AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“For my solstice celebration,” I replied. Everyone in town already knew I was the woo-woo lady, so it wasn’t as if I had to hide what I was doing. “But Willis says it’s too dangerous.”
Chuck rocked back on his well-worn cowboy boots, thumbs hooked in his belt, as he appeared to consider my predicament. “I s’pose it is pretty dry out right now,” he said. “But maybe I can help.”
“How?” I blurted, before realizing that replying to his offer in such a manner probably wasn’t the most diplomatic way to respond.
To my relief, he didn’t seem to take any offense. No, he just gave me a slow, lazy smile, the sort that probably would have had made the hearts of all the eligible women in Globe go pitter-pat.
Mine stayed beating at the same pace, however, probably because of my current distraction.
“Chief Dale only has jurisdiction over activities inside the town limits,” Chuck explained. “But you could have the bonfire at my ranch. It’s outside the town’s boundary line, and it’s private property to boot. There’s no way he could argue with that.”
It sounded like a reasonable offer, even though I wasn’t sure whether I wanted to be beholden to Chuck Langdon. If he really had been thinking about asking me out on a date, it would make the situation that much more awkward.
Then again, I didn’t have a lot of options. Accepting a favor from Chuck seemed infinitely more appealing than going to the San Ramon tribal headquarters and praying to the gods in every quarter that I wouldn’t bump into Calvin Standingbear.
“There could be a lot of people attending,” I hedged. “And I don’t know what kind of damage they might do to your property.” After all, it only seemed fair for Chuck to know what he was getting himself into by extending that sort of offer.
He grinned, a flash of white teeth that was probably very effective in most instances. Only, this wasn’t most instances. Despite my best efforts to pretend that kiss with Calvin had never happened, it kept intruding on my thoughts at the worst possible times.
“Tell you what,” Chuck said. “How about you come with me to my ranch and take a look at the spot I was thinking of? Then you’ll know for sure whether or not it’ll work for you.”
I probably should have said no. But he was offering to help me out of a tough situation, and besides, Hazel had practically given me her blessing. Not that I planned on anything happening between Chuck Langdon and me, but if it did, it wouldn’t be as though I’d be betraying some kind of sisterhood pact or something.
Because the fire station was only a few blocks away from Once in a Blue Moon, I’d walked over, so I couldn’t offer the excuse of having to drive my own car. No, we could set out right from here.
Together.
“Sure,” I said, figuring I might as well surrender to the universe. After all, that same universe had sent me to Globe in the first place. And although I’d thought for sure the Lovers card I’d pulled when I was trying to get a read on what I was headed into had meant that Calvin Standingbear was supposed to be the one for me, maybe I’d completely misread the message. Maybe Chuck was The One.
I hoped not; I didn’t want to think that the universe would play such a mean trick on Hazel.
“Great,” Chuck replied. “My truck’s parked just over there.”
He pointed to a spot a few yards away. Sure enough, there was his gleaming white Chevy Silverado, chrome accents glittering in the bright sun. I wondered if he washed that thing every day. It seemed awfully clean for a work truck.
But I didn’t comment, only followed him over to the truck and then awkwardly pulled myself up into the passenger seat. I wasn’t short, but clearly the truck hadn’t been designed for anyone wearing a long skirt.
Luckily, I managed to climb in and close the door behind me without incident. Chuck got in as well, even as I wondered if I was making a huge mistake by going off with him. Sure, he’d lived in and around Globe all his life, but if he was a serial murderer, someone should’ve figured it out by now.
Or maybe not. I could just see Josie on the news, tearfully exclaiming that he’d always seemed like such a nice, quiet person and she couldn’t understand why Chuck Langdon, the former high school star quarterback, had a freezer full of chopped-up hikers.
I pushed that unwelcome image out of my head and sneaked a quick sideways glance over at my companion. He had one hand on the steering wheel and his left arm casually propped up on the door sill, and right then, he didn’t look as though he had a care in the world. For just a second, I caught a glimpse of his aura, a soothing celadon green with the faintest edging of pale gold.
Nothing threatening there, thank the Goddess.
“Thanks for doing this,” I said, since the quiet inside the truck’s cab felt a little too oppressive.
“Well, thank me after you’ve seen the spot I was thinking of,” he responded, the corners of his mouth turning up slightly. “It might not be what you had in mind.”
Pretty much anything was better than trying to have my solstice celebration on San Ramon Apache land. But since I was the only person who knew I’d been considering such a thing, I decided it was better to keep my mouth shut.
“Oh, I’m sure it will be fine,” I managed.
Another silence fell. By that point, we were out of Globe proper and heading west on Highway 60. A couple of miles down the road, Chuck slowed so he could turn onto a narrow dirt lane guarded by an electronic gate. We didn’t come to a complete stop, however, because he pressed the remote clipped to his sun visor and the gate opened before us.
Pretty slick. Then again, he must have come and gone down this road enough times that he had the timing down to a science.
The Silverado bumped along the lane, sending up plumes of dust. I couldn’t help remembering when Calvin had brought me to his house, which had been situated along a similar dirt road. Unlike that other lane, this one had oak trees crowding on either side, making for a much greener approach than I’d expected.
