Another Chance (20 page)

All afternoon
he had stayed locked away in his hotel room, savoring the information he had so
skillfully gleaned from that stupid man at the feed store.  She thought
she was so smart to change her name.  Well, it didn’t matter because now
he knew who she was!  One step at a time.  His heart raced with
excitement.  He was getting closer!

He had checked
the phone book and there was no Jordan Lanier and no J. Lanier, in fact the
only Lanier was a Dr. Fred Lanier on First Street.  He was sure that the
same last name was just a coincidence.  Lanier was not that unusual.

He had taken
out the envelope he’d found at the Swartz home and looked at it several
times.  There was no return address and he had no way of knowing where she
would be located, but just touching it made him feel closer to her. 
Tomorrow he would go to the court house and see what he could find there. 
Today he had just needed to collect his excitement and relish the idea of nearing
his objective.  Five years was a long time.  He had stored up an
uncommon amount of hate sitting there day after day, thinking about her. 
Soon now, she would pay.

He ate supper,
and then spent a couple of hours driving around, just becoming familiar with
the area.  Lake City was on the verge of becoming a real city and he was
almost surprised that he had discovered Jordan’s identity so quickly,
considering the size of the town.  That name of hers was sure helpful.

On a short
jaunt west on US 90 he discovered a western store with an arena.  That
might be a place to locate her.  He made a point to remember it.  If
worse came to worse.  Driving north on state road 441 he discovered miles
and miles of nothing but pine forest.  Turning onto a dirt road, he followed
it, twisting and turning until he came out on a small county road that
eventually led him back to town.  That had been a good drive.  He
returned to his room filling he had accomplished a lot.

Early the next
morning, he dressed in his best jeans and pulled on his sports coat, donned a
hat and a pair of glasses.  Looking in the mirror, he hardly recognized
himself.  He smiled and after a hearty breakfast, drove to the courthouse.

A quick
conversation with one of the clerks gave him access to the public records and
in there he started looking up names of property owners.  It took him
almost an hour to find it, but there is was in black and white, with the legal
description of her land.  After a little flirting with the clerk she
finally got him the address.  He slipped her a twenty dollar bill and
headed to the door.  He paused there and turned to smile one more
time.  “Sweetheart, could you tell me where the Post Office is?”

She gave him
directions and he disappeared out the door.  A few minutes later, he was
parked on a busy street adjacent to the post office looking at a map of the
county that he had purchased at a local gas station.  Finding it
completely useless, he folded it up and put it away in the glove box.

It might take
a while to locate her after all.  Then he thought about the feed store
again.  He could stake that out and wait until she came for horse
feed!  Of course, he didn’t want the man at the store seeing him watching
it.  That meant finding another vehicle to drive and looking a little
different each day.

He
smiled.  No problem, he’d find a way.  He spent the rest of the day
driving around the south of the county and checking out east of town.  On
the east he found another big forest.  He pulled out his county map and
discovered it was connected to the area he’d found north of town.  He
turned onto a dirt road and spent the rest of the day, driving the dirt roads
until he could pretty well find his way through the woods on little numbered
forest roads.  What a great discovery!  He went back to his room that
night elated.

The next
morning he drove past the feed store very slowly.  While looking around,
he found a beauty shop just down the street.  He could park in front there
and pretend he was waiting for his wife.  He sat there and pretended to
read the local paper until a police car rolled past for the second time. 
When it turned the corner, he started his car and drove away.

He left for a
couple of hours and when he returned to the area of the feed store, he parked
at a different place of business.  It appeared to be a parts store, so he
raised his hood and every so often would get out and pretend to be working
under there.  He remembered that Jordan had always made it a point to buy
her feed early in the day and so he figured his afternoon would be wasted
watching the store.  Instead, he drove around some of the rural roads,
trying to figure out the addressing system.

The next day,
he got lucky again.  He stopped at a gas station and filled his tank and
casually asked the man inside if he knew where Cedar Lane was located. 
The man nodded and gave him directions.

Lambert
listened closely and walked out the door feeling elated.  Jordan’s address
was 1736 Cedar Lane.  Look out Jordan!  He thought silently. 
Here I come.

He remembered
the man at the feed store had said she had a dog and knew it would take some
planning to get around the dog, but by dark the next day, he had located the
farm.

The house sat
back off the highway and it appeared that it was in a very open space. 
The barn was in front of the house and there were only a few trees around it.

He must have
driven past it a dozen times that day, savoring her nearness.  He looked
toward the barn each time and once thought he might have caught sight of her
riding a horse.  He reminded himself that he must be very cautious and
make sure he was careful in his planning.  He did not want to fail. 
Making another pass after dark had fallen, he was disappointed to see that
Jordan had security lights that lit the area around the house and another that
lit the barn and paddocks.  Oh well, he’d find a way.

The Rhodesian
Ridgeback dog was restless and his restlessness communicated itself to
Wolf.  The three of them were sitting on the porch and it was almost time to
feed up at the end of the day, but the dog had raised his head and sniffed the
air several times.  Each time, the dog would stand up and look toward the
highway for a long minute, then he would nudge Jordan’s hand with his nose once
or twice whining softly before he could relax again.

Finally she
noticed his mood.  “What’s wrong with you?”  She asked him, wishing
he could tell her.

“He’s been
like that all day,” Wolf said.  “Somethin’s botherin’ him and it concerns
you.”

Jordan looked
at him skeptically.  “How do you know it concerns me?”

Wolf took a
deep breath.  He felt she had a right to know, so he told her briefly
about his gift.

Her skepticism
turned to doubt bordering on disbelief.  She didn’t say anything, but
stood and started down toward the barn.  Wolf followed, enjoying the sight
of her long bare legs walking ahead of him.  He knew she didn’t believe
him.  At the barn, she began scooping feed into buckets and stacking them
in the wheelbarrow as had become her routine.  Wolf waited until the feed
was loaded, then he pushed the wheelbarrow out into the barn and down between
the stalls.

When that was
done, he walked out to each paddock and opened the gate.  Each horse knew
their supper was waiting in their stall and trotted inside without halter or
guidance.  Jordan stood with the stall door open and as soon as the horse
went in, she closed that stall and opened the next one.  Soon, all five
horses were eating quietly.  Together, Jordan and Wolf tossed hay into
each stall and made sure there was water in each of the automatic
waterers.  Finally they walked to the back of the barn and started toward
the house.

“You don’t
believe me, do you?”  He asked as they walked toward the house.

She looked at
him.  “About what?”

“About my
gift,” he replied, stopping.

She stopped
too, facing him and shrugged.  “I don’t know.”

“Watch,” he
challenged her.  He looked toward the barn and appeared to be
concentrating.  Suddenly, the three horses whose stalls opened on that
side, appeared at their windows and neighed toward them at almost the same
time.

She gasped,
knowing that each horse had walked away from either grain or hay to do
that.  It wasn’t something they would normally do.  Her eyes turned
to look at him searchingly.

He looked at
Bhrandii and without a word, suggested that the dog return to the barn for one
last sniff through.  The dog turned and trotted to the barn.

“I asked him
to check the area for strangers one more time,” he said.

Jordan’s chin
dropped and her mouth hung open for a minute.  “How do you do that?”

He
shrugged.  “It’s pictures and feelin’s.  I can’t really explain it,
but I’ve done it all my life.  Feather tells people I have a way with
animals, but that’s what it is.  That’s how I know that Bhrandii feels
there is danger to you.  He doesn’t understand it, he just feels it. 
Animals trust their feelin’s.  They don’t try to hide them or to change
them, they just accept them and trust them.”

He often
wished people were more like animals in that way.

Jordan looked
at him, her eyes suspicious.  “Does this….gift, extend to people too?”

He grinned
sheepishly and looked down at the ground.  “No, but over the years, I’ve
gotten really good at reading body language.”

She turned and
walked to the house.  He followed, her body language telling him he had said
something wrong again and not knowing what it was.  At the door she turned
and looked back at him.  “Do you want to go get some supper, or do you
want a bowl of soup?”

He
shrugged.  “I think I’d like to go eat, but it’s up to you.”

“I just need
to change,” she said, reaching back to unclip her hair so she could re-braid
it.

Unable to stop
himself, Wolf caught a strand of those silky threads in his fingers and rubbed
his fingers together over it, and then he lifted it to his nose and breathed in
deeply, his eyes taking on a darker shade of blue as he looked steadily at her.

“You look just
fine, to me.”  He declared softly.

Jordan
wondered what he would do if she stepped closer to him, but the look in his
eyes held her where she stood.

Reluctantly he
released the strand of hair and turned away.  He hoped she couldn’t see
the way his heart was beating.

“Are you
starving, or do I have time to shower and shave?”  He asked.

She shrugged.  “Suit yourself, but if you
change, I guess I should too.”

“No,” he
assured her quickly.  “You look really fine.  You smell really fine
too.  I don’t.  It won’t take me long.”

Jordan watched
him disappear down the hall.  When he joined her a few minutes later, she
couldn’t help smiling.  He looked really good, the masculine cologne he
wore was subtle but stirring, his jeans starched and creased, his hair slightly
damp from the shower, a deep blue t-shirt with NATIVE POWER printed in black
letters stretched across his chest.  At the truck Bhrandii waited eagerly
to hop in and was disappointed when told to stay.

They drove
past Rich’s Barbeque and further into town.  Together, they settled on
eating at Applebee’s.  It was nice enough but also casual enough.

Following the
waiter to the table, Jordan heard her name spoken and turned to acknowledge the
greeting of a couple she had trained a horse for.

Wolf
proprietarily rested his hand on her back and nodded as they hurried to keep up
with the waiter.

She was
wishing she had put on jeans.  When the waiter showed them the booth, she
slipped in and was surprised when Wolf slipped in beside her, instead of across
from her.

By the time
they had given their order, the couple she had seen had left their table and
arrived at the booth Jordan and Wolf occupied.

They explained
that they were leaving, but wanted to tell her how good their horse was working
for their daughter.

Jordan thanked
them and invited them to sit, since there was plenty of room.  They did,
but promised it was only for a minute.

“Jason and
Krystal, I’d like you to meet my friend, Wolf Cetan.  Wolf, this is Jason
and Krystal Olson.  I trained a horse for their daughter, Sara, last year.” 
She sincerely hoped they wouldn’t stay long.

“She’s a
wonderful trainer,” Krystal Olson said to the swarthy man sitting next to
Jordan.

Wolf nodded
and looked at Jordan possessively.  “Yes, she is.  She’s good with
all animals.”  He grinned mischievously.  “People, too.”

The Olson’s
chuckled uncomfortably.  They were well aware of Jordan’s reputation of
being all business, and weren’t sure what to make of the Indian man sitting beside
her.  They had never known her to have a boyfriend, but by his body
language, it was easy to see that this darkly handsome man was more than a
friend.  He appeared politely rough, which was exactly what Wolf wanted
them to think.

Jordan made an
effort at small talk, but couldn’t keep her mind on the conversation because
Wolf picked one of her hands up in his and carried it to his lips.

She pulled her
hand away and frowned at him.  “Control yourself,” she scolded him, trying
to make it sound playful.  He ignored her and since she had taken her hand
away, he dropped his arm across the back of her shoulders, pulled her hair back
and began making gentle tracks along the side of her neck with one finger.

As quickly as
they could the Olson’s made their excuses and disappeared.  When they were
gone, Wolf’s finger stopped and he removed his hand.

“They were clients
of mine, why did you run them off?” she asked angrily.

“We’re
supposed to be in love, aren’t we?”  He countered.  “We shouldn’t
want company.  Just each other.”