Nancy Pickard - The Scent of Rain and Lightning

The vet’s face took on a knowing expression. “I heard about Billy Crosby.”

“Already?”

“Heck, Hugh, he got arrested a couple of hours ago, right? That’s a lifetime, in terms of it getting around the local grapevine. I’ll be surprised if it isn’t already news in five counties.”

His patient’s owner laughed. “What exactly did you hear, Doc?”

“That he did some bad things. Sliced the throats of a dozen head of cattle, mutilated a couple of them-”

Hugh grimaced. “It was one pregnant cow and no mutilation.”

“My my,” the vet said wryly, “I’m surprised to hear the news got exaggerated. Who ever heard of that happening around here?”

Hugh Senior stroked one side of the horse’s silky neck and smiled.

“I wouldn’t worry about your instincts about people,” the younger man told the older rancher. “All the boys that you and Annabelle have helped over the years? Not a one of them has turned out like Billy. He’s the exception that proves the rule of your generosity in helping these kids.”

“I never have understood what that means, ‘proves the rule.’”

“Me, either.” The vet laughed. “Maybe it’s not even true.”

“One thing’s true. Billy takes exception to the rules.”

The vet remembered Hugh-Jay Linder’s story about the carload of rough-looking strangers who had moronically tossed out a burning cigarette. The idea of a wildfire unnerved him even more than most people, because of all the helplessly caged animals in his care. Whenever there was a story in the news about a burning stable, he broke out in a cold sweat of dread and pity. When it was arson, he could barely contain his rage. He was about to mention the cigarette incident to Hugh Senior as another example of idiots who didn’t follow rules, but before he could, he got distracted by the appearance of a swelling on the shank of the horse’s injured leg. He walked back into the stall to take another look, and the story faded from his memory.

The rancher traded places with him, walking out of the stall as the doctor walked in. As they passed one another, he clasped the vet’s shoulder. “You’re a good man, Doc. Thanks for taking care of us.” When he walked outside, he was startled to see how much closer the storm had drawn to Rose. The clouds looked like a billowing curtain hung from heaven to earth and extending north and south for miles. Lightning flashed spectacularly throughout them. There was nothing more breathtakingly beautiful in the world, in his opinion, than a thunderstorm approaching Rose from across the wide, flat, empty fields. He wouldn’t have traded sights like this for all the nightclubs in New York or trolleys in San Francisco.

The breeze ahead of the gigantic clouds had turned into gusts, and the temperature had dropped already.

Hugh hurried to his truck, holding onto his hat and hoping to get a couple more errands done before he headed back west through the blowing curtain of clouds to Annabelle and home.

THE RAIN STILL hadn’t started to fall by the time Laurie walked to Bailey’s Bar & Grill for supper, letting the wind whip her hair and blow around her bare legs. She’d been so hot all day that the new cool temperature felt good. She felt good. She’d had a luxurious long bath, washed her hair, shaved her legs, made a couple of phone calls that left her feeling excited, and then changed into white shorts, sandals, and a rose-colored T-shirt that flattered her flawless complexion. She knew she should take her car, because of the weather, but assumed she could get a ride whenever she wanted one. Her sister-in-law had agreed to meet her there, so Belle could drive her home, if it came to that. If Belle couldn’t, then Laurie figured she could bat her eyelashes and several men would hop off their bar stools to help her.

When she walked into Bailey’s, heads turned, which pleased her.

A few people called out her name, but she walked on toward the back.

I’m meant for bigger things than this, she thought with scorn.

When they had more money, Hugh-Jay could take her to places she’d always wanted to see, like New York and Paris. Maybe she’d take trips without him, too, like the one she’d talked Annabelle into giving her.

As she walked confidently toward the rear, Laurie smiled to herself.

The Broadmoor Hotel. That was more like it, where she belonged.

Rose never had fit her right; it felt like a granny dress that nobody with any style would wear. She’d hoped that marrying a Linder could move her up and out in the world, but all it did was plant her deeper. She felt buried here, suffocated, with all her best talents wasted.

On the other hand, she was unique here, and she liked that.

Feeling the pleasure of being admired and the relief of being without her child for a night, she slid onto the long wooden bench in a booth across from Belle. Laurie liked being with Belle, because she looked so pretty and full of personality by comparison. A glass of beer was already sitting in front of her sister-in-law. The scent of grilled burgers, onions, and steaks permeated the big room, and Laurie sniffed appreciatively. “I may get a rib eye tonight,” she announced, with the confidence of a woman who never gained an ounce. When a waitress came by, she ordered a bottle of Bud “with a frosty glass and a slice of lime.” She’d heard they did that in Mexico -put lime in beer. There was a bowl of peanuts in the shell, and she dipped a hand into it. By evening’s end the floor of the grill would be littered with shells and crunchy underfoot.

“Where’s Meryl?” she asked Belle.

“At the office. Where’s Hugh-Jay?”

“Your dad sent him out to the Colorado place.”

“Did you hear what happened last night?”

“At the ranch? Yeah.” Laurie took a sip from the beer the waitress brought her, and looked back toward the front door of the grill. “Oh, God, look what the rain dragged in.”

Belle looked where she pointed and saw her two younger brothers coming in the door with rain dripping off their slickers and plastic-covered hats. The storm had finally arrived in Rose. A downpour was visible in the brief moment before Bobby closed the front door again. At the same time, the music got drowned out by the sound of rain pounding on the tavern’s tin roof.

“I can’t go anywhere,” Belle groused, “without my family showing up.”

“At least you’ve got family in town,” Laurie complained. She was still bitter about her own parents leaving her to fend with marriage and motherhood on her own.

“Got room for a couple of thirsty cowboys?” Chase asked when he and Bobby walked up to the booth.

“Don’t you have any other friends?” Belle demanded.

“Yeah,” Chase said with a grin, “but they’re not as pretty as yours.”

Belle rolled her eyes, which made Chase laugh.

Bobby started to slide in beside Laurie, but Chase grabbed his shirt and said, “You’re not sitting there.”

“Why not?”

“Because she doesn’t want to sit by you, do you, Laurie?”

“You’re too big for this booth,” she told Bobby.

He wasn’t fat, but his broad back and big arms and shoulders made him wide. Flushing, he got up without arguing.

Laurie scooted over to give Chase room to sit beside her. He was as tall as his younger brother, but not as bulky; his width was in his shoulders, so his slim hips didn’t crowd her, though they somehow ended up touching hers anyway.

They made a striking couple, both dark-haired and good-looking.

Instead of taking the seat beside his sister, Bobby pulled up a chair at the open end of their booth and straddled it backward. “Man,” he said, shaking water off his left hand. “Wet out there.”