When the Heart Falls

by Kimberly Lewis

  “You know you could always just drive over to his ranch and talk to him in person,” Maggie suggested.

  “I thought about that,” Misty said, taking another sip of tea.

  “So if you thought about it, then why haven’t you done it?”

  “I don’t know. I guess I’m scared to find out that he’s mad at me or something. I mean there has to be a reason for him to just ignore me like this.”

  “Well, you’re not going to find out just sitting around here now are you. Here,” Maggie said and tossed her truck keys at Misty. “Take my truck and drive over to the McCoy ranch and just talk to him. Put your mind at ease.”

  Misty sighed and pushed herself away from the table. “Alright, I’ll be back in a little bit,” she said as she walked passed Maggie and out the back door.

  Jack was walking up the porch steps as Misty was just about to hop in the truck.

  “Where you off to, kiddo?” he asked.

  “Gonna go see Dylan. I’ll be back later,” she replied and waved as she hopped in the driver’s seat.

  The truck rumbled to life as Jack walked into the kitchen and hung his cowboy hat on the peg on the wall. He removed a blue bandana from his back pocket and wiped his forehead with it.

  “Tea?” Maggie asked.

  “That’d be great,” Jack said as he walked over to the sink and washed his hands. She handed him the glass as soon as he was done wiping his hands dry. He downed the contents of it in four large gulps.

  “More?” Maggie asked.

  “Please,” Jacked replied and took a seat at the table. She handed him the refilled glass and he gestured for her to take the seat next to him.

  “What’s wrong?” she asked.

  “I didn’t even say anything yet,” Jack said.

  “You don’t have to say anything. I know well enough just by looking at you that something is bothering you and has been bothering you all day. Now spill,” she told him.

  Jack let out a long sigh. “Fifteen more head of cattle have gone missing,” he told her in a hushed tone.

  “Oh, Jack. Fifteen?” Maggie said surprised. “Can’t you figure out how they are going missing?”

  “It’s got to be wranglers, and damn good ones. None of the boys have seen anyone or anything suspicious,” he told her as he took another gulp of tea.

  “That’s not the whole story,” Maggie said.

  “You’re good,” Jack replied with a slight smile. “I’m afraid that we might not have enough money to cover the expenses of the ranch without the full herd of cattle.”

  “I was afraid you were going to say that. What are we going to do?”

  “Well, there’s more. I had a visit from a Trent Montgomery last week. He’s one of the wealthiest ranchers in the area, and he’s interested in our land,” Jack told her and waited for her reaction.

  Maggie looked at him like she didn’t understand what he had just told her. “He wants to buy our ranch?” she asked.

  “Yup, offered me a cash down payment and everything till we could get the papers drawn up.”

  “You’re not really thinking about doing it are you Jack?”

  “Hell no,” he replied. “I’ve worked too hard to just give up our land that easy.”

  Maggie sighed with relief. “Shoo. For a moment there I was sure you were going to tell me you were actually thinking about telling him yes.”

  “You really thought I was going to tell him yes? Woman, that’s the craziest thing you’ve said in a long time.” He chuckled. “We’ve got another few weeks until the cattle sale. We’ll see what that pulls in and then we’ll take things from there. He looked into her eyes and smiled. “Everything will work out, Maggs, one way or another. I promise.”

  ***

  Misty parked the truck next to Dylan’s and shut off the ignition.

  Good he’s home, she thought.

  She got out of the truck and walked over to the porch. Katherine walked out of the back door just as Misty approached.

  “Hi, Misty. What brings you here?” Katherine asked.

  “Hi, Mrs. McCoy. I was coming by to see Dylan. Is he around by any chance?”

  “He took one of the four-wheelers out to the north side to mend some fence. He just left a few minutes ago,” Katherine informed her.

  Misty’s shoulders slumped a little and she let out a small sigh. Katherine, seeing Misty’s reaction, added, “I would call him and tell him you’re here but he left his phone in the kitchen before he left. If you want, I can have one of the men take you out to him.”

  “I don’t want to be a bother. I’m sure they are busy,” Misty said.

  “Nonsense, child, I know he’s been avoiding your phone calls and I’ve told him he’s being ridiculous. You need to talk to him and set him straight. I’ll get Carl to take you out there.”

  “Thank you, ma’am,” Misty said with a smile. So Dylan was avoiding her. What was his problem? Was he mad at her because of the car accident? It wasn’t her fault that her brakes didn’t work. And it wasn’t her fault that the stupid car behind them ran them off the road. So why would he blame her? She turned her head at the sound of a four wheeler approaching. She didn’t recognize the tall, lanky man that was on it but assumed him to be Carl.

  “Miss Misty?” he asked stopping in front of her.

  She nodded and he continued. “I’m Carl. Mrs. McCoy asked me to take you out to the north forty where Dylan is. Hop on the back and we’ll get going.”

  She complied with his request and held onto the rack on the back of the four wheeler instead of wrapping her arms around his waist. She glanced over him as he drove the four-wheeler out of the yard and into the pasture. He looked more like a boy than a man. She would guess that he was all of nineteen at the most.

  “Hang on tight, Miss Misty,” he instructed over the rumble of the engine as he pushed the gas and the four-wheeler increased in speed. The air rushing by them felt refreshing on her skin but was tainted with the smell of sweat. She attempted to breathe in fresh air and hoped that Dylan wasn’t too much further away. As they drove, she let her eyes wander over the landscape and looked out to the horizon. Dark clouds were gathering in the west and seemed to be approaching quickly.

  “There he is,” Carl said, pointing out in front of him.

  “Thank you, Carl. You can stop here. I’ll walk the rest of the way,” she said, tapping him on the shoulder to get his attention.

  “Yes, ma’am,” he said and pulled the four-wheeler to a stop.

  She thanked him for the ride and he drove off as she walked over to where Dylan was mending some barbed wire. He looked up as she walked closer. Why did she have to make him feel like he was on fire every time he looked at her? She looked so damn hot in her white tank top, daisy duke shorts, red cowboy boots, and windswept hair. He quickly diverted his eyes before his thoughts went wild and went back to working on the fence.

  “What are you doing here?” he asked without looking at her.

  She watched him as the muscles in his arms tensed as he tightened the wire around the post. His shirt clung to every inch of his perfect torso from sweat.

  “You didn’t call me back,” she said, walking closer to him.

  “I know,” he said coldly.

  “You wanna tell me why?” she asked and the sound of thunder rumbled in the distance. The blue sky that had surrounded them just moments ago was now covered in gray clouds.

  “Don’t really feel like I need to explain myself. You should know why.”

  “Obviously I don’t, I mean that is why I came out here to talk to you in person.”

  The sky illuminated with a bright flash of lightening and rumbled once more. The first few drops of rain fell from the clouds and quickly started to increase.

  “Damn it,” Dylan mumbled and quickly started to gather his tools. Misty bent down to help him and he waved her off. “I’ve got this.” He grabbed up the saddle bags that contained his tools and flung them over the seat of the four-wheel
er. He flung his leg over the seat like he was climbing into a saddle and started the engine. “You coming or are you just gonna stand there and get soaked?”

  She wanted to let her stubbornness have the best of her and let him take his attitude and go. But knowing that it was a very long walk back to the house she pinched her lips together and climbed on the back, holding onto the racks as she did before. She had just enough time to get a grip on the bars when he punched the gas and took off. Why was he being like this? She didn’t understand his anger towards her. What had she done to deserve this? Just then the four-wheeler hit a bump with such force that it lifted her from the seat. Automatically she let go of the rack and flung her arms around Dylan’s waist.

  She let her hands run over the ridges of his abs as she moved her hands from his stomach to his sides. The sensation sent a chill throughout his body and left goose bumps on his arms, even with the air being so warm. Though he wanted nothing more than to feel her touch once more he couldn’t help but remember his reason for being so cold to her. She had chosen to go back to her husband. A decision he wasn’t all too thrilled with.

  The rain was coming down even harder now as he pulled the four-wheeler into the yard and drove it to the shed attached to the barn. Misty removed her hold from the sides of his waist and stepped off of the vehicle. She watched as he too got off and removed the saddle bags from the seat.

  “Dylan, talk to me,” she pleaded.

  “I’ve got nothing to say,” he said as he walked past her back out into the pouring rain.

  She ran after him and grabbed his arm, attempting to pull him to a stop. He turned to look at her, and the rain from the brim of his cowboy hat ran like a waterfall down the front of it. She could see through the cascade of water that although he was putting up a good front of being angry, that he was actually sad. His blue eyes were filled with hurt, and she wanted to find out why.

  “Why are you being so mean?” she asked over another rumble of thunder.

  “I’m being mean?” Dylan asked and let out a sarcastic huff. He walked away from her and into the barn where he hung the saddle bags with all the other tack.

  “Yes you,” she said, increasingly becoming angry as she followed him.

  Unwillingly he looked at her. She was so unbelievably gorgeous, standing there in front of him with water droplets hanging from her eyelashes and her rain soaked hair falling down around her shoulders.

  “Misty, I just can’t do this anymore,” he said and walked off toward the ladder that led to the hayloft.

  “What can’t you do?” she called after him.

  “This.” He turned and waved his hand back and forth pointing from her to him. “It hurts too much to be friends with you when you know I want more than that. And that fact that you’re throwing away what could have been the best thing either one of us has ever had to go back to your cheating husband,” he said, shaking his head. “I just can’t sit back and watch. And I won’t.” He turned away from her and climbed the ladder to the hayloft.

  “Going back to my husband?” she questioned. “Wait, Dylan, don’t walk away from me,” she said as she climbed the ladder after him. He was in the corner grabbing a bale of hay when she made her way into the loft. “Where did you get the idea that I’m taking Brad back?” she asked over the sound of the rain on the tin roof.

  He started to walk towards her with the bale of hay in his hand and said, “Move.”

  “No,” she said and crossed her arms.

  Dylan let out an exasperated sigh. “Misty, please move. I’ve got work to do.”

  “No. Not until you talk to me and we get this straightened out. Now where did you get the idea that I was taking Brad back?”

  He dropped the bale of hay at his feet, removed his work gloves and threw them on the floor. “I heard the two of you talking at the hospital, ok.”

  “What exactly did you hear?”

  “Enough,” he said and took a seat on the bale of hay.

  “Well obviously you heard wrong because the conversation I had with him didn’t end with me saying that I’d take him back,” she said heatedly.

  “Misty, I heard you tell him that you love him. I think that pretty much sums it all up,” he threw back at her.

  “Well maybe if you had stuck around long enough and talked to me you would have learned that I didn’t mean to tell him that I love him,” she yelled back, her voice increasing in volume.

  “People don’t just say ‘I love you’, Misty. You had to mean it to say it.”

  “I did mean it, Dylan!”

  “I rest my case,” he said, throwing his hands up in defeat and moving to a standing position.

  “I didn’t mean to say it to Brad. When I said it I thought I was talking to you!” she said, taking a deep breath to calm her anger.

  A shocked expression spread across his face. “What?” he almost whispered.

  She took another deep breath and replied, “The room was dark and I had just woken up. I remember calling out for you and a voice said ‘I’m here’,” she explained calmly.

  He crossed the hay loft floor to where she stood and stopped a foot away from her. “You love me?”

  She nodded her head and a slight smile tickled the corners of her mouth. “Yes,” she whispered.

  He closed the distance between them, wrapping his arms firmly around her waist and pressed her body against his. He bent his head down and joined his lips with hers; kissing her with such passion that it left her feeling week in the knees. She brought her arms around his neck, moved one of her hands to the back of his head and tangled her fingers in his hair. Her body melted into his embrace as his lips tenderly caressed hers. Dylan pulled away slightly and stared into her eyes. He brought his hand up to her face and brushed a stray hair from her forehead. He slid his fingertips down the side of her face and cupped her cheek in his hand. He gently pressed his lips against hers once more, then kissed the tip of her nose and leaned his forehead against hers and smiled.

  “I love you too.”

  CHAPTER 16

  The cell phone in her back pocket rang, momentarily distracting her from Dylan’s soft kisses.

  “Don’t even think about answering that,” he whispered against her lips.

  “Wasn’t planning on it.” She grinned, reached in her back pocket, and pressed the ignore button on the side of the phone.

  They were once again surrounded by only the sound of the rain beating against the tin roof of the barn. Dylan slid his hand from the side of her cheek, down her neck, to her shoulder, gliding along the side of her waist and resting it on her hip. He drew her closer to him and she responded by wrapping her arms more tightly around him. The cell phone began to ring again and she let out an exasperated sigh, loosening her grip from around his neck.

  “Whoever this is they sure are persistent,” she grumbled and reluctantly pulled away from Dylan’s embrace. She glanced down at the screen of the phone and noticed the familiar number immediately. “It’s from my house,” she said to Dylan and flipped the phone open. “Hello? Hey, Mom.”

  Misty tried to listen to the words her mother was speaking, but she was finding it very hard to concentrate at the moment. Dylan was steadily leaving a trail of kisses from her jaw, down her neck and to her shoulder. She was surprised by the way his kisses affected her. No other man had ever made her feel the way Dylan had with only a kiss. Brad’s kisses were good at first. Actually, she used to think they were great. But then again, he had been her first and only kiss until recently. When Brad kissed her, it felt routine, like it was just something you had to do every day.

  Vance’s kisses were much different from Brad’s. There was no sense of routine to them at all. Their first kiss had been wonderful. He was so gentle and tender, almost as if he was handling fine china. But then, as their relationship continued, his kisses changed from gentle and tender to greedy and selfish. She chalked that up to him basically just wanting to get into her pants.

  And now there w
as Dylan. Dylan’s kisses sent her senses into a whirlwind of confusion. With each touch of his lips, it left her with the odd sensation of feeling like she was on fire but gave her goose bumps at the same time. She felt weak in the knees and felt like her limbs had turned into jelly, but she still had strength enough to pull him closer. Each kiss left her breathless and wanting more. She wondered, if his kisses are this amazing, what would other things that kissing led to be like? She felt the heat flood into her cheeks and she bit her bottom lip.

  “Hmm? Ok, Mom, I’ll be there shortly,” she said into the phone before closing it and placing it back in her pocket.

  “Now where were we?” Dylan asked playfully and placed another kiss on her neck.

  “Mmm,” she moaned and her eyes rolled back into her head. “Dylan?”

  “Hmm?” he asked without breaking his kiss.

  “I have to go home,” she said.

  “No you don’t,” he disagreed and pressed his lips to hers.

  She placed a hand on his chest and gently pushed him away. He stared at her confused and she quickly caught her breath to explain. “Trust me I don’t want to leave; especially right now. But the sheriff is at my house and he needs to talk to me about the accident.”

  Dylan’s shoulders slumped a little. Perfect timing, he thought sarcastically. Here he was, finally living the moment he’d dreamt of for years and she has to leave. He knew she wouldn’t be gone forever, but it hurt his heart to even think about her being away from him now. Even though she would only be twenty minutes away. “I guess I have to let you go then,” he said, still keeping his hold on her.

  “What do you mean? You’re coming with me,” she said.

  “I am?”

  “Yea, the sheriff wants to talk to you as well. Mom said he’s got some information about the accident that we both need to hear.”

  ***

  The rain had slowed and was almost to the point of completely stopping when Misty drove into the yard. She parked in her usual spot and waited as Dylan pulled in next to her. He stepped out of his truck and walked towards her, taking her hand in his as they walked towards the house. Maggie watched as Dylan and Misty walked hand in hand. She smiled, let the curtain fall back and turned towards Jack and Sheriff Brittingham.