on his plate, but he made no move for his fork. Their parents chatted and laughed like they did at every meal–even Julianne and Charles, which only made him hate them more.