Wild Wyoming Nights (5 page)

“I’d like to see them sometime, but maybe after the snow lets up some.”

“That might be about May.”

”That’s probably true.” She followed him to the door while he slipped on his coat.
 
“Be careful.”

He smiled, reaching for the doorknob. “I will.”

Before he pulled the door open, she said, “Wait a second.” Grabbing a piece of paper off the dining room table, she jotted down her number and handed it to him. “Call me when you get home.” Questions reflected in his eyes. “I don’t want to have to worry about my savior making it home okay.”

“It’s not that far, Abby.”

“I know—humor me, all right?”

“Sure.”

When he finally pulled open the door, a blast of frigid air hit her in the face. She shivered as she watched him dip his head and walk toward his truck. Abby pushed the door shut against the swirling wind, slipping the deadbolt into place before she moved to the window. He forced the door open on the vehicle, slipped inside, and pulled it shut behind him. The engine roared to life with a growl, and the headlights came on, reflecting against the side of the house. She watched until the taillights disappeared from sight as he pulled out onto the highway.

Rubbing her arms, she moved in front of the fire, and stretched her hands out toward the flames.

What a day.

A moment later, her gaze turned to the doorway where she’d seen Josh earlier, but nothing except darkness lingered. She sighed before she turned and headed toward her bedroom. Flipping on the light, she found her warm pajamas, slipped them on, and slid beneath the heating blanket on her bed. Reaching over, she turned off the lamp on the bedside table before snuggling back down. She really wasn’t that tired, and it was still rather early, but the softly falling snow and the early nightfall lulled her into a peaceful state of mind.

Abby jumped when the phone rang. She reached over and grabbed the receiver. The caller ID said Chase Wilder, and she smiled. “Hello?”

“Hi.”

“Are you home?”

“Yeah, safe and sound.”

“Good. I won’t have to worry about you for the rest of the night, then.”

Silence.

“Chase, listen.” She paused, not quite sure how to say thank you.

“Yeah?”

She cleared her throat. “Thanks for being there tonight, and I don’t just mean the accident, either.”

“You’re welcome. That’s what friends are for.”

She frowned.

Is that what we are?

Twisting the phone cord around her finger, she wasn’t sure what else to say.

“I’ll come by and check on you in a couple of days, if that’s all right with you?”

“Sure—without a car, it’s going to be difficult for me to go anywhere, even if it isn’t snowing like an inch a minute. Of course, there is always the old truck in the barn.”

Chase’s chuckle echoed in her ear. “They should have warned you before you moved here. This is a typical winter storm in Wyoming and don’t try to drive that old thing. It probably wouldn’t start, anyway, but the brakes are more than likely bad, and you would end up in another ditch.”

“It’s okay. I don’t mind the snow. I just hope they find me come spring.”

A soft laugh met her ear, and she shivered. “I’ll make sure they do.”

“I wouldn’t drive the old truck unless it was an emergency, anyway.” Air rushed from between her lips in a sigh. “Well, I should let you go. You probably need to check on the horses yet.”

“Yeah, I do.” He exhaled. “Night, Abby.”

“Night, Chase.”

* * * *

Morning light peeked through the blinds on her window when the sun came up. Abby peeled her eyelids open, and looked around the room.

It can’t be morning already. I haven’t slept like that for over a year.

Pushing the heavy blanket off, she shivered in the morning air. She was just going to have to suck up the heating bill.
It’s too damned cold not to have the heat up more.

Padding out into the living room, she reached for the thermostat and turned it up. The blast of the furnace kicking on helped to dispel the cold, and she headed for the kitchen to make coffee. Once the coffee maker started to drip, she walked toward the fireplace to start a fire.

It will warm up faster in here with the fire going until the furnace could run long enough.

The fire crackled and pop in the grate and the coffee maker sputtered. Her gaze found the two cups sitting on the table as her thoughts drifted to the intriguing man next door, the same one who held her last night while she cried.

A flash of a scene crossed her mind and she closed her eyes. Chase lay on the ground, grimacing in pain, and her heart clenched. Her eyes flew open as fear rippled along her spine. She shook her head, attempting to dispel the disturbing thoughts.

 
“Stupid, Abby! What the hell were you thinking telling him all about Josh?”

The shrill of her phone echoed through the silent room. She knew it was her mother without even looking.

“You hung up on me last night, Abigail.”

Abby chewed her bottom lip. She hated hiding anything from her mother, but she didn’t want to go into seeing Josh and the accident with at the time. “I’m sorry. I just couldn’t talk right then. I was still in the emergency room.”

“Why didn’t you call me back? I was worried about you.”

“I know. Chase gave me a ride home and then we sat here and talked for a bit before he went home.”

“Chase?”

She shook her head.
 
Damn!
I didn’t need to tell her that.

 
A forced sigh rushed from her lips. “Yeah—Chase. He’s my neighbor. He helped them pull me out of the car and then he gave me a ride home since my Jeep is totaled.”

“Ah.”

“Stop it, Mom. Right now—just stop.” She threw up her arm in frustration and paced back and forth in front of the fireplace.

“What?”

“I can hear those gears turning clear from here.”

“I’m not doing anything, Abigail. I’m just glad you’ve found a friend.”

“Yeah—right,” she grumbled.

“Abby?”

“Yes, Mom?”

“Care to tell me about seeing Joshua the other day?”

She froze. “How…” her voiced trailed off in amazement.

“Abigail, you know better than to keep things from me.”

“I’m not crazy, Mom,” Abby whispered as tears threatened behind her eyelids.

“I didn’t say you were, dear.”

“But he couldn’t have been here. He’s gone.”

“Abby, we both know that you are as sensitive as I am, more so sometimes, even though you choose to ignore it on many occasions.”

“If I hadn’t ignored it the day he died, he would still be here.” Tears choked her words and rolled down her cheeks.

“No, he wouldn’t and you know that. I’ve tried telling you so for a while now. It was his time. God called him home, and no matter what you tried to do or say, he still would have died that day, Abigail. He died doing what he loved.”

“But I love him, Mom.” She sniffed and wiped her face with her sleeve.

“I know sweetheart—I know, but you’ll find someone else. Isn’t that what he said? Something like, ‘you’ll find love again—here in Wyoming?’”

“Damn it, Mom, you give me the creeps sometimes.” Abby shivered. Her mother’s abilities freaked her out at times, but right now she didn’t want to think about what Joshua’s words meant.
What if Josh is right? What if I’m supposed to find someone to love again?
“I should go. I need to make some breakfast and see if I can at least dig some of the snow from around the windows while the sun is out.”

“All right. I wanted to make sure you were okay.” Silence. “Oh, and Abigail? You might want to call and check on your new friend.”

“Why?”

“Just a feeling.”

Abby groaned, and her heart clenched when she remembered her own feeling earlier.

Shit!

“All right, Mom. I’ll call him right now.”

“Talk to you soon. Be careful.”

“I love you, Mom.”

“I love you, too, sweetheart. Tell Chase ‘hi’ for me.”

“Of course. Bye.”

Several minutes later, she returned to the living room dressed in warmer clothes. She grabbed the phone and flipped through the caller ID until she found his number and hit redial. She paced in front of the fireplace, chewing her fingernail as she listened to the phone ring.

Maybe he’s outside and can’t hear the phone? The only number I have is this one.

Back and forth she moved, getting more nervous by the second when he didn’t answer.

Come on! Answer the phone.

It just kept ringing until finally the answering machine picked up.

Abby hung up and grabbed her spare coat from the closet by the door. She walked outside before she remembered she didn’t have a car. Grumbling under her breath, she moved back into the house, picked up the phone and hit redial again.

“Damn it Chase—pick up the phone.”

The answering machine picked up, and she almost slammed the receiver down on the cradle in her frustration.

I could call 911, but what do I say? My mom had a bad feeling about him and you need to check it out.

Yeah right, they would think she’s crazy just like the folks back in New York.

Okay. I need to figure out how to get over there and make sure he’s okay, that’s all, but how?

The barn. The old truck was there. The one she had mentioned to Chase yesterday. She never had a chance to check it out, but now, she had no choice. She just hoped like hell it would run.

Ripping the door open, Abby braced against the wind and pulled it closed behind her as she headed toward the big building in the distance. The drifts of snow were almost to her knees, making it more difficult to walk.

When she reached the barn, she saw that the wind had pushed most of the snow away from the big doors. She grabbed the rusty handle and pulled, praying they would slide open without trouble.
 
She smiled in triumph when the doors slid along the tracks and banged against the edge of the barn.

The antique fifties Ford truck sat in the middle of the barn with its rusted doors and no headlights, only a shadow of its former glory days.

“The keys—where are the keys?” She searched in the dim light on the workman’s bench, but saw nothing.

Think, Abby.

She grabbed the rusty handle on the door and tugged. It hardly moved. Bracing her foot on the side, praying it wouldn’t go through the metal barely holding the truck together, she pulled. The door groaned—resisting, but finally gave way. Sliding inside, she searched the inside. Under the seat—nothing—along the dashboard—nothing.

Damn it! Where are those keys?

She reached her hand up to the old visor above her head and flipped it down. A grimy, oily keychain fell into her lap.

“Yes!” Slipping them into the ignition, she pumped on the gas pedal several times and then turned the key. The truck groaned and sputtered, but didn’t start.

“Come on, you old piece of crap! You need to start for me.” She turned the key again as she pumped the gas pedal and prayed. The old truck groaned louder, but it finally turned over with a sputter of the engine. Abby wasn’t quite sure how to drive the truck since it was a manual transmission, and she ended up grinding the gears before getting it into first and slowly pulling out of the barn.

“Okay, baby. I know you can do this. We just need to make it to Chase.”

She made her way out of her driveway and onto the road. They passed his place on the way to hers the night before, but she wasn’t exactly sure how far the two houses were apart. The gas gauge didn’t work and neither did the speedometer, but at this pace, it didn’t matter. If she had to walk the last little bit, she would.

It seemed like an eternity before the gate to his place came into view.

Thank goodness the main gate is already open.

She was afraid if she stopped driving, she’d never get the old bucket of rust to move again.

Abby could see the house from the road, so she knew it wasn’t that much farther. The truck rolled to a stop in front of his house and died.

Oh well, at least we made it here.

She jumped out and ran up to the door, pounding a few times and calling his name. No answer. She tried the doorknob and found it unlocked, so she pushed it open calling his name again, but silence met her ears. She came back outside and walked around the back of the house. His truck stood near the back door.

He has to be here somewhere.

A light burned in the window of the big barn in the distance.

He’s got to be in there if there is a light on, right?