Jenny updated Tucker on all the sheriff had told her.
He shook his head and rubbed the back of his neck.
“Sorry to impose on you.”
“Not a problem, I bought a lot of food to hunker down through the storm, so there’s plenty.”
He nodded, took another sip of coffee and gazed into the fire.
Jenny finished her chocolate and went to clean up after her lunch. Might as well decide what to have for dinner. Since she had fresh produce, she wanted to use it first. She knew the meal she planned was tried and true for a guy–steak, potatoes and a crisp green salad. She hadn’t initially planned on that for dinner, nor cooking for two, so she went to the chest freezer on the back porch and pulled out two steaks to start thawing.
When she came back inside, Tuck looked as if he’d fallen asleep. The cup was on the floor beside him, his head was leaning back on the high back chair, eyes closed.
She studied him for a long moment. He was more rugged than handsome. Definitely a man who, from the little she’d seen, had a strong sense of responsibility and duty. But he certainly wasn’t chatty. Maybe he’d feel more like talking later.
When Jenny returned to the sofa she pulled her knitting basket near and picked up the sweater she was making for her friend Darcy’s new baby. The teal and white yarns made a pretty design and teal was her friend’s favorite color.
Val lay in front of the fire, dozing.
It was nice to be tucked up safely in the warm house while the weather raged outside. She continued to knit thinking about the new baby and how happy her friend and husband were with the pending arrival.
Tuck opened his eyes a little, watching his hostess knit. She seemed content in the stormy day while he felt antsy. The headache had grown worse. Maybe he’d done more damage than he thought. And the frustration of being isolated away from the ranch grew. He knew the work that would be needed to make sure the cattle came through the blizzard.
He should be back there working with the others to keep the herd safe.
The more he thought about what he could be doing, the more frustrated he became.
He felt a weight on his leg and looked down to see the dog’s head resting on his thigh, his amber eyes gazing up at Tuck.
“Are you okay?” Jenny asked looking over at the two of them.
“Fine. I still have the headache.”
He wasn’t one to complain, but he wondered if she had anything stronger than aspirin.
“Not unexpected. You hit it hard enough to have a bump on your forehead.”
He shrugged. “The truck wouldn’t respond to steering, it swung around and then slammed to a stop with my head bouncing around like a basket ball. Not as bad as some falls I’ve had.” Like when he was bucked off that bull and landed on his head.
Jenny brought him some acetaminophen and a glass of water.
“Try this. It’s been long enough since you had the aspirin. We can alternate until the headache’s gone. You’re not showing signs of a concussion.”
He downed the pills with the water and nodded. “Thanks.”
The dog continued to stare at him.
“Is the dog okay?”
“Sure, he sensed something was wrong, that’s all,” she replied. “He’s a trained service dog, to alert when someone is anxious.”
She took the glass and nodded to one of the doors in the back.
“The second bedroom is sparsely furnished, but it has a bed. I’ll make it up for you and you can lie down until your head feels better,” she offered.
He nodded, idly patting the dog who remained by his side. Right now he had trouble thinking. The pounding in his head was growing worse.
“All set,” Jenny said a few minutes later.
He opened his eyes and the room spun around. Closing them quicky, he groaned softly.
“Let me help.”
A moment later her arm came under his.
“Just stand slowly, keep your eyes closed if you need to. It’s only a few steps to the bed.”
It seemed like a long few steps but in only seconds Tuck gratefully sank onto the mattress. She swiftly tugged off his boots and lifted his legs so he could lie down. Covering him with a duvet, she rested her hand on his forehead. It was cool and felt good against the pounding.
“See if you can nap. You’ll feel better when you wake up if you can sleep for a bit.”
Tuck nodded once, his eyes still closed. Lying down felt better. If he could stop his thoughts from spinning, maybe he could doze for a little while.
There was so much to do. He should be on the ranch pulling his weight. Not lying down in a warm cabin, isolated from everyone but one pretty woman and her dog. Maybe if he rested a bit he could go back to the truck to see if he could dig it out himself.
Tuck came awake some time later with the bump to the bed. Opening his eyes, he rolled his head slowly to the left and came nose to nose with Val.
“Is it time to wake up or are you just guarding me?” he asked.
The dog didn’t move, his stare focused on Tuck.
“Okay, I’m taking it as time to get up.”
He thought about it for a moment. Headache gone. Reaching up he touched the bump on his forehead. Still tender.
He entered the main living area a couple of minutes later.
“Feeling better?” Jenny asked.
She was in the open kitchen, making a salad.
“Yes, you were right, the headache’s gone. Did Troy call?”
“No, no calls. I’ll have dinner ready in about a half hour. Are you hungry?”
“Yes. Can I help?”
“I’m good here. You might replenish the fire,” she said.
He took a log from the pile near the fireplace and added it. A moment later flames ignited the wood. The wood pile near the fireplace was low, evidence of the constant feeding through the afternoon.
He walked to the window to look out. It was already dark and he could only see as far as the light from the window spilled out on the porch. The railing was piled high with snow. He thought it was still snowing but it was hard to tell. So much for his plan to see if he could dig out his truck. It’d be truly buried by now.
“I’ll get some wood,” he said, noting the stack on the porch.
“I’d appreciate it,” Jenny said.
He donned his jacket and stepped outside. It was windy, snow blowing on the porch, the stairs buried beneath the snow. He made several trips until the wood stand near the fireplace was fully stocked.
“It’s cold out,” he said when he came in the last time.
She nodded. “ I’ve let Val out a couple of times. Glad I’m inside.”
“It’s later than I thought. Mind if I use your phone again?”
“Go right ahead, any time.”
He called his boss to update him and was assured they’d manage without him.
When the call ended, he went to the chair by the fire and sat down, impatient with inactivity. If he was home, even with the bad weather, there was always something to do around the ranch.
“Want to give me a hand?” Jenny asked.
He rose and joined her in the kitchen. “What can I do?”
“Watch the steak in the broiler. I have potatoes in the microwave. Salad’s made. I need to feed Val.”
He leaned over to see two steaks sizzling beneath the broiler. In the summer time the men often had barbecues on the large grill at the bunkhouse. Jeremy did the cooking. Tuck wasn’t a cook. Yet how hard could it be to keep an eye on the meat so it didn’t burn?
They sat down for dinner as soon as the steaks were done.
Tuck began eating.
Jenny watched him for a moment, satisfied the meal was to his liking. He certainly wasn’t the chatty type she thought again.
“Things okay at the Bar 7?” she asked after the first pangs of hunger had been satisfied.
He nodded. “I should be there, but the men Mackay hired are all good workers. And Bill knows what to do.” He looked up. “What do you do here to pass the time? I don’t see a television.”
“I’d need cable to see anything and it’d be expensive to get cable service this far out for just me. I used to watch TV, but being deployed, I got out of the habit and don’t miss it now.”
“Where were you deployed?”
He’d seen her in town a couple of times with her dog. And heard some of her story–she’d been in the Army which seemed totally bizarre to him. She was pretty, slim and seemed too delicate to be in the armed forces.
“I don’t usually talk about it,” she said, studying the food on her plate.
That he understood. He didn’t talk much about his past either.
“You were a nurse there?”
Why was he pushing the issue?
“I was. When I got out, I came home. Now I take private duty assignments here in Wildcat Creek or in neighboring towns if needed.”
“Because there’s no hospital here in town?”
“Because I don’t want to work in a hospital. If I did, the one in Coleville would be close enough to commute to.”
He looked at her for a moment, but her gaze remained focused on her plate.
Tuck considered what she’d said.
“However did you get into the Army?” he asked.
She had soft shiny brown hair brushing her shoulders. Her eyes were that beautiful blue, her complexion ivory with a hint of pink in her cheeks. She wasn’t that tall, was definitely slender, and didn’t look anything like what he thought soldiers should look like.
“Enlisted like everyone else,” she said looking up at him with a smile.
“You don’t look like my idea of a soldier,” he voiced.
“You’d be surprised how different soldiers can look.”
“Was it your plan to make it your career?”
She nodded. “But one tour in Afghanistan ended that dream. I didn’t stay in when my time was up–obviously.”
Val came over and laid his head in Jenny’s lap. She rubbed behind his ears and smiled at her dog.
“So you returned home when your enlistment was up? Doesn’t the town seem a bit tame after what you saw as a soldier?”
“That’s the main appeal. I grew up here. This is home. My friends are here.”
“And family?”
She shook her head.
“No, my dad died when I was young. Mom remarried a few years back and she and her new husband live in Arizona. We talk on the phone and they visited a couple months ago. I’ve only been back six months.”
“I’d think you’d head for Arizona when you heard of the storm. It’s got to be warmer there.”
Jenny shook her head. “Not for me. I had my fill of hot deserts. Are you finished? I have chocolate pudding for dessert.”
Tuck was sure she’d deliberately changed the subject, but let it slide.
“I haven’t had pudding since I was a kid.”
Jenny cleared their empty plates and brought the pudding.
“So you don’t get pudding at the Bar 7. I’ll have to speak to Bill,” she said in a teasing tone.
He gave a lopsided smile, imagining her standing up to his boss. It just might work.
“Tell me more about yourself,” she invited.
“Not much to tell. I work on a ranch and sometimes slide my truck into a ditch.”
“Do that often?”
“No, first time.” He met her gaze. “And let’s hope it’s the last.”
“Were you a ranch hand in Texas? Or just a rodeo cowboy?”
“A bit of both.” He didn’t want to go into that. “How did you get your dog? You call him a service dog.”
She nodded. “He is. I have PTSD. He can sometimes alert to an attack coming on, but always be there for me if I get another episode.” She looked at Val and he wagged his tail. “He goes with me everywhere.”
“PTSD, what happened?”
“War,” she snapped out. “I have more pudding if you want it.”
It was as if she’d suddenly put up a wall six feet high. He recognized it and nodded. Time to stop pushing.
Once dessert was consumed, Jenny began washing the dishes.
Tuck added another log to the fire. The room was comfortably warm. He wondered if it would hold the heat when no one was awake to feed the fire. If he woke in the night, he’d add a log or two.
He turned back toward the sofa when the lights went out. Not an uncommon occurrence with a strong storm. Mackay’s ranch had generators. Did Jenny?
“I’ll have lights in a minute,” Jenny said in the darkness.
In seconds the bright flame of a oil lamp flared. She put on the globe to diffuse it a bit and the soft light filled the room. In only minutes she lit three more, setting them in different places of the living area.
“I have a generator I’ll fire up–to keep the refrigerated food cold. But it’s not for the entire cabin. Which is okay, the lamps work. I just wish they didn’t stink up the place.”
“Tell me where the generator is, I’ll go.”
She looked at him for a moment, then shrugged. “I’ll show you.”
“You don’t have to go out in this,” he said.
“Neither do you. This is my place. I can manage,” she said.
She’d pulled her weight in the Army. She could do so here, despite what that cowboy thought.
If Tuck had to describe her with one trait he thought it would be independence. He didn’t know her at all, but she took a blizzard in stride. Invited a total stranger into her home. Power failures didn’t faze her. Even got her back up a bit when he offered help.
Tuck took a deep breath, trying to quell the urge to do something. When was the last time he sat and didn’t feel compelled to work? He wasn’t sure he could do it. Maybe for one night.
“Okay, come on and I’ll show you the generator,” she said a couple of minutes later, going to get her heavy jacket.
Tuck donned his jacket and followed her out the back door and around to a small shed attached to the back of the cabin.
She pulled the door wide and latched it open. Around the walls hung gardening implements and a hose. In the center of the small shed sat a portable generator. Flipping the lever from the power company to the generator, she checked the oil and gas levels. Satisfied both were adequate, she pressed the starter. The motor roared to life.
“Easy peasy,” she said, stepping back.
“It’ll run all night if needed,” she said as they trudged through the knee high snow.
Drifts were even higher as snow continued to fall. Both had a light dusting covering their shoulders and heads when they stepped back inside.
Jenny took off her coat and went back to the sofa to picked up the knitting she’d been doing earlier. She glanced at Tuck. He went to the window again staring out at the darkness.
The silence was comfortable. Jenny watched as the small sweater grew. She pictured the baby that would wear it. Would it be a girl or a boy? Darcy had two of each, she didn’t care, but Jenny expected Tom wanted another girl. He doted on those two they already had.
“Do you know when the storm’s due to pass?” he asked.
She shrugged. “Last I heard we’d get a couple of days of snow so I don’t expect it to ease up until maybe tomorrow afternoon.”
“They’ll be working on clearing the roads. Since Troy couldn’t make it today, I’m hoping he’ll be out first thing in the morning.”
She ignored the tiny disappointment that sprang up at the thought of his leaving. She hardly knew the man. They’d just met. Would their paths cross again?
Now that she knew he lived in the area, maybe they could–could what?
Until or unless she could get over the PTSD, she knew it best to be on her own. And Tuck seemed closed off, not like he had a lot of friends. Yet, what did she know?
He could be married with a house full of kids for all she knew.
There was a big thump as a pile of snow dumped from a tree. Jenny jumped, startled. It sounded like the distant muffled sound of a mortar.
Thankfully no flashback. Val was right beside her and leaned against her leg, lifting his head toward hers.
“I’m good, Val,” she said. She took a deep breath.
Tuck looked at them.
“He’s attentive,” he murmured.
She nodded.
“Sometimes sounds set me off. He’s here to help me focus on the here and now. Snow dumping from trees can sound like distant mortar fire. And the fear it’s coming closer will flood me.”
She hated admitting the weakness, but talking about it instead of bottling it up was the recommendation from the doctor at the VA.
“Did you have snow in the part of Texas where you lived?” she asked, covering up her moment of weakness.
“Plenty in the winter. Which made the Blue Bonnets all the more plentiful come spring.”
She thought she heard a hint of longing in his voice.
“So why leave?”
He returned to his chair and looked at her for a moment as if making up his mind.
“I’m one of four brothers. Not the oldest. My oldest brother, Tyler, will get the ranch when our dad passes most likely. After I figured out rodeoing can get a man killed, I decided to see different parts of the country. Mackay was hiring when I hit town, so I signed up. Been there five years now.”
“Thinking of moving on to see more of the country?” she asked, fascinated by his story.
She loved her hometown, loved all her friends and the feeling of belonging. Granted, joining the Army had satisfied her yearning for adventure. Now that was in the past. She no longer had a desire to leave Wildcat Creek.
“Haven’t thought about moving on in a long time. I like it here.”
She smiled. “So Wildcat Creek’s now home.”
“Seems like,” he said, as if just realizing it for the first time.
“I think I’ll let Val out one last time and call it a night. Do you need anything?” she asked rising and crossing to the door.
The big dog quickly followed and ran outside once the door opened.
“No. Thanks for taking me in.”
She wondered how hard it was for him to say that. He seemed more like someone who didn’t like taking any help from anyone.
“I’m glad Val heard the crash. You couldn’t know my place was so close. You could have frozen to death if you were still in your truck.”
“Naw, I’d have started for town. Someone would have been by.”
Maybe. Or the road would be impassable and he’d have frozen to death half way there.
She was glad Val found him.
She put on her jacket and stepped outside on the porch. A few minutes later Val returned. Jenny brushed the snow off his fur. His thick coat insulated him and kept the snow from melting, not so in the warmth of the cabin. She knew better than to let him in to melt all over the floor.
They entered and Val went to the bedroom as if he knew the routine.
“I’ll say goodnight,” she told Tuck. “There are fresh towels in the bathroom, and a new toothbrush by the sink. Please turn out the lamps when you’re ready to go to bed. And take one in the bedroom with you. Just be careful, don’t trip and drop it.”
He nodded.
She got ready for bed and placed a lamp on the bedside table so she could read for a little while.
The book couldn’t hold her interest, however. Instead she thought about the stranger in the other room.
He intrigued her. Was it because she didn’t know him like she did most of the people in town? She sensed a restless energy in him. She suspected he was a man of action and the inactivity of today had to be wearing.
What was he like being the foreman of the Bar 7? Working long hours she suspected. Limited friends and hobbies. No mention of a wife or kids, so was work his main focus?
She smiled to herself, she couldn’t see him with any hobbies unless it was rodeoing as he’d mentioned.
He didn’t talk about his family. Only that mention of four brothers and that the oldest would inherit the family ranch. She wondered what spurred him to travel.
And how in the world had he ended up in an out-of-the-way town like Wildcat Creek?
She wanted more answers, but would he open up or rebuff any attempts to finding out more about him?
Most of the people she knew were from families who’d lived in the area for generations. Her own father’s grandfather had first settled in Wildcat Creek in the early part of the twentieth century. Family was important.
Was Tuck close to his? From the little she’d learned, it didn’t sound like it. But with the internet, it was easy to stay in close contact without being physically near.
She turned off the lamp and settled in the darkness. The hum of the generator was soothing as she drifted off to sleep.