by Naomi Niles
"No need, dear. I've got everything running smooth here, and you know what they say about too many cooks in the kitchen. Go relax. Take a hot bath or a stroll around the garden. You only have a few more days before it's time for you to leave."
"Okay. If you're sure you don't need any help..." I drifted towards the door.
"I've been managing this long on my own, I'm used to it," Margie said.
I got the hint. She didn't want me around. I was in the way, just like I had been with William. Colton no longer had time for me, and even Brett was too busy to flirt with me.
I went up to my room and lay on the bed with my cell phone in my hand. I began to scroll through the photos I had taken since I'd arrived on the ranch. Colton riding Whiskey, Travis and William sitting side by side on the fence laughing, Brett in his bull riding gear, Tom kissing Margie on the cheek. They were a good-looking family: happy, wholesome, and deeply devoted to one another.
I was just a city girl who had intruded on their lives for the past month and been lucky enough to be given an inside look at the Hutchinson family. This wasn't my home, though, it was theirs.
I kept scrolling and I came to the pictures I had taken in Chicago before I left home. Jillian sitting at the kitchen table of our apartment with the sun shining prettily upon her blonde hair, me grinning proudly as I held up the letter stating I'd received the internship, me with my award-winning piece I made for school, me and Jillian with our arms wrapped around each other last Christmas.
I wiped away the tears that had come uninvited to my eyes with an angry swipe of my palms. Suddenly, I heard the front door slam downstairs and the noisy footsteps of the Hutchinson men coming in for dinner.
Giving my face a quick glance in the mirror, I straightened my hair and my clothes and went down the stairs to join them. Everyone was lively as they scooped up big ladles full of Margie's stew and buttered thick slices of her homemade bread.
"Mary-Jo is coming over after supper tonight," Brett announced through his mouthful of food. "I promised to show her the stars. There's supposed to be some kind of special comet passing by tonight."
"Yes, I was telling my summer school students about it today," Tom said, and his brothers made of show of yawning and pretending to fall asleep as he quoted some facts on the phenomenon.
He shut them up by throwing bread at them, and I tried not to laugh. When they calmed down, William said, "I don't mind shooting stars, just so long as there's not a full moon. I've got enough trouble on the job as it is."
Brett said, "Don't worry, the moon tonight is just a crescent. Mary-Jo says that's why we'll be able to see the comet."
"Yeah, I'm sure that's not all you'll see," Tom joked, and this time it was Brett's turn to throw bread. Margie shot them both a glare, ending the fight before it got out of hand.
Brett looked at Colton. "The only reason I brought it up is because I don't want anyone coming into the barn and interrupting us, if you know what I mean.”
I think the whole table knew what he meant, and I took a long sip of water from my glass to hide my flushing cheeks.
Colton said, "Don't worry. Bethany and I won't be taking a walk tonight."
"We won't? Why not?" My voice conveyed my shock. We always took an evening stroll together after dinner, and lately it had become the only time of day he ad for me. No more lunches, no more dates. Now, now more walk.
"I'm really busy. I've got a lot of work I need to do with William," Colton said in answer to my question.
"But, you promised me we could talk. I have some important things I wanted to discuss with you."
"I'm really sorry. Can it wait until tomorrow?"
"No it can't." I was furious, and without thinking, I made a decision right then. Standing up, I looked at all the faces staring back and me, and I said in a firm, clear voice, "Tonight is my last night on the ranch. Tomorrow morning I'm going back home to Chicago."
Chapter Eighteen: Colton
My throat went completely dry as I watched Bethany turn from the dining table and run from the room. I wanted to call after her, grab onto her, kiss her lips, and beg her not to go. Instead, I just strode out of the house and breathed deeply of the crisp night air.
"Aren't you going to go talk to her?" Mama asked me from the porch.
"No. I'm going to the bar. I need a drink," I stated simply. I got in my truck and drove down to the Lucky Horseshoe in Riverbend.
Bethany had a lot of nerve getting me to fall for her and then suddenly leaving without any warning. I should have known a pretty young blonde like her would drag my heart through the mud.
Well, I wasn't going to give her the pleasure of watching me beg. I was going to drown my pain in whiskey shots. I should have stayed away from her; now it was too late. When she went back to Chicago, she'd be taking a piece of my heart with her.
"Long time, no see, stranger," a pretty female voice said as I sat down on a stool at the bar.
"Katie Billings. What the hell are you doing here?" I asked the busty brunette standing behind the bar. Her ebony hair was pulled back in a ponytail, and she was wearing a white blouse cut way too low in the front and a pair of skin-tight jeans that showed off her hourglass curves.
"I'm working; what does it look like?" she teased sarcastically. I remembered Katie always had a sense of humor like that back when we went to school together. She had been my first girlfriend sophomore year in high school, but only because my brothers had dared me to ask her out.
She wasn't really my type. She was too sassy, and I preferred girls with a softer, sweeter side. I tried to let her down easy without hurting her feelings, but the next week someone egged my father's truck. I couldn't prove it, but I knew it was Katie Billings.
Junior year, she hooked up with the star of the football team, Steve Campbell, and after that things were cool between us. She didn't hold a grudge, and I was friendly with her whenever we passed each other in the halls or had to sit next to each other in a class. After graduation, I heard she got pregnant and ended up marrying Steve.
She looked as sexy now as she did back then, and I couldn't stop myself from staring at her display of cleavage.
"I didn't know you worked here," I said stupidly as she set two shot glasses in front of me and filled them both with whiskey.
"Yeah, I just moved back to town a few months ago, and Ray gave me my old job back. Here's to old friends." She took one of the shot glasses and held it up. I was surprised she could drink on the job, but I wasn't about to say anything about it. Instead, I just clinked my glass to hers and downed the contents. It burned my throat, but once it hit my stomach, a warm glow began radiate through me, and I asked her to pour me another.
"How long has it been since we've seen each other?" I asked after a little while. I was already beginning to relax from the stressful day I'd had. Between the debt with the ranch for the missing cattle and Bethany deciding to leave in the morning, it couldn't have been a worse day, and I was ready to drown away my troubles with whiskey.
Katie leaned forward against the bar, presenting her cleavage provocatively as she answered my question with a sexy purr. "Too long. We sure had a lot of fun back in high school. We should get together and hang out sometime."
"Sure. Why don't you and Steve come on out to the ranch sometime?"
"Steve? What made you think of that bag of horse crap?"
"Didn't you two get married after high school?"
"Yes, but that didn't stop him from trying to get up the skirt of every cheerleader in the squad. I caught him cheating with Melissa Morris, and we divorced six months ago."
"I'm sorry. I had no idea. Do you have children?"
"Yes, and I'm sure they'd love to see a real cattle ranch. I don't mind taking you up on that invite to come out sometime."
Not exactly what I had intended, but I couldn't rescind the offer just because she wouldn't be bringing a husband.
"Sure. How about next weekend?"
"Oh, the kids will be wit
h Steve, but I'll still come out. I'll bring a picnic basket and some wine. We can reminisce about the good old days. Remember that night I let you get to second base in the cab of your father's truck? It must have been the first time you'd held a pair of boobs."
"Yeah," I answered awkwardly and downed another shot. My vision was blurry, and I could barely remember what had made me come to the bar in the first place.
That's right: it was Bethany. She was leaving me in the morning and with the ranch in financial trouble, I couldn't afford to offer a job to get her to stay. My whole world was falling apart. Our family would lose the ranch if I couldn't find the missing cattle, but that was nothing compared to losing Bethany.
Katie was running her acrylic fingers through my hair and thrusting her oversized chest out at me. "Why wait until next weekend to see each other? My shift ends in an hour. Why don't we go out to the lake and rekindle old times?"
"No." I shook my head, trying to concentrate through the drunken haze. "Bethany."
"My name is Katie," she glared at me angrily, but quickly forgave me. Stroking my arm with seductive fingertips, she asked, "What do you say we get out of here?”
I stared at the row of empty shot glasses lined up on the bar. Had I really had that much to drink? As the room began to spin, I knew only too well that I had.
Wrenching myself free of Katie's grasp, I lurched towards the door. "I have to go home."
"I'll take you home," she offered. "You're too drunk to drive."
"I have to talk to Bethany."
"Who?" Katie looked ticked off, but she had no right to be jealous. We hadn't dated in twenty years, and I had to be honest with her.
"Bethany Foster. She's leaving tomorrow, but I have to ask her not to go. I have to ask her if she'll please stay with me. I don't have any money to offer her a job. In fact, we might lose the ranch and have to move someplace else, but I don't care about that as much as I care about her. I can't stand the thought of not being able to see her every day."
"Sounds like you've got it bad." Katie clicked her tongue. "Okay, Lover-boy, get in my car and I'll drop you off at the ranch."
"I don't want to get you in trouble with your boss."
"Don't worry. Now get in, and try not to puke. I just got the interior detailed."
Katie drove me home and dropped me off at the edge of the road. "I'd take you all the way to the house, but it might not help your cause if your girlfriend see's you getting out of the car of another woman." She winked.
"I can walk from here. Thanks, Katie. You're a great lady."
"Well, I don't know if I'm a lady or not, but thanks. You take good care and go win back your girl. If she refuses to stay with you, she's crazy; just come back to the Lucky Horseshoe and let me know. I'll be your girl again."
"You were too much for me to handle, but don't worry. There's a perfect guy out there for you somewhere."
She blew me a kiss and drove away.
The ground undulated under my feet as I staggered down the road leading to the ranch house. I kept rehearsing the speech I wanted to make to Bethany as I went, trying to find the right words to convince her to stay. All I had to offer her was my deep love, and I only hoped that would be enough. If it wasn't, losing the ranch wouldn't matter, because my life would be meaningless without her.
I could hear all the horses making a ruckus in the stable, and it struck me as odd. Veering away from the house, I staggered towards the stable just beyond my office. Maggie came running up to me, whimpering with her tail between her legs, which was even odder still.
"What's wrong, Maggs?" I asked her, and the shepherd collie took off running.
That's when I noticed the smell of smoke in the air. There usually was some from the fireplace in the house and in the cabins where the workers lived, but this was different. It was much stronger and reeked of substances other than kindling and wood.
My heart began to pound wildly in my chest, and there was a tightness in my chest as realization dawned on me. My eyes peered in the dark, straining to see, and suddenly there it was. A bright orange glow coming from the cracks beneath the barn door, and my worst fear was confirmed: the barn was on fire.
Chapter Nineteen: Bethany
I had never felt so furious as I stormed from the dining room table, up the stairs, and into my room. Colton had been ignoring me all week, and then to find out in the middle of dinner that he had cancelled our evening walk together without even having the courtesy of telling me was more than I could take.
I knew I was acting impulsively when I made the spontaneous announcement that I would be leaving in the morning even though I still had one more painting to create, but the words just erupted out of my mouth before I could stop them. There was no taking them back now.
I had expected Colton to say something. Surely my jarring news would make him realize that he had been taking me for granted and shock him into giving me the attention I deserved. I didn't need him to pay attention twenty-four hours a day like some spoiled princess, but surely five minutes of his time wasn't too much to ask, and lately, he hadn't been willing to even give me that.
When I made my sudden announcement, everyone had looked dismayed. Margie's eyes welled up with tears, Brett's jaw hit the floor, and Travis went white as a sheet. William and Tom both looked dumbfounded, but the one person whose reaction I cared about the most just sat there like nothing had happened.
From the casual look on Colton's face, I might as well have said nothing at all. He didn't have a word to say to me. He didn't even blink. So, I ran from the room before he could see just how heartbroken I was by his new and sudden lack of interest in me.
With my door locked soundly, I picked up my cell phone and dialed the only number I had memorized by heart.
"Mom, I'm coming home."
"Bethany? What's wrong? You sound upset." Jillian sounded cross.
"Nothing. I'm just ready to come home. I'll leave tomorrow, and I'll drive straight through until I get there."
"You finished the job? That's faster than you thought it would take." She sounded surprised.
"Not quite. I have one last painting to complete, but I thought I would do it at home and just ship it here."
"That's going to eat up too much of your pay. Why don't you just finish it there and come home afterwards? That way you can keep all your pay."
"Not everything is about money," I sighed with exasperation, but Mother wasn't buying it.
"That's something only rich people say, and we ain't rich. What's really going on? Why are you leaving before the job is done?"
I knew I couldn't lie to her anymore. Taking a deep breath, I confessed the truth. I told her everything about falling in love with Colton, skinny dipping in the lake, and making love in the barn. Then, how he suddenly lost interest in me and completely ignored me.
"I feel so used, Mom. Why would he tell me he loves me and then turn so cold?"
"Men are fickle creatures," she sighed. "The only thing you can count on with men is they'll say anything for a piece of ass. Chances are this Colton guy saw an easy way to get some free sex out of you. After all, you were right there on the ranch, he didn't have to go out of his way looking for you. Hell, he didn't even have to take you out on a date first."
"He did once." I felt obligated to defend him, but it sounded weak even to my own ears.
Jillian pounced with her usual cynicism. "Well, I take it back. He's a true gentleman."
"There's no need to be sarcastic," I said.
"There's no need to get soft, either. This jerk is just using you for sex, the way they all do. Now that he knows he's about to lose you, don't be surprised if he tries to trick you into staying."
"I told you, Mom, he didn't say a word when I made the announcement. It was like he didn't care, at all."
"Give him a minute to let the news sink in. Men are slow thinkers sometimes, but once they realize how something is going to negatively affect them, then their minds go into overdrive. I bet
you he's concocting some elaborate plan right now to suck you back into his little web of deceit and trick into staying longer so he can keep using you."
"I don't think Colton is like that. He's really down to earth." I was still defending him.
"Just wait. The next time you see him, he'll have come up with some underhanded reason why you can't go home, but don't fall for it. Men are nothing but selfish liars who will do anything to get their way."
Jillian had been preaching this negative paranoia at me for as long as I could remember. All my life, I'd rebelled against it and insisted in believing in the good in people. It's what drove me to seek out my father, and that had turned out to be wonderful. It's what inspired me to have an open heart and allowed me to fall in love with Colton in the first place.
When he'd turned a cold shoulder to me and ignored my pleas to talk with him, it had sparked the old fires of distrust my mother had tried to instill in me for years. I allowed myself to jump to conclusions. Now, hearing my mother spout her negative dogma aloud, I began to wonder if I had acted too hastily. Perhaps I should give Colton a chance to talk to me.
Suddenly, I heard loud shouts coming from downstairs and noticed for the first time that there was a smell of smoke in the air.
Rushing to my bedroom window, I looked out to see the barn was engulfed in flames, and Colton was standing dangerously close to it. My paintings were still inside, but it was obvious from the size of the flames that there was no saving them.
Worst of all was seeing Colton standing in front of fire. It was him. He had set the barn on fire and destroyed all I had done. I'd put my heart into those paintings and now it was breaking. An entire month's work was completely destroyed, and so were my feelings for him.
Chapter Twenty: Colton
"Fire!" I shouted out as loudly as I could, running towards the ranch house. "Hurry! Fire!"
Adrenaline was pumping through my body, battling against my drunken state and giving me the focus to move. Mama had a garden hose wound around a hook on the side of house for watering her plants. I turned the faucet on full and started unwinding the hose as fast as my hands would go.