A FEW DAYS LATER, Jace led Amy, Alex, Carly and two of Carly’s friends down into Long Valley, feeling ancient as he listened to the older girls talk about bands and actors he’d never heard of. Well, he had wanted to get to know Carly’s friends, and this was a good way to do it, he guessed. Though if he heard “Ooh, he’s hot” one more time he might have to cover Amy’s ears because she was listening with rapt attention.
Jasmine and Jessica, Carly’s buddies from school, were obsessed with some band on YouTube called Boys Will, and they’d been comparing the physical merits of several of the band members for the past fifteen minutes. Maybe it was time to change the subject.
“How did you three settle on studying the elk for your science project?” he asked.
“I was talking to Maya at her engagement party,” Carly said. “And she introduced me to Vivian, that scientist who’s been studying the wildlife in the valley. Gosh, Uncle Jace, you didn’t tell me anything that’s been going on.”
He sure hadn’t. The last thing he wanted to do was worry her. “I figured you wouldn’t be interested.”
“I wouldn’t care that our valley has tule elk all over it? They’re kind of rare, you know.” She addressed her friends. “This scientist, Vivian, is so cool. She said she’d be here today and could give us some advice on our project. She also said there are these really rare endangered salamanders in our valley, but they’re super hard to see.”
Jace figured he should be grateful to Vivian for making science cool for the kids, but instead he was uneasy. He hadn’t thought she’d be on his ranch today. She and Maya had been supervising college interns who were surveying other ponds around Shelter Creek for the endangered salamanders, so he hadn’t seen her since their disastrous argument at Maya’s party.
He was an idiot and a weakling, blaming her for—what had he called it? Meddling. And after she’d put him in his well-deserved place for that, she’d calmly suggested a solution to his current dilemma. Ask Caleb.
So Jace had swallowed his pride and asked him. Caleb had offered him the pastures on the west side of his ranch. He’d even seemed happy to help Jace and refused to take any rent money. He said so many people had pitched in to get his ranch started, he was just paying it forward.
Jace had his first cattle coming tomorrow. Once he had calves to sell, he could use that money to fix the water system on his ranch and get his own pastures fenced. Because even though Long Valley spread out below them like a green oasis, it was really more of a mirage, something he needed but couldn’t actually use.
The screeching noise of an elk bugling rose from the valley floor, making all the kids jump.
“What was that?” Carly, out front, stopped in her tracks, halting all of them.
“It’s the noise the male elk make when they’re...” Jace paused, not sure how to explain without saying too much. “Trying to get the females’ attention.”
“That gets the girls to like them?” Jessica asked.
“Well, that, banging their antlers together and running around trying to separate females from the rest of the herd.”
“Kind of like creepy guys at a party,” Jasmine said, and the three teens cracked up.
Jace was just about to ask what Carly and her friends knew about parties and creepy guys when Amy called out, “I see Vivian!”
“Come on, let’s go see her!” Carly started running and the other kids pelted after her, skidding and sliding down the steep trail.
“Slow down,” Jace called. “Don’t scare the elk!” But he was too late. The kids didn’t hear him. They were laughing and squealing, and when they hit the floor of the valley they kept on running.
But so did the elk, spooked by the kids, trotting with heads held high in alarm, bunching together to move across the valley and then picking up speed as a group. Running toward Vivian.
What was she doing over there, anyway? She wasn’t near the pond, she was out in the open, looking at something down in the grass.
“Vivian!” Jace shouted, throwing himself down the trail. But she was too far away to hear him. As he watched in horror, her head came up at the sound of pounding hooves. She raised her hands, waving them in the air to try to stop the approaching herd.
“Get to the rocks!” He was yelling advice that had no hope of reaching her, but she started to do just that, sprinting for a group of boulders that jutted at odd angles from the valley floor.
The kids had stopped several yards from the base of the trail and when Jace reached them, Carly looked at him in horror. “What do we do?”
“Stay here. I think she’ll be okay.”
Vivian was closing in on the boulders, racing for her life as the elk charged toward her in a rumbling wave.
“Take the kids back up the hill past that old fence,” Jace told Carly. “Stay close together.” He took off running again, with no clear plan as to what he was going to do. One lone man running after a few dozen stampeding elk.
Vivian made it to the rocks, leapt onto the lowest boulder and used it to scramble onto a taller one. Moments later the elk parted to avoid the rocks and flowed past her in a chaotic current. Jace stumbled to a walk, weakened by the intensity of his relief.
The elk must have realized there was no real threat because they were slowing. Eventually, some began to trot, then walk, then break off from the group and return to grazing, until Vivian was perched on a rocky island surrounded by a sea of peaceful brown rumps.
Which was better than a stampede, but not perfect. She was stranded. She couldn’t possibly walk safely through the herd.
Jace wished he had Tioga, but he was on his own. Stopping by a shrubby willow that grew near the middle pond, he dropped his backpack on the ground and broke off a couple of branches. Then he carefully skirted the herd until he was in a position to drive them up the valley again and away from Vivian’s rock.
Glancing back at the hill, he made certain that Carly had taken the kids high enough to be out of harm’s way. He had a flash of pride when he saw that not only had they climbed the hill, they’d found a boulder to sit on, as well. Smart kids.
Vivian turned toward him and waved. He waved his branches back at her, then slowly, carefully, walked toward the elk, fanning the willows in front of him. The trick here was to scare the elk enough to move them, but not so much that they charged.
“Get on!” he called, as if they were cattle. “Get going! Get on.” He waved his branches over his head.
It was working. The elk moved away, heads bobbing as they broke into a trot. One male stayed back, as if he might defend his herd, so Jace stopped, jumped up and down and yelled some more. The male studied him haughtily, as if embarrassed by Jace’s ridiculous behavior, and finally turned and trotted off.
With a whoop, Vivian climbed off her boulder and ran toward him. “Thank you!” Jace dropped the willow branches and she threw her arms around his neck and hugged him so hard he staggered back. She didn’t let go so he wrapped his arms around her, taking in her warmth, her strong body, her breath on his neck. She was alive and unharmed. He’d been so scared that she wouldn’t be.
He let her go, relief making his laugh shaky. “You’re okay? That was a pretty good sprint you did there. You might have broken a few records.”
“For elk escape? Maybe so.” She turned to look at the herd. “I thought I wasn’t going to make it. What spooked them in the first place?”
“The kids started running down the trail when they saw you. I hadn’t talked to them about how they should behave around elk. They scared the herd.”
The reality of what had happened, of what could have happened, ran like ice water down his spine. “I’m sorry, Vivian. You might have been hurt. And it would have been my fault.”
Her cheeks were bright pink. She should get out of the sun. Jace led her toward the pond and the shade of the willow where he’d dropped his backpack.
“Here.” He pulled a water bottle out of the side pocket. “Drink this.”
“Thank you.” She took a few sips, closing her eyes as if relishing the cold water, and then drank some more. She wiped the neck of the bottle off with her T-shirt, giving Jace a glimpse of her pale, toned stomach that he wished he could unsee. Because holding her in his arms after almost losing her, so warm and alive and soft and strong, had left him wanting to hold her again.
But she must hate him. The last time he’d seen her, he’d blamed her for his own poor parenting choices. And today his carelessness had almost killed her.
The kids came toward them, walking quietly and carefully.
“Are you okay?” Carly reached for Vivian’s hand. “I’m so sorry, Vivian. It was my fault. I got everyone to run down the hill.”
“It’s okay,” Vivian assured her. “I survived. But if you are going to study elk, you have to know how to act around them. No running. Stay far away and watch them through binoculars. Talk quietly or whisper.” She surveyed the group, hands on her hips. “Agreed?”
All the kids nodded and Jace felt like a fool for not having this conversation with them before they started on their hike.
“Good. Well, girls, you have something exciting to put into your project already. Not too many people have witnessed an elk stampede. Now, how about we go back to those boulders and sit up there? I’ll help you take some notes on your elk observations.”
All the kids wanted to go with her, so Jace followed along and within minutes they were all seated on the rocks watching the elk. Even Alex and Amy wanted to be involved, so Carly shared her paper and pencils with them.
Jace looked over Alex’s head at Vivian. “Thank you for doing this. Especially after the stampede. And after my behavior at Maya and Caleb’s party.”
“Don’t get any ideas that I’m doing this for you, Jace Hendricks. You’re nothing but trouble. But these kids are future scientists. So I’m happy to help them.”
He liked that she could tease him when she had every right to yell at him. “You’re a good person, Vivian.”
She grinned at him. “You finally figured that out?”
It was hard to look away from her deep brown eyes. A strand of her hair had flown up and was draped across the brim of her hat and Jace reached across to tug it back into place alongside her pretty face. “It took me a while. I’m slow like that. But I’m catching on.”
VIVIAN GLANCED DOWN, breaking the bright blue intensity of Jace’s gaze, but she could still feel it on her skin. Why was he being so sweet? And why had she hugged him? It had been pure impulse, gratitude that he’d chased those elk away. But once she’d been in his arms it had been something else entirely. Sheer comfort. The peace of being surrounded by so much strength and warmth. And Jace. His face buried in her hair, his muscles taut across his chest. He’d smelled like fresh air and salt. She hadn’t wanted to let go, which had made her let go immediately. He was difficult. He was always upset with her. He was all kinds of complication that she’d sworn to avoid.
It was easier to deal with Jace the jerk than this nice guy. Maybe he’d just been rattled by the stampede. She was trying to play it cool, but truth be told, she was rattled, too. If she hadn’t looked up when she did, if these boulders hadn’t been there, she might have been severely injured or worse.
Sitting on top of those rocks, with elk swirling all around her, she’d had a strange disembodied moment of irony. Here she was, trying so hard to stay healthy, watching everything she ate and drank, tracking all of her various aches and pains and rashes and other lupus symptoms in a journal. It would be too pathetic if she did all that and then was killed by a herd of upset elk.
She glanced at Jessica’s paper. The girl was sketching one of the bull elk and it was really beautiful. “Jessica, you’re an artist.”
The girl smiled shyly. “I enjoy drawing.”
Amy peeked over Jessica’s shoulder, her eyes wide with awe. “I want to draw like that.”
“I’ll show you sometime,” Jessica offered. “When we don’t have to do all this stuff for school.”
That was sweet of her. Vivian was glad she’d met Carly, and excited that she and her friends wanted to study the elk. When they reported back to their class, it would help educate the other teens on how to coexist with these amazing animals.
She glanced back at Jace and caught him watching her with an odd smile on his face. “What?”
“I’m just studying you. The kid whisperer. Trying to learn your secrets.”
“What?” She shook her head. “I’m not a kid whisperer.”
“Sure you are. You got Alex here to talk.”
“That was a salamander, not me.”
He grinned. “You’re telling me I should be grateful to my endangered salamanders?”
“For some things, sure.” She liked it when they had this kind of banter. It was way better than arguing with him.
“You’re not that bad with kids, Uncle Jace,” Carly said. “You’re just really uptight sometimes.”
Jace gave his niece a pat on the shoulder. “Thanks, Carly. I think.” Then he turned back to Vivian. “I’ve figured out some of your methods. You’re enthusiastic, you listen, you ask a bunch of questions, you make stuff more fun that it normally is and you’re a cool wildlife biologist who knows a lot about plants and animals. And while I can’t replicate that last part, I am going to try my hand at some of your other tricks.”
“I wouldn’t say they’re my tricks.” Vivian felt her face prickle at his compliments. “I was just being a nice person.”
Carly snorted. “Ooh. Burn.”
Vivian grinned and held up her hand to Carly for a high five. Jasmine and Jessica giggled.
“Well, maybe I need to work on that, too. Rodeo doesn’t do much for one’s manners.”
“Do you miss it?” This from Jasmine, whose sketch of an elk looked more like a cow. Not that Jace could do any better.
“Sure. Of course. But I don’t miss worrying about getting injured. I don’t miss living out of my truck half the time. And I like my new life. Even if it makes me uptight sometimes.”
Carly grinned and glanced at Jace, who smiled back, and Vivian forgot pretty much everything else because he looked happy. She’d never really seen him that way before. His eyes under the rim of his hat reflected the blue sky, his smile lines crinkled and deep grooves dimpled his cheeks.
He was the most beautiful man she’d ever met. He belonged in an ad for saddles or jeans or something, and yet here he was, sitting next to her, smiling at her, telling her she was great with kids. It was disorienting.
She motioned to him to follow and climbed down the rock. When they were several yards away from the kids she stopped by a clump of coastal sagebrush and broke a sprig off, twisting it in her nervous fingers.
“Am I in trouble again?” Jace asked. He pointed to the sage in her hands. “Please tell me that’s not endangered.”
“This?” Vivian laughed. “No! It’s just sage. It smells great.” She handed him the crushed plant and watched as he inhaled its scent. “Nice, right?”
“Yeah. The smell of home. Now, what’s up?”
Now she felt dumb, dragging him over here. But she’d never been good at reading people. Maybe that’s why she’d always loved math and science so much. “Why are you being so nice all of a sudden?”
“That’s why you called me over here? You’re upset that I’m nice?”
“No! Yes. I’m not sure. You’re just different.”
“Maybe I’m tired of being a jerk. I’m not proud of how I’ve behaved around you.”
He gazed out at the elk, twisting the sage between his fingers. “I’ve been carrying around all this resentment ever since I left the rodeo. I mean... I wanted to care for the kids. But it felt like who I was had been ripped away without my consent. But standing in the creek after you left the other day, I realized I’ve been taking that hurt out on everyone around me. Especially you. I’m sorry, Vivian.”
“Oh.” Lamest response ever but his explanation was a lot more than she’d expected.
“I’m gonna try to own it now. I chose this life. I chose this ranch. And if there are obstacles, I need to deal with them like a grown-up. Not like a kid whose toy has been taken away.”
“That’s a good plan.” Vivian smiled weakly. She’d thought he was a shallow, angry cowboy. And yet he constantly surprised her with his depths.
“And then there’s the small manner of almost getting you flattened by a herd of elk. Almost losing someone makes you realize what they mean to you.”
Vivian’s heart thumped against her ribs. She took a step away. “I’m fine. I wasn’t hurt.” She glanced over at the rocks. “We should get back to the kids.”
“All I’m saying is I’m wondering if we can start again. And have a more cordial relationship than we’ve had.”
“Oh. Of course.” Her face was so hot it must be beet red. He just wanted to be more polite. And she’d thought for a moment that he might have feelings for her. Not that she’d want him to.
Jace stuck his hand out as if to shake hers. “Jace Hendricks. Former rodeo rider, wannabe rancher and bumbling foster dad. Nice to meet you.”
Vivian smiled despite her confusion and shook his hand. “Vivian Reed. Wildlife biologist. Nice to meet you, too.” His hand was rough with thick calluses and warm as it wrapped almost all the way around hers. They shook, and it was hard to pull her gaze away from his, so bright and full of self-deprecating laughter.
This wasn’t good. This kind of intimacy was unprofessional. And more than that, it was a vacuum, pulling her in, tangling her up in him and his moods and his family, and she couldn’t do that now. Not when weariness was seeping into her bones and a headache was climbing up her skull. Maybe that run from the elk had sapped more of her strength than she’d realized.
This nice version of Jace, the sweetness he was showing her, was unsettling. She’d thought she loved Colin, but she sensed that if she allowed herself to feel anything for Jace, it would be so much more than anything she’d felt before. He was just overwhelming that way. And she couldn’t do that to her heart—or her health—again.
“I should head home,” she told him. “The kids are fine. If they have any questions about elk that you can’t answer, they can look them up online. There are a bunch of really good websites available.”
“Is everything okay?” Jace eyed her sharply.
“Absolutely. Everything is fine. I had an early start today, that’s all.” She walked back to the boulders and said goodbye to the kids.
“We don’t want you to go!” Carly said. “Can you come by Friday after we get out of school and carve some pumpkins with us?”
“That’s right. Halloween is this weekend.” Vivian had forgotten. October was flying by. “What are you going to be, Carly?”
Her question was met with silence and Carly glanced at Jace.
“I guess we have to talk about that, don’t we?” He looked a little alarmed.
“Can I be a witch, Uncle Jace?” Amy bounced up and down on the rock.
“I’m sure we can figure it out.”
Vivian almost smiled, he looked so worried. Poor guy. Every single tradition must be new to him.
“So you’ll come?” Carly asked. “To help us with the pumpkins?”
Vivian almost said yes and then remembered her resolution to keep her distance. To keep her life simple and focused on maintaining her health. “That is very kind of you, but I really don’t want to intrude on your family activity.”
“You wouldn’t be intruding,” Jace said. “The social worker is stopping by that day, too. So it’s not like it’s some private affair.”
“Please, Vivian?” Amy looked like a little cupid with her hands pressed together at her chest.
It would be so fun to carve pumpkins with them. But then she’d be even more involved. It was a slippery slope.
“Please, Vivian?” Alex had set his notebook down and was staring at her through his dusty glasses. His plea was the last straw. She couldn’t say no to them. Not for this special holiday. Not when Alex was talking.
“I’ll stop by. I may not be able to stay long, though, okay?”
There. That was a good compromise. She’d be there long enough to make them happy, but not long enough to get too involved.
“That would be great,” Jace said. “We’ll see you Friday. We’re starting around four.”
Vivian waved goodbye and headed toward the first pond, where she’d left her backpack. As she walked the dirt track to her truck, she glanced over her shoulder and spotted them all huddled together on the rock. Jace was pointing to something on the other side of the valley. For an instant Vivian stopped, wanting to be there, to see what it was he was looking at. To hear the kids’ responses.
But that wasn’t her role. It was Jace’s family, not hers.
Vivian headed for Rusty, grateful that Jace was learning to connect with the kids. Glad that maybe she’d played a small part in that. But now she had to tread carefully. Because this is what she did. She got overinvolved in other people’s lives. Made their lives her own, even. It’s what she’d done with Colin and look where it got her. She wouldn’t make the same mistake here in Shelter Creek.