Last Stand Ranch

by Jenna Night

  The chief administrator, Larry Squire, wore his long graying hair tied back in a ponytail. His shirt was tie-dyed in vivid shades of purple and orange. Olivia wondered if he’d made it himself as she sat in his office amidst scattered books, wind chimes, various clunky art projects and a guitar propped on a stand.

  He stepped around his desk as soon as Olivia entered his office, and they sat in chairs across from each other for the interview. They talked about her prior job and she told him everything about her situation with Kurtz. He, in turn, had read about her getting shot in the local paper.

  “I also read up on your situation in Las Vegas,” he said. “While we have professional standards of behavior we need to follow, I know from personal experience that counseling can put you in a situation where you feel very protective of your client. Still, your history is a serious matter and it’s something the board needs to consider before we can offer you employment.”

  “I understand, but you and the board should know I’ve learned my lesson.” Olivia smoothed her skirt and crossed her arms.

  “I know your aunt very well,” Larry said. “I told her I’d interview you as a favor to her, but you would get the job, or not, on your own merits.”

  Olivia took a deep breath and prepared to be disappointed.

  “I called a few of your references. Everyone had good things to say about you so I have to admit I’m interested.” He stood up. “Let’s go for a walk.”

  * * *

  “Once we get further into fall and the animals start coming down from the hills, I’ll have a whole bunch of new images I’ll want to paint.” Arthur Bannon turned back from the window to look at Elijah. Arthur’s face was long and narrow, his hair still remarkably thick, though it had turned white, and his chin wavered slightly all the time. He was considered an old man when Elijah was still a schoolboy. He’d lived through a lot and earned every one of his ninety-two years.

  Elijah glanced at his friend in his motorized wheelchair, pointing out the window at the rolling hills outside. While walking the grounds and waiting for Olivia’s interview to conclude, Elijah had noticed the door propped open at the end of a window-lined building. Inside, he’d found Arthur.

  “The only way I could paint a wildlife picture would be if the picture was already drawn on the canvas and someone jotted in little numbers telling me where to put each color of paint,” Elijah said.

  “You could paint a good picture if you really wanted to.”

  Elijah shrugged. “I’d rather let somebody else be the artist. I can just enjoy their work.”

  Arthur grinned and raised his bushy white brows. “If you’ve got fifty bucks, I’ve got a nice painting of an eagle soaring at sunrise that you could take home and enjoy. It’s in a good frame, too.”

  Elijah looked down at Arthur’s attempt at pleading puppy eyes and laughed. “Sold. I’ll add it to my collection.”

  Arthur held out a freckled hand and they shook to seal the deal before Elijah pulled out his wallet.

  Two sets of footsteps echoed down the interior hallway on the other side of the door connecting the art room to the main building. Elijah turned his gaze in that direction.

  Olivia’s vibrant laughter skittered down the hall. The interview must have gone well.

  Olivia’s eyebrows lifted in surprise when she walked into the room and spotted Elijah. The smile on her face beamed happiness that practically lit her up like a Christmas tree. She was so beautiful Elijah couldn’t help smiling back. She gave him a lingering look before turning her attention to Arthur.

  Larry stood beside her. “How are you?” he asked Elijah.

  Elijah gestured at Arthur. “I’m about fifty bucks lighter in the wallet. Again.”

  Arthur grinned.

  “This is the arts and crafts room,” Larry said to Olivia. “And Arthur is an accomplished oil painter.”

  “Nice to meet you.” Olivia walked over to shake hands with him. “My name’s Olivia. I’m afraid I don’t know a thing about oil painting.”

  “You don’t need to.” Arthur pushed his heavy, black-framed glasses up the bridge of his nose and studied her face. “I teach the painting classes. Rachel teaches quilting. Oliver teaches some kind of computer picture stuff that I don’t care too much about.”

  “We have several skilled craftspeople and artists in town we can call on for help,” Larry said.

  “They just have to hire us some kind of babysitter,” Arthur interjected. “And Larry told me he’d only bring a serious candidate down here to meet me so I guess you’ve got the job.”

  Olivia glanced at Larry. He pursed his lips. “I need to run it by the board, but I will recommend you. We’d like to have someone start within a week, if possible.”

  Olivia smiled broadly. “Thank you.”

  Arthur propelled his chair closer to Olivia for a better look, and then turned to Elijah. “Is she your girlfriend?”

  Mortified, Elijah looked at Olivia, hoping she would answer. Instead, she sharpened her smile ever so slightly and raised an eyebrow.

  Why did she do that? Elijah was good at reading the signs on a battlefield or behind enemy lines. He was good with horses and cattle, and was decent at weather prediction. He was a pretty good tracker, too. But he couldn’t read women to save his life.

  What did she want him to say? More importantly, why did he even care?

  He didn’t care. Did he? He was helping someone out, that’s all. Protecting a woman in peril. He would do it for anybody. That was why he’d been allowed to survive when others hadn’t. He had a debt to pay and a job to do.

  For a moment he felt as if the ground was shifting beneath him. He’d helped women before. He’d kept his distance emotionally. He hadn’t thought twice about it.

  So what was happening with Olivia? Nothing, nothing was happening. He wouldn’t let it.

  Even Larry looked at him as if he was waiting for his answer. “No, sir,” Elijah said to Arthur. “She is not my girlfriend.” He blew out a subtle sigh of relief, thankful that was over.

  “Why not?”

  Really, Arthur? Really? The old man had a sharp glint in his eye.

  They’d had variations on this conversation before. Not that Elijah had come up to visit with any other woman Arthur had mistaken for a girlfriend. It was the lack of a romantic attachment in his life that Arthur always bugged him about.

  Elijah had been back home maybe a year when Arthur had started up about it. Arthur had been happily married for sixty-two years. His kids and grandkids came to visit him in Painted Rock at regular intervals. One mellow spring day Arthur had asked Elijah if he wanted a family of his own and in the unguarded moment Elijah had answered, “Maybe someday.”

  That was a mistake. Arthur wouldn’t forget about it, and Elijah couldn’t make him understand he wasn’t anywhere near that “someday.”

  Elijah glanced at Olivia, watching for her reaction as he said, “I’m here with Olivia because she’s run into some trouble. Vanquish the Darkness is helping her until things settle down.”

  Olivia’s smile faltered and her radiant countenance dimmed. Elijah really didn’t want to figure out why. He just wanted the awkward emotional stuff to go away.

  “Have you asked her out?” Arthur pressed.

  “You know I don’t date.” Elijah said.

  “I still don’t understand why not.” The old man just would not give it up.

  Elijah stared wordlessly at his normally well-mannered friend.

  Olivia finally came to Elijah’s rescue. “I just moved here from Las Vegas. Right now I’m not looking for a romantic attachment, either.”

  Arthur looked at each of them and shook his head sadly. Then he turned to Elijah. “Are you a complete fool?” He glanced down at the money still in his hand, then back at Elijah. “Life’s fo
r living, not for waiting around. When you aren’t too busy to live a little, you come get me and bring me into town. I’ll pop in my choppers and we’ll get us a steak.” He hooked his thumb toward Olivia, who was standing in the threshold of the outside door, admiring the view. “Maybe we’ll invite her along, too.”

  “Deal,” Elijah said. Anything to put an end to this topic of conversation.

  Larry said his goodbyes and headed back to his office. Arthur drove his wheelchair to a window and pulled a sketch pad and some pencils out of a side pocket. Elijah was about to ask Olivia if she was ready to go when he saw something through the window behind Arthur. Something on the lightly forested hill just past the facility campus.

  “Get inside,” he barked out to Olivia.

  She stepped back in the room. “What is it?”

  “Maybe nothing.” He strode to the window for a better look, mentally kicking himself for wandering off into “relationship land” and letting his feelings cloud his thinking about Olivia. There was no question as to whether they should date or have a romantic future together. He couldn’t afford to be distracted like that.

  Light flashed on the hill. A few seconds later he saw it again.

  “You watching that light out there?” Arthur asked. “Probably just somebody driving on that old loop road.”

  “Probably.” Elijah still didn’t like it.

  “I don’t know why anybody would be out there now,” Arthur continued, organizing his sketching supplies. “Nothing to see. Just a short drive around some trees. You wait until dusk, then you might see some critters coming out.”

  “You don’t miss much,” Elijah said, squeezing his friend’s shoulder.

  “These are for close up.” Arthur tapped his glasses. “My distance sight is still pretty good.”

  Elijah got out his phone and hit a speed dial button while he walked outside for a better view.

  “I called Jonathan and my dad,” he explained to Olivia when he came back inside. “It might not be anything to worry about, but I don’t want to take any chances. They’ll be here in a few minutes to check things out before we leave.”

  The color had drained from Olivia’s face and fear filled her eyes. Witnessing her beaming happiness just a few minutes ago made the return of her sadness even more punishing. Elijah hoped her tormentor was up there on that hill so he could track down the creep and end this nightmare for her today.

  Arthur turned his chair and looked at her. “Why exactly did you move here from Las Vegas?”

  Olivia reached over to rub her injured shoulder. “I made a mob attorney very angry with me.”

  Arthur raised his bushy white eyebrows and whistled. Then he shook his head and smiled wistfully at Elijah. “Boy, can you pick ’em.”

  NINE

  “We spotted fresh tire tracks in the dirt up there,” Joe Morales said through the rolled-down window of his truck, “but we didn’t see anybody. Whoever made those tracks was already gone.”

  Jonathan sat in the truck beside him, scanning the hillside with a pair of binoculars.

  Olivia sat beside Elijah in his truck in the Golden Sands parking lot. She looked through the windshield at the hill behind the senior center where they’d seen the flash of light just twenty minutes ago. “Thanks for looking,” she called over to the other truck. She wished she could think of the words to express the real depth of her gratitude. The Morales family had done so much for her.

  “Let’s head back to the ranch,” Elijah said.

  Joe nodded. “Your brother went into town this morning and bought some heavy-duty locks. Make sure you grab them before you head to Aunt Claudia’s.”

  “I will.”

  Joe wheeled his pickup truck around and headed out of the parking lot. Elijah followed.

  “I don’t suppose this rig has bulletproof windows,” Olivia muttered as they picked up speed.

  She looked at the passing landscape. In spite of the fear nipping at her, she could still see the beauty in the towering pines and the vistas of red mesas haloed by bright blue sky in the distance. She’d been shot, but she’d lived to see another day. She could let that drag her down or lift her up. Which was it going to be?

  “If I spend much more time with you, I might have to get the whole truck armored,” Elijah said.

  She turned to him, her gaze tracing the strong line of his jaw. There was no hint of a smile, but she could hear the attempt at humor in his voice.

  Her shoulder ached a little and she reached over to rub it.

  “I’ll do my best to keep you alive,” Elijah said quietly.

  “I know. And I’ll do my best to keep myself from getting killed.”

  This time there was a smile on his lips. Just a little one.

  They drove for a few more miles until he made the turn onto the Morales Ranch property.

  Joe drove his truck toward the stables. Elijah steered toward a work shed near the house. “I need to grab a few tools before we head over to Aunt Claudia’s.” He cut the engine and climbed out of his truck.

  “Can I help?” Olivia asked, climbing out, too.

  “No, thanks. I’ve got it.”

  A few minutes later he loaded various pieces of equipment into his truck. Olivia’s gaze lingered on one sharp-toothed, particularly mean-looking hunk of metal and plastic. “A chain saw?”

  “I need it to clear away some of the hedges and tree branches around Aunt Claudia’s house. Get rid of any good hiding places.”

  “Are you sure she’ll be okay with you chopping up her plants?”

  He turned to her. “You can’t really think she’d value her plants more than you.”

  “I guess not.” Olivia shrugged. “I just don’t want to assume too much. I don’t want her to be sorry she invited me to stay with her.”

  Elijah shook his head. “You don’t know your aunt at all.” He picked up a couple more power tools and put them in the truck. Olivia couldn’t help admiring the muscles in his arms and across his chest as he moved with such easy strength.

  “It’s none of my business,” he added, “but why didn’t you or your family ever visit her?”

  You’re right. It isn’t your business. Defensiveness burned through her like a flare and the harsh words were right there on the tip of her tongue, but she couldn’t bring herself to say them. Not after all he’d done for her.

  “Your family seems close,” she said, diverting the conversation to a safer topic.

  “Oh, we have our moments like any other family. Believe me.” He slammed the tailgate shut. “Some days this ranch doesn’t seem nearly big enough.”

  Jonathan exited a barn and walked toward them, pushing a motorcycle with a cardboard box balanced on the seat. When he got closer he picked up the box and dropped it into the back of Elijah’s truck with a loud thud. “The locks,” he said by way of explanation. “And Dad told me to wrap it up for the day and head over to Aunt Claudia’s with you.”

  “Okay,” Elijah said. “Let’s go.” He and Olivia climbed back into his truck.

  Jonathan cranked up his bike and started out toward the road. Elijah followed.

  By the time they reached Claudia’s house, Olivia had turned Elijah’s question about visiting Claudia over in her mind so many times that she wanted to say something. Just spit out a response and be finished with it.

  “My parents weren’t close to their families,” she finally said. “I never heard of any particular reason why. Mom’s family lives in California. Dad’s family is scattered across Arizona. Claudia is his aunt. My parents never invested much time in visiting anybody, and by the time I’d grown up it seemed too awkward to try and track down any of my relatives.”

  “That’s a shame. You missed a lot not coming up here for a visit. Uncle Hugh and Aunt Claudia always had time
for kids. They were a lot of fun.”

  Olivia took a deep breath. Might as well get it all out there. The more she was around the Morales family, the more stories of her own life experiences stuck in her throat. And the more she missed being part of a family. “My family life disintegrated after my dad left my mom for another woman when I was seventeen.”

  “I’m sorry.” He turned to look at her. “That had to be tough.”

  Funny how it still hurt all these years later. Just mentioning it, she felt the exact same sensation she’d felt when her parents first broke the news to her. As if she was falling and there was nothing she could grab hold of to stop the fall.

  “Mom found someone and got married again a year later. I was eighteen. An adult. So they both had new lives, and I was on my own.”

  “You moved out of your mom’s house?”

  “Not right away. But it felt like I was by myself. I didn’t have any brothers or sisters. Both my parents had started new relationships, gotten married, moved on.”

  “Without you?”

  “I can’t blame them. It wasn’t like I was a kid anymore.” But she’d still needed them.

  “I still rely on my parents,” Elijah said. “I doubt I’ll ever outgrow that. It must have been lonely, not having that family connection to turn to.”

  She looked at him. Hard to believe that depth of understanding was coming from a tough-looking biker like him. “It was very lonely. I was desperate for company and started dating a man who seemed wonderful at the beginning,” she continued. “After a while, I started to see flashes of temper in him, but I rationalized them away. Told myself everybody has their faults.” She took a deep breath. Even now she didn’t like thinking about Daniel and how bad things had gotten.

  “I’m sorry,” Elijah said. His voice was soft, but she could see the muscles flex in his jaw.