Dodge the Bullet (10 page)

Dodge dressed quickly and went into the
kitchen he only used for making coffee and storing beer. He let the
heat of the coffee mug fill his hands, leaned against the old
Formica countertops and thought about the time he’d spent at the
Woodward ranch the day before. He smiled as he remembered the way
Sarah screamed when his gentlest horse had whinnied while she’d
petted his muzzle. That woman sure was jumpy around horses. She’d
pretend to be fine and all the while have that scared look on her
face. She’d damn near rubbed a hole in her jeans wiping her sweaty
palms. He’d tried to be exasperated with her but he was just too
entertained to be annoyed.

It hadn’t taken long to explore the property
on the other side of the river, a vastly overgrown area ripe for
grazing. Every time he stepped foot on the property he was
surprised at its potential. He found himself itching to help her
turn it into the showplace it was destined to become. He thought of
Kevin, who’d done everything he could to irritate his mother. The
kid was the polar opposite of his brother. Dodge saw shades of
himself as a teenager in the gangly boy. The tension between Kevin
and Sarah was so strong, he felt as though there was actual wattage
in the air. He had to give Sarah credit, she certainly stood her
ground with the kid. She had a long, hard road with that one.

And then there was Jenny. She’d watched him
like a hawk, staring and making all sorts of sexual innuendos. She
had an agenda, that was clear, but what she wanted he just couldn’t
put his finger on. They’d had a nice dinner and he’d let the boys
ride his horses. Lyle even helped load them back in the trailer
while Kevin sulked and watched from a distance.

He rubbed his hands over his face, dumped
the rest of his coffee into a thermos and headed out the door for
another day of work.

###

Sarah carefully placed the phone in the
cradle and turned to face her sister as she put the milk from
breakfast in the refrigerator.

“Who was that?” Jenny asked. “And why do you
look so worried?”

Sarah let her body fall into a barstool and
shook her head. “That was Luis, the guy Paula recommended for the
caretakers job. He’s changed his mind. He doesn’t want it.”

“So. Get someone else.”

“It’s not that easy. He was the only person
Paula recommended and no one’s even called about my ad in the
paper.” She shrugged her shoulders and rolled her neck from side to
side to ease the tension that had settled there since Paula’s call.
“I just don’t get it. He seemed real excited when we talked
yesterday. He loved the house and said he’d be out today to do some
repairs on the roof and fix the broken window. Now he’s just
changed his mind. Don’t you think that’s weird?”

Jenny came around the bar and sat down next
to Sarah. “Maybe his wife wasn’t as keen on the idea as he
was.”

“He wasn’t married. He had a few cousins who
were going to live there with him. Paula said they were good guys,
that I’d be lucky to have them all working together. Damn it, now I
don’t know what to do.”

“Why don’t you call Dodge and see if he can
help?”

“No, he’s helped enough. I’ll just have to
run the ad again, maybe put it in a couple of the surrounding
papers and see what happens. I guess it doesn’t matter because the
fences won’t be in until next week anyway. But I was hoping to have
someone settled and ready to go by then.”

A loud horn blow from the garage had them
both jumping in surprise. “I’m coming.” Sarah shouted down the
stairs. “I forgot the boys were waiting.”

Jenny got up and placed a hand on her
sister’s shoulder. “Go on, Sarah. If you’re going to get the kids
to school this morning you need to get a move on.”

###

Hailey Junior-Senior high school sat on
another rural offshoot of the Rifle Range, nestled among
surrounding farms with circular pivots and stacks of hay piled in
fields as far as the eye could see. The school consisted of a
series of average sized two-story brick buildings, reminiscent of
the old Atlanta city schools that had been torn down or remodeled
into urban lofts or office buildings. From the road, Sarah saw a
football field with small bleachers, an adequately maintained
baseball field and metal outbuildings that she assumed were used by
the physical fitness department. There were a handful of busses
unloading children. She watched them talk in small groups and
wander into the main hall of the building. The school was a
fraction of the size of their school back home, a fact Kevin
groaned loudly about as they pulled into the parking lot.

“I don’t know why you’re making us start
school now when we’ve already finished up the year at home. They’ll
be done in two weeks anyway.”

“I just want you to get the lay of the land
and maybe make some friends before the summer begins. I spoke with
the school counselor and she agreed it was a good idea.” When Kevin
rolled his eyes, Sarah put the car in park and turned to face him.
“Think of it this way. You don’t have to do any homework or take
any tests. You’re just there to make friends and get to know your
way around. Make the most of it,” she said as Kevin and Lyle piled
out of the truck and walked slowly toward the building.

She stayed in the spot until the metal door
closed sharply behind Lyle. Maybe if Kevin met an attractive girl
or two it would ease his acceptance of the situation. She’d tried
several times to talk with him about Jessica, his mystery
girlfriend back home. He’d shut her down with a look. She hoped
Dodge was right about her hearing about his girlfriends before he
got home from school, because otherwise she didn’t think she’d ever
find out.

The tension between them hadn’t eased and
would probably get worse when Jenny left in a few days. Sarah knew
she needed to stay strong, as Jenny suggested. But with every new
experience the boys faced, her apprehension worsened and hiding it
was becoming really hard. She’d have to tuck it away, absorb it for
awhile until her sons figured out they weren’t going back to
Atlanta and accepted life there for what it was meant to be:
simple, quiet, and intended to bring them together as a family, not
drive them further apart.

###

Benji sat in his office on the second floor
of the renovated train depot building in southern Colorado’s
largest town of Westmoreland. He was sporting both a hangover and
the sweet scent of revenge. He’d just gotten off the phone with Mac
McGill, the Valley’s principal land owner and A.J. Dodge’s current
landlord. What a stroke of luck. Benji sat back in the worn leather
of his office chair and swiveled around to look out the window. He
changed his mind when the afternoon light splintered through the
cherry wood blinds.

He turned back to put his feet on his desk
and thought about McGill. Benji had bailed the guy’s kid brother
out of some major trouble a few years back and Mac owed him big.
It’d only taken a phone call to get Mac to agree to terminate the
lease Dodge had on his biggest property, over a thousand acres, the
home base of his cattle operation. Benji knew Dodge would struggle
to find a place to lease when Mac gave him the boot. He only wished
he could be there to see the look on Dodge’s face when he got the
news. Damn, it felt good to get even with that son of a bitch and
at the same time keep Dodge so busy with his own cow operation he
wouldn’t have time to help Sarah Woodward.

With Dodge out of the picture, he needed to
create a few more obstacles for Mrs. Woodward, speed along her
decision to sell. He’d already arranged for her ranch hand to quit,
an easy task considering the guy’s cousins were all illegal. And
he’d be able to think a lot clearer now if he hadn’t downed nearly
a fifth of Jack Daniels at a fundraiser last night. But with his
wife in tow, it was easier to drown her out by drowning in liquor.
A little hangover was nothing compared to listening to her whine
all night. He reached inside the armoire for a splash of liquor to
take the bite out of his throbbing headache.

###

“Hey there, handsome.” Jenny approached
Dodge after he’d crammed his cell phone back into his coat pocket.
She’d spotted him right away, ranting and raving into the phone on
the small downtown sidewalk, not caring or noticing that he was
causing a scene. She’d been enjoying a scone and a latte at the
only coffee shop in town. When two ladies came through the door,
she could hear him screaming until the door closed and it was back
to the show of arm flailing and boot kicking. Damn, that was one
mad cowboy. Jenny was never one to mind her own business. She
slipped the last bite of scone in her mouth, grabbed her purse and
headed across the two-lane road. She drew near Dodge just as he’d
ended the call.

“What do you want?” he said.

“Problems in hick town?” He was fun to poke
at, and with him in a snit, she’d get a better handle on him as a
possible partner for her sister. Sarah was interested in Dodge.
Jenny knew her sister was attracted the moment she failed to
mention him in the days before Jenny brought the boys to town. All
Sarah had to do was mention his name once, just once, and she’d be
able to believe her sister’s claim she wasn’t interested. But the
fact that she kept him a secret was proof positive she was
attracted and didn’t know what to do. Hell, who wouldn’t be
attracted to the big man in front of her, so mad now she could
almost see steam rising from under his dirty hat.

“I don’t have time for you right now, Jenny.
We’ll have to play games with each other another time.” He reached
into his coat for the phone he’d just put away.

Humm, he was smart enough to know they were
playing games. She watched him scroll through the numbers on his
cell, his dark brows drawn tightly together, annoyance shooting off
him like rays from a light bulb. “You seem a little stressed. I
know a sure-fire way of relieving stress. If you’re interested.”
That ought to get his attention.

“Are you kidding me?” He moved around her to
get into his truck.

Jenny stepped off the curb and leaned into
the open passenger window. “Could I bother you for a ride? Sarah
won’t be around to pick me up for an hour and your little downtown
area isn’t as entertaining as I’d expected.”

Dodge pulled his phone away from his ear.
“Sherry Barton gives a hell of a manicure, or so I hear. Go kill an
hour of her time and leave me alone.”

“My, my, you’re testy today. While I do need
a manicure,” she looked at what was left of the nail job she’d
gotten at the club before coming to Hailey, “I’m afraid the
standards of hygiene there may be less than I’m accustomed. But I
will take that ride.” She hopped into the seat next to him and
watched his jaw go slack before tightening into a scowl in a matter
of seconds. He was too much of a gentleman to throw her from the
truck. He was stuck with her and none too happy. Dodge ripped the
truck into reverse and gunned it out of his spot.

###

Dodge had been just about to dig into the
chili burger in front of him at the diner when his cell rang and he
answered the call from Mac McGill. And now, less than ten minutes
later, he hadn’t had lunch and he didn’t have a home. He still
didn’t understand. Why the hell would Mac break the lease they’d
agreed on amicably only two months before? He’d even said he’d pay
the penalty for terminating the lease agreement early. But what
good did that do when, as of next week, Dodge wouldn’t have a home
or a place for his cattle?

Damn it, why now? Moving his cows would be a
huge pain in the ass, and he had no idea where he’d move them. And
Mac knew that. He hadn’t even bothered to explain, just said it had
to be done and that was that. Damn it. He needed to make some phone
calls, figure out who had land for lease, do something, anything
but drive little miss big city back to her sister’s ranch.
Women.

“So,” she said. “Are you going to tell me
what’s gotten you in such a foul mood, or should I just chalk it up
to small town boredom?”

Dodge shook his head and stared straight
ahead at the pavement of the Rifle Range. Just a few more miles and
he’d drop her at the front gate so she could walk the three miles
back to the house in her ridiculous heeled sandals. Ha. It would
serve her right after jumping in his truck. She was old enough to
know not every man walked around twenty-four hours a day ruled by
his dick. A good many men, yes, but not all. No wonder she wasn’t
married.

“You’re a man of few words.”

He screeched to a halt by the empty
caretakers home and hit the unlock button on the door. “Here’s a
few words. Get out.”

“Here? You’ve got to be kidding me.”

“I’m pulling away in exactly five seconds,
so if you don’t want your walk home to get any farther, I suggest
you get out now.”

“Fine,” she said. “But pissing me off is no
way to get in my sister’s good graces.” She slammed the door and
turned quickly to avoid the spray of gravel as he peeled away from
the drive.

Chapter 10

Dodge was exhausted. He’d spent all day on
the phone, driving all over the valley looking for land to lease.
The best he could piece together were several plots of hundred acre
tracts from one end of the valley to the next. Not one of them was
big enough for all his cattle and he’d end up spending all his time
trying to be eight places at once. Nothing, absolutely nothing had
worked out in his favor. He paced the small kitchen of the hundred
year-old ranch house he could call home for precisely one more
week.

In a desperate bout of frustration, he flung
his papers from the kitchen table where he’d frantically worked. As
he watched them flutter to the floor like leaves falling from an
autumn sky, the survey of the Woodward property floated down and
landed face up on the center of the table. A light bulb went off in
his head.