Untrusting (Troubled) (26 page)

Supper was at the steak house and
the conversation was about the trip and the information that was
gathered.  Shay sat between Maria and Bob who was next to Miss Lili. 
Steve sat next to Glen and I sat between him and Mom then Dad.  We talked
and laughed, had a cocktail and ate.  I asked Dad to drive my truck home
for me so I could drive Steve’s truck out after we drop Bob off at
Maria’s.  That taken care of, the evening was set for Miss Lili and Glen.

After dinner we all go back to Miss
Lili’s.  Bob won’t fit into Maria’s car with his cast so we drop him off
and I, finally, get to go home.  Steve’s sitting watching the scenery as I
drive.  “Steve, I want to talk to you about us.  I’d like ya to stay
over tonight, but I’m nervous and scared.  I don’t know what I’m afraid
of, but I am.  If ya don’t want to stay it’s okay.  Thought I’d let
ya know.”

Steve’s not saying anything. 
I take it to mean he won’t stay.  We get to the ranch and he gets out of
the truck and we go into the house.  My luggage and parents are
there.  Dad offers Steve a beer and they go outside to sit on the porch,
leaving me and Mom to unpack.  The guys move back into the living room to
watch the news before we finish.  When we’re through, Mom and I sat down
with them ‘til the news is over then they go home.  That’s when I thought
of Bob and Maria.

“Steve, I’m gonna call Maria to see
if Bob needs a ride home.  Do ya want to talk to him?”  Since he
hasn’t spoken to me since I’d asked him to stay I assume he’s not planning to
stay.  He nods.

I call Maria and tell her Steve
wants to talk to Bob and I hand the phone to him.  When he takes it, I
walk outside to the barn to see Izzie.  I give her a carrot and while
she’s taking it outta my hand I hear Steve come in.  When he’s right
behind me, he says, “Bob doesn’t need a ride tonight.  So…if things work
out, I’ll stay.”  He puts an arm around my waist from behind and kisses my
neck.  Izzie nuzzles him, breakin’ us up.  He scratches her forehead
and she puts her head over his arm so he hugs her.  She steps back and
Steve turns me.  “Scared?”

“A little, but I think a kiss will
change that, if it’s anything like they were.”

“Can we go inside first?  I
don’t plan to stop once we get started, unless ya say to.”  I nod and we
go back to the house.

When I step inside, my stomach becomes
queasy, so I walk into the kitchen and fiddle with the dishrag.  “How do
we do this with your bad ankle and the crutches?  I don’t want to reinjure
it.”

He steps up behind me and says,
“We’ll work it out.  Still willing?”  He puts his arms around my
waist and tightens his hug ‘til I’m against him.  “Sher, we don’t have to
do this now, if you’re having second thoughts.”  He’s whispering into my
hair, sending chills down my spine.

“I’ll always have second thoughts,
but I may never have the nerve to do this later.”  I turn and kiss
him.  I nip at his bottom lip and he moans while he tightens his hug and
pushes me against the counter.  The lightening storm starts and when he
opens his mouth to tickle my upper lip with his tongue I meet his tongue with
mine.  He drops his crutches against the counter and gathers me closer to
him and plunges his tongue as I plunge mine.

He breaks the kiss to hold me to
him and says next to my ear, “You just don’t know what ya do to me.”  He
continues to my neck with wet, warm kisses.  His hands come up my back to
squeeze the muscles and I almost forget about his ankle.

“And you don’t know what ya do to
me.  We’d better get somewhere where we won’t hurt your ankle.”  I
hand him one crutch and putting his arm around my shoulders, walk him toward
the bed.

“You’re sure?”  I turn toward
him and take the crutch from him and toss it across the room at the couch then
start to pull his shirt up.  “I like that answer, but I need to sit
down.”  I help him turn and sit on the end of the bed and finish taking
his shirt off.  Good thing he thought of sitting, I only come to his
shoulders.  From his position on the bed he wraps both arms around me and
pulls me to him, his head on chest.  He takes the hem of my top and slides
it up slowly, kissing each inch of skin as it’s bared.

My hands are in his hair, making
sure he doesn’t get too far away.  When he reaches my bra, he unfastens it
while I remove my top.  He’s sitting and can’t get it over my head. 
The warm, wet kisses are taking me past the lightening and into an
inferno.  He slides his hands into the back of my jeans and pulls me
closer.  I bump his leg and come back to my senses enough to straddle his
legs to keep from bumping his ankle.  Then I fall into the inferno and
don’t come up for air ‘til I collapsed onto his chest.

“Sher,” he says into my hair as he
kisses the top of my head.  As soon as I can breathe again I kiss and rub
his chest, liking the feel of the cool, soft hair on it.

As we recover from the exertion and
mindlessness of lust and I’m on the verge of sleep, I hear, “Sher, I have a
problem.  My jeans are tangled with my shoes and bandage and I need to get
them off.”  I sit up to carefully move off of him and slide to the edge of
the bed to go around it to help him.  He sits up to help me get the jeans
off of his bad ankle without hurting him.  “I should wear shorts like Bob
does.”  I look at him.  “It’s the only thing he can wear without
cutting a slit up the leg.”  I hadn’t noticed Bob was wearing shorts.

While I’m up, I go to the bathroom
then Steve hops in after I’ve finished.  While he’s in the bathroom, I get
a drink and go back to help him to bed, but he doesn’t need it.  I offer
to get him a drink but he got one in the bathroom.  We cuddle up in bed and
he says, “Sher, we didn’t use any protection.”  I tell him I’m on the
pill.  He doesn’t say anything, but lies back, relaxing and snuggling
closer.

For the next while we snuggle, with
a few kisses.  Then the fire takes over again.  As the sun’s coming
up we’re going to sleep.

At noon when we wake up, the fire
flames again.  Then we shower together, taking our time, and get
dressed.  Steve calls Maria’s to ask if Bob needs a ride home.  He’s
going to spend the afternoon with Maria.  She has to see her mother, but
first she’s going to get his truck.  Then he calls Miss Lili. 
Everything’s fine there, too, so, he decides, there’s no rush to get back to
town.

That’s when I remember the
dogs.  Steve reminds me there are no dogs.  There’s a knock at my
door and I holler for them to come in.  Dad comes in and says Mom’s
covering the clinic today, so I can relax.  Besides, we’ll need to get
some groceries, he says as he hands me a bag with bacon, eggs, potatoes, milk,
juice and bread.  Then he goes around the room to pick up the crutches and
hands them to Steve, telling me to make coffee.  Dad walks out onto the
porch.  Steve and I look at each other and shrug as Dad calls Steve
outside.  I ask Steve how he likes his coffee.  Black.

I take the coffee out to them and
they’re sitting there talking about the ideas Steve’d had to help the ranch
make more money.  “I guess we’ll have to work it up on paper,” I hear Dad
say.  “Breakfast ready for this young man, yet?”  I answer no and get
up to start it.

Steve comes in a few minutes later
and hugs me from behind while I fry bacon.  “Your Dad’s pretty cool, never
said a word about my staying over.”

 “He better not.  He and
Mom have been on me since the carnival to get it done so I’ll relax enough to
see where this will go.”

Steve chuckles, “Grams’ has been
saying the same thing to me.”

“I figured she had since she’s said
it to me.”  The phone rings.  I’m needed at the clinic.  We put
the food away and head for the truck.

We get to the clinic to find
everyone gathered in the waiting room.  Mom says Miss Lili wanted a family
meeting.  She comes out of the kennel room with Glen and Chaucee. 
“Good morning…afternoon, everyone.  I hope I didn’t interrupt
anything.  I have some very important questions that need to be answered,
immediately.  But we need to sit down first.”  We all sit down in the
waiting room chairs and a few of the stools from the exam rooms.

Miss Lili continues, first by
thanking Maria and me for keeping her boys for the night.  Then holds up
her hand to stop any response, “I’m sure it was pleasant for all concerned,”
and keeps a straight face.  Mom’s snickering in the office, tho’ and
Glen’s smiling with his chin on his chest.

Steve’s not taking the razzing like
a gentleman, “I guess the same would be true of you, too.”

Miss Lili, not to be out done, says
“I included myself in the statement”, while Glen shifts in his chair and Miss
Lili grins, really big, then sobers.

“But that’s not why we’re
here.  Glen has asked me to marry him and he’s willing to live here with
me because of my guardianship of the town.  I want to marry him, but I
need to know how my boys and girls feel about it.  Be aware, I have
already accepted his proposal, subject to what ya’ll say.  Now, what do ya
have to say?”

“Will we need to find someplace else
to live?”  Steve’s not sure he wants to move.  “We need to stay in
town because of our job and you always need help with your projects.  Our
shifts and then being on call the rest of the time makes it necessary.”

“No.  Glen and I wouldn’t know
what to with that big house and just us.  He has two children from his
first marriage that are married and he has four grandchildren.  They visit
once a year during the summer and then all of them at Christmas. 
Otherwise, they’ll not be here at the same time.  We’ll make sleeping
arrangements when necessary.  But you boys are not expected to
move.”  Steve and Bob nod.

“Now, what do you girls
think?”  Miss Lili is looking at Maria and me.

“I think it’s great.  When do
you plan to get married?”  Maria’s not concerned, at all.  Miss Lili
looks at me.

“I don’t know what to say. 
I’m not even sure why I’m included.  I’m just your partner and if there’s
no problem with the partnership then I don’t need to be here.”  She frowns
at me and Steve looks at me, confusion showing on his face.  I look at Mom
and she’s horrified at my words and attitude.

Miss Lili sees my lack of
“belonging”, “Sher, you’ve hurt several people by not understanding that you
belong to my family, too.  You and Maria are ‘my girls’, just as Steve and
Bob are ‘my boys’.  Please don’t hurt us again by omitting yourself.”

“I’m sorry.  I didn’t
understand your meaning.  When’s the wedding date?”  I say softly,
having to re-group.

“Bob, you haven’t said anything,
yet, cat got your tongue?”  Miss Lili wants to hear from everyone.

“Steve and I spoke with Glen,
yesterday, before y’all got home.  He knows we think your happiness is
important.  If this will make ya happy, I have no objections and neither
does Steve.  Until our situations are settled, we’d like to stay where we
are.  So, are congratulations in order, or not?”

She reaches for Glen’s hand and he
looks at her and she nods.  We all spring up to congratulate them. 
Then we ask again, “When’s the wedding?”  No date yet.  They still
have to talk to his kids.

After the hugs, I walk out back to
look around.  The yard toys are here.  I’m avoiding what I’d said
earlier, but Miss Lili joins me.  “The yard’s nice, isn’t it?”She puts her
arm through mine and squeezes it.  I turn to hug her.

“Miss Lili, I’m really sorry I hurt
your feelings.  I didn’t intend to, but Steve and I aren’t an item yet and
I thought you thought we might be.  Ya know, because of last night.”

“Didn’t ya enjoy yourself?  Ya
seem more relaxed.  I thought more than sex might have happened.  I’m
sorry I assumed it had.  But you should take your time.  By the way,
when Steve goes back to work, you can spend the night at the house if you and
he want.  Now, let’s go look at the ‘cat house.’”  We chuckle as we
wander over to the resort and find the arrangement very nice and accommodating
to both the animals and us.  Maria joins us and we’re all very happy with
how it turned out.  Everyone appears behind us and they approve, too.

We walk over to the animal shelter
and find it’s as appealing as the resort in functionality.  Miss Lili
turns to us and says it’s time for a sign to be added to the front of the
clinic.  “If you girls agree, I’d like to call the resort ‘Wagin’ Tails
Layover’ and the animal shelter ‘Granite Bluff Animal Shelter and Adoption Center.’ 
Of course, Cal will have to okay the animal shelter name, but I think he
will.”  We laugh, knowing he will.

Maria and I like the names and so
do the others.  We go out into the yard and I see Chaucee.  She’s a
beautiful Scottie.  She comes over to me, putting her front paws on my
foot and I bend down to pick her up.  She starts wiggling in my arms and
licking my face, chin and neck.  I fall for her, again, and start nuzzling
her against me.  Then I remember she’s Miss Lili’s.  And then Chief, who
needs to be checked on and José needs his splint removed, too.  I’m back
in my comfort zone, work.

Steve comes over to me, “She’s a
cutie, isn’t she?”

Nodding, I put her down. 
“Chief needs to be checked and José needs his splint off soon.”

“They have appointments
Friday.  We didn’t forget.”  I nod.  “You’re awfully
quiet.  Sher, are we okay?  I can’t tell when we’re around other
people.”  I turn and kiss him then take one of his crutches and put his
arm around my shoulders and we walk back into the clinic.  “I’m
huingry.  We haven’t eaten today.  Can we get a burger, or pizza, or
both?”

“Don’t see why not, I’m starving,
too.”  I turn, “Hey guys, we’ll see ya’ll later.  We haven’t eaten
yet and we’re going to the ‘Barn’.  Anyone else hungry?”  Everyone,
except Mom, says they are and they’ll see us there.  We all head to our
cars.

Bob, Maria and Shay arrive before
Miss Lili and Glen and we talk for a while.  Bob wants to go by the house
to get some clothes before they go “home” and Maria agrees.  Steve asks, “You
moving out?”  Bob says no, but he’s staying another night, or more, if
Maria will let him.  I ask Steve if he wants to get a few changes before
we go back out to the ranch.  He smiles, saying he should.

We order when Miss Lili and Glen
come in and eat.  We get a chance to look at Miss Lili’s ring.  It’s
huge.  In the bathroom, after lunch, she mentions that her rings from Buck
are now ready for another hand.  She tells me, Steve is her grandson from
Buck’s son, she was never able to carry a baby.  Buck’s first wife left
him and Buck Jr. because she couldn’t stand being married to a smelly oil
man.  “I’m glad she did because it gave me a family.  I raised Junior
from the age of two.”

“I went through the years when Buck
worked in the oil fields and came home oily, sweaty and dirty.  I raised
Junior, sent him off to college and was heart broken when he married a
wonderful girl from South Carolina and lived there ‘til Steve was three. 
When Buck got sick, they moved here and lived with us then with me.  When
Steve went to college they decided to go on a second honeymoon to Europe. 
There was a terrible car accident while they were France and Steve stayed with
me.  He’ll inherit the town guardianship and my estate from Buck.  He
and Bob will inherit the job of the oil companies and he already has his
inheritance from his father.  I hope you and Maria will be helpful to
them, as well as, love them.”

“Bob and Maria are well on their
way, but Steve and I have a ways to go.  Miss Lili, how do ya know when
you’re in love?  I thought I knew, but now I’m not sure anymore and more
confused about it than ever.”

“Sher, you’re a smart woman, you’ll
know when ya can’t wait to see him and don’t like being away from him. 
That’s the way I felt both times I fell in love.  Now, we need to get back
to our guys.”

On the way to Miss Lili’s for
Steve’s clothes, we talk about how long he would stay.  He’ll be staying
with me until Sunday evening.  His shift starts at four thirty a.m. so
he’ll stay home Sunday night.  Bob’s shifts are at four thirty p.m. and
Maria lives in town so he can stay as long as he wants, but he’ll be home
Sunday night, too.  And they’ll both be in town Thursday and Friday since
Maria and I will be working.  We say our goodbyes and Steve and I go grocery
shopping then stop by the fire station to tell the dispatcher to call Steve at
my number if he’s needed to man the office if there’s a fire.

We get back to the ranch, put the
groceries away and go out to the barn.  Steve wants to go for a ride, if
he can figure out how to get on without using his left foot.  Dad’s in the
barn and says he’ll find something.  After a bit of gymnastics and a box,
Steve’s mounted.  Dad advises Steve not to dismount ‘til he’s back
home.  We ride out to the creek and rest for a bit.  Luckily, there’s
a tree stump there so Steve can dismount and re-mount without much
trouble.  We sit in the shade to cool off some, it’s still close to
ninety, even though it’s mid November.

Steve puts his arm around me and I
snuggle into his shoulder.  When he kisses me the lightening storm starts
again.  We make love under the tree then snuggle again.  We get Steve
back on Auggie and we head up to the ridge.  It’s getting late, the sun’s
on the horizon, and we know we need to get back.  As we come down off of
the ridge the area is darker, being in the shadows of the trees and the ridge. 
We can hear the brush rustling, but there’s no breeze.

Steve shouts, “Kick it up, we have
company and we’re not armed.”  I kick Izzie up and Steve comes along side,
kicking Auggie, to slap Izzie on the rump.  I don’t know why the horses
didn’t smell them.  We take off, riding as fast as the horses can
go.  The coyote’s are howling behind us, now, spearing fear into the
horses and their speed.  Dad meets us while we’re at full gallop and as we
pass him he fires a shot into the pack.  We hear several yelps then Dad
riding to catch up with us.  Then we hear growling and more yelps, the
pack is attacking their wounded.  We ride a little farther, slowing down
when we reach open land, but keep to a gallop all the way back to the barn.

Izzie stops and Dad jumps down to
help Steve down and they come to me, Steve leaning on Dad.  I’m shaking so
hard I can’t dismount safely, so I sit where I am.  Dad and Steve pull me
off Izzie and Steve holds me while Dad takes care of the horses.  Dad gets
Steve and me into the house and hands me a beer.  I drink half of it
before I stop shaking.  Mom comes over shortly after we get back. 
Dad tells her what happened and she comes to me “I brought pizza, come over for
supper,” and she pulls on my arm to get me moving.

Half way to Mom’s, I say “I’ve
never been so scared in my life.  Thank God Steve was with me and
recognized the rustling was coyotes or I’d have been dead now.”

“Hush talking like that.  Izzie
would have taken off for the barn as soon as she smelled them.”

“But Mom, she didn’t smell
them.”  I say as we go in her back door.

“Must’ve been down wind from
her.  Didn’t Auggie smell them?” she asks.  Steve shakes his head.

“We’d burned a field up wind from
where they ran onto the pack.  The smell must’ve masked their odor.  Must’ve
been ten or twelve of them.  They were so hungry, they turned on their own
when I wounded a couple of them.”

“Enough about that.  Thursday
you have appointments the whole day.  I’ll come in to help with anything
you need.  The next four work days will be just like tomorrow.  We
scheduled the appointments as quickly as possible and even switched a few
around if a problem seemed more urgent.”

“Thanks Mom, you’ve done a great
job and I’d appreciate the help.”

“Don’t thank me.  Thank Steve
and Bob, they’ve had yours and Maria’s backs since y’all left.  They
triaged over the phone and I made the appointments.  If they said ya might
need more time I blocked out the following appointment.  You owe them a
dinner, at the very least.”

“We said we’d cover the clinic so
y’all could have a break.  Ya don’t owe us anything.  We were glad to
help.  Y’all needed some time away and we were available.”  Steve’s
not sure how much to say.  He and Bob know Miss Lili is introducing them
to what they’ll need know to be their wives, outside of what they do in
town.  But Sher isn’t ready to hear that.

Mom asks about the trip and I tell
her with a little help from Steve.  Mom’s shocked at everything that
happened, but had the good manners not to say anything in front of Steve. 
She wants to hear more, later.  Now we need to settle down and get in bed
early.

After I help Mom clean the kitchen,
Steve and I go back to my house.  I noticed, earlier, Bob was calling
Maria’s and Miss Lili’s “home,” but Steve only called Miss Lili’s home. 
Maybe Steve doesn’t feel my home is his home.

I don’t have much of a chance to
think once we’re inside.  Steve turns me around to face him and drops one
of his crutches to kiss me.  “Don’t over think this, please.  I just
wanta reassure ya I’m where I wanna be.  Gettin’ a shower?”  He wants
to join me.  I nod.  We get to sleep quite late.

My last free day, Steve and I stay
home except when I do laundry at Mom’s.  He and Dad start on the paperwork
for making the ranch more profitable and we spend a lotta time together. 
He watched while I brushed Izzie and cleaned the stalls in the barn to give Dad
a break.  Then we were in bed early for my first day back at the clinic.

Our first appointment arrives late,
throwing the schedule behind, ‘til lunch.  Miss Lili and Glen bring lunch
and Steve and Bob join us.  Some how, the subject of the relatives in
Corpus comes up; Miss Lili hasn’t had a chance to talk to the boys since we’ve
been back.  Bridget’s mentioned and Bob and Steve laugh at the nerve of
Matilda and Teddy.  Maria and I agree, but not with the tone of the
conversation.  We finish quickly so we can be ready for the next
appointment hoping to get back on schedule.