4
Iris Tatum was pushing Cord’s cattle. She'd parked her truck across the road to block them from heading north and was out of the truck, out in the pelting ice, waving her hat and shouting them through the gate and onto his property as he drove them slowly in her direction.
It'd been ten years since he'd last seen her a couple weeks after graduation.
Even now, with him in his truck and her standing out in the ice, her presence hit him like a physical blow.
Maybe she'd leave.
Of course she didn't.
After he'd followed the cattle in, he watched in his rearview as she loaded up in her truck and followed him up the drive.
Just great.
Maybe he could get rid of her while he fixed the fence. The weather was spitting nasty, and she wouldn't want to stand out there and watch while he fixed it.
Except when he'd secured the gate behind the cattle and got back in his truck, he found Molly wrenching the wire with a stretcher. All three lines of rusted barbed wire had been strung tight.
She was wearing the same denim jacket from yesterday and was bareheaded. Was she trying to catch hypothermia?
He jumped out of the truck and stalked up to her.
"What're you doing?"
She gave him a wide grin, a flash of white teeth against her skin. "I told you I'm good at fixing things."
He wanted to shake her. He shouldered in beside her, and she surrendered the tool—not that there was much left to do. A couple of clicks, and he was done. He didn't want to snap the rusty old lines.
"Get in the truck," he said. "You're shivering."
She didn't lose her grin. "Didn't have time to fetch my hat. I've got ice all down the collar of my coat."
To his consternation, she didn't go immediately to his truck, even though he'd left it running. She sauntered over to Iris's truck where she'd pulled up behind him.
Iris rolled down the driver's side window.
And their voices carried, bringing him their conversation even without him turning his head.
"Thanks for your help," Molly said.
"Nice job," Iris returned.
"Come up to the house and have a cup of coffee," Molly said. "Cord would love a chance to thank you in person."
He grunted, pinching his thumb in the wire as he disengaged the tool from the fencing. He had a clear view of Iris looking at him over the top of Molly's head.
They both knew exactly how he felt about catching up.
One corner of his former friend's mouth kicked up. "Sure," she said.
Molly was beaming as she trudged to his truck. He met her there. "What do you think you're doing?" he muttered as he pulled open the door.
"Being neighborly." She didn't round the truck, just got in on his side and slid through to the passenger seat. She took off her leather gloves, holding her hands in front of the heating vent. "She saved you at least an hour of tracking down and herding your cattle back down the road."
Molly was right, but his gut was still churning.
Molly thoughtthe rancher would've been happier that they'd gotten the cattle back with little fuss. And that the fence was patched.
