A Ranch to Call Home

Kaye glanced at Caleb and saw him grinning. A laugh bubbled up in her, but she didn’t think Gramps would appreciate it. After the events of this afternoon, you had to either laugh or cry. She put the plate with the s’more in Gramps’s lap. He picked it up and took a bite.

Caleb handed her another marshmallow. “You seem to get the marshmallow just right, so mind doing mine?”

Kaye’s emotions binged all over the place. There was that sizzle she felt, but also she was on pins and needles, worried he’d ask about what happened during the storm.

This flashback had been the worst she’d experienced.

“Kaye?” Caleb said again, holding out the marshmallow.

“Well, since your last marshmallow resembled the black mess on the back porch, I guess I could.”

Caleb grinned. “That last one I did looked exactly like the mess on the porch.”

The lightning had blown all the lightbulbs in the house along with all the appliances—big screen included. Even the hot-water heater had been fried. Joel called the insurance company on his cell phone and was told to leave things alone until the adjuster could get out to the ranch tomorrow. If they had any working cameras or if their cell phones had a camera they should take pictures of the damages.

They’d put the things from the refrigerator in an ice chest and had hot dogs for dinner. The fire in the fireplace was Gramps’s idea. They had only two lightbulbs in the pantry, so they’d replaced one in Gramps’s room but had to find a lamp that still worked to put in the other lightbulb. Luckily, all their flashlights worked.

“I wonder if we’re the only ones who got hit,” Joel said.

“I’ll ask when I call the other members on the committee. Oh, by the way, I talked to Nan today.” Kaye pulled the marshmallow out of the fire and handed the skewer to Caleb.

In the light from the fireplace, Kaye could see her brother’s guilty look. “Oh?”

“That’s why I decided to ride out to the field, to have a little talk with you.”

Joel shifted on the chair. “About what?”

“About all the details I couldn’t find in your pile. Have you assigned jobs to the various board members? Nan didn’t know what she was to do.”

In the dim light, Kaye couldn’t tell if he blushed, but he wouldn’t look at her.

Joel stuffed the last of the s’more in his mouth. “Not exactly,” he mumbled around the graham cracker.

Her brother acted more like a teenage boy than an adult male. Caleb and Gramps avoided looking at her, too.

“We’re going into town Saturday morning to meet with the other members on the board of the charity rodeo. If we’re going to pull this off in the allotted time, everyone needs to be assigned a job, so before I do that, I want to talk to all the board members.”

“Well, let me know how it goes.” Joel tried to hand her another marshmallow.

“Oh, no, big brother.” Her firm tone drew everyone’s attention. “You and Caleb are going with me. Remember, you promised to help.”

He opened his mouth, then closed it.

She readied herself to bat down any further arguments. “Gramps, if you want to come, you’re more than welcome.”

Gramps nodded. “Better than sitting here with nothing working.”

Kaye took the marshmallow from Joel.

“So why didn’t you just call, Sis? When that storm hit, I thought you were here with Gramps.”

She paled at the question and her gaze flew to Caleb’s. His expression remained neutral. “After talking with Nan, I wanted to get some straight answers from you.”

“And you found Caleb, instead.”

“I did.” Kaye battled the fear that Caleb would mention how she froze up.

“We were caught out there in the field when the lightning struck,” Caleb explained. “Nearly rattled all the teeth out of my head and didn’t do our horses any favors. We raced toward that copse of trees, took shelter and rode out the storm.” Nothing in his tone indicated she’d flipped out.

Joel’s eyes narrowed. “I had to fight my mount when one of those strikes hit close.”

“As I said, our mounts weren’t happy, either.” Caleb popped the last of his s’more into his mouth. Was there a pattern here? Stuff the mouth and don’t have to answer the question.

Kaye anxiously waited, but Caleb simply continued eating his treat. He nodded toward the bowl of marshmallows.

“Could you do in another one?” he asked between bites.

His question snapped her out of her anxiety. She searched Caleb’s gaze and realized he wasn’t going to say anything about her flashback. “Sure.” She put two marshmallows on a skewer and held it over the flames.

A weight lifted off her shoulders. Still reeling from the incident, she didn’t want her family to know about what happened. Flashbacks weren’t that unusual for combat veterans and she’d had a few before now, but this last one was a real doozy. The noise of the thunder and sudden change in the air pressure had resembled the moments around when the bomb detonated. She remembered being pushed down into blackness when the bomb had gone off in the café. Snatches of the minutes after the bomb floated through her memory.

The cries.

The moans.

The stickiness of blood on her face.

And the metallic smell of blood and biting smell of cordite.

Through the panic this afternoon, a prayer had pierced the nightmare. The words had been a lifeline in the sea of pain and terror that she’d grabbed on to and held until the nightmare receded. When the world had come back into focus, Caleb’s strong arms had surrounded her. He’d smelled of man and wet horse, which had been a blessing and comfort. It was reality that she held on to.

She’d feared Caleb might ask what was wrong, but he hadn’t. And he hadn’t ratted her out to her brother when he’d had the opportunity.

“I think those marshmallows are ready,” Caleb whispered.

Jerking the marshmallows back, she pushed one onto the graham cracker he held.

“Thanks.”

Kaye nodded, thinking she was the one who should thank him. She breathed a sigh of relief, and the knot in her stomach eased. Caleb had just won her respect. And gratitude. When she looked at him, there was no disdain in his eyes, simply understanding.

“Whoever would’ve thought we’d be roasting our dinner over the fireplace,” Gramps grumbled. “I remember it wasn’t until I was eight before my folks got electricity at their ranch. I liked the convenience.”

“Well, tomorrow’s going to be a big day. After the insurance man comes, I’m going shopping. If y’all want any input into the purchases, you’d better come with me.”

“You can do that, Sis. We’ve got a lot to do here.”

“You know better what appliances we need,” Gramps added.