Chapter 3
They rode parallel to the road on an animal trail, then veered into the forest following orange flags stuck into the ground. Cooper kept up a running description of what they’d do to build the road with as little disruption to the surrounding forest as possible, but Jack was having a hard time following his words. His attention kept straying to Chloe who was riding with Paige and Brooke in front of them clearly in full control of her horse, which he found incredibly arousing.
As soon as Cooper finished his speech about the road, Jack spurred his horse forward past Chloe to catch up with Calvin and Carter who had taken the lead. Once he couldn’t see her, he was relieved to find that his brain began to clear of all the provocative thoughts about Chloe he couldn’t seem to control. He briefly wished that he could act on the attraction he felt for Chloe, the tantalizing thought of exploring her voluptuous body created a tightening in his pants, an uncomfortable thing when riding a horse.
Desperate, to divert his mind from thought of Chloe, he asked, “When will the road go in? I was hoping to get the flock over here as soon as possible to give them time to adjust before winter.”
“We’ll start tomorrow, the engineer we hired is on his way up today, along with the construction crew. It shouldn’t take more than a week to get the road built, then we’ll get your barn and paddocks built, so I’d say a couple of weeks should be all we need.” Calvin informed him.
Satisfied with the time line, which was exactly what he’d assumed it would be, he began to make mental lists of everything he’d need before the sheep arrived. He was so distracted he didn’t notice when they climbed a rise to a huge plateau that was covered in a blanket of green grass so brilliant they all stopped for a second to appreciate the beauty of what they saw.
Realizing that everyone had stopped, he focused his attention on his surroundings. The plateau stretching for nearly a mile along the mountain was practically humming with life. The wild grass nearly knee deep was dotted with wild flowers, for a man who was accustomed to the dry lands of Australia, it was a staggering sight. They pushed their horses into the tall grass, fighting to keep them from stopping to eat, finally reaching the other side and the shelter of the trees.
Looking back, Jack estimated that the entire area would be large enough for not only his ranch but the veterinary clinic and house that was planned. He’d see the plans but hadn’t been able to really understand just how perfect the area would be, even sharing it didn’t bother him as much now that he’d seen it. He could easily visualize what it would look like a few years from now, barns, paddocks, and a snug little house tucked into the trees.
Taking a deep breath of the fresh mountain air, air that at first had seemed foreign but was quickly beginning to feel like home, he felt a fresh burst of hope. It had been hard being here alone for the last week, but seeing the location of his new home he knew that everything was going to be okay. He’d been dreading his brother’s arrival, but now he was excited for them to arrive with Josh next week. Although he still hadn’t seen the cabin they would be living in, he was sure that it would be perfectly acceptable until their house was built.
Chloe’s horse stopped when everyone else’s did, and then she saw why, spread before her was one of the most amazing pieces of land she’d ever seen. Perfectly situated to give a spectacular view of the canyon, it was green with wild grass, the smell of life heavy in the air. It took her a minute to absorb the fact that this was where she’d be living and practicing medicine, a dream come true if truth be told, and once again she wondered how she’d gotten so lucky.
When they stopped under the trees and dismounted, she looked back at the plateau almost wishing that they weren’t going to disturb it with their presence. “It’s almost too pretty to mess with.” She said, voicing her thoughts.
“Don’t worry, we’re going to do our best to keep it as pristine as we can.” Cooper said, coming to stand beside her. “That’s part of what we’re trying to do here in the canyon, show people that they can thrive without leaving a huge carbon footprint. We’re exploring sustainable sources of energy as well as innovative ways of raising livestock and crops.”
“Is that why you chose sheep instead of cattle?” Chloe asked, looking at the canyon through new eyes.
“Not really, we’ll probably add cattle sometime in the future; for now adding the sheep is enough. We have to examine the impact of their grazing in the upper pastures.” Cooper explained.
“So, it’s like one giant science experiment?” Chloe finally began to understand.
“You’ll see for yourself since you’ll be traveling all over the park, but sometimes we have as many scientist running around here as we have residents. It all started that first summer when the water was restored and we found the Indian burial ground. We finally had to build them quarters over on the other side of the park since it looks like some of them will be around for a while.” Cooper said, then went to help unload the food for lunch.
After lunch, they split into two groups, half stayed with Jack to discuss construction plans for his property, while the rest mounted and rode the mile to where the veterinary clinic was already steaked out in the tall grass. Chloe had seen the plans but they’d made little sense to her, so she had Calvin explain where each room would be located. Then they paced off the barns and outbuilding that would be used as part of the clinic when she needed to treat large animals.
“The space should be adequate for the time being, but we’ve designed all the building to be easily expanded when the time comes, and if we outgrow this space, we’ll build another clinic down the mountain further. We wanted you to be up here where more of the large animals are located.” Calvin explained, getting the plans for Chloe to look at.
Now that she was actually in the location, the plans began to make sense to her. “Calving, this is amazing, I never dreamed I’d have all this.” She said gesturing to the plans and the view of the canyon.
Calvin gave her a minute to get control of her emotions, “Chloe, there was a reason we chose you to join us here. You’re young, you’re ambitious, you’ve shown your dedication to helping animals in multiple ways, but most of all we like the fact that you were innovative in your treatments. Do you know what finally let us know you were perfect?”
Chloe was desperately trying to remember what she could have said during that interview, but came up empty, so she just shrugged her shoulders. “You stood up to Cooper when he questioned your ability to do your job. No one ever stands up to Cooper unless their family and sometimes even we don’t. You’ve got that spark we need here, you’ve worked hard to get here, now it’s time to enjoy it.”
Chloe had no words to express how she was feeling so she simply nodded her head and walked away, needing a few minutes to gather her emotions. But Paige didn’t let her get far, “Pretty amazing, isn’t it?”
“It’s kind of surreal to me right now.” Chloe answered honestly.
“Yeah, I know what you mean. I felt that same way when I came here, but it won’t last for long. It’s hard work living here, don’t forget that.”
“But it’s going to be worth it, I’ve never felt so at home in California before. I didn’t think anything like this existed here.” Chloe said, as they walked towards the woods to get out of the heat.
“I hope you don’t mind me asking, but why don’t you go back home?” Paige asked, unable to help herself.
Chloe thought about that for a minute, “It’s not like I couldn’t if I wanted to, but there’s really nothing left for me back there. I was adopted by a wonderful couple when I was a kid, but they passed away a few years ago, so I don’t really have anyone to go back to.”
“I’m sorry to hear that, to have lost your family twice in your life must have been very difficult.” Paige said, her empathy a balm to the pain those memories still brought.
“I’ve learned to cope, but I think it’s time for me to start a new life, and I can’t think of a better place than Coldwater Canyon.” Chloe said with conviction, her eyes taking in the view of the canyon.
“You couldn’t have picked a better place to do it, except we don’t have very many single men around here.” Paige said, with a wink.
“Oh, well that’s...not exactly a priority for me right now.” Chloe stumbled over her words, then feeling the need to explain added, “I just ended a relationship with someone and I thought I’d take a break from men, for a long time.”
“That bad?”
“That bad.” Chloe echoed Paige’s words with a shutter of pain and embarrassment, knowing that it would be a long time before she trusted not only herself but men in general.
Once Chloe and Jack could finally be dragged away from their future homes, they mounted the horses and headed for the cabins where they’d be staying for the near future. “We put you in cabins as close as we could, but they’re still a good mile away.” Cooper explained leading the way down a well-used trail.
True to his word, only a mile later they pushed through the trees into a small clearing in which there were two little cabins and a barn. Chloe was confused at first since she’d imagined a little cabin sitting all by itself in the middle of the woods, but seeing the confusion on her face hastened to explain. “We built the cabins in two’s because it’s much safer especially in the winter when it’s difficult to get out. We learned that lesson the hard way the first winter Brooke was here – we nearly lost her.”
Brooke waved her hand at Cooper and said, “It wasn’t that bad, but it is a good idea to have someone that close up here.”
Chloe understood the wisdom of those words, having lived so far out of town in South Dakota she knew that Mother Nature could step in and make life extremely difficult, even dangerous. So she nodded her head in understanding, so much for her private little world, Jack would be living only a few yards from her.
Once they’d all dismounted, Cooper said, “I’ll let you two decide who gets which cabin, the one of the right is a little bigger but other than that they’re exactly the same. We’ll get some sheds built for four wheelers and snow mobiles, the barn is actually bigger than the cabins so your horses will be comfortable.”
Chloe didn’t have a horse but she wasn’t about to bring that up right then. It wasn’t like she’d need one right away; she already had her own four wheeler at Cooper’s. Besides, with the salary they were paying her and so few living expenses, she’d be able to buy one in a month or two. Deciding the only way to decide which cabin she wanted to look inside, she approached the cabin on the left. As she was walking away, she heard Cooper talking to Jack.
“The trail we came in on is a little tight for you to pull one of the kiddie carts, but the other trail leads straight to the road so you shouldn’t have a problem getting anywhere you want to go when Josh gets here.” She heard Cooper say, then she saw them walk across the clearing to another wider trail.
Paige had been following Chloe, who stopped and turned to her, her confusion again clear on her face. “Jack has a son who’s just over a year old. He’ll be coming with his brothers next week.”
Chloe looked over to where Jack was talking with Cooper trying to imagine him with an infant, but not quite able to do it. She also wondered where the mother was, any woman who had been willing to give up Jack Montgomery must be crazy she thought, as she climbed the stairs to the little cabin. If she’d thought before that she needed to stay away from the man, the fact that he was obviously a single parent made that even more abundantly clear.
When she opened the door and peered into the cabin, she was surprised to find that it was much nicer than she’d expected. While small, it had everything she’d need to live comfortably for the summer, including electricity thanks to the solar panels on the roof. Stepping inside, she walked around pleased to see that while small there were enough modern conveniences that living there wouldn’t be a hardship. She’d already decided to give the bigger cabin to Jack, especially if there were going two of them, one of them a baby, but she still wanted to see it.
She was just opening the door to walk in when she felt a presence at her back and knew almost immediately from the strange pull in her center that it was Jack. When he leaned over her to look through the door she could feel his body heat through her tee-shirt and that pull turned into full blown desire. Shocked at the intensity of the feeling, she quickly stepped into the cabin to get away from Jack, taking a deep breath which she was sorry for when his masculine scent filled her nostrils.
If Jack hadn’t been so alarmed by his own response to Chloe, he would have laughed at her flustered tour of the cabin which lasted all of two minutes before she pushed past him and went back outside. Curse the woman, she did things to him he didn’t like, well he liked them but didn’t welcome them. He’d promised himself that he was done with women, that he’d never trust another one as long as he lived.
And it would be total stupidity to get involved with someone who would not only be working with him, but would be his closest neighbor. If they’d met someplace else he might have been tempted to follow his instincts and take her to bed, but that wasn’t going to happen here in Coldwater Canyon. He’d only approached her the way he had to see if the attraction was still there, and it definitely was, but his hope was that Josh’s arrival next week would cool the fire in his loins.
Chloe was waiting for him at the bottom of the stairs to the cabin, clearly keeping her distance, which was fine with him, the more distance the better. “Are you really going to live up here with a baby?” she asked, surprising him.
“Well, if this is where I’m living then Josh will have to live here too.” He said, narrowing his eyes at her, just waiting for some censure from here.
“Then you can have the bigger cabin.” She said, and marched back across to the horses without another word.
Jack watched her thinking that it was too bad that they hadn’t met under different circumstances, then mentally punched himself, thinking like that was going to get him in trouble. She was just a woman after all, he only had to remind himself what Isobel had done to him, and she seemed just as harmless as Chloe did. Although that wasn’t quite true, Isobel had been playing a part, one that he’d fallen for hook line and sinker, one that had almost ruined his life.
Thinking of Isobel only made him mad all over again, so instead he directed his thoughts back to Chloe as he watched her mount her horse with expertise thinking again that it was too bad that they couldn’t act on their attraction. Then with determination he turned away from Chloe and walked into his new home, mentally filling the room with all the things it took to raise a kid these days. It was a relief to see a washer and dryer behind a set of doors in the little kitchen, since Josh had been born he’d done more laundry than he had in his entire life.
By the end of the day, they were both moved into their new homes and the rest of the party had gone home, leaving them with plenty of food and good wishes. When Chloe waved good bye and closed her door for the night, she thought about Jack over in his cabin and wondered if he was feeling a little lonely like she was. He was probably missing his little boy, any man who would be willing to bring a child that small up here must have a deep affection for the child.
She thought about going next door, but then quickly dismissed the idea. The last thing she wanted the man to think was that she was attracted to him. That would just lead to more awkwardness between them, and there was already enough of that. With time they’d get to know one another and then hopefully this silly attraction would go away, it had happened to her before and with time gone away. Of course that had been a different time in her life, a time when she’d thought the man of her dreams was already a part of her life.
Not wanting to think of Brandon and all the pain he’d caused, was still causing in fact, she distracted herself by making dinner. Cooking had always been like therapy for her and she was pleased to find that the kitchen was well stocked, so she spent a mind free hour creating a dinner she probably wouldn’t eat, but the process soothed her enough that by bed time she was tired enough to sleep.
As she was dozing off the sounds of the night became clear to her and she realized that she hadn’t heard night music in a long time. At one point before sleep took her, she was sure she heard a large animal nosing around the cabin and was glad that she wasn’t completely alone up here. Knowing that Jack was only a few yards away gave her a small sense of security, but she’d be wise to get herself a gun the next time she was in town, you could never be too prepared up here.