The Ranch

“What do you think?” She kissed him good-bye, and with a wave she was gone, hurrying up the road in the early morning sunlight, as the first fingers of sunshine streaked across the top of the mountains. She looked up as she walked along, thinking of him, and the time she had spent with him. He was everything she had ever wanted, and never expected to find. And now, suddenly here he was in Moose, Wyoming. There was a lot to think about now, to figure out, to plan, to decide. All she knew for sure was that, in a single week, a cowboy from Texas had changed her life forever.

Chapter 19

On Monday morning, when Tanya got back, Zoe was already up and making herself a cup of coffee. She was feeling fine again, not even as tired as she had been before she had come to Wyoming. And she looked up when she saw Tanya come in, and wagged her finger at her.

“And what have you been up to? Let me guess… a religious retreat!” It was a lie Zoe had once told for her, to cover for her with her parents, when she had gone away for the weekend with a boyfriend.

“How did you guess?” Tanya laughed, beaming from ear to ear, not just because of the fantasies she and Gordon had shared for the past thirty-six hours, but the feelings she'd discovered for him.

“Does this mean you're giving up Hollywood, and moving to Wyoming?”

“Not yet,” Tanya said, helping herself to a cup of coffee.

“Is this just a passing affair, or should I be hearing wedding bells?” After only a week it was more than a little premature, but the ranch seemed to have a remarkable effect on the people who met there.

“I think that's a little soon,” Tanya said sensibly, “and he's smarter than Bobby Joe. But then again, he's a lot older. He says he won't come to L.A., except to visit.”

“Good for him,” Zoe approved. “It would eat him up in about five minutes. I'm glad he's smart enough to know that. It's not that I don't think he's up to it. I just don't think he'd like it.”

“Neither does he. He got a taste of it the other night, and I think it turned him off forever.”

Zoe nodded seriously. “Mary Stuart told me. Tom called last night, he said the bus is okay again. He was able to replace or fix everything but the curtains.”

“Do you believe that?” Tanya asked in disgust, just as Mary Stuart joined them, looking sleepy.

“Believe what? Hi, Tan, how's your sex life?”

“Be sure not to beat around the bush, will you?” Tanya laughed. She loved the relationship they shared, and it was so wonderful being back together.

“So how is he?” Mary Stuart asked with interest.

“Will you stop!” Tanya hit her with a pillow, and Mary Stuart laughed mischievously. She wanted all the details.

“Look, I haven't slept with my husband in a year. Now I'm involved with a guy who doesn't think we should do it till I figure out if I'm getting divorced or not, what else is there for me to do except live vicariously through my friends?” She turned her glance then to Zoe. “That goes for you too. Any action with Sam when you get back, I want to know it.”

“Hopefully, by then, you'll be getting yours too.” Zoe gave it right back to her and they all laughed.

“God, we're all a mess, aren't we?” Mary Stuart shook her head as she assessed them, but the truth was, they knew they weren't. They had all had good lives, but hard ones, enormous advantages and tremendous pains, they had paid high prices for all the blessings they had had, and now was no different. Each one of them had to leap through a hoop of fire in some way, to get what they wanted.

“Actually, I think we're pretty great,” Tanya said, looking at her two best friends with pride. “And I love you both, just in case you want to hear it.”

“Ahhh… the postcoital haze of love for mankind…” Mary Stuart said, and Tanya hit her with the pillow again.

“You're disgusting,” Tanya said, still laughing, and then she looked at her friends again, wanting to share at least something with them. She could hardly stand it. “I'm in love with him,” she said, glancing from one to the other and they both laughed, but Zoe answered.

“No kidding,” she said. “We figured that out.”

“I don't mean, I'm just lusting for him, I mean I love him.” They were both quiet then, as they watched her, and Mary Stuart spoke to her gently.

“Your life is awfully complicated, Tan. Make sure he can make it better for you instead of worse. Make sure he can handle it before you leap off the cliff hand in hand.”

“I will,” Tanya said, but it was Gordon who was being truly careful. “He's scared to death of all that. He's smart that way.”

“I'm glad,” Mary Stuart said, and then told them the plan she'd made with Hartley. “I'm going to London.”

“Back to Bill?” Tanya looked startled, wondering what had happened in her absence.

“No, just to talk to him,” Mary Stuart explained. “I was going to wait until the end of the summer, but I don't want to. I guess I knew what I wanted to do when I left New York. There's really no point waiting.”

“Are you sure?” Tanya asked her quietly. They were all making such enormous decisions.