Wildfire

by Roxanne Rustand

  “Sofia?” She closed her eyes for a moment in sheer bliss, then headed down the hall to the kitchen. “I didn’t think you’d be back this early—”

  Josh turned away from the stove, a sheepish grin on his face. “I sorta let myself in. Hope you don’t mind.”

  She glanced around the kitchen. “That’s fine. Where’s Sofia?”

  “She’ll be home in a half hour. She called my cell just a few minutes ago.”

  Surprised, Tessa took a closer look at him. “Y-you’re cooking?”

  He tipped his head toward the stove. “I knew you’d have a long day and that Sofia would be back late. It’s the least I could do.”

  “‘The least you could do’? It smells fantastic! What is it?”

  He glanced ruefully at his cast, and the single crutch propped under his arm. “It was the easiest thing I could come up with. I found some steak in your freezer, and went from there. We’re having steak au poivre—with a few recipe substitutions—mashed potatoes and honey-glazed baby carrots. I couldn’t find the ingredients for much else, so it’s nothing fancy.”

  Tessa’s stomach growled. “Nothing fancy? It sounds wonderful.”

  He turned back to the cast-iron skillet on the stove and flipped over the steaks, then ladled on a sauce. “It’s all ready, and you probably shouldn’t wait for Sofia. I can take my plate out to my place…”

  “Please, stay. I’ll set the table for all three of us.” While he tended the stove, she washed up, then set the dining-room table and filled the water glasses.

  It wasn’t until she came back into the kitchen that she noticed Elvis curled up contentedly at the end of the counter, his eyes riveted on Josh.

  Josh followed her gaze and smiled. “I…couldn’t help it. He was running all over, trying to find Gus, then he took a look at me and must’ve decided I was a good enough second-stringer. He’s been my shadow ever since. He…um…didn’t want to stay outside alone.”

  She didn’t have to taste dinner to know it would be wonderful—the aromas were already out-of-this-world. The thoughtfulness of his effort was touching.

  But a man who cooked, and who would befriend a lonely dog pining for its beloved owner? The combination was potent…and just like that, her heart melted.

  And that was bad news.

  It had been okay, having Josh here at the ranch. It had been the right and neighborly thing to do, and she’d managed to keep a cool distance that betrayed none of her old emotions.

  But what was she going to do now?

  TEN

  Josh started with that incredible recipe for steak.

  After that, he made something different every night, finding odds and ends in the freezer and pantry, and coming up with mouth-watering menus that had her looking forward to getting back home after a long day in the saddle.

  Sofia, exhausted after her days at Gus’s side in the hospital, had been dubious at first. And then she fell under Josh’s spell, too, during her late-night, re-heated dinners back at the ranch—especially when he insisted that he’d like to make meals several times a week after her husband came home, so she’d have one less thing to worry about.

  But soon things would go back to normal—almost.

  Sofia had moved Gus from the hospital to a skilled care facility, and he would be there for a month. He’d probably be laid up at the ranch for weeks after that, and there still hadn’t been any viable responses to Tessa’s employment ads in the local newspaper.

  She’d managed to cover the daily ranch work for the past week by herself and Danny was handling all of the trail rides and trips, but now, Josh was asking for the four-wheeler keys so he could go sightseeing, which presented a new worry.

  “You’re sure you’ll be okay?” She glanced down at his cast. “The quad isn’t exactly new. What if you have engine problems and you’re too far away to walk back?”

  He grinned and dangled his cell phone by its little antenna. “I’ll call.”

  “If you’re in range. And I won’t necessarily be in range, either, so I wouldn’t go too far, if I were you.”

  He held up two fingers in a scout salute. “Promise.”

  “Do you know the boundaries of the ranch?” Without waiting for a response, she walked into the tack room in the barn, then returned with a brochure from her outfitting business and opened it up on the hood of her truck. “Here’s a map. We have a little over a thousand acres. To the west, it’s all government land—Kilbourne Creek marks that boundary.”

  “Got it.”

  “Four Winds Ranch is to the south—and that’s owned by my sister Leigh’s future husband, Cole Daniels. There’s private land to the north, and beyond that, a condominium and resort complex, which is also private land. So going to the north is out. Obviously, the mountains are to the west, and that’s mostly federal land.”

  “Understood.” He frowned, and tapped the next ranch to the north. “So, what’s that land used for?”

  “Mostly cattle—same as Four Winds and Snow Canyon Ranch. In Iowa, it might take three or four acres to support a single cow, but here it takes a good thirty-five to forty. Our ranches have to be huge.”

  Josh’s eyes twinkled and his dimples deepened. “That’s just amazing, to an Easterner like me.”

  “Even so, we couldn’t make it without our grazing leases on government land to stay afloat.” She folded up the map and handed it to him. “Owning enough land would be impossible for most of the ranchers around here.”

  “I suppose the government has endless regulations, though.”

  “Of course, but it’s in our interest to comply. We have to rotate pastures and limit the number of head per acre, because the land is so fragile. Ruin the land, and our ranching lifestyle is gone.”

  He whistled. “Have you thought about relocating?”

  “This ranch is home, and I’ll never leave,” she said simply, tossing him the quad keys. “Now, be careful and don’t get yourself lost or hurt, okay? And try to stay on the trails if you go up into the high country.” She watched him climb aboard the vehicle by gingerly lifting his cast into position first. “You’re bringing food and water?”

  He shrugged his backpack into better position. “You bet.”

  “Rain gear? Weather changes fast, around here—especially up at the higher elevations.”

  “Got it.” With a wave, he turned the ignition key and sped across the barnyard in a cloud of dust, heading toward a pasture gate. “I’ll be back before dark,” he shouted over the noise of the engine.

  She watched him go, amused by his exuberance over being free of the limitations of his crutches and cast…though another thought niggled at her.

  He’d been friendly. Sociable. And as usual, she’d been totally disarmed by his lazy grin and that flirty twinkle in his eyes.

  So why did she have the uneasy feeling that he’d been fishing for information, and that he had a hidden agenda for being here?

  “How dare you bring that man here,” Claire snarled, her white-knuckled grip on the back of a chair threatening to snap the wood in two. “Did you think I wouldn’t remember the name?”

  Tessa had been hoping, but she probably should’ve been praying on it.

  She tipped her head toward the plate of burgundy beef stew and biscuits on the table. “Have some lunch. You haven’t eaten since early this morning.”

  “You don’t remember what he did? He abandoned you without a care in the world. Never looked back.” Claire snorted in disgust. “Then he went off and enjoyed some fancy career and left you to—”

  “Enough,” Tessa said firmly. “I don’t want to discuss it.”

  Claire huffed. “I’ll bet you never told him. Not even now. What kind of—”

  “Mom.” The common maternal endearment, one Claire had always disliked, had the effect of a splash of ice water, just as Tessa expected.

  Claire glared at her, then snapped her mouth shut.

  “Please, your food is getting cold. I’ll sit down and ea
t with you, okay? It’s absolutely delicious—even better warmed over from last night.” And Josh had made it, though she certainly wouldn’t mention that, or the plate might go flying against the wall.

  Claire, caught between pride and the wonderful aromas of the meal, hesitated, then jerked the chair away from the table, its legs screeching against the floor.

  She sat down, ramrod straight, and poked at the entrée with her fork as if expecting it to startle and take flight. “What did Sofia do to this beef?”

  “The recipe makes a savory, rich glaze. It’s really good.” Tessa took her place across the table from Claire and served herself from the stoneware baking dish sitting in the middle of the table. She took a bite, closing her eyes to concentrate on the explosion of flavor on her tongue.

  “And where is she?” Claire demanded.

  “Gus had a heart attack, remember? She’s been spending a lot of time with him at the care center, helping with his therapy.”

  A flash of confusion crossed Claire’s face, then cleared. Like a bloodhound, she picked up her target scent again. “Don’t you think it’s a little ironic that Josh Bryant would end up at your ranch?”

  Tessa coughed on a forkful of parsley-buttered new potatoes. “You think he engineered a plan to stay here? No one would purposely risk an accident like his. He was nearly killed, and he needed surgery.”

  “But he was here. In the area.”

  “Why would it have anything to do with me? I haven’t heard from him since college.” Tessa took a long sip of sweet tea. “And it’s obvious that we aren’t wealthy, if you think he’s after money.”

  “It’s too coincidental.”

  “That’s all it is, Claire. A coincidence.” But she couldn’t quite meet her mother’s eyes.

  “He said he’s a photographer,” Claire snapped. “So what’s he after?”

  “I doubt it’s anything sinister.”

  “Are you really that naive?”

  Tessa silently counted to ten. “The first time I saw him, he said he’d come to Wyoming for a photo shoot, and he was taking pictures of plants along a trail. That doesn’t sound like any big secret to me.”

  “But isn’t that how those tree huggers work?” Claire sniffed. “Don’t forget that commotion over grazing rights on BLM government land last year. Those photos hit the papers clear to Billings and Denver.”

  “I’ll talk to him, okay? Would that help?”

  “Think what you will, but that Josh is a no-good, manipulative, self-centered, irresponsible—”

  “Mom!” Tessa clenched her hands in her lap, biting back the words she’d regret.

  “You know better than to call me that, young lady. I’ll have some respect.”

  It wasn’t a request. It wasn’t framed with a please or thank you. And to most mothers, “mom” was hardly a derogatory term. But then, Janna had said she was noticing an increase in Claire’s outbursts lately, as well as increasing forgetfulness and confusion. Added to her imperious nature, the progress of her dementia was becoming even more challenging.

  “I hear you’re going to town for a doctor’s appointment on Friday,” Tessa said, trying for a breezy tone. “That’s good.”

  “It’s a waste of time. I’m not going.” Claire dug into her lunch, polishing off the last morsel before looking up again. “Already take too much medicine as it is—and that’s a waste of good money. Doesn’t work, anyhow.”

  Janna had made the appointment in hopes that a change in medication would help, but no one could deny Claire’s grim future—especially since she refused to take her medicine half the time.

  The back door squealed open and Sofia charged up the three steps into the kitchen, her face damp with perspiration.

  “I think you need to call your sister Leigh right away,” she exclaimed, breathing hard. She nodded a greeting at Claire, then she turned back to Tessa with an expression of distress and lowered her voice. “It’s your mother’s horse, Socks. I found her loose in the barn, with the feed room door open. I don’t know how full that sack of calf supplement was, but it’s all gone now…and that horse sure doesn’t look right.”

  “What was that?” Claire barked. “Something about my horse?”

  Tessa grabbed her cell phone and ran for the back door. “I’ll go check it out, Mom,” she called out. “You stay here with Sofia.”

  By the time Leigh pulled up in her vet truck, Tessa had tugged and coaxed the mare out of the barn, and had her front hooves planted in a couple of low, black rubber tubs filled with cool water. Tessa held the lead rope in one hand and a slowly running water hose in the other, to keep the water cool and circulating.

  Despite her instructions to the contrary, Claire had followed Tessa to the barn, and now she and Sofia were standing to one side. But for once, Claire was silent. Watching. Her face was a mask of worry.

  “Just the front hooves were hot, Leigh. It must have taken me ten minutes to get her out here. She was in a lot of pain.” Tessa tossed the end of the hose into a stock tank on the other side of the fence.

  Leigh pulled her long, strawberry blond ponytail through the back of her ball cap and frowned at the mare’s stance.

  No wonder. Already, Socks had adopted the typical stance of acute laminitis, with her front legs extended to relieve the intense pain and pressure inside the unyielding outer walls of her hooves.

  “How long would you say it’s been since she got in the feed?”

  “Everything was fine this morning when I did chores.” Tessa reached out to stroke the mare’s sweaty neck. “I always double-latch the feed room door, and I double check it before I leave. And I always check the stall doors, too. Everything was fine before I left for the Lodge to get Claire. But when we got back here, I didn’t go to the barn—it was lunchtime, so we went straight to the house.”

  Leigh jogged into the barn and looked into the feed room, then came back outside. “How full was that bag of calf supplement?”

  “I hadn’t opened it yet. It was a twenty-five pound bag.”

  “Has she been rolling or showing any signs of colic?”

  “Nope—thank goodness.”

  “Did you give her any medications yet?”

  “I thought about it, but you said you could get here right away, so I thought I better leave everything up to you.” Tessa managed a small smile. “You’re the expert, after all.”

  Leigh darted a glance at Claire, clearly waiting for a sarcastic remark and surprised that their mother didn’t offer one. “I’ll do my best for your mare. I hope we’ve gotten to her in time to minimize any permanent damage.”

  She bent over and lifted one hoof and then the other, moving aside the water tubs and first holding the hoof between her hands to check for heat, then palpating for the digital pulse just above each hoof, at the back.

  With a grim expression, she jogged back to her vet truck and retrieved syringes and small bottles, then came back and drew up three syringes of medication that she handed to Tessa.

  After palpating the mare’s neck and finding the right vein, she delivered the medications slowly, one after another.

  “I’ve given her Bute, which is an anti-inflammatory, and some DMSO. I also gave her a vasodilator to increase her blood flow. She’s going to be feeling a lot better soon, but she needs to be on deep, soft bedding in her stall.” Leigh frowned. “Keep her on stall rest, and you can continue to give her Bute for the pain if she needs it. Give it to her in the muscle, though.”

  “She’s going to be okay?” Claire asked.

  Her voice was so soft and shaky that all three women turned to look at her in concern.

  “Leigh has done everything right,” Tessa said. “She’s gaining quite a reputation in these parts.”

  Claire moved closer and rested a hand on the mare’s nose. “Socks is an old gal. I’m not sure how well she’ll come through something like this.”

  “I’ll do X-rays tomorrow, and then come back a few days later and check her again,” Leig
h said, handing the bottle of Bute to Tessa. “If she still isn’t doing well, we’ll need to look at other measures.”

  Claire nodded, then rested her forehead against the mare’s cheek. “Thank you, Leigh. I—I’m not sure I ever said it, but I’m proud of what you’ve done, being a vet, and all.”

  Obviously taken aback, Leigh looked up and met Tessa’s eyes before reaching out to briefly touch their mother’s arm. “Thanks.”

  Surprised at Claire’s brief display of affection, Tessa stepped away and hurried down the aisle of the barn to prepare a stall for the mare by tossing in two extra bales of sawdust and fluffing it with a pitchfork.

  After the mare was back in her stall, Sofia took Claire down to her cabin for a cup of coffee, but Tessa lingered in the barn with Leigh.

  “Do you really think Socks will be okay?”

  “I hope so—for Claire’s sake. She loves that old mare like one of her kids.”

  “Or more so.” Tessa gave a rueful laugh. “The sad thing is that it’s taken old age for her to allow even a glimpse of her softer side. Do you ever what she would’ve been like, if Dad hadn’t died so young?”

  “I don’t even remember him.” Leigh’s expression turned wistful. “Do you?”

  “Barely. Hearing him laugh, I guess. Otherwise, I’m not sure which memories are real, and which stem from what someone else said. I know…well, that they didn’t have the happiest marriage.”

  Leigh rolled her eyes. “Can you imagine our mother ever giving an inch on anything?”

  “The McAllisters don’t have a great history of marital success, but Janna and Michael sure seem solid. And if anyone can succeed, it’ll be you and Cole. That man adores you.”

  “I just want to make it past the wedding. I’ve had almost no time to work on it, and it’s less than four weeks away.”

  The cell phone at her hip rang, and she answered quickly, then pulled a notepad from the back pocket of her coveralls and wrote something down.

  “I have to go,” she said as soon as she hung up and jammed the phone back in its holster. “A horse ran through a fence and has some severe lacerations. I’ll come back tomorrow to check on Socks.”