Whisperer (4 page)

“Oh, ha, ha,
Miss Amanda. You just wait until you get a look at this guy and
then come back to me. Y’all will owe me a right nice apology…” Kim
laughed.

Her phone
buzzed and a picture of her friend Stacy in Sacramento smiled up at
her. “Hi Stace! How’s tricks? So good to hear your voice.” Amanda
left the lunchroom, waving good-bye to Kim, to speak privately on
her phone.

“Yes, I know
she’s calling everyone about guy #3. Sorry she bothered you. Why
are we always discussing her? How about the flood in Colorado or
hungry goats in Burma --- anything but her…” Amanda started walking
by the horse arena where lots of people had gathered to watch the
trainer work on the new mustang. That was one wild horse and she
couldn’t imagine anyone getting him under control. She glanced into
the arena, did a double take and looked again. She gasped…

“Amanda, honey,
what is it? Are you all right? Amanda?” Stacy started to panic,
thinking Amanda had fallen down a manhole or something.

“Stacy? No, I’m
all right, but my God! You will never believe who I just saw.
Remember the guy I met in that restaurant in Old Town
Sacramento?”

“You’re
kidding! The gorgeous cowboy with ‘black wavy hair and eyes deep as
the sea’?” She laughed. “I believe that was the description…”

Amanda gulped.
“He’s here! He’s the new horse trainer.
Incredible! This is one
small world….”

“And getting
smaller. What are you going to do?” Stacy smiled. She knew just
what her good friend Amanda would do.

“I’m going to
get on my horse and ride,” Amanda declared. “Not interested.”

Stacy laughed.
“Yep, that’s what I thought you’d say. Not a fatalist, huh? This is
fate, honey, staring you straight in the face.”

“Nope, not a
believer. Gotta go. I’ll call you, Stacy.” She hung up quickly
before she heard Stacy laugh again.

But she
couldn’t help herself. Amanda was dragged over by some kind of
invisible tracker beam to the horse arena, and still tried not to
look. One of her young clients took her hand and brought her closer
to see.

“Look, Amanda,
he’s taming that wild horse.” And indeed that seemed to be what was
happening. It took some time, but as she watched, he coaxed the
mustang from its wild, aggressive posture to one of complacency and
trust. She was mesmerized at his gentleness and kept worrying he
would be hurt, stomped on, or kicked by the horse. Why did she
care? She looked at faces of people around her – unbelievable looks
of hope, love, gratitude. Some left being nicer to one another.
Jeez, he changed the people as well as the horse.
Who is this
guy? Houdini? A discipline?

Amanda hurried
out of there. She needed to get on her horse as soon as possible
and lose herself in the hills around her home. She took in several
deep breaths of fresh mountain air. Then she took a few more. Her
pulse finally calmed down.
What’s the matter with me?

A few days
later, Amanda was riding around the Soda Springs area trying out a
new horse in the camp stable. It was a lovely Palomino with white
markings on its nose. The air was crisp -- just a hint of fall with
coloring leaves and lower temperatures. She was thinking about that
new novel waiting for her when she got home tonight. It was a
romance novel about a cowboy and a beautiful girl. It was the juicy
part—they had shared a kiss and he was running his fingers along
her….

Another horse
came around the trees and the rider was –
holy shit…the cowboy
trainer…the restaurant guy….
Her mouth dropped open as did his.
Nowhere to run… His black hair fell into his eyes—he pushed it
back. Neither of them could speak for a full minute and then—

“Hello,” he
called out. “Don’t I know you?” Nice voice.

She blanked out
at that and then stammered, “Ah…um…”

“Got it!” he
said excitedly. “Sacramento, right?”

She still
couldn’t quite get it together, “Well…”

His face became
calm. “Oh, yeah. I’m Cary Grant and you’re Deborah Kerr.” Then he
laughed. “Something my grandmother said.”

Amanda came out
of her stupor. She smiled. “ ‘
An Affair to Remember
.’ I know
that one. Your grandmother?”

He got down off
his horse and held his hand out to her. “Let’s do this right. My
name is Colt Johnson. How do you do?”
Lovely smile. Charming
manners…

She took his
hand and got down off her horse. “Amanda Evans.” Pause. “We can do
this all day long if you like.” He held her hand and they smiled at
each other.

Jeez, what
beautiful eyes and hair. If I could just run my fingers through
that hair, I could die a happy man.

Kim’s
description was right on—tall, dark and incredibly handsome.
Wow.

Flustered,
Amanda let go of his hand and tried to look anywhere, but into his
eyes. She was getting lost in them. Sinking down and fast…And what
was the electric current shooting through her hand when she held
his. It felt like it had the last time, in Sacramento. Good
grief—was she taking leave of her senses?

“You look like
you need to sit down. Here’s a flat rock over here—please.”

Colt steered
her to a place to sit. His heart was beating a lot faster than it
should be—was he having a stroke? His hand felt like he had stuck
it in an electrical outlet. He shook it and tried to give it CPR by
sticking a finger in his mouth. No, that wasn’t helpful.

“I don’t mean
to tip my hand, but our first meeting plays in my head
sometimes.”

“Mine too.” She
winced at her honesty.
Don’t give anything away—then you don’t
have to ask for it back.

“I saw you
working with one of your clients the other day out in the commons
area. A little girl looked spooked at whatever she was saying to
you. But you were remarkably calm—peaceful, content even. I’d say
your job agrees with you.” He smiled at her and put one of loose
wisps of hair behind an ear. An intimate thing to do…

“I saw you
working too. – That wild mustang no one could do anything with. You
had her eating out of your hand in no time. You looked happy too.
How do you do what you do with horses? It must be a gift.” Amanda
looked him shyly.

“You have a
gift too working with troubled children. It’s not so different from
what I do with troubled horses.” He smiled at her. What a pretty
woman…

What a handsome
man… “I think it’s a lot different. Your clients weigh hundreds of
pounds, while mine rarely weigh over fifty.” He laughed.
She had
made him laugh…

“Okay, you’ve
got me there.” Pause…

“Where have I
got you?” She tried to bite the words back, but they had slipped
out before she could stop them.

“Jeez, Mandy,
where do you want me?” He looked at her so seriously that she knew
he wasn’t kidding.

“Ah…well…” she
started and then it hit her -- he had called her Mandy. Her lovely,
long dead father had always called her that. It was like coming
home when she was little and there he was with his arms
outstretched. She got tears in her eyes and started searching her
jacket pockets for a tissue.

Colt was caught
by surprise. “Oh boy, I guess I said the wrong thing somehow. I
apologize for whatever I said.” He was flustered and didn’t know
what to say.

This should
scare him off for sure, she thought. He’ll run for the hills –
she’s a weeper…Where was that stupid tissue?

But Colt had
been raised by a wonderfully, sensitive mother and two sisters. He
had watched his father for years and knew this was not the time to
run. Not if he was interested in her. And he was. There’s something
special here -- he could feel it.

“Ah…”

“You just hit a
nerve, Colt, that no one has hit in probably fifteen years.
Absolutely no one.” She wiped her face. “I’m being silly, please
forgive me.”

He took her
hand and then cupped her face. “Tell me.”

“You know, I’m
supposed to be the counselor here, not you,” she smiled at him. It
was nice holding hands with him. “And I don’t know you well enough
to tell you all my secrets—yet.”

“I like the
sound of that ‘yet’. Will you tell me eventually?” He still cupped
her face.

She looked
deeply into his beautiful brown eyes and thought she would spill
her guts about anything to him— what she put into her carrot cake,
the secrets of King Tut, who’s buried in Grant’s tomb… He leaned in
dangerously close.

“Colt,” she
began.

“I love how you
say my name.”

“Ah…”

“Yes?” he
practically purred.

She pulled
back, away from his too-close lips and hands. “This is too soon for
me. I’m a notoriously slow mover.”

“You’re in here
with the champion of slow movers. I haven’t dated in a few years.”
He looked at her so earnestly, she believed him.

“Really? Well,
I just got out of an ugly situation last year and won’t duplicate
it. If your name had been Eddy, I would have been gone like a
shot.” She smiled.

“I don’t blame
you. Eddy’s a crappy name.”

“And that fits
the person too.”

He took her
hand again. She didn’t move it away from him. “So what shall we do
now, Mandy Evans? I’ve never known a Mandy, so you’re my first.
Will you be my last?” He laughed when he saw the frozen expression
on her face. “Come on.” He brought her to her feet. “Enough talk.
Let’s ride.”

He helped her
up on the horse and handed her the reins. When he looked up at her,
it was like he was handing her the reins of this new relationship.
A kind of understanding like with Kate and Leo in ‘
Titanic
’…
I’ll try
, she thought.

Riding in the
hills around the camp every day after work, gave Colt and Amanda
time. Time to talk, time to look, time to share. Since they had
both rented cabins in the Donner Lake area, they were able to keep
their relationship low-key and off everyone’s radar. Not even Kim
knew they were riding together every day.

Amanda looked
forward to their rides more than she would consciously acknowledge.
Without meaning to, she looked for him everywhere at the camp—what
was he doing? Where would he be going with the mustangs? Several
more horses had been donated to the camp, so Colt had a few more
weeks of work. That gave them the time together they needed and
soon wanted.

Walking their
horses along a back trail one day, he told her of his grandmother’s
recent phone call. “So she asked me if I had met Deborah Kerr
yet.”

Amanda laughed.
“I like your grandmother. She’s interested without the nosy factor.
What did you tell her?”

“I told her,
‘Yes’. It’s not nice to lie to your grandmother. Besides, she would
have found out anyway. She’s good at this.” He laughed.

“Let’s go over
there, under those trees. It was my turn to bring dinner.”

Dinner had
become a fun and looked-forward-to event as they shared whatever
they brought to eat.

Finding a nice
open space, they tied up their horses and scouted the terrain for
critters. No one wants to share chicken with a territorial
squirrel. Walking under a tree, she tripped over a rock and smacked
her head on a low-hanging branch. BAM… and started to fall over
backwards. Colt was right there to grab her before she hit the
ground.

“Are you all
right, Mandy? You really hit your head.” He helped her up and then
started picking up the food she had brought. It was now scattered
all around their picnic area. The critters were beginning to
notice.

“I think of
myself as relatively graceful, until I ride with you. Then I do
klutzy things like Lucille Ball—remember her from that old TV show
called ‘I Love Lucy’?” Amanda rubbed her head and then stepped
right on a cupcake. “Oh, for Pete’s sake!”

Colt started
laughing. “I believe cupcakes are for eating and not for shoe
decoration. But I could be wrong… Were you unhappy with the way
that one turned out? It wasn’t your best effort, so let’s get rid
of the evidence?” He doubled over laughing.

“Now you sound
like Perry Mason. Oh boy, I’m beginning to sound like your
grandmother again with all these TV references.” She started
scraping the cupcake off her shoe.

They smoothed
out an area and put down a blanket to sit on. Still smiling, Colt
placed the sandwiches, drinks and one lone cupcake out of the way,
just in case. “Looks like we’re sharing the last cupcake. Unless,
of course, you want to decorate your other shoe.”

“Oh, ha ha, Mr.
Johnson. You’re a regular riot, aren’t you?”

“And how’s your
head? Too bad the ice you brought went everywhere – you could have
used some for that lump that’s forming.”

Frowning at
him, she rubbed her head. “Wait a minute. Let’s go back to your
grandmother. Why did she bring up Deborah Kerr again? There’s more
to that story, isn’t there?” She looked up at him shyly through her
thick lashes. Who could resist that look? Certainly not Colt…

“Okay, I will
tell you this mildly embarrassing piece of information, if you will
do the same. I know next to nothing about you, Mandy. Please tell
me something.”

“You first.”
She picked up a water bottle and took a sip.

“Jeanne told me
weeks ago that we were in Act One of the movie.”

“What movie and
what happens in Act One?”

“Apparently it
started like Cary and Deborah, but it has evolved into the Mandy
and Colt Story. Act One is when boy meets girl, they date and fall
in love.” Colt looked at her. What would her response be? Would she
be pissed or interested?

“Hmmm….that
sounds reasonable. Except for the fact we’ve never even kissed. And
you call riding horses all the time dating?” The subject was making
Amanda feel warm just looking at Colt. She knew he was ready for
the next step, whatever that might be and was waiting for her to
catch up.