Beyond the Ridge

by L. T. Marie

  “Oh, Angel, I blew it. My father…Jay…I made…”

  “Calm down. Where are you?”

  “I’m home, but you can’t come here.”

  “Why not?” Angel asked in obvious confusion.

  “You just can’t…okay. But can I come there?”

  “Of course. Get your ass over here and tell me what the hell is going on.”

  *

  Coal barged through Angel’s front door and launched her body into her arms. The crying had become uncontrollable, and she feared the tears would never stop.

  “Honey,” Angel said. She pulled Coal into her arms, gripping her like a mother bear would a cub. “You’ve got to tell me what’s going on.” She guided Coal over to the couch so they could both sit down and handed her a tissue. Once Coal got control of her emotions and told Angel the entire story, mother bear looked as though she was ready to tear someone apart. “Fuck this! You can’t go along with him. He’s a maniac!”

  “Yeah, he is, but he’s a maniac with power,” she said and wiped at her eyes again. “I don’t know what to do, Angel.”

  “You tell Jay, that’s what you do. She’s in love with you, and she needs to know what’s going on.”

  Coal laughed through her tears. Angel was never one to hold back.

  “So are you going to tell her?”

  “Not yet. Not until I figure all this crap out. Besides, I don’t know if she’ll even take me back after what I said. You had to see the look on her face. She hates me, and she has every right to. I love her, I know I do, but we can’t be together. My father threatened—”

  “Shh…I know,” Angel said gently and put a comforting arm around her shoulders. “So what are you going to do?”

  She’d been thinking about that same question ever since the conversation with her father. She couldn’t let everything Jay had worked so hard for disappear, and she knew that even if she promised Jay she’d help her financially, Jay would never accept her help out of stubborn pride. Besides, what would Jay think of her now if she knew what her father was really like? She could tell her, but would Jay believe her after everything she’d said to her? Then there were her parents to consider. Would their marriage suffer if she told her mom the truth? And would the ranch be destroyed if her father found out about Jay before she had a chance to figure out another alternative? No, she couldn’t take any chances, not until she had every detail sorted out.

  “What I need to do is get away from here for a little while. I can’t be around her. I just can’t. The remodel is almost done, and by the time I get back, I’ll either have everything worked out or I’ll never see her again.”

  “You want to leave in the middle of the remodel? What will your mother think?”

  “She won’t think anything. She’s been in charge for most of it, and she’s been telling me I need a break all summer. I can’t think of a better time.”

  “But where will you go?”

  “To the only place that will help me find some answers.”

  Chapter Eighteen

  Jay awoke the next morning with cottonmouth and a splitting headache. Hangovers were far from being a new experience for her, but she couldn’t ever remember drinking as much as she had last night. As she looked down at her open jeans and bare feet, she wondered how in the hell she got home. And why was her shirt on the floor hanging from one of her wrists?

  “Shit,” she muttered. She looked around her bedroom, hoping she wouldn’t find anyone there with her. She remembered Paula the bartender buying her the first round of tequila, she bought the second, and somewhere between the third and forth, a beautiful redhead appeared in the picture.

  She dragged her slack body out of bed and into the bathroom where she took a cold shower and brushed the sour taste of agave out of her mouth. As she stepped through the bedroom threshold, she stopped short when the beautiful redhead from the bar was waiting at the kitchen counter with coffee in hand.

  “I thought you might need this,” the woman said with a wink as she handed the fresh smelling brew to Jay.

  “Thanks,” was all she could manage as she grabbed her head and sat on the stool next to her. Normally, waking up with a woman whose name she couldn’t remember wouldn’t have fazed her, but today not only was she embarrassed, she hoped she hadn’t made too much of an ass out of herself. From the looks of things, she guessed it was too late to worry about that now. “What’s your name?”

  “I’m DC and you’re, Jay, correct?”

  “Yeah.” Jay smiled weakly. Oh God! What have I done?

  “Can I make you something to eat?” DC asked around a bite of toast. She placed her bare foot on Jay’s stool, and Jay scanned the long, pale leg that disappeared beneath a pair of dark blue boxers. Her blue boxers. DC was also wearing one of Jay’s button-down white shirts with nothing underneath it. Her curly red hair hung loosely past her shoulders, and her emerald green eyes were the most beautiful shade of jade that she’d ever seen.

  “DC, can I ask you a question?” She rubbed her forehead trying to figure out what she wanted to say without further embarrassing DC or herself.

  “I know what you’re going to ask me, and the answer is no. Not that I didn’t want to, but I can’t take advantage of a sexy grieving woman. Not my style.”

  Jay let out a small laugh and placed her forehead on the cool Formica countertop. “Well, I guess I must have made quite the impression last night then.”

  DC rubbed Jay’s back in soothing circles. “On the contrary, you were very sweet. That is until you passed out. Paula happened to know where you lived so I volunteered to take you home.”

  “Who uh…”

  “Undressed you?”

  “Yeah.”

  “I did, and as you can probably tell, you weren’t very cooperative.” DC laughed.

  “I can see that. Look, DC, I—”

  DC put her hand up as if to say stop and bent toward Jay, placing a soft kiss on her lips. “You don’t have to say anything. I heard you last night. And she’s a fool for leaving you.”

  DC pushed away from the bar, gathering her clothes on the way to the bathroom. “I’m going to get dressed then get out of here. And for what it’s worth, I’m sorry she hurt you.”

  When the bathroom door shut behind DC, Jay groaned and grabbed her head again as if to keep it from falling off her shoulders. “Oh fuck!” Who else knows?

  She tried to remember anything about last night, but the truth was if she could scrap the whole day she would, except for the part where she and Coal had made love. This couldn’t be happening. She lost Coal, ended up with a strange woman in her apartment, and Dino—

  Oh fuck, Dino! He’s going to kill me! She picked up her cell and pressed one for speed dial. “Hey, Cuz, it’s Jay,” she said to his voicemail. “I’m going to be late. Be there soon.”

  She waited for DC to finish up in the bathroom, downing the rest of her coffee and a piece of toast, hoping to settle her queasy stomach. She walked DC to the door and held it open for her. If this was any other time in her life, she didn’t think she’d be able to allow DC to leave so soon. “DC…uh…what can I say? Thanks for all of it.”

  “You really are cute.” DC chuckled and placed a kiss on Jay’s cheek. “And you’re very welcome.”

  DC disappeared down the hallway as Jay let out a heavy sigh and shut the door. Laying her forehead against the cool wood, she prayed to whatever deity who would listen that today would be better than yesterday.

  *

  An hour later, Jay showed up to work and received the cold shoulder from Dino. Italians were never silent unless they were pissed, and by the way he was glaring at her, pissed would be a mild word for how he was probably feeling. He motioned for her to go inside the house, no doubt for privacy. Whatever he had to say to her wasn’t for the world to hear.

  “Do we need to talk?” Dino asked. He crossed his arms in front of his chest and leaned against the doorjamb, apparently not ready to leave her alone until he go
t a response.

  “What do you want me to say? I fucked up. I’m sorry.”

  “No you didn’t just fuck up, Cuz. I listened to your shit story right before you decided to get laid by that redheaded Amazon. This is so past fucked up. I know you love this girl, but you can’t. Do you understand you can’t, because you’re not one of them. She comes from money and is educated. What do you have? I’ll tell you what you have, nothing! Nothing to offer her except a lot of heartache and a week-to-week paycheck. How could you think that someone like Coal Davis could possibly want someone like you?”

  Jay placed her hands against the wall and bowed her head. He wasn’t telling her anything she didn’t already know, but it still hurt to hear the words. “Well, you have nothing to worry about because she wants nothing more to do with me. I’ll keep a low profile until the job is done and make sure we don’t run into each other.”

  “If that’s the case, it looks like you’re in luck. I spoke to Coal’s mother this morning and she’s decided to go on an extended vacation.”

  Jay’s head shot up and she pushed forcefully away from the wall. “What do you mean she’s going on a vacation? And what the fuck did you say to Jane Davis?”

  Dino looked at Jay in surprise. “Say? Do I look stupid to you? I didn’t say anything to her. All I know is that Coal’s gone for a while and she doesn’t know when she’ll be back. She does, however, have the punch list of everything Coal wants completed before she returns. If we finish by the scheduled completion date, which to remind you, is this Friday, we’ll even get a bonus.”

  Jay paced like a caged animal. We get a bonus! In other words, she wants us out of here before she returns so she doesn’t have to face me!

  “Cuz,” Dino said. “Let it go.”

  He cautiously placed a hand on her shoulder but she shrugged it off. “I’m going back to work.”

  Jay stormed down the stairs finding a task to help take her mind off the fact that she was hung over and angry. She needed to find a way to overcome the toughest obstacle though, finding a way to put Coal Davis behind her forever.

  *

  Coal was jarred awake by the sounds of dozens of horses calling out to one another in the nearby pastures. She glanced around in a daze at the small room her grandfather had furnished for her when she’d been a child and had helped him on the ranch. She pulled the blanket up to her shoulders in an attempt to fight off the early morning chill, but nothing she could do could fill the emptiness of her heart.

  It had been two days since she’d seen Jay, two days of crying and bouts of self-pity. She’d escaped to the familiarity of the ranch, needing a safe place to think. Except for a few meals, she hadn’t left the safety of her room. She even refused to answer her cell and had missed a few dozen calls from her mom and twice that many from Angel.

  As she stared out the bedroom window at a palomino chasing a chestnut colt, she thought about Dax and missed his company. She could use her trusted companion now more than ever, but she couldn’t have stayed at home. There were too many opportunities to run into Jay. And Jay was her ultimate temptation, that decadent dessert that she could never say no to and always needed to have one more bite.

  She hated the way she had to treat Jay and cried for hours over what they’d shared and what they would miss out on in the future. She missed Jay’s smile. She missed watching Jay work. But most of all, she missed being wrapped up in Jay’s arms. There had only been one other time where she’d felt that accepted. It had been years ago, but the memories were as fresh as the dew that had accumulated outside her window.

  “Coal, do you like it here?” her grandfather asked.

  “Yes, Grandpa. Even more than home sometimes,” she said. She patted one of the older horses right above the nose.

  “Why is that, honey?”

  “Because I can be who I want to be here.”

  “What do you mean?”

  She kissed the thoroughbred who placed his large head under her arm. “Daddy wants me to wear dresses and do girl stuff, but I’d rather wear jeans and ride horses.”

  “And why does your daddy think that girls shouldn’t wear jeans and ride horses, honey?”

  “I don’t know, Grandpa. But I like it here. And if I could stay here forever with you I would.”

  After that day with her grandfather, she’d thought he, out of everyone in her family, had understood her. When the thought that she’d disappointed him too became too much to bear, she threw on some jeans and a sweatshirt and walked out onto the wooden porch that overlooked the pasture. The low-lying fog, which was typical throughout most of the year in the small seaside town, settled over the ranch like a heavy blanket. A man she’d known for most of her life greeted her with a wave and a toothy smile as he stepped from his Chevy truck. Before she could get down the front steps, two strong hands lifted her up and pulled her into a hug.

  “Little Coal Davis,” Doug Bransten said. “Well I’ll be.”

  She laughed as he twirled her around in a circle just like when she was a child. “Put me down.”

  He had greeted her every summer in that exact same manner, and even though he had to be somewhere in his mid sixties, he still reminded her of the young, energetic handsome ranch hand that she’d always known.

  Doug had been her grandpa’s best friend. The ranch always ran smoothly under his control, not a small task considering he was responsible for over a hundred and fifty horses. He was six-foot-five of all-American cowboy. His leathery skin spoke of years of hard work in the sun, and his Stetson hung low on his forehead as his steely gray eyes appraised her.

  “You haven’t changed at all,” Coal said.

  “You have, little lady, but you’re as beautiful as always.”

  “Still a charmer I see. How have you been?”

  “I’m good.” He looked out over the pasture his eyes losing some of their spark. “Miss your granddaddy though. He was a good man.”

  Coal grabbed his hand and held it in hers. “I’m sure wherever he is now he would say the same thing about you.” I just wonder what he’d say about me?

  Doug cleared his throat. “Enough of that there nonsense. What brings you out here, girlie? I haven’t seen you since you were three hay bales high.”

  She laughed then her tone turned serious. “I’ve been here but I heard you took a few months vacation to see your grandkids. How are they?”

  “Growing like weeds. Now stop dodging the subject, why you really here?”

  “I guess you heard that Grandpa left the ranch to me?”

  He nodded. “Yes, ma’am, I did. And I could think of no one better to leave its care too. How does your daddy feel about that?”

  Coal swiped at a stubborn tear, cursing its timing. “We’ll get to that later. How about I go ditch these slippers for some boots and we take a ride along those acres of beautiful beachfront property? I could use the fresh air. What do you say?”

  A smile touched his unshaven face. “I’d say you got yourself a deal there, little lady.”

  *

  Jay sat on Coal’s bed, staring at a picture of Coal riding her horse. Coal had given it to her after their first date and she’d kept it in her wallet ever since. Every time Jay felt a pang of loneliness settle over her, she pulled out the photo, remembering that she’d once had everything she’d ever wanted and more.

  She still couldn’t figure out how it had all gone so wrong. Nothing in her life had ever been easy, so why did she think that a relationship would be any different? Her mother had walked out on them when she was young, and then her father slowly deteriorated with every drink he took. His drug habit followed soon after, and when he ended up in jail for stealing, she’d spent every earned dollar trying to keep a roof over her head and her pride intact. She’d promised her dying aunt she would always keep the family home in the family, and thankfully, the rent she received paid most of the mortgage, otherwise she’d never be able to keep afloat. As she sat staring at Coal’s picture, she knew that s
he’d give it all up just to have Coal in her arms one more time.

  She’d thought about her mom the last few days, wishing she had her to talk to. She’d needed motherly advice many times during her life, but more than anything, she needed someone who would hold her and tell her everything was going to be all right. She sure as hell couldn’t get that from her dad even if he wasn’t in jail, and since she never looked to family for anything, she wasn’t about to go crying to them now.

  With one of Coal’s sweatshirts in her hand, she brought the cotton to her face and inhaled the familiar scent of warm hay and sunshine. She held the sweatshirt tightly, imagining Coal in her arms. She allowed the burning lump in her throat to turn into hot, flowing tears. She was so consumed by her own grief that she didn’t hear the footsteps until someone stopped directly behind her.

  “Jay, is everything all right?” Jane Davis asked.

  Jay rose, dropped the sweatshirt onto the bed, and stepped back, clearly shocked that Coal’s mom had caught her crying on the job, hell, crying at all. She was officially a basket case. How was she going to explain her behavior? “I’m sorry.”

  “No, I’m sorry if I spooked you. I couldn’t help but notice you’re upset. Anything I can do?”

  “No, ma’am. I’m fine. Hard day is all.” Jesus! Could this day get any more fucking embarrassing for her? First DC and now breaking down in front of Coal’s mother. If she were a horse, she’d be taken out to pasture and put out of her misery.

  “I know I’m a stranger to you, but I’m a good listener. And sometimes it helps to talk out your problems with someone who can be objective.”

  Objective, not! You’re Coal’s mother! “I’m okay, ma’am, really. I’ve just had a few bad days. Thanks for asking though.”

  “Can I give you some advice?”

  “Sure,” Jay said warily. Funny how minutes before she’d wished for some motherly advice.

  “I don’t know who is causing you pain, but whoever that person is, I’m sure they’ll be willing to listen if you give them the chance.”