After the Sunset

by Mary Calmes

  He made a noise of understanding, and suddenly the light came on for me as well.

  “Your dad,” I sighed.

  “Of course,” he said irritably. “James Holloway never backed down from anything, least of all the truth. He told me a long time ago that Rayland was my biological father.”

  I coughed. “Your mother doesn’t know, you know.”

  “Yeah, I know. Rayland doesn’t know I know either.”

  Longest damn weekend of my life.

  “Who told you?”

  “I figured it out and then made your mother tell me.”

  “How did you figure it out when no one else can?”

  “Because I really look at you, and I will notice anyone else who looks like you,” I told him. “I always thought of you and Charlotte as having the exact same color eyes, but even Charlotte’s are darker than yours. She’s got that violet color, and Glenn’s are cobalt, but yours are all your own except for—”

  “Rayland.”

  “Yeah.”

  “And so, were you gonna say something to me?”

  “You know I was. How could I not?”

  “Even though it wasn’t your secret to tell?”

  “There can’t be anything between us, Rand, or we won’t make it.”

  “I agree, and so you know, that means something to me. The fact that you would take my side before anyone else, that you would tell me even if you thought I wouldn’t believe you—that’s a big deal, Stef.”

  “But I had no doubt that you would believe me.”

  “What? You think I would take your word over anyone else’s, even my mother’s?”

  “Of course,” I said matter-of-factly. I had been worried about how hurt Rand would be. It never even crossed my mind to think that I would need to convince him that I was telling the truth. “I know you trust me.”

  He took a long breath. “I wanna see you real bad.”

  The ache in his voice twisted me up inside. “Rand, let’s just get everything out in the open, all right? Come to the ranch, talk to Rayland, talk to Glenn. Let’s have a good old-fashioned knock-down, drag-out fight. Bring Tyler, bring Zach. I’ll call Charlotte. It’s time. Secrets have a way of festering. Aren’t you sick of it?”

  “I don’t think on it much, but I would like my mother to know that I know. It might let her sleep better, and Charlotte should know that I’m only half her brother.”

  “I doubt it will change anything.”

  “We’ll see.”

  He sounded sad, and it hurt to hear, but I knew that Charlotte loved him, and I knew, too, that nothing would ever change that.

  “Call your mother, will you?”

  “Yessir, I will.”

  “And then come to the ranch and talk to Rayland.”

  “All right.”

  “And pick me up while you’re at it.”

  “Anything else while you’re barking out orders?”

  “No, that’s it,” I sighed happily.

  “So,” he said softly. “Why did Glenn have to save you from Gil Landry?”

  Amazing. After everything, all the talking we’d done, all the revelations of the past few minutes, the man had still retained that tiny piece of information.

  “Who cares?”

  “Oh, I fuckin’ care.” His voice lowered ominously. “What happened?”

  “It’s no big deal. Gil Landry took a swing at me, and Glenn stopped him from doing anything more than put me on the ground.”

  There was no sound at all, like he wasn’t even breathing.

  “Rand?”

  He coughed. “I’m sorry, what?”

  “You heard me,” I chuckled. “My buddy Gil really wants you to marry his sister.”

  “I see.”

  “So, when are you coming to Rayland’s ranch?”

  “When are you leaving?”

  “At some horrible hour of the morning,” I groaned. “Jesus, Rand, four is not a time decent people wake up.”

  “It’s the time ranchers get up,” he assured me, and he was trying to sound playful, but his tone was stilted and cold.

  “Rand?”

  “Just let it be, all right? I’ll see you at the ranch tomorrow.”

  “I can’t wait to see you.”

  “Me too, baby.” His voice rumbled, and my heart leaped in my chest.

  “I really enjoyed the rodeo, you know.”

  “Next time we’ll go together.”

  “It’s a deal,” I sighed, but my leg throbbed, and so I winced without even meaning to.

  “What hurts?” he asked gently.

  “Nothing.”

  He chuckled, “Has anyone ever told you that you’re a really shitty liar.”

  “Really? I think it’s more the opposite actually.”

  “Then maybe it’s just me.”

  “Could be.” I smiled into my phone.

  “Tell me what’s wrong.”

  I cleared my throat. “I’m fine. Just got a little banged up today.”

  “When? I watched the video with the bull on the website, and it didn’t look like you got hurt.”

  This was news. “The rodeo has a website?”

  “Yeah, it’s what Pierce sent me the link for. They put highlights from the rodeo up to get people to come next year, you know?”

  “That makes sense.”

  “I’m on the website right now.”

  The warning buzzer went off in my head. “Well, shouldn’t you—”

  “Stef.”

  “Yes?”

  “There seems to be a…. How did you get hurt, Stef?”

  I coughed. “What are you looking at?”

  “I’m waiting for something with your name on it to load.”

  “It’s probably more of me auctioning off bachelors.”

  “I don’t think so.”

  “You should watch Everett and Chris doing the team roping. It was really some—”

  “What is this?” he asked, talking to himself.

  “Rand.”

  “Man, this is taking forever.”

  There was no getting around it. “Rand, you know that every rancher has to compete in the rodeo, right? I mean actually compete himself or herself to secure the grazing rights?”

  “Sure,” he told me.

  I waited because my beautiful, sexy cowboy would work it out in a minute.

  “What’re you… wait.”

  I braced for an explosion.

  “Oh, fuck,” he breathed out.

  “I’m fine.”

  “Whah… Stef—what’d you do?”

  I took a breath. “I can’t ride a bull like you, and after I got back from the hospital with Glenn, the only event left was the saddle bronc.”

  There was a catch of breath but nothing else.

  “Rand?” I said after a minute because a slow feeling of dread was starting to sink into me.

  “No.” He sounded like he was going to throw up. “What is—no.”

  “Don’t watch anything.”

  “Why not?”

  “Because it’ll just upset you, and I’m fine,” I told him. “I just broke my leg.”

  He sucked in his breath.

  “And just the lower part of my leg. It’s no big deal.”

  The phone was muffled, and I was pretty sure that the man I loved was in all possibility, coughing up a lung. When he hung up, I was confident that it was to spare me the sounds of him retching. I took the opportunity to continue my limp toward the trailer. I sighed deeply when it was in sight. My phone went off, and I saw Rand’s number pop back up on the display.

  “You all right?”

  “No.” He sounded sick and mad at the same time.

  “I’m all in one piece.”

  “Looks like a lot of people took video of you.”

  “Because I’m pretty,” I teased him.

  “Stef—”

  “Did you watch one yet?”

  “Not yet… it’s still loading.”

  Which m
eant the file was huge either because it was really long or in really high definition. Either way, I did not want him seeing it. “Don’t watch it.”

  “Why not?”

  “Because you got sick just think—”

  “Here it is,” he said.

  “Are you home? Where are you?”

  “I’m at Zach’s. The guests are gone, and I’m in his study. I’m gonna leave in the morn…. I’m… I’m… oh my God.” He exhaled.

  “But you should see me. I’m fine. You’re talking to me. You can tell from my voice that I’m fine.”

  He was quiet. I couldn’t even hear him breathing, or not breathing.

  “Rand?”

  “Wait.”

  “Rand, just—”

  “I said wait!”

  He sounded really bad, and it was heart-wrenching to hear him so worried about me. I was quiet for long minutes.

  Finally, he cleared his throat. “Do you have a concussion?”

  “I—”

  “It’s a simple question, Stef. Do you or do you not have a concussion?”

  “What even makes you ask that question?”

  “Because of how hard you hit the dirt.”

  “Oh.”

  “Stef.”

  “Yeah, I have a slight concussion.”

  “And you broke your leg?”

  “Just my fibula, the small bone, not the big one,” I told him.

  “I know what a fibula is.”

  “Okay,” I said because he was scaring me with how calm he sounded.

  “You know, concussions are tricky. Somebody’s supposed to either keep you awake or watch you all night long. You got someone there to do that?”

  “No, Rand, I—”

  “Is there someone there I don’t know about who’s fixin’ to take care of you like I could take care of you?”

  His voice was rising.

  “No, Rand, you—”

  “And you’re planning to go to the White Ash tomorrow?”

  “Yes,” I said, not even sounding like me.

  “So since you and Glenn are so close now, may—”

  “There’s no way you’re jealous of your cousin,” I told him.

  “No?”

  “Knock it off,” I told him. “My head hurts, and you’re screwing with me. It’s not nice.”

  He sucked in his breath. “Okay, here’s what’s gonna happen. I’m gonna leave for the airport right now, and you are gonna stay right there and wait for me. Do you understand?”

  “I can’t. The rodeo’s over, Rand. I can’t stay here. The guys need to get back to the ranch, and I made a promise to Rayland and Glenn to get out to White Ash. I won’t break my promise after I spent the weekend getting both of them to trust me. I—”

  “You can wait for me. No one will throw you out of that trailer. No one’s expected to leave until noon tomorrow.”

  “People are leaving already.”

  “Not the people who brought stock and horses, Stef. None of the ranchers or their men are leaving until tomorrow.”

  “Glenn and Rayland are leaving at like—”

  “You’re not. You’re staying right there and waiting for me.”

  “Rand—”

  “Stefan Joss! Do you understand?” he shouted.

  “I want to see the White—”

  “You don’t, Stef, not really. I know you. You wanna come home. What you want is for me to sign over the grazing rights. What you want is for me to clear things up with Rayland and my mother, and you want me to find out from Glenn how serious he is about the damn restaurant.”

  And I did. I wanted all of that.

  “I’ll talk to everyone, I swear I will, but I will do it on my terms on my ranch. If they wanna talk to me, they come see me, not the other way around. Do you understand?”

  Rand had his pride, and it was not my place to try and strip that from him. “Yes.”

  “I am coming there to fetch you home, and that’s all. Maybe before you got hurt, I would have followed you out to my uncle’s ranch, but not now.”

  I really wanted to go home.

  “Now you come home, Stef, end of discussion.”

  There was no fight left in me. I needed him, needed to see him. “Okay.”

  “You’re supposed to teach class on Tuesday, or have you forgotten?”

  Crap. I had, actually.

  “You’re lucky tomorrow’s Columbus Day, or you’d really be screwed.”

  He was right. “Come get me.”

  “Do not fuckin’ move. Where’s the goddamn trailer?”

  “I have the last one before the open range.”

  “Fuck!”

  He was still very upset. “But, Rand, I’m—”

  “If you say you’re fine one more goddamn time, I will fuckin’ lose it. Do you understand me? Are you fuckin’ kidding me?”

  “What was I supposed to do?”

  “Not put your life on the line for a piece of land I don’t give a fuck about!”

  “I didn’t know that!”

  “But you want me to give the land to Rayland!”

  “Because he’s your family!”

  “You’re my family, not him! Jesus Christ, Stef, you could’ve been killed, and what the fuck does that do for me, huh? That fucks me for the rest of my life ’cause I get to be without you, you selfish son of a bitch!”

  “I was thinking of you!”

  “If you were thinkin’ about me, you would have never gotten on the horse!”

  “Rand—”

  “And Everett and Dusty and Chase and—”

  “Rand—”

  “They’re all fired, Stef. Do you understand how fired they are?”

  No. “Rand, you can’t do that!”

  “Oh no? Fuckin’ watch me! How dare they let you get up on that—”

  “Stop yelling!” I yelled at him, which was funny, but not at the moment because I was livid. “You don’t get to fire men from my ranch because you’re pissed. They all came with me, they’ve been here for me, and yeah they didn’t want me to ride the crazy horse, but I did it for you and for the ranch, and yeah I got hurt, but so the fuck what? And Rayland should have the land because he didn’t take it. We give it on our terms because we want to, not because he’s a conniving piece of crap who got one over on us. The guys and me, we did this, Rand. We told him and all the rest of the homophobic assholes around here to go fuck themselves. And Gil Landry and his sister, who thinks that you’ll get over me, can go screw themselves, too, ’cause you will never be over me.”

  It was quiet on the other end.

  “Are you done?”

  “Yeah, I’m done.”

  “Stay there and wait for me. Do you understand?”

  “Yes, I understand.” I sucked in my breath suddenly, shivering with a cramp in my leg, the pain of it and from being outside in the cold.

  “You should get off your leg.”

  “Yes, I should,” I agreed.

  “Did you even for a second think about the worst thing that would happen when you got up on the horse?”

  “No, I only wanted to protect you.”

  “Where are you now?”

  “Now I’m looking at my trailer and Bella in the window.”

  “You took your dog?”

  “Why does everybody keep saying that like it’s weird? Yeah, I like my dog. So what?”

  His laughter sounded so good.

  “Rand—”

  “You’re right.”

  “About what?”

  “That I won’t be gettin’ over you.”

  “Oh yeah?” I sighed.

  “Yeah. I do better when you’re around.”

  It was suddenly hard to breathe.

  “So I can stay in this trailer until tomorrow? They’re not going to come throw me out of it after the guys go?”

  “The guys ain’t goin’ nowhere neither. Everyone waits there for me. You tell them.”

  “You’re sure?”

  “I’m s
ure.”

  “Okay. If Rayland and Glenn stay here, will you talk to them about the grazing rights?”

  “I will invite them to the Red, Stef, that’s it.”

  Which was better than nothing. “Thank you, Rand.”

  “Don’t fall asleep.”

  “I won’t.”

  “Did the doctor give you something for the pain?”

  “Yes.”

  “I don’t want you to take something that’s gonna knock you out.”

  “I’ll be all right.”

  “You keep saying that, and you keep getting hurt.”

  “Hurry up,” I grumbled at him playfully.

  “I am!”

  I really couldn’t wait to see him.

  Chapter 8

  I WENT to the trailer, let Bella out, and decided to walk back to where the dancing was and explain things to Glenn. Everett was there before I got far, bringing me my crutch.

  “The beauty queen asked me to bring this to you.”

  “Who?”

  “Carly Landry.”

  “Oh, that’s right.” I forced a smile.

  “You look like you been rode hard and put up wet.”

  “That sounds disgusting,” I told him. “I’m heading back to the grounds; do me a favor and find Glenn Holloway and ask him to come see me.”

  He nodded and I watched his eyes fall as he shoved his hands down into his pockets. I knew I was looking at guilt.

  “You told Rand where I was, asshole.”

  “I told Pierce to let him know. Yessir, I did.”

  “And when he was on the site watching me keep the bull off of Glenn, he watched me get thrown off the bronco.”

  His eyes met mine. “So I suspect that he’s on his way.”

  I nodded.

  “Am I fired?”

  “No, don’t be an idiot.”

  He looked surprised. “Really? He ain’t mad?”

  “Oh, he’s furious, but not at any of you guys, just at me.”

  “Really?”

  “Yeah, don’t sound so happy about it.”

  “I ain’t happy. I’m just surprised is all. I expected him to be plenty mad.”

  “He’ll be here tomorrow.”

  “Well then I expect we’ll be here to see him. We weren’t planning to leave until about noon tomorrow anyhow.”

  “Rayland and Glenn are leaving earlier than that, so that’s why I need to talk to Glenn,” I said, getting both crutches under me, ready to trudge back to the main grounds. “You really think Carly’s a beauty queen?”

  “I think she’s a stuck-up bitch who won’t give me the time of day now when she knows I’m just a cowboy, but if I won the lottery tomorrow, I might just look a bit better.”