The Ranch

He played some of his favorite music for her, and played with an old guitar, and she sang softly for him, so no one would hear them. She loved it when they sang together, and he laughed, as he touched her face with a gentle hand.

“It's just like singing to records.” They sang together again, and they shared a sandwich around midnight. He had gone to buy some groceries that afternoon after his ride with Mary Stuart and Hartley, and he told Tanya how much he liked them. “They've got something going, don't they?” he smiled. He had spotted it from the first morning. “Is she divorced?”

“She will be. She's leaving her husband. I think she's going to London next week to tell him.”

“Is he English?” She shook her head, he was interested in her friends and her life, and the things she cared about. He was interested in everything about her.

“He's working there for the summer,” Tanya explained.

“Why's she leaving him?” They were sitting at his kitchen table, when he asked her.

And Tanya sighed as she thought about it. “Her son killed himself last year. I don't know all the details, but I think her husband blames her for it. She didn't do anything to provoke him to it, I just think Bill doesn't know who else to blame. Their marriage pretty much fell apart after it happened.”

“Maybe it wasn't all that solid before that.”

“Maybe,” she said softly, but she didn't agree with him. “I think it was. I just think it was too much of a blow for them. And now she's too hurt by what her husband's done. I think it's pretty well finished.”

“You think she and Mr. Bowman will wind up together?”

“I hope so,” Tanya smiled, with a gentle hand on Gordon's arm. “What about us? You think we will?”

“We'd better,” he said, leaning closer to her, and looking into her eyes. “If you try to get away from me now, I'm going to come riding down Hollywood Boulevard on one of those saddle broncs, and come and get you.” The image was wonderful and she laughed at him.

“I thought you were giving them up.”

“Not till I come and get you.” They were both laughing, and she stood in his kitchen naked, with her long legs, wearing his shirt open as she washed his dishes. It was a photograph he would have loved to have, but he knew he'd remember it forever. She was so down-to-earth he couldn't get over it. She was just what she claimed, a plain old girl from Texas, but she sure as hell didn't look it, and no one else in the world would have believed it for a minute. “You blow me away,” he said, standing behind her, as he put his arms around her waist, and leaned his chin on her shoulder. “Next week, I'm going to think I was hallucinating all this time.” It made her sad to think about a time when she wouldn't be there.

“Will you call me?”

“I'll try,” he said, and she put the dishes down and turned around and they were belly to belly.

“What do you mean, you'll ‘try’? Will you call me or won't you?” She looked worried.

“I'll call you. I just don't like phones all that much. But I'll call.” He didn't have a phone in his cabin, and he didn't want to use the ranch phone, and give them a record of it. Most of the time they just paid for their calls at the end of the month. He'd have to go to the 7-Eleven. And it worried her even more that she couldn't call him. It wasn't a great situation. “You'll just have to come back quick, that's all.”

“I promise. Three weeks, if I can. I've got to move some things around.” She had already called Jean, and asked her to do it, and now she had more reason to than ever. “And you better come to L.A. after the summer,” she warned in a sexy undertone, but he was grinding against her, and distracting her from what they were saying.

“I will, I swear. I'll tell Charlotte I need time off at the end of August.” She had already started to figure out gaps in her schedule when she could come to Wyoming. She could fly straight into Jackson Hole if she changed planes in Salt Lake City or Denver. It was certainly an interesting prospect, and she loved it.

They went to bed shortly after that, and were lying in each other's arms, having just made love again, when they heard a pounding on the door, and Tanya jumped about a foot. Gordon grabbed his jeans and ran to the door as he climbed into them. He pulled open the door as soon as he had them on and saw one of the ranch hands.

“The park service just called. We have to evacuate.”

“Now?” Gordon looked stunned, but when he looked up at the sky, he could see that over Shadow Mountain it was bright orange. “Why didn't they warn us?”

“They put us on standby around midnight, but Charlotte thought they'd have it in control by now. The wind just changed,” he explained. There was a brisk breeze, and he saw lights coming on in all the other houses. “Charlotte's rounding up the guests. We have to get the horses and run them down the valley.” There was another ranch nearby, and they'd done it before, but it was dangerous to move that many animals with so much speed. Either the people or the horses could get injured.