Rachel wondered what Adam was brooding about, he hadn’t said a word all evening. He sure was a grumpy guy. She hoped there wasn’t something wrong that he didn’t want to say. The guy needed to lighten up a bit, he didn’t have to carry the whole world on his shoulders. But he did seem to be doing that about half the time if not more. She’d never known a guy that took his responsibilities to the extreme that Adam did. It was admirable, she supposed, but she wondered if it wasn’t a little on the obsessive side, the guy needed to chill out once in a while and simply enjoy life.
She wanted to get his attention off whatever he was brooding about. But she couldn’t think of a way to do so. Maybe she could ask him about the miniature golf course, Tim might not like that, but she was more concerned with distracting Adam than Tim’s feelings.
Deciding to throw Tim under the bus she said, “Tim and I saw the abandoned mini-golf place, it’s very cute. Adam, do you have any idea what it would cost to buy something like that and restore it? Tim was curious about it and since you’re the financial guy in the family, I thought you might have an opinion.”
Adam frowned. “I really have no idea.”
Hank looked at Tim with raised eyebrows.
Tim flushed. “It was just a silly conversation, there were two for sale places and Rachel and I were just imagining buying them and reopening them. I felt sorry for the mini golf place, it’s been abandoned. The fun wooden constructs are decaying and need some TLC.”
Ellen said, “That’s not exactly your bailiwick.”
Tim nodded. “Yeah, but Terry would be in hog heaven helping me to restore them. Not that I’m planning to do that. I’m pretty busy between working on the ranch and the art gallery and making my sculptures.”
Hank cleared his throat. “Tim, I love having you work the ranch and you are always welcome to stay and do that. For the rest of your life, if you want to. But if your heart is calling you elsewhere, I have no intention of holding you back. I love you and want you to find your place in life, and if that’s not on the ranch, then that’s okay with me.”
“Thanks, Dad.” Tim cleared his throat. “I don’t have any place else I want to be right now. But it’s nice to know I have your blessing, if that changes.”
Hank nodded and Ellen took his hand and squeezed it.
Tim looked at Rachel. “Trouble maker.”
Rachel hadn’t thought through the consequences of her mouthing off and now felt really bad about it. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean anything. Just livening up the conversation.”
Adam shook his head. “That you did, little girl, that you did.”
Tim said, “We could talk about the photo studio. That’s the other one for sale. And all the things you talked about doing, Rachel.”
Rachel shook her head. “I’m sure we can think of something else to talk about.”
Alyssa said, “So about my graduation the day after tomorrow. What’s the plan?”
Rachel was so glad Alyssa was changing the subject she could have kissed her. As everyone discussed transportation over the mountains Rachel thought about her foolish comment. She had indeed acted like a little girl, with no real forethought to what can of worms she was opening. She would have died if someone had said that to her family, and gotten everyone riled up for no good reason. What a fool she was. She wanted to crawl into her bed, pull the covers over her head and not come out for a month or two—or at least until all the Jeffersons went home.
She looked over at Tim and he winked at her, so she assumed she was forgiven.
Chapter 11
Rachel was loading her equipment into Tim’s truck. He’d forgiven her for her faux pas at dinner the other night and had teased her mercilessly the next day. She’d taken it with good grace for about six hours. Then had punched him in the stomach and told him to knock it off. He’d laughed like crazy. Telling her he was just waiting for her to get over feeling bad.
She was taking nearly every piece of her equipment because she just didn’t know what she would want to take pictures of in Fort Collins, at Alyssa’s graduation from the Colorado State University. She’d probably have to ride back with one of the Kiplings since she didn’t think Tim was coming all the way back to Spirit Lake before heading home to Washington. They would be driving back down for the wedding in a couple of months anyway, so it made sense to leave after graduation for the two-day drive back to Washington. Fort Collins was between Spirit Lake and Chedwick so it didn’t make sense to drive all the way back.
She was staying to help Alyssa plan the wedding. Since it was going to be so soon, they would have to hustle to get it together in time. Fortunately, the Kiplings belonged to a church in town that was very picturesque, and the pastor was happy to perform the ceremony. So, the ceremony was good, all they had to worry about was the invitations and the dress and the attendant’s clothing and the decorations and the flowers and the rehearsal dinner and the wedding reception. Piece of cake, oh yeah and the cake.
But first, before they got crazy with all that, was graduation. Could Alyssa cram anything else into such a short time? Rachel didn’t think so, but she wasn’t going to mention it just in case it sounded like a challenge. Because Alyssa liked nothing better than a challenge.
“Anything else you’re going to cram in my ride?” Tim asked, as she set her last tripod on the floor of the back seat. Fortunately, he had an extended cab truck, so she didn’t have to put it in the bed.
“Nope, I think I’m good.”
“Alrighty then, let’s hook up the horse trailer and we’ll be ready to roll.”
So, he definitely wasn’t coming back after graduation. She wondered who she could ride back with. Alyssa probably had it all planned out from dinner the other night. She’d been too mortified by her actions to listen to the discussion, so she had no idea what the plan was.
There was quite the caravan leaving the ranch, heading for Fort Collins. Both families totaled eighteen people plus her made nineteen, how Alyssa had managed to get tickets for all of them to attend she didn’t know, but she had. They had seven vehicles total. All of them extended cab pickups and one pulling a horse trailer.
The drive to Fort Collins took about three and a half hours. Rachel had her camera in her lap the whole time and occasionally took pictures out the window of the truck. She’d been doing the driving when she came into Colorado and over the mountains, so she’d had to pull over for any pictures she couldn’t live without. Which had been more than a normal person, but not nearly as many as she would have liked. She loved the view of Denver when they dropped down out of the mountains, came around a corner on I-70 and it spread out before them.
Tim laughed as she took picture after picture. “It’s a city, what’s the big deal?”
“It’s so big and look at that perfectly straight street. It looks like it runs straight into down town. I’ve never seen anything like it.”
Tim looked at her like she was an idiot. “That’s because you live in a tiny town tucked in between the mountains and the lake. Out here there is lots of land and very few natural formations to go around. So why not have straight streets?”
“I need to come explore Denver before I go back home. Maybe Alyssa and I can do some wedding shopping.”
“I’m sure she would be more than happy to spend Dad’s money on frou frou stuff,” Tim said dryly.
“Goody.”
Adam couldn’t believe how many times Tim Jefferson pulled his truck to the side of the road or slowed down, as Rachel leaned out the window with her camera in her hand. He was ready to go slap both of them. But he supposed that was the payment for having her in his truck. An artist through and through. He supposed Tim didn’t mind so much, since he was also an artist. Although his carving wood statues, was not the same as Rachel taking a picture of every damn thing. He was surprised that it hadn’t added more time to the drive than it had, only about twenty minutes.
They had plenty of time, they’d left early, and Alyssa’s graduation wasn’
t until one. So, there was more than enough time for her to graduate and them to drive back before it got dark. The days were long this time of year.
Alyssa had talked about taking Trail Ridge Road through the Rocky Mountain National Park, on the way back from graduation. With the dry weather they’d had this winter it might even be open. He supposed if they did find out it was open early this year, Rachel would want to go that route also. It was a spectacular drive and would only add a few minutes, due to the slower speed because of the narrowness of the road and the many switchbacks. But it was the shortest route by far. It was touted as the highest paved road in America and in places it had a sharp drop off.
Drew interrupted his musings. “So, what do you think that drone is doing?”
Adam sighed. “I’ve wracked my brain over that question. If we had any idea where it was coming from or going to that might help. It just appears and then is gone until the next time. No warning, and it’s so startling it’s hard to remember to watch where it goes.” He’d been disgusted with himself when he hadn’t paid attention to where the drone had gone when he’d been confronted with it.
“Do you think it has something to do with that pickax Thomas found?”
“It doesn’t seem likely, but then again they are both rather odd things to be happening, so maybe they are.”
“If someone thinks something is buried on our land they might be scouting it out with the drone and digging with the pickax.” Drew shrugged.
“Thomas did say the pickax was stuck pretty hard into some rock. Maybe they were digging for treasure.” Adam guffawed. “Stupid place to dig if you ask me.”
Drew grinned. “You got that right, that land is all bedrock, which is why we don’t plant there. Dumb asses.”
“Yeah, down by the river would be a better place to dig, not that I think they’re going to find any treasure buried anywhere. There are some tall tales about gold and money going missing further north.”
“Yeah, the gold from Soda Creek up in the Never Summer Range, or maybe they think one of the Gilpin county thefts made its way over to our land.” Drew smirked.
“Ha, or maybe they think Elk mountain is the same as the Gore mountain range and are looking for the lost gold mine.”
“They wouldn’t be off by much, only fifty miles or so,” Drew said with an exaggerated shrug.
Adam laughed. “As the crow flies.”
“Same, same.”
“Riiiight.”
As Drew answered a text, Adam had to wonder if it was something silly like that, because he couldn’t think of any other idea that would fit the odd circumstances. He turned it over in his mind as he drove.
They had lunch at a place not too far from Fort Collins called Wholly Stromboli, it was Italian food and Adam had to admit it was delicious. Adam wasn’t sure how Alyssa had found the place originally, since it was about an hour from Fort Collins. But she seemed to know some of the people running it, so she had clearly been there more than a few times.
Rachel had her camera out the whole time they were in the restaurant taking pictures of all of them, and the food, and God only knew what all. How she managed to eat her lunch was beyond him, but when they got up to leave, her plate was clean.
The woman was a menace with that camera. But no one else seemed to mind her snapping picture after picture. He resigned himself to that being the way the whole day would be.
Chapter 12
Rachel dragged all her camera equipment out of Tim’s truck and handed nearly half of it to the man. She’d decided he was her designated pack mule. When she told him, he was now Tim-the-pack-mule, he grinned and brayed loud enough to draw everyone’s attention and then laughed his fool head off, when she turned bright red. Alyssa just rolled her eyes at him and started off toward the graduation venue.
Adam walked up. “Did you bring everything you owned?”
“Nearly, I don’t know what kind of pictures Alyssa wants or what the lighting will be like or how far away we’ll be, so yes, I brought nearly everything, except the light boxes.”
“I can help carry if you want,” Adam said.
Rachel grinned at him, she had no intention of turning down help, the less she had to carry the easier it was to stay focused on the actual photography. “Awesome.”
Tim patted Adam on the back. “You are going to regret offering to help, my friend. She takes it as a lifelong commitment. But I’m happy to have a fellow pack mule.”
Adam raised one eyebrow. “Lifelong? How long have you been toting and carrying?”
Tim shook his head sadly. “She got her first camera when she was about eight I think, but she didn’t need much help back then. In fact, no one was allowed to touch it or even breathe near it. But then she started acquiring more and more and more crap. So about ten years.”
Rachel rolled her eyes. “I didn’t get tripods or extra lenses or anything for you to carry, until I hit sixteen, and started taking pictures for the school newspaper. So, it couldn’t have been any longer than six years, drama queen.”
Tim put his hands on his hips. “Drama king. Thank you very much.”
“Enough of your silliness, Tim Jefferson, we need to catch up with Alyssa. Thanks for your help, Adam.”
“Hey, I’m helping too,” Tim whined.
“Yes, you are, but A, you’re complaining about it, B, it’s your sister that I’m taking pictures of, and C, I’ve known you since birth. But I still do appreciate the help. Now let’s move it.” She started off at a fast clip to follow Alyssa and the rest of the family that were a couple dozen yards ahead of them. But she still heard Tim muttering about bossy women and Adam chuckling at him.
She hoped having Adam near and at her disposal wouldn’t distract her too much. She was normally able to tune out everyone when she was in the photographer zone, but Adam was a force of nature she’d never encountered. With his rugged good looks and dark curly hair, she loved that he was so tall. And did she mention he smelled good, too? Yeah, the man was walking distraction. If he had a better personality she would be all over him. Fortunately for her and her peace of mind, he was kind of grumpy. She’d seen him nearly pleasant a few times, but he always held back from entering into the chaos and fun that surrounded both families.
She loved that chaos, most of the time anyway. Growing up, as an only child, could be lonely. So, she’d always enjoyed going to Alyssa’s house where she had surrogate siblings. And at the end of the day, she could also go back home, to her quiet life. When they all got to be too much for her.
Adam watched Rachel charge after Alyssa, she moved with a feminine grace that was poetry in motion. Her legs ate up the ground and her hair flew behind her. He tried not to make it obvious he was staring. But he saw Tim look at him, then look at Rachel and smirk.
Tim chuckled. “You and every other living breathing man, my friend.”
Adam just ignored the remark and kept walking. He had no intention of giving Tim any more ammunition than he already had. Plus, he had no intention of going after her, so it was a moot point. But he could admit to himself that she drew every one of his mating instincts to the forefront, and he had to fight to keep from imagining her wrapped around him in every way.
Alyssa’s graduation was like all other graduations he’d ever attended. A bunch of people pontificating on the amazing lives the graduates had spread out before them. The best part of the whole thing was that the class was relatively small since it was just the biomedical sciences and veterinary school graduating. So, the diploma ceremony was quick. Rachel switched between her zoom lens and the telephoto taking pictures of the whole class and the stage and even some of the crowd.
Alyssa looked to be quite popular with her class as everyone came to get their picture taken with her. Rachel was patiently taking all the pictures and promised to send each person a copy. How she was going to manage to get all their emails he didn’t know. But maybe Alyssa already had them or there was a class mailing list or something. He was proud of
Beau when he didn’t get jealous over the number of males in her class that wanted pictures with Alyssa.
Once all the festivities were over the Jeffersons’ kissed Alyssa goodbye and headed off for home. Alyssa started to look distressed at their leaving. He noticed Rachel tried to help by asking Alyssa what she wanted pictures of across the campus. That did help, and Beau had stories and anecdotes about those same locations from when he’d been a student. Finally, they’d taken pictures of everything and were ready to get on the road.
Chapter 13
How in the hell had he drawn the short straw to drive Rachel through Rocky Mountain National Park? For fuck’s sake, he’d just spent the last two hours toting all her crap around as she took zillions of graduation, family, friends, and campus pictures. Now he was going to be spending the next three to four hours with her. Just the two of them alone in his truck. Her closeness and scent were driving him crazy. They would have to converse and he had no idea what they could talk about for that long.
It was because of all the camera crap she’d brought with her. It took up over half of the backseat, which was why she couldn’t ride with Beau and Alyssa because Beau’s back seat was already half-filled with Alyssa’s graduation gifts and clothes. Drew, the traitor, had laughed, slapped him on the back and gotten in Cade’s truck with Chase and Grandpa K, saying he had to go to work in the morning so needed his beauty sleep.
Rachel would probably want to stop at every turn out and rest stop to take a zillion more pictures. This was confirmed when she took the memory card out of her camera, wrote Graduation on it and put a fresh, new one in the camera. He groaned inwardly.
“I’m so glad the road is open. Alyssa’s been wanting to take this drive through the park since her first day on campus, but with it only being open the few summer months when she came back home to see all of us, she’s never had the chance.”
Taming Adam_Burlap and Barbed Wire Page 7