Chapter Eighteen
Colton
My throat went completely dry as I watched Bethany turn from the dining table and run from the room. I wanted to call after her, grab onto her, kiss her lips, and beg her not to go. Instead, I just strode out of the house and breathed deeply of the crisp night air.
"Aren't you going to go talk to her?" Mama asked me from the porch.
"No. I'm going to the bar. I need a drink," I stated simply. I got in my truck and drove down to the Lucky Horseshoe in Riverbend.
Bethany had a lot of nerve getting me to fall for her and then suddenly leaving without any warning. I should have known a pretty young blonde like her would drag my heart through the mud.
Well, I wasn't going to give her the pleasure of watching me beg. I was going to drown my pain in whiskey shots. I should have stayed away from her; now it was too late. When she went back to Chicago, she'd be taking a piece of my heart with her.
"Long time, no see, stranger," a pretty female voice said as I sat down on a stool at the bar.
"Katie Billings. What the hell are you doing here?" I asked the busty brunette standing behind the bar. Her ebony hair was pulled back in a ponytail, and she was wearing a white blouse cut way too low in the front and a pair of skin-tight jeans that showed off her hourglass curves.
"I'm working; what does it look like?" she teased sarcastically. I remembered Katie always had a sense of humor like that back when we went to school together. She had been my first girlfriend sophomore year in high school, but only because my brothers had dared me to ask her out.
She wasn't really my type. She was too sassy, and I preferred girls with a softer, sweeter side. I tried to let her down easy without hurting her feelings, but the next week someone egged my father's truck. I couldn't prove it, but I knew it was Katie Billings.
Junior year, she hooked up with the star of the football team, Steve Campbell, and after that things were cool between us. She didn't hold a grudge, and I was friendly with her whenever we passed each other in the halls or had to sit next to each other in a class. After graduation, I heard she got pregnant and ended up marrying Steve.
She looked as sexy now as she did back then, and I couldn't stop myself from staring at her display of cleavage.
"I didn't know you worked here," I said stupidly as she set two shot glasses in front of me and filled them both with whiskey.
"Yeah, I just moved back to town a few months ago, and Ray gave me my old job back. Here's to old friends." She took one of the shot glasses and held it up. I was surprised she could drink on the job, but I wasn't about to say anything about it. Instead, I just clinked my glass to hers and downed the contents. It burned my throat, but once it hit my stomach, a warm glow began radiate through me, and I asked her to pour me another.
"How long has it been since we've seen each other?" I asked after a little while. I was already beginning to relax from the stressful day I'd had. Between the debt with the ranch for the missing cattle and Bethany deciding to leave in the morning, it couldn't have been a worse day, and I was ready to drown away my troubles with whiskey.
Katie leaned forward against the bar, presenting her cleavage provocatively as she answered my question with a sexy purr. "Too long. We sure had a lot of fun back in high school. We should get together and hang out sometime."
"Sure. Why don't you and Steve come on out to the ranch sometime?"
"Steve? What made you think of that bag of horse crap?"
"Didn't you two get married after high school?"
"Yes, but that didn't stop him from trying to get up the skirt of every cheerleader in the squad. I caught him cheating with Melissa Morris, and we divorced six months ago."
"I'm sorry. I had no idea. Do you have children?"
"Yes, and I'm sure they'd love to see a real cattle ranch. I don't mind taking you up on that invite to come out sometime."
Not exactly what I had intended, but I couldn't rescind the offer just because she wouldn't be bringing a husband.
"Sure. How about next weekend?"
"Oh, the kids will be with Steve, but I'll still come out. I'll bring a picnic basket and some wine. We can reminisce about the good old days. Remember that night I let you get to second base in the cab of your father's truck? It must have been the first time you'd held a pair of boobs."
"Yeah," I answered awkwardly and downed another shot. My vision was blurry, and I could barely remember what had made me come to the bar in the first place.
That's right: it was Bethany. She was leaving me in the morning and with the ranch in financial trouble, I couldn't afford to offer a job to get her to stay. My whole world was falling apart. Our family would lose the ranch if I couldn't find the missing cattle, but that was nothing compared to losing Bethany.
Katie was running her acrylic fingers through my hair and thrusting her oversized chest out at me. "Why wait until next weekend to see each other? My shift ends in an hour. Why don't we go out to the lake and rekindle old times?"
"No." I shook my head, trying to concentrate through the drunken haze. "Bethany."
"My name is Katie," she glared at me angrily, but quickly forgave me. Stroking my arm with seductive fingertips, she asked, "What do you say we get out of here?”
I stared at the row of empty shot glasses lined up on the bar. Had I really had that much to drink? As the room began to spin, I knew only too well that I had.
Wrenching myself free of Katie's grasp, I lurched towards the door. "I have to go home."
"I'll take you home," she offered. "You're too drunk to drive."
"I have to talk to Bethany."
"Who?" Katie looked ticked off, but she had no right to be jealous. We hadn't dated in twenty years, and I had to be honest with her.
"Bethany Foster. She's leaving tomorrow, but I have to ask her not to go. I have to ask her if she'll please stay with me. I don't have any money to offer her a job. In fact, we might lose the ranch and have to move someplace else, but I don't care about that as much as I care about her. I can't stand the thought of not being able to see her every day."
"Sounds like you've got it bad." Katie clicked her tongue. "Okay, Lover-boy, get in my car and I'll drop you off at the ranch."
"I don't want to get you in trouble with your boss."
"Don't worry. Now get in, and try not to puke. I just got the interior detailed."
Katie drove me home and dropped me off at the edge of the road. "I'd take you all the way to the house, but it might not help your cause if your girlfriend see's you getting out of the car of another woman." She winked.
"I can walk from here. Thanks, Katie. You're a great lady."
"Well, I don't know if I'm a lady or not, but thanks. You take good care and go win back your girl. If she refuses to stay with you, she's crazy; just come back to the Lucky Horseshoe and let me know. I'll be your girl again."
"You were too much for me to handle, but don't worry. There's a perfect guy out there for you somewhere."
She blew me a kiss and drove away.
The ground undulated under my feet as I staggered down the road leading to the ranch house. I kept rehearsing the speech I wanted to make to Bethany as I went, trying to find the right words to convince her to stay. All I had to offer her was my deep love, and I only hoped that would be enough. If it wasn't, losing the ranch wouldn't matter, because my life would be meaningless without her.
I could hear all the horses making a ruckus in the stable, and it struck me as odd. Veering away from the house, I staggered towards the stable just beyond my office. Maggie came running up to me, whimpering with her tail between her legs, which was even odder still.
"What's wrong, Maggs?" I asked her, and the shepherd collie took off running.
That's when I noticed the smell of smoke in the air. There usually was some from the fireplace in the house and in the cabins where the workers lived, but this was different. It was much stronger and reeked of substances other than kindling and wood.
My heart began to pound wildly in my chest, and there was a tightness in my chest as realization dawned on me. My eyes peered in the dark, straining to see, and suddenly there it was. A bright orange glow coming from the cracks beneath the barn door, and my worst fear was confirmed: the barn was on fire.