The Jeffersons’ were at the Rockin’ K for two days before Alyssa’s graduation. Adam enjoyed them a lot more than he thought he would. They could almost be the same family, they thought so much alike. Adam spent most of his time with Mike, Alyssa’s oldest brother. They were very close in age and since they were both the oldest sibling of six they had a lot in common.

One afternoon Adam decided to be frank with Mike about his misgivings. “So how do you feel about your sister marrying a man seven years older than she is?”

Mike shrugged. “I didn’t think much about it, Alyssa has always been more mature than her age. It actually would seem odd if she married someone younger, even Chase and Cade seem too young and immature for her. They are what, two or three years younger, than Beau?”

“Two, yes. It just seems like a big age gap. He was in high school when she was in second grade.”

“Well if they had been dating back then, I would have been concerned, but they weren’t. Alyssa was very precocious even at eight years old. Very sensitive and intuitive. She noticed our dad’s attraction to Ellen, even before he did, I think. She said that Ellen and Dad looked at each other differently than they did anyone else. And she was right.”

“She mentioned something like that her first night here.” Maybe he was being over cautious, her brother and father didn’t see anything wrong. And his dad and mom seemed to be happy about the situation. He apparently was the only one concerned. Maybe it was him, not them. He’d never had a serious relationship. He’d dated, but nothing was ever serious. He never allowed anyone to get too close and he had to wonder why that was. But not now, so he decided to change the subject. “What made her decide to become a veterinarian?”

Mike gave him a side glance. “She hasn’t mentioned it?”

Adam shook his head. “Not that I know of. At least I’ve never heard anything about it. She did mention she had a story similar to Beau’s. About saving Dolly, when she got clawed up by the big cat that killed her mother. But I’ve never heard it.”

“Alyssa was an animal saver practically from the day she was born. Birds, bugs, even snakes.” Mike shook his head. “When our mother died, she was six and pestered all of us about why the doctors couldn’t save her. We figured she would become a doctor to find a cure. In fact, she and Rachel played with their Barbies like they were the doctors curing them of all kinds of problems. Those poor dolls had more broken legs and arms.” He laughed and shook his head.

Mike continued, “But her bent stayed toward animals, and was solidified when a vet came out to the ranch for an animal that needed medical attention for several days. Since our town is so remote, he stayed at the ranch. She was about ten or maybe eleven, and she followed him around the entire time he was there, asking him question after question. The guy was great with her and answered all of them, he even let her help him as he treated the animal and looked over the rest of the herd. When he left, she talked about being a vet from that day forward and never changed her mind one bit.”

Adam nodded. “Makes sense, she does seem very dedicated for being as young as she is.”

Mike laughed. “Don’t let her age fool you, she’s been an adult, mentally, since she was eight years old.”

* * *

Rachel was happy to have Tim around for a few days. Alyssa was always supportive, but she didn’t always get the artistic bent. Tim got it. They talked shop, they looked at her work and he gave her his opinion on some of her newest pictures. They went into town and he was as enamored with the old buildings and false fronts as she was.

She took him by the old photo studio that was for sale and talked in depth about what she would do with it if she had the means. And the desire to stay in Colorado. It was all pipe dreams and wild imaginings, she didn’t plan to stay in Colorado. Her life and her family were in Washington.

“It’s a great location in the middle of this street. I think it would draw foot traffic depending on what you offered,” Tim said.

“I would love to display my art, but I was thinking it might also be fun to have one of those places that have costumes and sell tourists their pictures in the old-fashioned wild west clothes. Of course, that would be mostly a summer thing. But maybe the winter could be spent taking school pictures and family portraits for Christmas cards and the like. If it has a dark room I would love to play in one of those, just because no one takes film anymore and it’s a dying art. That would be a hobby more than anything else. Although restoring old photographs might be fun to learn. Not just uploading them and then using a program to restore them and then print a new copy, lots of people do that and I wouldn’t be averse to it. But what I would find fascinating would be actually taking the original and preserving it.”

“You’ve got lots of ideas. Have you called the number to see what it really has and how much it would cost?”

“No, silly, I’m not staying here.” If she knew more about it, she might want it even more than she already did. No, she didn’t want to call.

He frowned. “Still a phone call can’t hurt you and it would be fun to see what the building has and what the going price is.”

“Yeah, but I don’t want to get the real estate person all excited about a potential sale, when there isn’t going to be one.”

“Yeah, but.”

She needed to get him off the subject before he had her calling the number. “Wait, let me show you something else that’s for sale, Mr. Woodworker.”

“Show away.”

They walked down the street to the miniature golf course. He looked at her like she’d lost her mind, until they looked through the fence. When he saw all the wooden designs for each hole his attitude changed.

“Damn, would I like to get my hands on all that and restore it. I hate to see all that work going to ruin.”

“Right?!? I just knew you would feel that way too. I’m not even a woodworker but my fingers still itch to fix it.”

“Right there with you girlfriend, right there with you.”

They looked through every break in the fence that surrounded the course and saw even more fun constructs, than she’d seen the first day. It looked like there were two courses, one that was everything Colorado and one that looked like it was based on the wild west.

Tim sighed. “That would certainly be a fun undertaking, but it’s not really in my realm of expertise. Whittling figurines is not quite the same as restoring those large mechanical constructs.”

“True.” Rachel looked at the sad deserted golf course. “It’s just pitiful to see it sitting there neglected.”

“Yeah.” Tim frowned. “You know Terry has all the tools to do something like that.”

She laughed. “He does, too bad he’s four states and two days away.”

“I’m guessing they wouldn’t transport too well either.”

Her eyebrows shot up. “You mean like pulling them up and taking them with you? You aren’t serious, are you? Aren’t you kind of busy with working on the ranch and at the art gallery and keeping up with your own art?”

“Yes, I am, it’s a dumb idea.”

She nodded. “Just like the art gallery.”

He nodded, then sent her a sly look. “But intriguing just the same.”

She had to admit he was right about that, but it was not at all practical. So best not to dwell on it, but she couldn’t stop herself from taking a picture of both numbers, and some others of both businesses.

They just barely made it back to the ranch before dinner. Rachel wondered why it felt so familiar coming back to the ranch. It almost felt like home even though she’d only been there a short time. She decided it was just hunger.