Chasing McCree (18 page)

The lights of a car filled the field
behind us and I glanced over my shoulder to see Dustin driving my
truck. Fully clothed, thank God. “What are you doing?”

He got out, leaving it running. “Oh,
just seeing if I can still hotwire a car…seems I can.”

Briar looked around. “Where did Josh
and Ellie go?”

Tuck slumped over and ripped at the
grass. “I don’t know. I shouldn’t worry, much.”

Dustin whacked him on the back. “That’s
right.”

“
Hey, Josh is a good guy,”
I said, standing with Briar. “But why did you bring me my
truck?”

“
We need two extra horses,”
Dustin grinned. “I got a call from Zoey and her friend Willa. We
met a couple weeks ago. We’re going to sneak them out and see where
the night takes us.”

Tuck seemed to like the plan and
gathered the horses. I said good night to them and helped Briar
into the truck. Once I had the keys in the ignition, and the wires
underneath looking like normal, we drove across the field to the
road and back to the ranch.

Chapter 17

Briar

Two days later and I hadn’t heard
anything from my family. It didn’t surprise me. My father probably
forgot I was supposed to be home. Wouldn’t be the first time. I’d
stayed with Grandma for weeks before, and he didn’t realize I was
gone until I got home and told him where I’d been.

It still was a little unnerving, not
knowing when I could get a call from him. I’d braced myself for it,
but so far, nothing. Not a peep from anyone.

Haying season came and so did rain.
Buckets and buckets of rain. It rained for a three days solid, and
then off and on. There was nothing anybody could do. The hay was
soaked, and they couldn’t start cutting and drying it until the
clouds dried up.

I picked up Whiskers and he purred
against my chest, tipping his head back so I could scratch his
chin. I was on the porch in one of the swings. It was late
afternoon. Lightning cracked in the distance. The rain had stopped,
for now.

“
Well, what’s going to
happen?” I asked Dustin as he climbed the porch steps and sank into
one of the rocking chairs. He’d come over to help Chase repair a
tractor, but mostly I think he was bored waiting out the rain. They
were good friends. They irritated each other sometimes, but for the
most part, got along great. I was beginning to like him too. He had
that same, easy personality like Chase. I didn’t feel like I had to
impress him.

Come to think of it, I didn’t have to
impress anyone here or put on a face. The last time I wore mascara
was the night of the dance. It was liberating.

The McCree’s and their friends were
just good people who worked hard and loved each other even
harder.

“
We’ve lost a week haying.
It’ll be okay, but if we lose any more time, it’s going to be
tight.” He rested his elbows on his knees and patted one of the
collies at his feet. There were dogs everywhere. This one had come
with Dustin. “Ain’t that right Moose? Gotta get that
hay.”

“
So your family hays too?”
I asked.

“
Yeah, but not on this
scale. We’ve got about ten thousand acres and eleven hundred
cattle. Though we’ll feel the strain as much as McCree, if not
more.” Dustin leaned to the right and spit in the yard. “We’re
strictly family run. We don’t employ anyone outside like the
McCree’s. They got…what, ten to fifteen hired hands, plus family?
We got my parents, me and my older twin brothers, and my
Grandparents. Can’t really count my sister yet, she’s still too
young.”

“
We’ll be fine,” Jerry
shouted. He was out in the yard fiddling with his truck. The hood
was up and his hands were black with grease. Millie said he liked
fixing things. It kept him busy and out of her hair…so sometimes
she broke stuff on purpose just for him to fix. Easy fixes,
according to Chase. He told me that on a few occasions it included
large pieces of machinery, like the truck.

“
Hey, tractor’s fixed.”
Chase came around the side of the house with Stinker.

“
Damn, I wanted to help,”
Jerry shook his head and went back to tinkering with the
truck.

“
Maybe next time.” Millie
appeared smiling in the doorway.

“
You wouldn’t actually
break a tractor,” I whispered.

She shrugged. “Honey, with Jerry unable
to work with the men like he used to, I’d take a sledge hammer to
it to keep him busy. I like my kitchen free of
busybodies.”

“
Dictator with a wooden
spoon,” Jerry grinned, wiping his hands on his jeans.

“
Hey,” Chase eyed me, and
then the spot next to me on the swing.

I smiled, thinking he’d join me, but he
glanced at Whiskers and crossed his arms. Honestly, it was just a
cat. I set him down on the porch. His tail went straight in the air
and he started hissing, walking sideways as Chase came toward the
swing.

Whiskers swatted, his nails hitting
Chase’s boot, “Damn it.”

“
Oh, my poor baby.” Millie
picked up the cat and took him in the house with her,
laughing.

“
Baby my ass,” Chase sat
and put his arm around me.

“
I don’t get it,” I said.
“Why does that cat hate you?”

“
Hell if I
know,”

I smiled, but then my lips curled… I
smelled something… “Chase, where were you before you fixed the
tractor?”

Dustin laughed, “Out with the
cows.”

“
I stepped in shit.” Chase
pulled off his boots and tossed them out into the grass. He tried
to kiss me and I shook my head.

“
Uh-huh, no!” I squealed,
but he stole a kiss before I could move away. “I’m going to
stink.”

“
Well, you two have fun.”
Dustin stood, calling Moose with him. “Time we get going. I got a
hot date later. I don’t want to pick up Willa smelling like you,
McCree.”

“
Bye, thanks for the help,”
Chase said. “If you need us to speed up haying, let me know. I can
spare a few guys if your dad is pressed for time.”

“
Thanks, I’ll tell him.”
Dustin nodded, getting in his truck. Moose hopped in the bed, tail
wagging.

I watched the truck drive away. “You
still need a shower.”

Chase sniffed his shirt. “I know. I
can’t smell it anymore, and that’s probably a bad
thing.”

It was time to head in the house, and
Chase went into the yard to pull Jerry away from the truck. Another
storm was on its way. Millie would have dinner ready soon. I was
going to help her set the table since we were the only clean
ones.

But once Jerry had cleared the porch
and went into the house, Chase had his back to me in the yard. He
was trying to figure out what his aunt had done to the
truck.

I eyed the garden hose, feeling a
little, well…bad.

He closed the hood and whistled for the
dogs, letting them know it was time to head in.

As soon as he turned I had the hose in
my hands and let the water rip.

The stream hit him square in the chest,
soaking his shirt.

For a second he simply stared at me,
bracing his hands on his hips. He was standing in a mud puddle,
soaked.

I started giggling. “Now you smell like
Stinker.”

“
Let’s see if you like it.”
He charged for me, grabbed the hose and turned it on me.

I jerked back on the hose, struggling
for control. My bare feet slid out from under me. Chase grabbed for
me, laughing, and we went down, sliding across the yard. There was
mud and grass everywhere. I picked up a handful and smeared it
across his face.

He aimed the hose just right so the mud
splattered me head to foot.

“
You win. I give up!” I
squealed, crawling away. His hand closed around my ankle and he
yanked me back, only to drop a handful of mud on my
head.

We were laughing, lying on our backs in
the puddle, when Millie appeared above us. She was shaking her
head, grinning. “Couple a pigs rolling in it. Don’t think you’re
coming in the house like that…go jump in the pond first. I’ll leave
towels on the back porch”

I sat up and looked down at myself. I
was covered. So was Chase.

“
Okay,” Chase stood,
pulling me up with him. We slipped and slid across the yard, around
the back of the house. He glanced down at me, smearing some of the
mud off my face. “You better watch your back, Briar
baby.”

I smiled, glancing behind me jokingly.
“Don’t see anyone there.”

“
Smartass.” He grabbed me
around the waist, tossing me over his shoulder. I screamed,
watching his feet eat up the ground as he took off running. I
kicked my legs, but he wasn’t putting me down for
anything.

“
Chase!” I found myself
flying through the air and into the pond behind the house. “Not
fair!”

He stood on the dock, head tipped back,
laughing “I’m sorry.”

I swam for the dock, holding both arms
out for him. “Help me out, please.”

He reached down, but I used gravity to
my advantage and tugged him in headfirst. He surfaced, the mud
swirling around us. “Fine, we’re done.”

I swam backwards, watching him. “Until
next time.”

“
Ha,” he slapped the water.
“Whatever you say.”

With a smirk I dunked my head and
rinsed my hair. The mud dissolved easily enough, but when we
finally got out of the pond, it was no use trying to dry ourselves.
It had started raining again. We ran up to the house and made it to
the back porch just as the clouds let it rip with thunder and
lightning.

I wrung the water out of my hair and
moved onto my jeans. “We’re going to soak the floors.”

Chase pulled off his shirt, tossing it
to the porch. “Nope,”

I shook my head, “Oh no, we’re outside,
people will see!”

He glanced around, “Who, exactly? We
don’t have neighbors”

I grimaced, “What about your aunt and
uncle?”

“
Blinds are closed.” And
there went his jeans…

“
Unlike you, I’m not an
exhibitionist.” I turned my back until he had a towel on. “I’ll
just sit out here till I’m dry.”

“
Come on, it’s going to get
cold later. You’ll ice over, and then you’ll get sick, and miss
haying.”

When I was sure he wasn’t looking I
added my clothes to his, piling them up by the backdoor. Towel
wrapped tight, I slipped in the house. We were in the back room.
There was a pool table and a flat screen mounted over an old bar.
The McCree’s weren’t drinkers like my grandmother, mostly it was
just for show and parties.

There were three staircases in the
house. One into the living room, one next to the kitchen, and one
in the back room. So no one noticed us slipping up to our rooms to
get dressed. The upstairs hallways didn’t all connect because the
house had many editions over the years. It was a little bit
confusing, but after a while I got the hang of it.

At dinner, Grant and his family were
absent. They didn’t eat at the big house every night, just Sunday’s
and special occasions. It was quiet and comfortable.

Afterwards Chase and I cleaned the
kitchen so Millie and Jerry could put their feet up. Once that was
done we went up to the second floor to watch a movie in a second
living room of sorts off the landing. Just a bit of space out of
the way from the rest of the house. It was supposed to have been
another bedroom, but they left off one wall, leaving a gaping
entry.

Chase’s cell phone rang just as the
movie started. He didn’t say anything but, “Yeah, okay.
Thanks.”

“
Who was that?” I asked
when he hung up.

“
Grant. Get your shoes,”’
he grabbed the remote and turned off the TV, yanking me off the
couch. “Hurry.”

I grabbed my white boots from my room.
“What’s happening?”

“
It’s a surprise,” he
started down the stairs. I followed once I had my boots on. He
grabbed two raincoats from the rack and held one out for me to slip
into.

We ran into the rain. Chase held my
hand tight in his. My boots got muddy, but I didn’t care. We
hurried though the downpour to the stables. The door was open, a
few lights on. I kept close to him, wondering what all the
excitement was about as he led me to the last stall on the
left.

We took our raincoats off and tossed
them on the ground.

Grant was waiting for us, leaning into
the doorway of the stall.

“
Chase, you got it from
here?” Grant pulled off his work gloves and stuffed them in his
pocket. He handed me a radio and smiled. “Have fun. I’m turning in.
Let me know if she has trouble and I’ll be down to
help.”

I peeked around Chase into the stall.
There was a horse. A big white one. “What’s going on?”

“
Grant thought you might
want to see this.” Chase slung his arm around me and kissed my
cheek. “Sissy is going to foal.”