Chapter 22 An Uncomfortable Question
“It’s lookin’ pretty thin in Beaver Creek and Brush Creek won’t last much longer,” Evan explained to Bob Fraser, the president of the stock growers’ pool. “We probably ought to get them out of there in the next week or so.”
He was doing his job, but his mind was with Alexandra. He and Ryan had pulled the car to Stan’s Garage the night before and left it there before taking Alexandra to a motel. He had gone to his place just outside of town, where he stayed when he wasn’t at the homestead. He could have invited Alexandra to stay with him, but he felt like maybe she was ready to get back to her other life. She seemed eager to be on her way when they left the homestead. It was probably for the best. The ring on her finger still bothered him. They hadn’t talked about it or what their night together meant. He wasn’t sure if it mattered. They’d given in to some deep urges that were brought on by extenuating circumstances. He’d just have to leave it at that.
“Well, I’ll make a few calls,” Bob said, bringing Evan back to their conversation. “Probably need 3 days to make a good gather?”
“That’s what I figure,” Evan replied.
“Better to do it that way and not gather too big a bunch at once,” Bob commented. “Let’s do Beaver Creek on Tuesday, and then we’ll go from there.”
“Sounds good,” Evan replied.
“See you Tuesday,” Bob said. “Are you going to be here in town a day or two?”
“Yes,” Evan answered.
“Okay,” Bob said. “Just wanted to be able to get a hold of you in case we needed to change plans.”
“I’ll be around,” Evan answered as he got into his pickup and started it. He was supposed to go meet Alexandra and assist her at the garage. He didn’t know if she would even be awake yet. He had gotten out early in the morning to catch Bob while he still could. He could have made a phone call, but he preferred speaking face-to-face instead of over the telephone. It was just some quirky habit of his.
He drove into town and up to the motel. It was a little bit after 7:00 am. “She should be up by now,” he mumbled to himself. He found her room and knocked on the door. At first, there was no answer, so he knocked again. Maybe she was still asleep. Maybe she was in the shower. He decided to come back and was turning away when the door opened.
“Hey,” she whispered. She was dressed in one of her “city girl” outfits, and it took his breath away when he saw her. She was so feminine looking, and the outfit highlighted her figure enticingly. “I figured that you’d be here pretty early. Want to come in?”
“Sure,” he said. He wasn’t sure what to expect, so he decided to expect nothing. Once inside the door, she snuggled up against his chest the way she liked to do, and he wrapped his arms around her. He wasn’t sure what she meant by it, but he loved to hold her in his arms.
“I missed you,” she whispered, then raised her lips toward his. Their kiss was long and passionate and would have led to other things had she not cut it off and looked up at him. “I guess we'd better get to the garage?”
“I was going to buy you breakfast first,” he answered in a soft voice. “Garage doesn’t open for half an hour or so.”
“Are you sure that you can risk having me out in public like this?” she teased. “It is a small town, and people will talk.”
“They talk anyway,” he said. He smiled at her. “I think I’ll take the risk.”
They kissed a little bit longer and then opened the door and went out. He opened the door to the pickup for her, and she slid all the way to the middle. He went around and got into the driver’s seat, noticing that she was sitting in the middle. “Now, that WILL start people talking,” he laughed.
“You want me to move?” she asked, smiling.
“Not on your life,” he said.
“Where’d you get the truck?” she asked.
“At the house.”
“What house?”
“My house.”
“You have a house?”
“Yes, two of them.”
“You have two houses?”
“Yes. Two houses, a truck, two barns, and a place to winter my horses.”
“I didn’t know you had a place here,” she said.
“There are a lot of things you don’t know about me,” he replied.
“I’m beginning to gather that,” she smiled. “Makes me wonder what deep dark secrets you have hidden.”
“Hate to disappoint you, but nothing deep or dark.”
They rode the rest of the way to the restaurant in silence. Fortunately, it was a very short drive. He looked down and noticed that the ring was still there. Somewhere down inside, he had hoped that he wouldn’t see it when he came to get her. It would certainly simplify things, but as long as it was on her finger, there was a barrier to be crossed and a discussion to be had. He waited until they were seated in the restaurant and had ordered.
“You know, with you wearing that ring,” he began, trying to find a good way to lead into it. “People are apt to be talking a lot more.”
“Yeah, I know,” she said. She looked down at it. She knew that there needed to be an explanation, but she wasn’t sure how to go about it. She could think of a dozen ways to dodge it, but something would have to be said eventually. She should have just taken it off until she was on her way to Glendale, but that seemed wrong. It might give him the wrong impression. She was confused and struggling for answers herself, so she didn’t have one for him.
“I don’t know if I deserve an explanation or not,” he said. He decided to screw up his courage and open things up. “The thing is, Alexandra, my feelings for you are very real and very strong. I’ll be honest. I could go on enjoying our romps in the hay until you leave. I’d enjoy every minute of it, but I just have a gut feeling that there is more to this than that and…”
“You need to know where I stand,” she interrupted to finish the sentence for him.
“That’s a pretty good way of putting it, yes,” he answered. “I don’t make a habit of trespassing on another man’s claim.”
“I’m not his claim,” she snapped. She didn’t mean to be so abrupt, but the sudden idea that she was not free, that she belonged to someone else, irritated her. It hadn’t seemed like that when she had accepted the ring and the promise that went with it. She felt more like it was something that bound him to his promise. Now she had to look at it from another angle, and she didn’t like what she was seeing.