Firestorm (5 page)

Reyne Oldre was not a woman who sat idly by and waited for someone else to make the call, he mused admiringly as he watched her walk to the cottage. She was the kind who had her fingers on the button before anyone else even thought to pick up the receiver.

Reluctantly, he walked back to his chute, packing it tightly into his bag with the ease that only experience could bring. As the cords and connections passed his fingertips, he grew gradually more irritated with Reyne. She acted as though her project was the only one of worth. Hadn’t she even listened when he explained his own project at the meeting?

He glanced back at her house once more as he gave the chute a
final shove, then threw his pack over his shoulder and started down her road back to town.
I guess you have one of those “groaning experiences” ahead of us, huh, Lord?
Logan prayed as his feet met the highway.
If you don’t want us to kill each other, I have the feeling that you’re going to have to lead the way in this one
.

S
tanding by the window inside, Rachel watched Reyne as she stalked across the room, slumped down on the couch, and threw her feet up on the coffee table. Beth went to stand beside Rachel and nudged her as Logan glanced up, finished packing, and turned.

“Is he walking?” Beth asked incredulously. “It has to be four miles to the timber company’s airstrip building!”

“Good,” Reyne groused from the couch. “Let him walk.”

“What put you in such a lousy mood?” Rachel asked, joining her on the couch. She studied her friend, who refused to look up.

“That bozo is the one who cost me my grant in Missoula.”

“Oh,” Rachel said, familiar with the story of how Logan had burst into the meeting and ruined the presentation that Reyne had so carefully prepared. Beth raised her eyebrows and nodded in sudden understanding.

“So what’d he want?” Rachel asked sympathetically.

“To apologize, I guess,” Reyne said, feeling childish about her anger. But she could not set it aside. “And to break the news that
we’re
going to be working on
his
project, not mine.”

“Was he here to gloat?” Beth asked quietly over the rim of her mug.

“No—,” Reyne began.

“So he was just trying to make peace?” Beth interrupted.

“Yeah, if you can call it that. To be honest, I don’t think he really understood that his project’s go-ahead meant that my project was deep-sixed. I guess I’d be more open to an apology if he wasn’t so showy. I mean, what was that? Arriving in my yard via parachute … it probably cost the timber company a hundred bucks.”

Beth nodded, hearing her. Then, “That wasn’t a BLM or timber company jumper plane. I’d say he contracted it himself. What did you say his project was?”

“I didn’t …,” Reyne’s voice trailed. Slowly, a ragged red tinge climbed her neck and cheeks. “Oh no.”

“What?” Rachel asked, obviously irritated at not being a part of the secret.

“Parachutes,” Reyne said, her voice low. “He’s working on a special secondary chute system in case a jumper gets hung up in the trees. He probably was here to show me something about it. Or maybe he was testing some part of it.” She rose and walked to the window. Logan was already a miniature form on the dirt road, just reaching the highway.

Seeing him, her anger returned. She turned to her friends, her face tense again. “But his project is only going to benefit a few hundred jumpers! Mine would’ve benefited thousands of groundpounders!”

She looked at Beth and Rachel, who simply stared back at her, waiting.

“Don’t say it,” Reyne moaned. “I’m whining. But don’t I get to? Just a little?”

“Sure,” Rachel said. “I can see why you’d be ticked at him. At first. But Reyne, have you looked at him? Really looked? The man is drop-dead gorgeous.”

“And he seems really nice,” Beth inserted.

“And obviously he was making an effort with you,” Rachel said. “If he was a total jerk, he would’ve waited for you to show up or called you and bragged about getting funded.”

“Did you see how he was looking at her?” Beth asked Rachel. “Like a dehydrated man on the desert spotting an oasis.”

“Yeah,” Rachel said, grinning and appraising Reyne. “He’d seen her in uniform last week. Even in that awful taupe she’s pretty cute. But look at her today. What man wouldn’t give his eyeteeth to do a little R&D with Reyne Oldre?”

Reyne pursed her lips and glanced at her friends through slitted eyes. “Okay. That’s enough of that. We’ll leave Logan McCabe for next week’s conversation. I don’t have to deal with him until Monday, so let’s get back to more interesting subjects. What new trick has Samuel learned this week? Has he perfected his drooling?”

The next day, much to her chagrin, Reyne’s mind was forced back to the subject of Logan McCabe. As she entered her church and greeted Pastor Arnie Lear, Logan appeared at her side.

“Good to see you’re a God-fearing woman, partner,” he whispered in her ear as she shook the pastor’s hand.

“Logan!” Arnie intoned, obviously pleased to see him. “Hey, I really appreciated our conversation yesterday.”

“Me too,” Logan said. “Are you free for breakfast again this week? A certain Bible passage is really tripping me up, and I’d like to discuss it—not to mention have the excuse to eat another logger’s breakfast.”

How does he know my pastor already?
Reyne wondered in irritation.
He just got to Elk Horn
. She tried to squelch her unreasonable
feelings but used the opportunity to escape into the sanctuary and away from him. Monday would be early enough to deal with Logan McCabe.

Reyne was sitting in her pew, quietly trying to concentrate on a prayer, when she became aware of Logan coming toward her, introducing himself to everyone along the aisle on the way. She glanced back and watched as he pumped a man’s hand and cracked some joke. Couldn’t he be quiet even in church?

Suddenly Logan was at her side. She dragged her eyes to his. “Anyone sitting there?” he asked, pointing to the seat on her other side.

With a sigh, she moved her purse and tucked in her legs to let him by. He settled in immediately and then, to her surprise, pulled out the kneeler in front of them and knelt in prayer. Her heart warmed involuntarily, and she struggled to say a prayer of her own rather than concentrate on the man beside her. He was still there when the pastor greeted the congregation. Quietly Logan sat back and replaced the kneeler.

Reyne glanced over her shoulder. Sure enough, Beth was watching them intently; she smiled with one eyebrow lifted.
Of course
, Reyne thought.
The man prays for a minute, and Beth decides we should marry. But it’s probably all for show. A political move. Show up in church and win the town. Then they won’t gripe when the Sherpas and B-17s start roaring over their houses this summer
.

Reyne looked at Logan as Arnie announced the first hymn. She had to admit he seemed earnest in his actions. Logan sang without a second thought to his slightly off-key baritone and listened intently to the Scripture readings. All the while, Reyne could only concentrate on the physical nearness of him … the brush of his hand as he
held the hymnbook open for them, a slight flutter as his fingertips settled by her shoulder. Several times she had to tell herself to clear her head. She was here for God, and God only.

By the time Arnie got into his sermon, she had regained some measure of composure and concentration. She tried to focus on the pastor’s words, but they only convicted her heart.
Oh brother
, she mused to herself.
This is not my week. Can’t you give me a break, God? Just a moment to wallow in self-righteous indignation?

Arnie was speaking about how God worked in people’s lives. “And most of all,” he said, looking as many parishioners in the eye as he could, “God works through adversity. I don’t know about you, but I’ve found that when things aren’t going the way I’d like them to go, God is usually in the process of teaching me something vital. And usually it has something to do with my priorities or my attitude.”

Reyne dared to look up at the pastor, absolutely sure that Rachel or Beth had tipped him off as to what was going on. But Arnie’s gaze was elsewhere, and his look was innocent.
Father God, you sure have a way of timing things
, she prayed silently, a gentle smile forming on her lips.

By the time Arnie was finished, Reyne felt like standing and announcing to the congregation that yes, she had been a complete jerk and very unfair and that she owed Logan McCabe a public apology. She steeled herself to at least tell him so in private.

But as soon as the last hymn ended, Logan was introducing himself to the people on his other side, and they introduced him to others beyond them. After waiting a few minutes to be noticed, Reyne gave up in irritation and headed to the door.

Rachel met her there. “Must’ve forgiven and forgotten.”

“Hardly. We barely spoke.”

Rachel frowned, and Beth came up beside them. “I saw you sitting together,” she whispered excitedly.

“Will you two stop it?”

“Didn’t Arnie’s sermon say anything to you?” Rachel asked, raising a brow in mock rebuke.

“It said something, all right,” Reyne admitted. “And I was about to say something to Mr. Popularity, but I didn’t get a chance.”

“Now you do,” Rachel whispered, looking over Reyne’s shoulder. Rachel deliberately turned at the last minute to speak with someone else, and Beth did the same. Suddenly Reyne was alone with Logan in the alcove.

He shifted uneasily in front of her—an action that seemed remarkably odd for a man with his self-confidence. “Listen, Reyne, I think I owe you an apology—”

She looked up at him, staring into his eyes. “No, Logan. I owe you one. I was angry that I didn’t get the grant, and I took it out on you. I’m sorry. I haven’t really given your project a chance.”

His eyes sparkled as he looked down into hers. “Apology accepted. We’ll meet tomorrow?”

“At the airstrip,” Reyne agreed and led the way out the door.

She paused to say good-bye to the pastor and to tease him about his sermon. “Knock it off, would you, Arnie? I hate it when I’m sitting in the pews and I feel like you’ve been eavesdropping on my thoughts. Can’t we have a message that’s easy on our consciences once in a while?”

“I aim to please,” Arnie said good-naturedly. “I’ll work on something sweet and superficial for next week that might be more palatable.” He turned toward Logan. “I see you were sitting next to Elk Horn’s most eligible bachelorette.”

“Arnie,” Reyne began. She tried to cover her embarrassment over his comment by smoothly taking over the situation. “I’m doing fine on my own, thank you. I don’t need a man to make my life complete, and I’m sure Logan has no difficulty finding dates.” She gave him a smile that firmly said that’s enough of that and turned to walk away.

“See you tomorrow, Reyne!” Logan yelled over the din of conversation all about them. She winced and tried not to let anyone see her dismay. The whole town would be talking. Not to mention her friends. She shook her head as she reached the Tanners and the Morgans. “Don’t you all even start. I’ve had enough ribbing for one day.”

Rachel held Samuel on her hip while Hope ran around and around the group, excited to be out of Sunday school and among the adults. She begged to hold Samuel, and Rachel knelt to help Hope pull the toddler into her lap like a huge doll. Dirk came up beside Reyne and gave her a sideways hug.

“Hear there’s a new man in your life,” he said with a grin, ignoring Rachel’s warning look.

“In a matter of speaking,” she said.

“I like him,” Matt Morgan added from her other side. “A man’s man.”

“Great. Not that it matters. He’s just my new work partner.”

“Whatever you say, lady,” Dirk said with a grin. He reached down and pulled his struggling son from Hope’s arms. The little girl ran away, relieved to be free of the baby after the initial thrill was over. “He does seem like a good match for you though. And I was impressed—Arnie said that one of the first things Logan did when he got to town was meet with him as his prospective pastor. He’s into the accountability thing.”

“Oh brother,” Reyne groaned. “If it’s not your wives, it’s you guys. You’re just determined to match me up with every stray who comes to Elk Horn.”

“Hardly a stray,” Matt said with a shake of his head. “The man’s got a lot going for him—a good job, for one thing. Full-time in fire is hard to come by, as you well know.” He slapped Dirk on the back with a big, square hand. “Dirk and I both thought about it during our days as rebel groundpounders running away from life on the ranch. We could almost taste it—there’s just nothing like the fire game. Logan’s got a steady job in it. He must be pretty good too if the timber company’s hiring him to form a private crew. And the guy’s funny—he cracks me up.”

“Yeah,” Dirk said, laughing. “Did he tell you the one about the rancher?”

He and Matt rehashed the joke, laughing until they were wiping away tears, as if it were the first time they had heard it. “Let’s have him over for supper sometime,” Matt said to Beth. At her hesitation he added, “When you’re feeling better.”

Reyne, irritated at him for pushing Beth to entertain, griped, “I’m sure he has plenty of new friends around. I don’t think you need to have him over.”

Rachel gave her a puzzled look. “Reyne, that’s not like you. You’re the one who’s always having new people over … telling us how much it meant to you when you first came to Elk Horn.”

“Well sure, but …,” Reyne back-pedaled. “I just don’t think that Beth should be working so hard just to …” Her voice trailed as she dared to meet her friend’s gaze. “Beth, you’ve got so much going on already,” she began lamely.

“Look, Reyne. I may be sick, but I’m not dead. You just settled it. We’ll invite him over. And I’ll expect you to be there.”

“Oh brother. I’m sorry, Beth. I was just thinking of you!”

“Thinking of me, or just using me as an excuse to avoid Logan McCabe?”

Reyne raised her hands as if in surrender. “I just seem to be digging myself in deeper here. I’m going home.” She gave Beth a hug. “We’re okay?”