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“She...cornered me at the library.”
“And you forgot which days she works there?”
“Alex and Molly both had overdues. I figured I could drop their books off and pay later, but I swear my mother has radar. She appeared from behind the stacks like an avenging angel—demanding to know where I’d been for the past few days. Wondering why I hadn’t called. By the time she was through, I swear half the library patrons were rallied behind her, hanging on every word.”
“She does have a...certain presence.”
“And you have amazing tact. Maybe you could use it to call her and postpone our lunch?”
“Not on a bet.” Francie swiveled her chair back to face the computer on the reception desk. “I’ve never understood people with a death wish.”
“I thought you were hoping for a raise this year,” Dana muttered as she snagged the truck keys from the counter and stepped over Gabe, her ancient Australian shepherd, then headed for the back door of the clinic.
Until last year, when his arthritis started slowing him down, Gabe had ridden along on her farm calls. Now he mostly snoozed his days away.
“When you can afford a raise, I’ll be a lot nicer,” Francie called out.
Dana chuckled as she stepped into the bright Colorado sunshine. No matter what struggles she’d faced, she could always count on Francie, a true friend since childhood. When Dana had married Ken, a widower with two young children, Francie had been there with advice and encouragement. Just as she’d been when Ken died.
Losing him, making ends meet on the struggling horse ranch he’d left her, and running the clinic would have been overwhelming without Francie’s unflagging support. The kids loved her like a favorite aunt.
Outside, Dana surveyed the old Bowie vet box mounted on the back of her pickup, then checked through its refrigerated compartments, making sure she’d restocked the antibiotics and vaccines she would need. Then she locked each compartment door and headed to the cab.
A row of six registered quarter horse mares, ears pricked eagerly, hung their heads over the oak plank fence by her barn and whinnied. One of them pawed a cloud of dust into the air.
“Beggars,” she called out as she slid behind the steering wheel. “You had your breakfast already.”
They were the moms-in-waiting, mares who’d been bred later than the others last spring. The rest of the mares were grazing out on the grassy hills behind her house, watching patiently as their new babies played foal-tag with each other or slept flat as pancakes in the warm spring sunshine.
The sale of this newest foal crop could herald the bright future of Rocking H Ranch...or signal its downfall, Dana thought with a deep sigh. Time would tell. Every morning she stood at her kitchen windows, eating her toast, gazing down the hill toward the clinic and wondering what the future would bring.
Success, if hard work and determination made the difference. But there were so many other variables out of her control.
Her cell phone chirped as she started driving down the mile-long gravel driveway leading out to the highway.
Martha Benson’s voice rang out loud and clear, and as always she got right to the point. “Remember that little blue house next to your place?”
Martha—who doubled as the postmistress and the town’s only Realtor—had been trying to rent or sell the place for years.
“You found a buyer?” Dana pulled to a stop at her mailbox. To the east, the highway led out into ranch country. To the west, the driveway of Martha’s vacant property was a mile down the road, and the town of Fossil Hill was five miles beyond that.
Martha cleared her throat. “Not a buyer, unfortunately.”
“You rented it?” The little one-story house offered just two tiny bedrooms, a living room, a single bathroom, and a country kitchen had been empty for at least two years. Even the spacious old barn and fifty-acre pasture hadn’t tempted anyone to make a decent offer on such a small house so far from town.
“Fairly short-term...just for the next four months.”
Mystified, Dana drummed her fingernails on the steering wheel. “Do you need me to run over and check the place out before they move in?”
“I just thought you should have some warning. You know, so you’d be prepared.”
“Prepared?”
“Well...now I’m wondering if this was a big mistake. But really, after all these years, how could it matter? I just hope—oh, dear me. They’re already here. I’ll call you later, okay?”
Martha hung up before Dana could say another word.
A big mistake? Dana threw the truck in gear and turned out onto the highway.
