“Is it always this warm?” he asked.
“This is a bit unusual. It’s usually in the low nineties in July and then starts going down. This year, it’s hanging around. It’s a bit cooler in Covenant Falls. We’re higher, altitudewise, from here, and the town is nestled next to the mountains.” Her tone was cool. It had lost something since he’d said she was pretty.
He shifted uncomfortably in the seat and stared ahead. He had been doing that a lot since leaving the hospital. The journey to Pueblo from Denver had been agonizingly long, or maybe it had just seemed that way. He had been a passenger on a plane, in a car and on a long-distance bus. Brutal. He yearned for his seat in a chopper, in controlling a complex machine that both protected and destroyed. He had been doing both for most of his adult life. Flying was his life. His identity. At gut level, being a pilot was who he was. Who he had been since he was seventeen.
Now he might never fly again. Or even drive a car. Worse, he didn’t have a goal for the first time in his life. A driving force. A purpose.
Stop it!
He was a fighter. Always had been. Since he was eight years old and his stepmother decided she didn’t want him in her house any longer, he’d looked ahead, determined to plot his own path.
“You’ll like the cabin,” Stephanie said, interrupting his thoughts. “Josh did a great job in rehabbing it.”
“I’m not sure how long I’m staying.”
She turned to him and gave him a wry smile. “Neither did Josh when he came. Covenant Falls can get to you.”
“Have you lived there long?”
“Five years, but even if I’d lived there twenty years, I would still be a newcomer. You should know that everyone is rather curious about new residents, and gossip spreads faster than a sky full of locusts.”
Her cell phone rang. The thunderous tone was the theme music from the movie The Magnificent Seven.
She glanced down at it, then steered to the side of the road and stopped the car. Quick questions. Something to do with a cow. When she hung up, she turned to him. “A short detour,” she said.
“Something wrong?”
“An ailing heifer. She’s not far from here. Shouldn’t take more than an hour. Okay?”
“Fine,” he said. He didn’t really have much choice. He was hitching a ride, after all. He was at the driver’s mercy. But he had to ask: “The Magnificent Seven? That’s an interesting ringtone.”
She shrugged.
“Dr. Phillips to the rescue?”
“Stephanie,” she reminded him.
“I beg your pardon,” he replied with a quick grin.
She frowned. “That’s not why I have it. I just like the tune. It’s hard to ignore. Very effective in cutting off conversations.”
Wry humor. It intrigued him. “You like cutting off conversations?”
“Inane ones, yes.”
Well, she had put him in his place. Neatly. Maybe Covenant Falls wouldn’t be as dull as he’d thought it would be. That prick of interest was expanding.
He tried another tactic. “What’s wrong with the cow?” he asked.
She shrugged. “A rancher says one of his heifers isn’t eating, which could mean a number of troubles. All bad. Like I said, the ranch isn’t far from here.”
It was an obvious though unspoken question.
Clint settled back. “I have nothing pressing in mind.”
“Good.” She turned back to the road. “I’ll call Josh and tell him we’ll be late. He’s going to meet us at the cabin to give you the keys and probably tell you the best way to piss off the town. He did a great job when he first came to Covenant Falls.”
Clint grinned. “Are you saying diplomacy is not one of his virtues?”
“You could say that, but he’s learning. Too bad.” There was amusement in her voice again. He was discovering she didn’t go out of her way to be diplomatic, either. He liked that. No bullshit. No false sympathy or concern.
He tried to remember exactly what Dr. Payne had said about the cabin and its owner.
The psychologist hadn’t been very forthcoming about the cabin or his new landlord, although he’d been good at prying into Clint’s life. Dr. Payne’s first visit had been to introduce himself and say he was available. The second had been two weeks before Clint’s discharge. He’d asked about his future plans, and the fact was, Clint had none.
He closed his eyes and thought of their meeting.
“No family?” the shrink had asked, and Clint suspected the man knew he’d had no visitors.
“No,” he said, but his records proved otherwise.
“No support system?”
“I don’t need one. It’s just a headache now and then.”
Dr. Payne stared at him. Waited. “Well, maybe you can do a favor for me, then. A friend of mine, a former patient here, is looking for someone to look after his cabin. He just married and moved in with his wife. He rehabbed the cabin after it was vandalized, and he doesn’t want it to happen again. It’s in a small town with a lot of veterans. You can walk to nearly every business in town, and there’s both a lake and mountains.”
“What’s the rent?”
“Just the utilities. And keeping it in good shape.”
“Where is it?”
“A little town named Covenant Falls in Colorado. It’ll give you time to decide what you want to do...”
Clint suspected there was more to it than that, but hell, he had nowhere else to go and Payne knew it. He couldn’t pilot or drive because of recurring blackouts. His career was over, even if the injury to his brain healed. There were too many young guys coming up behind him. And family? That was opening another can of worms. Despite some doubts, he’d accepted...
“We’re here.” Stephanie turned into a long driveway, drove past a sprawling ranch house and parked in front of the barn. She made a quick phone call, apparently to Josh, explaining there would be a slight delay in reaching the cabin. Then she turned to him. “You can stay inside the van if you want.”
No way. He was damned tired of being passive. He shook his head.
She eyed him speculatively. “Your clothes are a little fancy for a ranch.”
He looked at his chinos and dark blue polo shirt. They were new because he’d lost weight in the hospital. He kind of liked them. He also liked the comfortable loafers. A welcome relief from heavy combat boots. But fancy? Not in his wildest imagination.
Clint stepped out of the van and waited as Stephanie grabbed a medical bag, then they both strode over to a weathered-looking man who walked up to meet them.
“You got new help, Stephanie?” The rancher’s gaze measured Clint.
“Nope,” Stephanie said. “A passenger headed for Covenant Falls. Clint Morgan. A friend of Josh.” She turned to Clint. “This is Hardy Pearson. He breeds the best cattle in this part of Colorado.”
Hardy held out his hand. “The most troublesome, anyway. Good to meet you, son,” he said. Then he turned to Stephanie, his eyes worried.
“She’s in the barn. My best heifer. Hasn’t been eating. I’ve seen this twice before. Pretty sure it’s a twisted stomach.”
“How