Della hands me the picnic basket with a trembling hand. She’s barely spoken since I got back to the loft. And her face is paler than normal, too. “Everything okay?” I ask as I load a lantern and a blanket into the truck bed.
“Mm hmm.” She nods and then hops into the passenger side.
After sliding behind the wheel, I study her face. She’s definitely off. “We don’t need to go for a picnic if you’re not feeling well. We can stay in and have a quiet night instead.”
“I want to go.”
Okay. Doesn’t seem like it, but I’m not going to argue with her about it. I reverse the truck and then turn onto the dirt road that cuts through our property and leads to a good spot to watch the sunset.
“How did your conference call go?”
“Fine. Inefficient. Group work. You know how it is. Too many cooks in the kitchen and nothing actually getting done.” She runs her palms over her thighs to straighten her cotton skirt. “Two people didn’t even call in, so we have to meet again Monday evening. How about you? Did you get the fence repair finished?”
“Yup. Tomorrow we’ll be inseminating heifers if you want to help?”
“Did you bring a rifle?” she asks randomly, missing my insemination invitation.
“Yeah, why?”
She stares out the side window at the scenery to avoid making eye contact with me. “No reason. Just wondering. Actually, there is a reason.”
“What’s going on, Della? You’re acting weird. But not your normal weird. Did something happen when you were out with Tracy today?” Her head rotates to look at me and her eyes start to water, so I stop the truck and turn the engine off. “Spit it out.”
Her cheeks turn scarlet and her breath hitches in her throat. “Okay, don’t be mad. I need to tell you something. If possible, I’d like you to pretend as if it’s no big deal, even though it was a big deal. Huge deal. I actually wish it was some bizarre bad dream that didn’t really happen, but it did, so here goes. Brace yourself. Like ripping a bandage off, I’m just going to say it. Go. Okay. On our way back, Tracy and I encountered a mountain lion.” She holds two hooked fingers up and hisses to imitate the teeth of a mountain lion. “Like a big, healthy, male one. Ferocious. Yellow eyes. Smelly, too. Hobelia spooked and threw Tracy, so I had to grab the rifle from her saddle, but I don’t know how to fire a gun. I panicked, and she had to talk me through the steps of how to release the safety. I didn’t want to shoot the cat, but Tracy was worried it was going to pounce on her, so I fired. Just a warning shot. In the air. But it was loud, which made Hemingway freak out, and I forgot to brace for the kick, so I fell off, and fortunately I landed in the water, but unfortunately it still hurt a lot because my hip hit a rock and it’s bruised, badly.” She waves her hand in a circular motion from her ribs to her thigh to indicate the size of the bruise. “And your mom’s hat got wet, which I feel horrible about, but it’s drying out nicely. Fingers crossed. And I have a wicked headache, so I probably got whiplash, or maybe the throbbing pain is from the stress-vice digging into my temples from knowing I had no choice but to tell you at some point. To make it worse, the gun somehow went off again when I hit the ground and I have no idea where that bullet went. Thank God it didn’t kill Tracy or one of the horses. It might have killed something. Not the lion. Tracy said it headed for the hills, but she was worried it would come back for a calf, which is why she insisted I tell you. During the chaos, Hobelia took off in a sprint, so he made it back to the barn before we did. He might be scarred for life. Me too. We all survived, though, so that’s a good thing.” She pauses and shakes out her arms as if it somehow removes the post-traumatic stress from her body, then she continues talking, “And since I’m already divulging secrets, I might as well come clean about a few other things, like the fact that Tracy and I talked about the reasons why she cheated on you. Not that I should have pried into your private life, but she shared the details, and now I feel sorry for her because I can empathize with how devastating it must be to live with the regret of ruining the chance to be with someone as amazing as you. Sorry if you don’t like the idea of us talking, but since we are now also bonded over the lion incident, cordial feelings would have likely developed between us anyway. And even though you would have likely never found this out because he made me pinky swear not to tell you, I fed your dad carbohydrates in the form of pancakes. And he loved them. And lastly, I’m teaching Taylor to be a good lover.” She inhales and then lets the air out slowly. “Okay. Phew. I feel better.”
I blink several times to let my brain catch up. “Teaching Chuckie how?”
“Really? That’s the one that bothered you the most?”
I nod. “The mountain lion was likely more afraid of you than you were of him. Falling off a horse is a rite of passage for beginners. The water broke your fall, luckily. Cowboy hats get wet and dirty, that’s what they’re designed for. As soon as I saw you and Tracy together I knew you were going to end up knowing more about what happened than I do. And Dad cheats on his diet all the time. But if Chuck lays one finger on you, I’ll have to break both his arms. So, yeah, that’s the one that bothers me the most.”
At first, Della’s eyes widen in disbelief at my questionable priorities, but slowly a smile creeps onto her lips and eventually reaches her eyes, making them sparkle with amusement. “You’re jealous.”
I turn the engine back on and continue driving. “Call it whatever you want. There’s not a guy alive who would be okay with his girlfriend teaching some other guy how to be a good lover.”
She shoves my shoulder playfully. “It’s not hands-on instructions. Janine said he was mediocre in bed, at best, so I sent him all the articles that I read when I was preparing myself for our first time. They were very informative. Might as well share the wealth of knowledge since I already did all the research, don’t you think?”
“No. Don’t waste your time on him. He’s a lost cause.”
She pokes my thigh and laughs. “You’re jealous. It’s cute.”
I back the truck in and park at the top of the ridge, then get out to open the door for her. She wraps her arms around my neck and lets her body slide slowly down mine until her feet hit the ground.
“Don’t worry, Havie. No matter how much Chuckie studies, he will never be as good of a lover as you because he only cares about himself. And he doesn’t have the biggest rig.”
I smile and kiss her forehead. “What do you know about the size of his rig?”
“I live with three men who wander around in their boxer briefs all the time. I’m practically an expert.” She skips over to hoist herself up into the truck bed, kicks off her flip flops, sits on her knees, and opens the basket to unload several containers. “You’re in for a treat. Potato salad. Raw veggies. Fried chicken. Your dad showed me how to use the deep fryer, and now that I’m hearing it out loud, he probably volunteered that idea so he would have an excuse to make fried chicken for himself. Presumably it’s not on his cancer-fighting diet.”
I join her and stretch out on the blanket, propped on my elbow. “He bamboozled you.”
She nods and feeds me a carrot stick. “So, how many mountain lions have you encountered in your lifetime?”
I chuckle and steal a piece of chicken before she has a chance to get it on the plate. “None. It’s extremely rare to see one.”
Her mouth drops open. “You stinker.” She slaps my arm with a paper serviette. “You acted like battling a mountain lion was no big deal, like it happens all the time, and we were perfectly safe.”
“You literally told me to act like it was no big deal.” I laugh. “I would have shit my pants if I saw one that close up.”
“So, we were in danger?”
I reach over and tickle her waist. “You could have been killed.”
She squeals and squirms. “Ow. Ouch. My ribs. I’m injured, remember?”
“Sorry.” I stop tickling and pull her shirt up to examine the damage. Her skin is reddish-purple and swollen. “That’s definitely going to develop into a respectable black and blue bruise.”
“I can’t believe you made me believe we overreacted like sissies.”
“The fact that it was potentially dangerous and that you overreacted like a sissy aren’t necessarily mutually exclusive.”
“That sounds like an asshole-ish type thing Chuckie would say, not an encouraging and supportive thing Easton would say.”
I point at her in feigned shock and fake a gasp. “You swore.”
“No, I didn’t.”
“You called me asshole-ish.”
“Nope. You misheard.” She shakes her head from side to side. “Maybe you heard me say apple crisp. Your dad showed me how to make his famous apple crisp for our desert. It’s your favorite, right?”
“Definitely my favorite.” The sun has dipped below the crest of the hills and the explosion of color in the sky tints her skin pink. She’s beautiful. And hilarious. And she went head to head with a big cat. I’m dreading tomorrow when she has to leave. I lean over to kiss her ear, then whisper, “I’m proud of you for scaring off the lion. It took a lot of guts. Like a real cowgirl.”
“Thank you.” She reaches behind her for the container of potato salad and grabs two forks. Then she pauses and looks around. “Do you think mountain lions like potato salad?”
“No. But I heard they go crazy for fried chicken.”
“I’m serious. Is it stupid to sit out here eating in the open when a beast is on the lose somewhere?”
I pat the rifle next to my leg. “If we get any visitors bigger than an ant I’ll protect you.”
As we eat, the sky turns to dusk and the wildlife sounds come to life—the screech of an owl, a coyote off in the distance, and a noise I can’t identify. She scans the environment, then frowns at me.
“I’ll protect you.”
She smiles as she opens a bottle of water and passes it to me. “I know you probably feel like a beer or a glass of wine after working so hard all day, but your dad came shopping with me at Crystal’s store, so I wanted to respect him.”
“Water’s good.”
“Tomorrow, will you teach me how to shoot a rifle?”
“Sure.” I tip the bottle back and relax as the stars start to appear.
“And at some point I should probably learn how to steer a horse properly, too.” She pops a celery stick into the corner of her mouth like a cigarette as she uses both hands to attempt to open a jar of veggie dip.
“I’m happy to teach you whatever you want to learn about ranching.” I reach over to open the jar for her, then turn the lantern on.
“I might pass on cow insemination.” She hands me another piece of fried chicken.
I laugh. “I thought you didn’t hear that.”
“Oh I heard you. However, I determined that the shock of a mountain lion attack took precedence over cow sperm curiosity.”
“Yes. According to the rancher’s handbook, you’re correct.”
“I’m totally going to study that handbook and end up a ranching expert. You know that, right?”
I nod and smile. “I wouldn’t expect anything less.” After finishing two more pieces of chicken, I say, “This is nice. Thanks for coming out for the weekend.”
She leans her upper body forward to kiss me. “My pleasure.”
“You have no idea how much I’m going to miss you after you leave tomorrow.”
“Not as much as I’m going to miss you. I’m going to cry all the way back to Palo Alto, and if we talk about it now I’m going to start bawling, so maybe we shouldn’t talk about it. Okay?”
“Okay.”
I sit up and pop the lid off the container with the apple crisp in it. After fishing around at the bottom of the picnic basket I find a spoon. She leans in and lets me feed her the first helping, then we alternate, taking turns until it’s all gone. She stacks the container back into the picnic basket.
“Della.”
“Yeah?” She spins around to face me and uses her thumb to sweep her hair away from her eyes, then tucks it behind her ear.
“I love you.”
Her face lights up and she digs her upper teeth into the flesh of her lip. Then she presses on my shoulders to make me lay down, folds her arms on my chest, and rests her chin on the back of her hand to study my expression. “I love you, too. But you probably already knew that.”
“I had my suspicions.” I hug her close, then turn the lantern off so we can watch shooting stars.
“My sister is really smart,” she says in a dreamy way. “And I’m not wearing any underwear under my skirt, in case you were wondering.”
Definitely love her.