Crossing Nevada

by Jeannie Watt

  “It was a bit dicey for a few minutes.” He shifted his weight, still eyeing her in a less than friendly way, and Tess suddenly realized why. He thought she’d started the fire. Because of her questions.

  What now? Protest innocence?

  That’d do her a lot of good. Zach Nolan drove by at that moment and she glanced at his truck, wondering if he thought the same—that she was an arsonist.

  “You’re going to be without electricity,” the fire chief said, pulling her attention away from Zach and back to him. “You’ll need to call the company tomorrow, but even so, it might be a day or two before they can get it fixed.”

  “Thank you,” Tess said automatically, though she didn’t think she had a lot to be thankful for. A fire of undetermined cause, which this guy thought she might be responsible for, and possibly days in a dark house.

  “I, uh, could lend you a flashlight, if you need it,” the fire chief said brusquely.

  “No, thanks. I have a good one in the car.”

  “Someone will be here through the night, so you don’t have to worry about flare-ups.”

  “Good to know,” Tess said, trying to work a note of politeness into her voice, but it was so damned hard. “I, uh, appreciate all you’ve done.”

  “I’m sure you do,” Irv said on a rough note of irony before he turned and walked back to his fire engine, leaving Tess staring after him for a moment.

  Her barn was a smoldering mess. The table she’d spent so many hours on was gone. The fire chief thought she was an arsonist and she still didn’t know how the fire had been caused.

  Would it not be the ultimate irony if someone else had started the fire and she ended up going to jail because of it?

  * * *

  BY THE TIME Zach got home, it was close to 2:00 a.m. He left his smoky clothes, more rank than usual because of the burning tires, in a pile on the bathroom floor, showered and fell into bed. He felt like he’d slept for all of five minutes when he heard a knock on his door frame. He pried one eye open to see Emma standing there.

  “Everything okay?” he mumbled.

  “Yes. I just wanted you to know that we’re leaving.”

  “Thanks.”

  “Darcy and I fed Benny and the leppy calves.”

  He smiled a little. “Thanks, kiddo.”

  She gave a nod and left. Zach closed his eyes, but it was no use. He was awake now and he had more hungry mouths to feed. He waited until he heard the kitchen door shut and the sound of his daughters’ voices as they headed down the driveway toward Beth Ann’s trailer. Darcy and Emma were arguing about something.

  He rolled out of bed and sat on the edge, hands loosely clasped between his knees. The sheets stank of smoke despite the quick shower he’d taken and there were still streaks of black greasy residue up his arms. Zach stood up and automatically started stripping the sheets off the bed when the phone rang.

  “Hey, Zach. Irv.”

  “Yeah.”

  “Do me a favor, would you?”

  “Sure.”

  “Head over to your neighbor’s and take one last look at those tires sometime this morning.” Oh, joy. “Wes has to go home and feed his livestock and I want to make sure those tires don’t cause any problems.”

  “Sure.” Maybe Tess would stay holed up in her house.

  “Jeff will be out later today with the fire marshal to make an official report.”

  “What for?” Zach asked.

  “Insurance.”

  Of course. Had to be certain it wasn’t arson.

  “Yeah.” Try as he might, he couldn’t put any enthusiasm into his answer. He didn’t bother showering again, but instead dressed in old jeans and a sweatshirt and headed out the door to feed the cows that were already gathered near the gate since he was running late this morning. Benny shot down the driveway from Beth Ann’s house, ready to go to work as Zach went into the barn to start the tractor.

  Maybe he’d get lucky and the fire marshal would make it out early—before he had to go check on those damned tires.

  * * *

  JUST AS IRV, the fire chief, had promised, a fireman had hung around outside Tess’s house until morning. She checked on him from her bedroom window every now and then, since she had nothing to do except sit in the dark. Every time she looked, he was in the cab of his truck, watching the smoldering tires and wood. Finally around 3:00 a.m. she lay down on her fully made bed and fell sound asleep.

  A knock on the back door four hours later brought her rearing up out of a deep sleep, still dazed, the result of exhaustion and her reaction to the fire. Both dogs jumped to their feet and scrambled out of the bedroom, Mac holding his pink wrapped leg out in front of him as he awkwardly followed Blossom down the stairs.

  Mac’s tail had just disappeared from sight when the tentative knock sounded again and Tess realized that it had to be the fireman. She could hear the dogs growling in the kitchen below her as she walked to the window and opened it.

  “Yes?” she called to the man standing on her back step, staring dubiously at the door that separated him from Blossom and Mac. He looked up and then took a few steps back so he could see her better.

  “I have to go home now,” he called. “Somebody else will be stopping by in an hour or two to check on things. Uh—” he pointed at the door with one hand as he shielded his eyes from the glare of the rising sun with the other “—you might want to keep your dogs inside.”

  “I will. Thanks.”

  “And if you see anything that resembles a fire, call Irv. He gave you his card, right?”

  “No.”

  “I’ll just write his number down and slip it into the screen door.”

  “Thank you.” Tess moved back and shut the window, then ran a hand over her hair. It felt grimy, even though she hadn’t spent that much time in the actual smoke—or at least it hadn’t seemed like she had. She sniffed at a hank and then dropped it. Damn—did she dare take a shower? She hated the thought of being that vulnerable until she found out whether her barn fire was an accident or arson.

  She could shower when the new fire guy came...except that she had no electricity to pump the water. Tess’s temples began to throb as she walked downstairs. The dogs were still standing at the door, waiting to get out and eat a fireman, no doubt.

  “He’s gone,” Tess said wearily, but she took a quick look outside just in case. No truck. Just a whole lot of smoldering ruin.

  The note the fireman had written fluttered to the ground as she opened the door and stepped outside to survey the damage firsthand. She picked up the note and surveyed the scene.

  Not only was the barn gone, but her furniture, too. The beautiful table she’d poured so many hours into. Gone.

  The sense of loss was overwhelming.

  “Just a barn and some old furniture,” she muttered to herself. But it was more than that. The furniture had kept her busy, given her a bit of purpose. Now she had no idea how she was going to fill her hours—or even if she was. If this fire had been set on purpose, she had to leave. Immediately.

  The wonderful epiphany she’d had yesterday about overthinking and overreacting due to the trauma was long gone. Now, she was firmly back to what if?

  What if Eddie had found her? Was showing her he meant business before confronting her and demanding his money?

  What if he hadn’t found her and she was making herself a miserable wreck?

  Tess sank down on the step then jumped back to
her feet as the dogs headed toward the stretch of cyclone fence the firemen had knocked down to make room for their equipment.

  “Af!”

  The dogs obediently turned and came back, but she could see that their paws were covered with mud. At least she’d stopped them before they’d hit the black stuff that seemed to be everywhere on the far side of the flattened fence.

  A few minutes later Tess had had enough of the acrid odors and depressing scenery behind her house. She called the dogs and, after cleaning their paws as much as possible with a wad of paper towels, went back inside, where she tried to put on the teakettle, only to remember that her stove wasn’t going to be working for a while.

  Cold, dark and hungry. She needed to call the power company and remedy that—if she had a phone.

  To Tess’s surprise, a healthy dial tone hummed in her ear when she picked up the receiver. She held the phone on her shoulder as she thumbed through the Wesley phone book for the number, and had just started to dial when the dogs jumped up and raced for the front door. Less than a second later she heard a firm knock. The fireman?

  Tess hung up the phone and silently walked into the living room to the window where she could get a slanted view of the porch without being seen. Not the fireman.

  Two ladies stood there, in front of her door, unaware that she was peeking at them, and they were carrying...food? Each had a foil-covered bowl in her hand. And one of them was the woman from the mercantile who’d thought Tess looked familiar.

  Crap.

  Tess turned away from the window and leaned back against the wall, putting a palm to her forehead and closing her eyes. Food. Just what she needed when she had no electricity. No way to keep it cold or heat it up. And no desire to eat.

  Another knock. Tess stayed still right where she was with her back plastered against the wall, feeling like a fugitive in her own home. Yes, she should answer the door. Greet the neighbors, take the food. Even though she looked like hell.

  The thing was, she didn’t want to encourage them.

  The other thing was they weren’t showing signs of giving up. They were still on the porch...weren’t they?

  She gave another peek and then quickly ducked back. Had they spotted her that time?

  One more knock. This one firmer, more determined.

  With a heavy sigh she pushed off from the wall and sidestepped the dogs to open the door a crack, just as she had with Zach a few days ago, only this time she didn’t knock her glasses off her face—because she’d forgotten to put them on. Damn.

  She didn’t say a word as she met first the eyes of the inquisitive quilting lady from the mercantile and then a benignly smiling white-haired woman.

  “Hello,” the quilt lady said briskly, holding out the foil covered casserole. “Since you’re without electricity, I’ve brought you a meal.”

  “That’s very...kind,” Tess said. But from the way the woman was angling her head, trying to get a look at the injured side of her face, Tess wasn’t sure kindness was the true motivation. For a moment they faced off, Tess leaving the door right where it was, shielding her injury and the woman standing with the casserole at chest level. Tess gave in first. “I’m not decent. Not to be rude, but would it be possible to leave it on the porch, and I’ll get it as soon as I am?”

  “I’d be happy to wait while you...get decent,” the woman said. The older woman nodded from behind her, still smiling.

  “Thank you, but it might take me a little while to get decent. I don’t have any water. I’m sure you understand.”

  “Of course,” the woman said with a sniff. “You can leave the bowl in the post office. Mrs. Stratford will be by later today with another meal to help tide you over until they get the electricity turned back on.”

  “Oh, please no.” Not more people traipsing to her door unannounced.

  “No?” The white-haired woman’s smile faded as she spoke for the first time. “But we organized—”

  “No,” Tess said adamantly. “I appreciate the thought, but...no.”

  The quilt lady inhaled deeply. “Well...I...I...”

  Never?

  Tess realized that she was so exhausted she was shaking. All she wanted was for this nosy woman to leave and to take the sweet-looking grandmother with her. Along with the casserole if possible.

  “No offense intended. I just want to be left alone. I...I—” she lifted her chin, being careful to keep her face angled away from them “—value my privacy.”

  “Obviously. Well—” the woman hugged the casserole close to her body as she turned to go “—sorry to have wasted your time. We need to go, Melba.”

  “It’s nothing personal,” Tess muttered as the women tromped down the steps. And then she closed the door before she could hear anything she didn’t want to hear.

  She went back into the kitchen, needing caffeine in the worst way, but since she couldn’t make coffee or tea she sank down at the kitchen table and rested her head on her arms. Her intention upon moving here was to disappear. Ignore her neighbors so that they would ignore her. It was the way it’d worked in every city she’d ever lived in. Unfortunately she’d never lived in a rural area and hadn’t realized that the rules might be different.

  No doubt the neighbors would leave her alone now, but they wouldn’t forget her. What with her barn burning down and refusing casseroles she was nowhere near flying under the radar.

  Tess’s eyes drifted shut then flashed open again as the dogs started barking. A split second later someone else pounded on her door.

  It had to be the fireman, but that didn’t keep her heart from knocking against her ribs as she went into the living room and looked out the window to see Zach Nolan standing on her porch.

  Feeling relieved that it was at least someone she was vaguely familiar with and that he wasn’t carrying food, Tess opened the door a few inches.

  “I have to check the remains of the fire and I wanted to let you know.” He sounded utterly ticked.

  “Thank you,” Tess said. What else could she say?

  He didn’t respond. Didn’t move, didn’t do anything except stare her down with cold blue eyes. Tess shifted uncomfortably and was about to close the door in his face again when he said, “What’s wrong with you?”

  “Pardon me?” she asked, startled. Was he asking about her face? Which she thought she was keeping out of sight.

  “I said, what’s wrong with you?” He planted a hand against the wall and leaned closer to the open crack between the door and the jamb, so close that she could feel the warmth of his body. Or was it her imagination? “Have you always been like this?”

  “Like what?” Scarred?

  “Like what?” he asked on a disbelieving note. “Like being a person who slams doors in people’s faces, chases away grandmothers with food and scares little girls.”

  Tess pulled back at the unexpected attack. “I just want to be left alone.”

  “That shouldn’t be a problem, lady.” He pushed off from the door frame and started down the porch steps, reaching the sidewalk before he muttered a few words she probably wasn’t meant to hear.

  Well, she had heard—or at least thought she’d heard. Regardless of the words, there was no mistaking the tone. Tess stepped out onto the porch, no longer caring about hiding her injury from him. She had been through hell last night. No, make that more hell. Who was he to judge?

  “I don’t see how my interactions with other people in this community is
any business of yours,” she called loudly.

  Zach came to a dead stop, and then he turned toward her. “Oh, it’s my business.”

  His certainty perplexed her. “How so?” she demanded. “Because I won’t let your ruddy cows onto my land?”

  “No. Because the little girl you scared happens to be my youngest daughter.”

  Tess simply stared at him for a moment. The girls she’d threatened two days ago were his kids? Oh, excellent.

  But she’d been well within her rights and she was not backing down. “Your youngest daughter was where she shouldn’t be.”

  “I know that,” Zach said with an edge of heavy sarcasm. “But they didn’t. They’d followed that path to school for years.”

  Tess lifted her chin, once again tilting her face so he couldn’t see her scars. “Well, now they do know.”

  “Tell me about it,” he growled, once again stalking away.

  What the hell did that mean? It sounded like he’d dealt with some repercussions.

  “I’m sorry if your kid was frightened by my face,” she shouted after him, totally angry that she was the bad guy.

  Once again he stopped. “It wasn’t your face,” Zach said. “Not entirely anyway.”

  Honesty. She had to appreciate that, even if she hated the fact that her face could scare children. “Then what?”

  He shifted his weight, giving her a clinical once-over. “You haven’t spent much time around six-year-olds, have you?”

  Tess hesitated before she answered, wondering where this was going. “Can’t say I’ve had the pleasure.”

  “Then you probably wouldn’t understand how telling her that your face got injured trespassing would scare the hell out of a kid with an imagination.”

  “How?” Tess asked, baffled. “Did she think I was going to come after her?”

  “I don’t know what she thought, but I spent half a sleepless night trying to calm her down. You gave the kid nightmares.”