Slung over the back of the chair in front of her, was a caramel fringed jacket. She stared at it and wondered what it was doing there. And then the smell of bacon cooking hit her nostrils. It was her favourite smell first thing in the morning but today, she felt as sick as a dog. Running upstairs to the bathroom, she heaved straight into the toilet. With the door left open, her sounds were heard from downstairs.
Heather came running up to the bathroom and stopped in the doorway watching Jessie deal with her hangover. “Oh god, let me get you a towel,” she said and reached for a towel on the shelf by the door, passing it to Jessie.
Jessie, not knowing that anyone else was in the house, was startled and jumped from her crouched position. She turned around sharply—her face sweating. “Just what the hell?” she yelled.
“It’s me, Heather. We met at the bar last night, only you made the decision to get drunk. I left you at the bar but when I was waiting at the bus stop, you staggered out of the bar and fell to the ground in a crumpled heap. I came to your rescue and drove you home.”
Jessie wiped her mouth clean with the towel and slumped back down beside the toilet. “You look familiar. Did we…?”
“God no. I slept in the arm chair. That is after you stopped singing for half of the night and when you stopped that, you started to ramble on about someone named Corby. Is she someone special to you?”
Jessie grabbed hold of the toilet seat with both hands and heaved into the bowl once again. Once she finished, she got up onto her feet and turned the sink taps on to wash her face. Heather remained in the doorway keeping an eye on her.
“What? Are you my keeper now?” Jessie asked sarcastically.
Heather backed away from the doorway. “I see that you have some personality issues. I’ll go and turn the bacon off and head out to the nearest bus stop, wherever that is.”
“You’ll not find one for miles,” Jessie told her.
“Yeah, seems to be the trend around here.” She headed off downstairs and removed the pan from the heat. “Bacon’s cooked,” she yelled up the stairs. “That’s if you like it burnt,” she muttered under her breath.
Jessie slowly emerged from the bathroom and made her way downstairs. “It burnt, didn’t it?” she asked.
“Yep. Too busy being told that there’s nothing around here for miles.”
“So, if you drove me home, one of us doesn’t have a vehicle here.”
“That would be me. I drove your truck and left my Mustang back in town with a blown out tire.”
Jessie rubbed the back of her head and yawned loudly. “Yeah, I remember now.”
“So then, will you be giving me a ride back into town to get my car sorted out?”
“Shit.” Jessie sighed heavily.
Blue sat by one of the kitchen cupboards and whined while he scratched his paw over the door. Jessie opened the door and pulled out a bag of his dog kibble. She poured some into a bowl and placed it down on the floor for him. He was happy to be eating.
“So, how about that ride, then?” Heather asked again.
“Yeah, sure. Just let me find my keys.” She looked around the kitchen and not seeing them, she went into the front room and looked around, turning over magazines and getting down on her hands and knees and looking under the sofa.
“Looking for these?” Heather asked, standing in the doorway with a bunch of keys dangling from her hand. “You seem to have forgotten that I drove you and your truck home last night.”
“Oh yeah, thanks.”
“So, is this your house, I mean, do you own it or rent it?”
“It was my grandpa’s. He passed away recently and I seem to have inherited it.”
“Oh nice. Well not your grandpa passing away but it’s good that you’ve inherited this and is there land that comes with it?”
“You ask too many questions,” Jessie said swiping the keys from Heather’s hand. “And yes, there is land, lots of land, land with cattle, land with horses and more land after that, if you must know.”
“Well you don’t have to bite my head off, I was just making conversation being as you don’t like to talk much. I rarely have a bad word to say about anyone but sheesh, you’re coming pretty close to breaking that rule.”
“Before last week, I had my life sorted out. I have an apartment in Vancouver, a great job in graphics and the freedom to live my life just the way I like it. Now I find that I’m tied down to a ranch with beasts that I don’t even want and apparently I have to go and feed the cattle now because they can’t feed themselves.”
“Do you not have anyone to do that for you?”
“No, they all left when my grandpa died. I can’t say that I blame them and the neighbors have been helping out to feed the cattle and horses but now it’s down to me and did anyone ask if I wanted this? They sure as hell didn’t!”
“I grew up on a ranch. Used to go with my daddy early in the mornings to feed the sheep and cattle. We’d ride the horses out to the river that crossed our land and we’d spend time talking about how he loved having me around to help him.”
“So why are you here now and not on the ranch with your daddy?”
A sad look swept across Heather’s face as she looked down at her feet. “I had to sell the ranch, it wasn’t my choice, I would have kept it on but my daddy found himself in a spot of trouble—”
“Trouble?”
“He caught my momma having an affair with Ed Miller, a neighboring rancher and a so called friend of my daddy’s. My daddy confronted him as soon as he found out about the two of them and a fight broke out. Ed had a knife on him, my daddy said that he pulled it out from his pocket and threatened my daddy with it. One thing led to another and in the fight my daddy grabbed hold of the knife and stabbed Ed with it. He died almost instantly. Now my daddy is paying the price in jail and my momma upped and left without a word of where she was going. I couldn’t take on the role of running it by myself as daddy’s name was now not worth his reputation and so many people turned their backs on us. My lawyer suggested selling fast to avoid losing any more money, so regretfully I did.”
“I’m sorry to hear that,” Jessie said backing down from her sternness.
Heading for the front door, Heather stopped and turned around. “I can give you a hand to feed the cattle and horses if you like.”
Jessie, heading for the door behind her, stopped suddenly in her tracks. She thought for a moment. “Well, you know how to ride a horse?”
“Bet your bottom dollar I can,” Heather replied, a smile broadening, uplifting her joy at the prospect of doing something that she had a fondness for.
•••
Jessie slid open the main stable door. Inside were twelve stalls, six on each side with top and bottom opening doors and another sliding door at the opposite end. Pitching forks hung from a rack by the entrance, saddles on display racks and reins dangled from hooks in the tack room. The strong smell of leather and hay filled both their nostrils as they chose their tack.
“It never gets old, does it?” Heather said smelling the saddle in her arms.
Giving a sideways glance, Jessie’s eyebrows raised. It had been a few years since she had ridden. She had had her own horse, an American Quarter Horse and she had named him Chestnut because of his colour and shiny coat. He passed away shortly before she left the ranch, which made it difficult for her to want to ride again. This was going to be the first time that she was to mount a horse since his death.
Heather walked along and looked at each horse in their own stall. A name plaque was on each door and she stopped when she came across an Appaloosa horse with a chocolate-colored front half and a grey and brown leopard-patterned back half. His name was Summer. “I like the look of this one, would you mind if I ride him?”
“Feel free.” Jessie approached the stall where Chestnut used to occupy. A Pinto horse now occupied it. His name—Paint. She knew that her grandpa had named him that because she used to tell him that Pinto horses looked like they had be
en painted. She edged closer to the horse and saddled him up. “There’s a small barn where the cattle roam. We keep their feed out there.”
Heather opened the stall door and led her horse out. She rubbed his nose—he nudged her. “Aw, he likes me.”
Jessie led Paint out of his stall—he snorted, nodded his head and blew through his nostrils. His tail swished and he nodded his head harder, knowing that he was about to venture out across the land. They both led their horses outside into the sunlight and mounted them.
Riding side-by-side, they trotted along the grass paddock parallel to the driveway, their hooves thudding over the dry dirt. And then rode across the dirt-track road and out into the open fields with long grasses and wild chervil and in the distance, mountains of blue spruces with areas shaded by the streams of clouds blocking the sun. Pine trees, Fir trees and Cedars edged the fields—their branches swaying and leaves rustling as the warm breeze caught them. Dried old broken branches lay scattered around the perimeters, Crows and Blue Jays squawked and squabbled amongst each other as they flew in and out and around the trees. Hummingbirds poked at honeysuckles and little red ladybugs ate the aphids that sucked on the juices of plants.
After riding for ten minutes they brought the horses to a walking pace.
“It’s beautiful out here,” Heather said, rising her butt up out of the saddle and taking a good look at their surroundings.
“It’s one of the reasons that my grandpa loved it here. I’d forgotten how fresh and clean the air smells,” Jessie replied.
Heather looked up into the sky and seeing an eagle flying in a circular pattern above, she stopped her horse so that she could get a better look at the magnificent bird. “Just look at the wing span on that eagle,” she said impressed.
Jessie stopped her horse and joined in watching the bird above. “It’s probably spotted its next meal by the way it’s flying around in the same spot. Come on, we need to reach the cattle and feed them, so I can drive you to your car and you can be on your way.”
Heather tapped her heels into Summer’s sides and continued to ride through the fields. “Do you have anyone in mind to be a ranch hand?” she asked.
Jessie rode alongside her and for a few minutes they both remained silent—keeping their thoughts and their questions to themselves. The only sounds coming from either of them were the leather saddles creaking and the horses breathing and snorting as they trod through the undergrowth.
“I’m going to need to find someone soon. If I decide to stay, I can’t handle doing this on my own.”
“I could help out. It’s not like I don’t know what I’m doing. You don’t even have to pay me because I have money. It could be on a, ‘I work for food and shelter,’ agreement. What do you say?”
Jessie looked directly across at Heather. “I couldn’t do that to you. No, I’ll find someone who wants the job, I’m sure there’s plenty of ranch hands out there looking.”
“I insist. Give it a trial anyway. If you don’t like how I do things, then and only then, make a decision about replacing me.”
“I don’t know. It’s not right,” Jessie complained quietly.
“Give it a try. I promise you that you won’t be disappointed.”
Jessie thought about it while they rode up to the small shed of cattle feed. She jumped down from Paint—Heather followed suit. Jessie unlocked the door to the shed and opened it up. The door caught on the grass as she moved it and the hinges creaked. It was dark inside but sacks of feed had been piled near to the door, so Jessie grabbed hold of one and dragged it outside and filled the trough with the mix. The cattle were close by and knowing the food was in the trough, they headed over to the shed.
“You’ve got yourself a lot of cattle,” Heather noted.
“Can you handle it?”
Heather dragged the half-full bag of fed back to the shed. “Handle what?”
“Doing the job of a ranch hand. Can you handle it?”
“Seriously? I won’t let you down, I promise.”
Jessie locked the shed back up and both re-mounted their horses, with Heather conversing most if the way back to the ranch house, while Jessie thought long and hard about her impulsive decision.
“I’m not the sort of person to make rash decisions, so be prepared for any uncertainties coming from me. I’m used to men handling this work and a two woman team seems almost impossible to me.”
“I can do this. You need to relax.” She lowered her voice. “Or get laid.”
“Don’t think I didn’t hear that.”
Just before reaching the dirt track road outside of the ranch house, Paint was spooked by a rattle snake and shied repeatedly, his nose snorting loudly, and his eyes bulging, as he backed away from the reptile. Jessie tried to calm him with soothing words, but he was too frightened and reared his front legs, causing her to fall to the ground. Heather jumped off her horse and ran over to Jessie, who was now on her back. She crouched down and leaned over her. Blocking the sun from Jessie’s eyes with her upper body, she checked her over for any injuries.
“I’m fine, I’m fine,” Jessie groaned, frustrated at herself for falling so easily.
Heather put her hands behind Jessie’s shoulders and scooped her up into a sitting position. Their faces were close—extremely close. Heather could feel Jessie’s warm breath brushing over her as she panted heavily. Just for a moment, she gazed into Jessie’s eyes, and it was as if all sounds and movements of nature had dissipated into nowhere. She could feel her heart beat hard inside her chest—a flash of her imagination crossed her mind—her and Jessie both naked and making love right where they were in the rich green grass, their clothing strewn all over the place, the horses calmly grazing on the grass nearby. Then in an instant, the sound of birds chirping, the feel of a breeze and the rustle of leaves in the trees returned.
“Let me help you to your feet,” Heather said to her.
“Thanks.” Jessie grabbed her hold of her hand and got up onto her feet. She brushed her jeans down, cleaning them of any dry dirt. “Better get the horses back to the stable.” She took hold of Paint’s reigns and holding the leather in her hand, she put her foot in the stirrup and climbed back on.
“Okay,” Heather said to herself, rolling her eyes behind Jessie’s back. She got back on Summer and they trotted back to the stable in silence.
Chapter Five
Coming out of the stable, Jessie’s attention was drawn to a truck pulling up outside of the house. She walked across the paddock, her eyes fixed on the oncoming vehicle.
Travis got out of his truck. “Hey, Jessie, I’ve been calling you all morning. I kind of got worried when you didn’t answer, so I thought that I should take a drive out and see if you’re okay. Which by the looks of things you are.” His eyes looked back and forth at Jessie and at Heather.
“Oh, this is Heather. We met last night at a bar.”
“Hi, Heather King.” Heather held her hand out to shake Travis’s.
He removed his hat and nodded and then shook her hand. “Hi. So can I take it that the black 95 Mustang with a flat tire that’s been parked in the Horsewhip bar parking lot overnight is yours?”
“Yes you can,” Heather said smiling. “How did you know that?”
“It was reported as an abandoned vehicle by the bar owner. He told me that he’d seen some strange activity in the parking lot. He saw you leave the bar a short while after Heather here left. Then he saw you fall to the ground and then when he looked again, your truck was gone but the Mustang was still there. I ran a check on the Calgary plates, you’re clean.”
“I know,” she said impressed with herself. “I bet you hoped that I was a wanted criminal, didn’t you?”
“Well, as long as you’re all right,” he said. “And I was just doing my job.”
“Say, can you give me a ride into town? I need to get that flat tire fixed,” Heather asked him.
“Yeah, sure, I’m headed back that way,” he told her.
Heathe
r opened the passenger door of his truck. She looked back at Jessie. “I’ll see you later on, Boss, just as soon as that darn tire is fixed.”
•••
Jessie headed into the house and let Blue out for a run around.
After making herself a fresh pot of coffee and drinking a large mug of it, she opened her mail, or rather, letters addressed to her deceased grandpa. One caught her immediate attention. It was a letter from House of Hope, the mental home where her sister Corby was being cared for. She opened it up to read. It stated that Corby’s care had been paid up until the end of next month and it was a reminder that the next twelve months payment was due. Jessie felt guilty that she hadn’t been to see her sister in years and wondered if she would even recognise her if she went to visit. She nervously bit down on her fingernail.
Without giving it a second thought, she called Blue back into the house, locked the door and jumped into her truck. She knew that if she had given thought to it, she would have talked herself out of going to see her sister.
She drove fast down the dirt track—pockets of sunlight filtered through the tree branches and leaves. “Shit, my cigarettes,” she muttered, while she searched her jacket on the passenger seat, keeping a quick eye on the road, and then flitting her attention to the jacket as she rummaged through it. Finding them and her lighter, she flicked the top of the pack open with her thumb and then shook them out onto her jacket, so she could grab one. She lit it up and sucked hard on it, inhaling the smoke and exhaling it out of her open window.
•••
House of Hope was more like a health centre than a care home. The nurses were extremely caring and all of the patients were made to feel special and treated with great respect. The outer grounds were landscaped with rich grass gardens and flowerbeds of lily’s and lavenders and honeysuckles. There were cedar wood benches and a garden swing made from tree trunks. It was almost park-like in appearance and had a welcoming aspect to it.
Chasing Yesterday Page 4