Wyoming Winter

“I’d love to have kids,” Colie said softly. “I can’t think of anything in the world I want more.”

“So do Ben and I,” Lucy said. “But we’re just starting out. We figure we’ll have a couple of years to grow together better before we start on a family.”

“That’s wise.”

“We think so.” She cocked her head. “What about you and J.C.?” she asked. “I’m not prying.”

“I know.” She hesitated. “I don’t know, Lucy,” she said honestly. “He’s already said he’s not the pipe-and-slippers type, and he doesn’t really want children.” She bit her lower lip. “You can’t change people. You have to just accept them the way they are.” Her face was drawn with pain. “I keep thinking, if I’d refused to go out with him...”

“It wouldn’t have changed anything,” Lucy said wisely. “People fall in love. I don’t think they get a choice about who they fall in love with.”

Colie laughed. “No. It’s like your family. You don’t get to choose them, either.”

Lucy grimaced. “Your father would give you a real hard time if you tried to move in with J.C. To say nothing of the rest of the community. There’s barely a thousand people who live in and around Catelow. You couldn’t hide it.”

“I’ve worried about that. I’d like to think I’d say no. But...”

“He might turn out to be conventional,” Lucy ventured. “He knows how your father feels.”

“It wouldn’t matter. I don’t think J.C. had much of a home life,” she confided. “He was more or less orphaned in grammar school.”

“That’s tough.”

“You mustn’t repeat that,” Colie said.

“You know me. I work for lawyers,” she whispered, pointing down the hall. “They’d barbecue me on the front steps if I ever talked about what I know!”

“Same here,” Colie said, laughing. The smile faded as she shuffled papers on her desk, across from Lucy’s. “He doesn’t know what it’s like to have a settled, happy home. That might explain the way he is. He doesn’t like attachments.”

“He’s obviously attached to you,” her friend said.

“So far,” Colie sighed. “I don’t know how long it will last. We’re very different.”

“May I make a suggestion? Stop trying to control your life and just live it.”

Colie drew in a long breath. “That’s what I keep telling myself. Then I remember how Daddy looked when I said I was going out with J.C. and I feel guilty all over again. He reminded me that J.C. isn’t a person of faith. In some circumstances, that can be a huge drawback.”

“People compromise,” Lucy said. “Ben and I have. You and J.C. will find a way to be together that works for both of you.”

“I hope so.” She lowered her eyes. “I can’t give him up, Lucy,” she whispered. “I love him too much, already.”

“If you ever need to talk, I’m here. And I’m not judgmental,” Lucy reminded her.

Colie smiled. “Thanks.”

CHAPTER FOUR (#u4be75a9b-e96f-5ee4-8e4d-abbe8ff4d729)

COLIE HAD NOTICED that Rodney was acting oddly. He stayed out until all hours. Once, she was up getting a drink of water when he came in. His face was flushed and his eyes looked strange.

“Are you okay?” she asked worriedly.

“What? Okay? Sure, I’m okay,” he replied. But he seemed foggy. “I’ve just had a long drive, all the way from Jackson Hole. I’m tired.”

“You spend a lot of time over there lately,” she pointed out.

He blinked. “Well, yes. There are some presentations on new gadgets and appliances and tools. I go to get familiar with them, for work.”

He worked at the local hardware store as a clerk. She did wonder why a clerk would need to know about appliances, but perhaps that had become part of his duties. So she just smiled and took him at his word.

But the next day, he had company. Colie’s father had gone to visit a member of his congregation who was at the hospital. It was Saturday, and Colie was working in the kitchen when the front door opened.

“Can you make us some coffee, sis?” Rod called from the doorway. “We’ve had a long drive. This is my friend, Barry Todd,” he added, introducing a taciturn man in a gray suit. The man was impeccably groomed, but there was something disturbing about him. Colie, who often got vivid impressions about people, distrusted him on sight.

“Of course,” she told her brother.

He and his friend went into the living room. She heard muffled conversation. It sounded like arguing. Rod raised his voice once, and the other man replied in a sharp, condescending tone.

Colie filled two mugs with coffee and started to take them in, but Rod met her at the door, thanked her and nudged the door closed behind him.

She went back to the kitchen, puzzled and uneasy.

* * *

LATER, WHEN THE visitor left, Colie asked about him, trying not to sound as suspicious as she felt.

“Barry’s a salesman for a tool company,” Rod told her, but he averted his eyes. “We do business together. He’s opening up sales in this territory and I’m going to be his representative.”

“Oh, I see,” she said. “Like moonlighting.”

He hesitated. “That’s it,” he agreed quickly. “Moonlighting.”

“Your boss at the hardware store won’t mind, will he?” She worried.

“Of course not,” he huffed. “He doesn’t tell me what to do on my own time.”

“Your friend dresses nicely.”

“Yes. He’s loaded. Did you see the car he drives? It’s a Mercedes!” He made a face. “All I’ve got is that old Ford. It looks shabby by comparison.”

“Hey, it runs,” she pointed out. “And it’s worlds nicer than my truck!”

“Your truck belongs in a junkyard,” he scoffed. “I’m amazed that they had the gall to actually sell it to you.”

“Now, now, I can’t walk to work,” she teased.

He didn’t smile. In the past, Rod had been happy and joking and fun to be around. More and more, he was short-tempered, impatient and morose.

“Are you okay?” she asked worriedly.