He stroked her palm with his thumb. “Think of it as building the anticipation.”
“Stop it, Alex.” She pulled her hand away. “It’s not fair how you can do that.”
“What?” His masculine ego felt very good right now.
“Make me want to drag you off into the dark woods even though it’s filled with lions and tigers and bears, oh, my.” She swallowed. “I just remembered something. There actually are bears in these woods, aren’t there?”
“There can be.”
“Shitfire.”
He swallowed his laughter, knowing she wouldn’t appreciate it. “I doubt we’ll come across one tonight.”
“Have you seen any since you’ve been here?”
“A couple of times.”
She gave a little wail of distress and grabbed his hand. “Now,
that’s
scary. Okay, let’s talk about something else, like…like what songs I should perform tomorrow. Obviously not ‘Oklahoma.’ Any ideas after being a DJ in Jackson for a few months?”
“Country is the obvious choice. How are you with country tunes?”
“I know some Faith Hill, Tim McGraw, Taylor Swift, Martina McBride. Will that work?”
He nodded. “Perfect. Watkins will know all that.”
“I’ll get with him in the morning. What about a sound system?”
He got a kick out of how her tone became more brisk and efficient when she switched into business mode. “We’ll use mine. That was one of the things I had my folks ship out from Chicago last summer. People around here like having a DJ they can hire for parties, so I do gigs on the side. Speaking of that, people still request plenty of John Denver’s stuff.”
“I know a few of his. ‘Annie’s Song,’ ‘Country Roads,’ ‘Rocky Mountain High.’”
“Those are good. He also has one called ‘Song of Wyoming’ and Watkins knows it. If you could learn that, you’d make Jack very happy.”
She laughed. “I promise to learn it if you promise to make sure Jack’s around to hear it. Just my luck he’d be off riding some horse in a demonstration and miss the whole thing.”
“We’ll coordinate. But be sure and sing ‘Annie’s Song’ at some point. Everybody likes that one.” And he shouldn’t have requested that she sing it, he realized after the fact. He didn’t just like that song. He loved it. Now that song would be forever linked to her, and that could be bad.
“I hope I remember all the words,” she said. “I hate having to look at lyrics while I sing.”
“If you don’t know them, I do.” He was into it now, so he might as well help her. If he didn’t give her the correct lyrics, somebody on the ranch would.
“Then I should practice it while you’re here to coach me.” She started singing in her clear, lilting soprano.
The song went right to his heart, as he’d been afraid it would. He doubted she was giving the lyrics any personal meaning, but he couldn’t seem to help doing exactly that. The words fit the way he felt about her. For the first time in his life, a woman filled up his senses exactly as Denver had described in the song.
Now every time he heard it he’d remember walking down the road with her while she sang to him. Great. His favorite tune, ruined. But it would be a crowd-pleaser tomorrow. He might have to find reasons to avoid listening.
He couldn’t avoid listening to it now, though. She stumbled over the line about rain, which seemed sort of telling when he stopped to think about it. He recited the lyric and she sang it, this time without hesitation. Maybe her first screwup had nothing to do with her imagining how the song applied to them. That was probably just his sappy interpretation of her thought process.
“So how was that?” she asked after she finished. “Okay?”
“Wonderful.” His voice sounded rusty and he had to clear his throat. “Terrific. You have a great voice.”
“It’s a nice song,” she said softly. “I’ve always liked it. It speaks of an elemental connection.”
“Yeah.” He felt his heart slide another notch toward the danger zone. “I know.”
“How far do you think we’ve walked?”
“A little over two miles or so. I’d say we’re close to the halfway point. How are you holding up?”
“Great. No worries. And the flashlight is working just fine.” She flicked it over the road and then moved the beam out over the meadow to their right. “What’s that out there? It looks like a big rock.”
A chill went down his spine. “It’s not a rock. Don’t shine the light over there again. And just keep walking.”
“Alex…” The flashlight beam wiggled, indicating she was shaking.
“Don’t panic. Let me have the flashlight.” He took it from her quivering fingers.
“It’s…it’s…”
“Yes.” He squeezed her hand. “It’s a bear.”
10
TYLER HAD NEVER hyperventilated before. She’d always wondered what that would be like when she heard other people talk about it. Now she knew. She literally couldn’t breathe.
“Come on.” Alex tugged on her hand. “Just keep walking along the road. Let the bear know we’re just moving through.”
She edged down the road but kept her eyes trained on the indistinct blob that Alex had identified as a bear. Little by little she sucked air into her tortured lungs. “Are you sure it’s not a rock?”
“I saw eyes and fur. It’s not a rock.”
“What if it charges?”
“It looks like a black bear to me, so I doubt it will if we don’t act threatening. It seems to be simply watching us. Walk on the other side of me if that will make you feel better.”
She accepted that invitation, even though it felt cowardly to put him between her and the bear. “B-but what if it ch-charges?” she repeated, needing an answer, wanting to be ready with a strategy.
“Then we’ll both raise our arms and yell at it. The idea is to look as big and menacing as possible to scare it off.”
Despair tightened her chest. She couldn’t imagine facing down a charging bear and she didn’t seem to have enough air in her lungs to create a decent yell. “Is there a plan B?”
“In the first place, I don’t think it will charge. In the second place, yelling should scare it off.”
“But if it doesn’t?” Although she craned her neck to look back over her shoulder, she’d lost track of the blob that was supposed to be the bear. The shadows blended together, and she pictured it moving closer, stalking them.
“Some people say you should lie down, curl up and pretend to be dead.”
“If I did that, I’d probably just go ahead and die of fright.”
“Well, you don’t have to worry about that, because the bear isn’t coming after us.”
“How do you know that for sure? How do you know it isn’t sneaking up on us?”
“I just…think it would have made a move by now.”
She didn’t want a tentative answer at the moment. “You don’t know a whole lot about bear behavior, do you?”
“Some. Not a lot.”
She could see the internet headline: Couple Mauled by Rampaging Bear. Everyone would click on that. She had the prospect of either dying from her wounds or being hospitalized, but either way, she’d miss the world cruise and her window of opportunity for the promotion.
But then she had another thought. If she didn’t die of her wounds, she’d be hospitalized along with Alex, and if he didn’t die of his wounds, they could recover together. She wouldn’t have to make any decisions about her career because fate would have made them for her. And she could find out whether she and Alex were meant to be.
“I think you can stop worrying now,” Alex said. “We’ve passed a bend in the road, and no bear is lumbering along behind us. I’m sure the one we saw is either still sitting in the meadow or has gone off to forage for grubs under a fallen log.”
“That sounds so Disneyesque. I’ve always loved cartoons about bears, but I have to tell you, when face-to-snout with the real thing, it’s different.”
“I agree.” He let out a breath.
“There, see? You were worried, too.”
“I wasn’t worried for myself, but I didn’t want anything to happen to you.”
“That’s very sweet.” She wouldn’t have wanted to be mauled by a bear, but now that the possibility was receding in the distance, she also had to give up the fantasy that she and Alex would nurture each other back to health and they’d discover in the process if they were suited to each other.
Instead it looked as if she had to carry on with her world cruise and earn that promotion. That was her first choice, of course, but the recovering-in-the-hospital scenario didn’t sound all that bad, either. Staying in Wyoming didn’t feel quite like the prison sentence she would have expected it to feel like, which meant she was still conflicted.
“Want the flashlight back?” he asked.
“You can keep it.” Now that she understood what she might accidentally see while sweeping the flashlight beam over the landscape, she wasn’t so eager to do that. “Are you sure it was a black bear and not a grizz?”
“A grizzly bear? No. A grizzly would have been more aggressive.”
She shuddered to think what that would have been like. “Well, anyway, when you tell this story to your grandchildren, you should suggest that it might have been a grizz. That will keep their attention better than if you just call it a bear and they’re thinking teddy bear. But everyone knows a grizz is a fearsome creature to watch out for. You’ll look like a hero for calmly strolling past it.”
“In order to have grandchildren, I have to have children. I don’t even have a wife, let alone kids.”
“But you will, Alex. I saw how you looked when Josie announced she was pregnant. You want kids.” And that was part of her dilemma. She hadn’t thought she cared much about starting a family, but when she looked at Alex…her priorities shifted. He’d make a great dad. She wasn’t ready for those thoughts, though, if she intended to be a cruise director by next year.
“When Crystal and I were married I wasn’t thinking in terms of kids, maybe because she was so into partying. But now, I admit I think about it. Josie’s already said that I’m considered part of the family, which means I could build on the ranch if I wanted.”
“Would you do that?” Tyler was intrigued with the idea that the Last Chance could become a community of extended-family members. A few times during her childhood her parents had become part of communes, but her restless father had never been able to stay for long.
“I don’t know. I’d have to…” He paused and tugged on her hand. “Do you hear a truck coming?”
“Yes, I do! I’ve been so busy talking that I missed the sound. Who would be driving down the road at this hour?”
“Somebody looking for us.”
“Oh.” She thought about being discovered in a bedraggled condition yet again. At least this time her green hoodie and his denim jacket disguised most of the damage to their clothes. “I feel like a teenager caught out after curfew.”
“Yeah, well, I’m the dummy who didn’t check the gas gauge, so I’ll handle the explanation.”
“What are you going to tell them?”
“Depends on who it is.”
The sound of the engine grew louder as headlights appeared around a curve in the road. The beams bobbed up and down as the truck drove slowly over the deep ruts.
Tyler peered into the darkness, but all she could see were the headlights coming closer.
Alex shaded his eyes. “That’s Gabe’s truck. I recognize the front grille. And he’s driving like an old lady, which tells me Morgan’s in the truck and he’s worried about jostling her too much. We might as well walk to meet them.”
“Listen, before we see them, I have a thought. How about we agree to tell them everything?”
“
Everything?
Don’t you think that’s TMI?”
“Not everything, as in
everything.
But I want them to know that we spent the night in the hayloft last August and we’re renewing that…acquaintance.”
“But won’t that give them the wrong idea? Like we might be getting serious?”
“Not if we explain it as a…”
“As a what, Tyler?”
The truck drew closer. “I’ll figure it out.” In the light from the approaching truck she could see the doubt in his expression. “I just want to make sure you’re okay with me giving them a little bit of background. I don’t want Morgan to think I’m…well, that we’re…”
“Wild? Promiscuous?”
“Something like that, yeah. I mean, she is my big sister, and I’ve always looked up to her.”
Alex chuckled. “I’ll have to find out if Josie’s always looked up to me. Dollars to doughnuts she’d deny doing that.”
“She might deny it, but I’ll bet she does. I idolized Morgan when we were younger, but I also wanted to make sure I did my own thing, which is why I got into the cruise business. She would never have considered the lifestyle I’ve chosen.”
“You went into that field just to be different from her?”
“Well, not
just
that.” Tyler realized how her statement must have sounded, but she hadn’t taken up the cruise business as a reaction to Morgan’s dream of becoming a real estate agent in Shoshone. She’d had plenty of other reasons.
“It’s also a great life,” she said. “I love ships, and water, and the travel opportunities.” Though she had to admit that she was so busy during a cruise that she didn’t have much chance to actually see the ports where the ship docked. She had enough time to grab a quick souvenir from a nearby shop and that was about it.
“They’re almost here,” Alex said. “I’ll leave the explanation to you, then.”
“Thanks.”
The truck stopped and the dome light came on as Gabe opened the driver’s-side door. Sure enough, Morgan was sitting in the passenger seat. She gave a little wave.
Gabe left the truck running and the headlights on as he jumped down and came toward them. “Since you’re hoofing it, I’m guessing you ran out of gas.”
Alex walked toward him and shook his hand. “Good guess.”
“We brought a can. After Jack realized which truck you two had taken out here, he mentioned that it was low on gas, so Morgan and I volunteered to ride to the rescue.”
“That was really sweet,” Tyler said. “Thanks.”
“It was Morgan’s idea,” Gabe said. “You know Morgan, like a mother hen, especially these days. Where’s the truck?”
“Back at the site,” Alex said. “It’s late, so you can just give me the can and take Tyler back home, if you wouldn’t mind.”
“That’s ridiculous,” Gabe said. “We can drive you both there. We can squeeze Tyler up front with us and you can ride in the back. Even if I’m going slow because of Morgan’s condition, it’ll still be a lot faster than you walking.”
“We accept.” Tyler glanced over at Alex. “We both have a big day ahead of us tomorrow. We need our sleep.”
“That’s what I’m thinking,” Gabe said. “So hop on in the back, Alex. Tyler, let me get the door for you.”
“I’ll help her in.” Alex moved quickly around to the passenger side.
Tyler almost laughed at the possessive note in Alex’s voice. If Gabe hadn’t known the situation before, he could certainly guess it from Alex’s overly gallant behavior. Well, it didn’t matter what Gabe suspected. She’d fill in her sister and brother-in-law on the short drive back to the sacred site.
“Hey, there, little sis,” Morgan said as Alex handed her up into the cab.
“Hi, Morgan.” Tyler gave Alex’s hand a squeeze before releasing it. “Thanks, Alex.”
“Make sure your foot’s out of the way before I close the door,” he said.
Tyler tucked in next to her very pregnant sister, and it was a tight fit. “Morgan, if I’m crowding you too much, I can ride in back with Alex.”
“Nope, this is just ducky,” Morgan said. Then she lowered her voice. “And I want to talk to you, so don’t ride in back.”
“All righty, then! I’m in, Alex, so go ahead and close the door.”
Once all three of them were in the front seat, Gabe rolled down his window. “Holler when you’re aboard, Keller!”
“I’m in!” Alex called back.
Gabe glanced over at Morgan and Tyler. “You two okay?”
“We’re perfect,” Morgan said. “You have no idea how many times we had to ride squished together when we were kids. The folks would load up on groceries and maybe buy more camping equipment, which meant we had to pack in like sardines. This is nothing.”
Gabe released the emergency brake. “I just want to make sure all’s well with my two ladies and the little…one.”
Morgan blew out a breath. “You’re going to let it slip yet, Gabriel.”
“Even if you did,” Tyler said, “I can keep a secret. And besides, I’m leaving.”
“Uh-huh.” Morgan held on to the dash as the truck bounced over a rut. “That’s exactly what I wanted to talk to you about. Please tell me you’re not going to break that poor boy’s heart.”