Montana Fire_A Small Town Romance

by Vanessa Vale

  “That first time I met you at the pancake breakfast, you said he’d been with another woman.”

  I sighed, tucked the sheet and blanket around my waist, worried the edging between my fingers. “I found Nate cheating on me the day I learned I was pregnant with Bobby. They’d been fucking—there’s no other word for it—for over a year. I had no clue, until I found them in the storage room at Goldilocks.”

  Ty lay on his side, propped up on his elbow.

  “He used to travel a lot, specifically to Germany. He said there was a dealer of very unique and high-end glass toys he wanted in the store. Back then, he helped run it with Goldie. I guess they’d met online. Turns out he was demo-ing the toys with the dealer. Her name was Annika. She’d flown into town under the guise of a sales trip, touring the US with her specialty items. She was supposed to hit stores all over the West, but didn’t make it any further than Bozeman.”

  I gave Ty a wistful smile. I didn’t like talking about this part of my life. It was a painful time, but Ty deserved to know. I didn’t want it to come between us.

  “After I kicked him out, he moved to Germany to be with her. The story goes, she was married. Her husband didn’t freak out about the extramarital activities like I did. Instead, he joined in.”

  Ty half grunted, half laughed. “Go on.”

  “Nate died of a blood clot that went to his lung, they think from flying. He’d just arrived in Hamburg the day before.”

  “Ah, yes, hamburger.”

  I laughed, remembering Bobby’s words. “Right. He was in bed with Annika and her husband and just died. Poof.”

  “Holy crap.”

  Ty placed a hand on my thigh and I felt his heat through the covers. “So you were married to an asshole. Do you still miss the bastard? Do you still—”

  “Love him?” I ran my fingers over Ty’s head, loving the feel of his soft hair. “After I kicked him out, I was sad. Depressed. Hormonal and nauseated for months. More angry than anything else. I filed for divorce. By the time Bobby was born, Nate had moved out of the country. Out of my life. But when he died, we were technically, legally still married. It’s hard to divorce a dead man. So I’m his widow, not his ex.”

  Ty slid up the bed to kiss me on the mouth. A gentle, soft kiss.

  I looked him in the eye. “Looking back, I’m not sure if I ever really loved him the way one should love their spouse. I’d been young. Naïve.”

  A side of his mouth ticked up. “And now?” One of his hands tugged gently at the blanket, lowering it so he could kiss a little lower. My left nipple, to be precise. Right through the T-shirt. He bit down gently.

  “Now?” I asked, my voice breaking. I forgot the reason for the question.

  He yanked the blanket down to the foot of the bed. And kissed a little lower, below the edge of his shirt. He pushed it up and moved between my legs. I shifted to let him.

  “Now?” he asked again. His hands followed his mouth until they were doing very special and exciting things to very special and exciting places on my body.

  “Now!” I yelled.

  * * *

  That night, after dashing through the Colonel’s backyard in Ty’s T-shirt, I found four messages on my phone. With Ty doing his caveman routine, I’d left my cell at home the night before. Standing in the kitchen, I listened to them. Kelly called first to hear about my date with Dex, which I’d completely forgotten about. While my mom told me about her day with the boys and asked me to call them back, I noticed the gnomes were missing. Hadn’t they been on the counter watching us have sex? Now where were they?

  The last message was from Goldie to call her when I’d taken a break from sex with Ty. The gnomes were the least of my concern. I had to deal with a sex curious mother-in-law before I dealt with wandering gnomes.

  I called Goldie. “Hi!” I said brightly. What did one say to someone when they knew you’d had sex? Lots and lots of sex.

  “I knew it. I can hear it in your voice.”

  I wedged the phone between my ear and my shoulder as I pulled the kitchen table back in place. I had a hot flash remembering how the table got moved. Could I ever eat there again without breaking into a hormone induced sweat?

  “All I said was hello.”

  “I know about these things,” she said sternly.

  “I could have been having sex with Dex instead of Ty! He was the guy I went out with last night.”

  “I hear the sass in your voice, but I’ll forgive you this once since you did good. I bet Ty was, too.” Goldie chuckled at her own pun. I rolled my eyes. “Of course, you wouldn’t have sex with Dex. You love Ty.”

  I dropped the phone. It bounced off the kitchen table before I was able to grab it back up.

  “Um, love?” I gurgled and plopped down into a kitchen chair, the wood cold on my butt. I wasn’t prepared for that. Sure, there was definitely something special between Ty and myself, but love? I just chalked the butterflies in my stomach up to lust.

  “I lust Ty.”

  “Sure, you do. If I was thirty years younger, I’d lust Ty, too. Hell, I lust Ty at seventy.”

  I smiled. I saw Ty cut through the back yard. I gave a little wave and felt those butterflies. Was that love?

  Oh, my God. Why did Goldie always have to be right?

  I was in love with Ty. I was in love with the man coming in my back door in rumpled shorts and a gray MSU T-shirt. No shoes and wearing the look of a man who’d had lots and lots of sex. Holy crap.

  Thank goodness Goldie couldn’t see him now. I put my finger to my lips to keep him quiet. He came close and dropped a kiss on top of my head.

  I smiled at him. A sappy smile of a woman in love. “Um. I’ve got to go.”

  “I don’t want to keep you from ripping Ty’s clothes off,” Goldie said.

  Not a bad idea, I thought as I eyed Ty’s body.

  “But I just wanted to tell you I’ve got Veronica coming in tomorrow to help me out. She’s back from her trip to the Alamo and needs some extra shifts.”

  I’d forgotten about work. Hell, I’d forgotten about everything except putting Tab A into Slot B with Ty.

  “Thanks,” I said, meaning it. I ran my hand up under Ty’s T-shirt to feel the soft hair, his hot skin. Why couldn’t I get enough?

  “By the way, do you know anything more about the dead guy in the pig pen?” Goldie asked.

  Oh yeah, that. “Haven’t heard a thing. When I hear something, I’ll call you.”

  “Ha! Sure, you will. Tell Ty I said hello. Say, want me to swing by with another gift box for you? Just tell me what you need and I’ll leave it on your doorstep.”

  My hand dropped lower to press against his erection. “Ty’s got everything I need.”

  * * *

  One quickie later, we were finally able to control ourselves. I showered, put on a pair of sweats and hoodie, and pulled out the shrimp ring from the fridge.

  We sat shoulder to shoulder on my couch watching a James Bond marathon, Ty’s arm thrown over the back of the couch. His hand rested on my shoulder. The shrimp, cheese puffs and beer were spread out on the coffee table in front of us. Ty turned down the stinky cheese with a similar face the boys made. Must be a guy thing.

  “Goldie wanted to see if I knew more about Morty’s murder.”

  Ty tossed a cheese ball in the air and caught it with his mouth. He crunched a few times then said, “I called my parents when you were in the shower. They said the police have no real leads as there’s no way to take fingerprints. There aren’t any footprints or tire tracks to give someone away. It must have been raining when Morty was dumped there.”

  “Are your parents all right?” If my mom had found a hacked up body in a pig sty, she’d probably have a nervous breakdown. But, she’d probably have a nervous breakdown being near a pig sty.

  “They’re fine. Taking it all in stride. They’re more worried about you.”

  “Me?” I raised my eyebrows. “Really? That’s sweet.”

  He popped
another cheese ball, had a swig of beer. “I called the sheriff who I met that night. He didn’t have much new either. The only thing they’ve been able to say definitively is that Morty had meth in his system.”

  I wondered which body part they’d analyzed to discover that and cringed at the thought. I grabbed a shrimp, ate it, and tossed the tail onto the plastic tray. Not very ladylike, but I’d already gotten the guy. With all the unladylike stuff I’d done already, tossing a shrimp tail wasn’t going to make much of an impact.

  “Meth, meth, meth. Everything’s meth around here. Crazy robber guy, Kelly’s neighbor’s kid—”

  “The house in Churchill, about five or six calls in the past two weeks.”

  I pointed my beer at him. “Exactly.”

  Ty’s cell rang.

  “Strickland.” Ty listened. “Where?” Listened some more. “I can’t come now. I’ve had a few beers. Right. Seven. I’ll be there.” He hit End and turned to me. “Wildland fire. In the National Forest north of Big Sky.”

  “Do you have to go? Now?” It was dark out. Late. “Sorry, I forget fires don’t stop because it’s nighttime.”

  He smiled. “I can’t go now. I’ve had too many beers to head out but they want me in the morning. I’ll meet up with a crew coming in from Helena and go down.”

  “How big is it?”

  Forest fires happened all the time out West. Lightning strikes, negligent campers, tossed cigarettes could create a catastrophic fire that burned acres and acres of wilderness. If it was big enough, firefighters from all over the country came to help fight it.

  “So far, just a few hundred acres, but it’s going to be windy up there. It’ll grow more before it’s contained.”

  “Do they know how it started?”

  “No bad weather in the area, so it wasn’t lightning. Probably a camper, but they won’t know for a while.”

  I stood up and started cleaning up the food debris. “You should get some sleep. Sounds like you’re going to need it.”

  Ty stood, too. Turned off the TV. “Your bed or mine?”

  16

  The sun just came up when the alarm went off. I groaned and burrowed deeper under the blankets. Ty moved in close and let his hands roam over my body. “I can’t get enough of you,” he whispered.

  I half groaned, half sighed. His hands felt good, but I was sore in places I hadn’t known existed. “When I get back, love, I….” He kissed the back of my shoulder. “Remember we talked about sex versus relationships?” His voice was rough from sleep.

  My brain was mostly asleep. “Mmm?”

  “This isn’t just sex, Jane.” Ty sighed. “I’ve…I’ve fallen for you.”

  I smiled, savoring the cocooning warmth of the bed and Ty’s words.

  He rolled out of bed and I heard him rustle into his clothes.

  I vaguely felt his knee press into the bed. “Please, be careful while I’m gone. I have plans for you, for this relationship, when I get back.” He dropped a kiss on the top of my head and was gone. Left for the burning Montana wilderness. I missed his body heat for about thirty seconds before I fell into REM sleep until nine when I woke with a start.

  He loved me? Had I dreamed that whole conversation? What were Ty’s exact words? I’ve fallen for you. Why the hell hadn’t I woken up? That’s right, having sex for two days straight wore you out. One of the most important conversations of my life and I’d slept through it. When Ty got back, I’d just blame it on him. It was his fault I missed it. Right.

  I showered and dried my hair, the whole time with a silly grin. I went extra fancy and did my hair, which meant putting it up in a ponytail. I threw on clean shorts but I put on Ty’s T-shirt I’d worn the night before. I was being a sap, but it smelled like him. And because my lips were worn out from all the kissing, I treated them to some lip balm. And I smiled some more.

  Thanks to Veronica, Goldie’s trusty employee, I had the day off. I ate stinky cheese and watched morning talk shows in between bouts of napping. I had no idea a sex marathon could be so exhausting.

  My cell phone beeped from the bedroom signaling a text. Sighing with laziness, I went to read it.

  Ty: new info re Morty @ DD ranch. meet @ 1

  I perked up at his message. I’d all but given up ever learning anything new about Morty, knowing I’d tried all I could, just short of sleeping with Dex. What had Ty found out?

  I looked at the time. 11:30. I had just enough time to change into jeans and boots to protect myself from animal poop—or dead bodies.

  * * *

  I spent the hour driving to Dex’s ranch working through everything I knew about Morty Moore. It wasn’t much and I’d finished that train of thought by the time I drove by the mall. Morty had worked at the Rocking DD Ranch and had a side job selling stolen horse semen. Someone blew up his parents’ house. He’d been killed for some reason, by somebody. That’s it. That’s all the definitive information I had.

  After that I thought about sex with Ty. I had a mental porn movie going, starring the two of us. It lasted until I was south of Norris. I was smiling to myself and felt surprisingly horny as I drove through the Rocking DD archway. I was eager to see Ty even though it had only been a few hours since he’d left for the wildfire. Must have been put out much quicker than he’d thought.

  I followed the driveway like I’d done the last time up to the large horse arena. I intentionally skipped Dex’s mega-mansion first, not super interested in seeing the house Dex intended for me, as his future wife, to clean every day. As if. The house had to be over five thousand square feet. No chance in hell I could keep that monstrosity clean.

  The sky was big and blue, the sun bright. It was exactly the same as my previous visit, although there appeared to be less action. I parked and got out. I didn’t see anyone else around, although the side door to the stable was open. I smelled hay and horses. No Ty. In fact, I didn’t see his rental car.

  I held my hand up to my eyes to shield the sun and looked around. Where was Ty? I ventured into the arena first, taking time for my eyes to adjust. Only half the lights were on, the building cool and quiet.

  “Hello?” I called out. Nothing.

  I returned outside and looked around again. I heard some nickering and horse snuffling coming from the stable and headed that way. A few horses had their heads out over their half stall doors. Nothing else was going on down the long central aisle. No one on poop patrol with a wheelbarrow. No hay tossing. Nothing. I pulled my cell from my pocket to see if I’d missed a message from Ty.

  “Crap,” I muttered to myself. No service.

  I returned to the car to consider my options. My watch said 1:15 and Ty wasn’t here. I didn’t have much choice but to go up to Dex’s house and knock on the door.

  I pulled up and parked in the circular drive. The house was much larger up close than from the main driveway. It was two stories; a large porch ran the length of the main section with a wing off to the left. A four-car garage was to the right. Shake shingle roof. Stained siding and deep eaves. Tall pillars made from roughhewn pines graced the entry leading to double wooden doors ten feet tall. The home was what Donald Trump would build if he wanted to live in Montana and get horse poop on his shoes.

  I rang the doorbell.

  “Hello, Jane,” Dex said as he opened the door. He stepped back. “Come in.”

  I took in the large entry, two stories tall. Slate floors, several closed doors which I assumed were closets for winter coats and boots. Beyond was a great room facing west that had wall to wall windows with vistas of the Tobacco Roots. The furnishings were dark leather and lots of wood. An interior decorator had been through because there were unusual knickknacks and throw blankets worthy of a show home. A large elk head was positioned above a river rock fireplace big enough to stand in. I had to admit, it was beautiful.

  “Hi. I’m supposed to meet a friend of mine here. Ty?”

  “Would you like a drink?” He turned and walked toward what I assumed was the kitchen.
Since he hadn’t answered my question, I had no choice but to follow.

  The kitchen was everything you’d expect. Stainless steel appliances worthy of Wolfgang Puck, a marble topped island the size of my kitchen, gleaming wood floors. By the time I’d taken in the views from the big windows—which were everywhere—Dex held a glass of red wine out to me.

  “Thanks,” I replied, not sure what to say. I wasn’t a big wine drinker and it was a little early in the day. I took a polite sip. Good stuff. There was no way Dex was a boxed wine kind of guy. “So, about my friend?”

  Dex took a sip of his wine as well. “What do you think of my home?”

  “Um, well, it’s very nice.” Dex made me nervous, but I couldn’t put my finger on exactly why. He wasn’t answering my question about Ty, although he never seemed one to like to talk about other men. I took another sip of wine to ease my nerves.

  “I knew you would like it.” He put his wineglass down on the counter. “Would you like a tour?”

  A tour? “Sure. A tour.” I started to put my glass down.

  “No, you’re welcome to bring your wine with you. Please, enjoy it. I have more.” He took my free hand and led me through the downstairs. His hand was warm, his skin slightly rough with calluses. Dex talked about the building of the home, the details, and his plans for the future.

  That was great and all, but I was getting worried about Ty. “Dex, I was supposed to meet my friend here. He’s really late. Have you heard from him?”

  Dex looked down at me and smiled. “Yes, sorry. He called and said he was running behind. Something about a fire?”

  “Right. The fire.” I relaxed then and took another sip of wine.

  “Let me show you the upstairs while we’re waiting for him.” He led me through six bedrooms, a study, media room and laundry before ending at the master suite. It was bigger than my entire house. Lots and lots of cream carpet. Again, the views, the dark wood furniture. The bed. A great big bed.

  I had this funny feeling in my stomach. This was not where I wanted to be with Dex. Alone. I swallowed. All of a sudden, I didn’t feel so well. The bed started to lose focus. I blinked to clear my vision.