Savannah’s Fun Evening
The next afternoon, Jessie asked Maria to take a paper up to the house. Everyone seemed to be in the offices, but when she got to Uncle Russell’s door, he was on the phone. Maria waited politely in the doorway. Uncle Russell waved at her, but held up a finger to indicate he’d be a moment.
Maria waited. Other voices floated out into the hallway. Grandma Austin was talking to someone.
“You’re wearing yourself ragged, taking those men all over the ranch to look for possible people who are sabotaging things,” Grandma Austin said. “I can’t have a foreman who can’t even stay awake.”
“I’m awake,” a masculine voice protested. Tim, maybe?
“I want you to get some rest and take today off. I know what you’re going to say, Timothy.
You’re afraid things will fall apart while you’re not there.
Well, you tell the men that if there are any problems while you’re taking the night off, they’re in trouble.
Elijah goes gallivanting into town all the time, wasting time and money, while you’re stuck here taking care of everything. ”
Maria wasn’t trying to listen, but what was she supposed to do?
She felt silly standing in Uncle Russell’s doorway holding her ears, and Grandma Austin didn’t seem to be telling secrets.
What she said was obvious—Tim was working himself into the ground.
He’d looked exhausted when he came through the breakfast line that morning.
Maria didn’t want to date him, but she did feel sorry that he had to work so hard.
It would do him good to take time off. The Montana Rider—stupid, practical, unromantic Montana Rider—could take care of the ranch.
“I don’t think Elijah’s gonna like that,” Tim said. “What am I supposed to do for the rest of the day? Twiddle my thumbs while guys cut down our fences?”
“The other hands can take care of the fences for one night,” Grandma Austin said. “Tell them that. And use your time however you want. If I were you, I’d take a long nap.”
“I keep telling you, I’m fine,” Tim said. “I don’t need the day off.”
“Timothy Daniels, are you telling me you’re not going to listen to your employer’s perfectly reasonable request?” Grandma Austin asked.
Tim sighed loudly. “All right, you win. But I’m keeping my phone on me, and if there’s a problem, somebody call me. I’ll stick close. I’m not gonna go into town or anything.”
“You’re probably the only person in the world who likes ranch work too much,” Grandma Austin said. “I take that back. Second to me.”
Tim chuckled. “That’s what I like about you,” he said. “Okay, I’m going. I’m gonna take a nap, if that makes you any happier.”
“It does.”
Maria was still in the hallway, shifting her weight from one foot to the other, and if Tim came out, he’d know she’d been eavesdropping. Closing her eyes, she prayed that Uncle Russell would finish his phone conversation before Tim noticed her.
Her prayer was answered. Uncle Russell was putting down the phone. “What is it?” he asked, and Maria hurried in and showed him Jessie’s paper with a sigh of relief. Behind her, she heard Tim come out of Grandma Austin’s office and go away whistling.
Going back down to the kitchen, Maria mulled over the conversation between Tim and Grandma Austin. Maybe she should try to forget it, but it hadn’t been about anything shocking, and she doubted they would care that she had overheard.
How did Grandma Austin get along so well with Tim when she fought with everybody else?
What was special about him? Was it just that he was interested in the ranch, the only thing she really cared about?
He was definitely a foreman after her own heart.
But how did someone warm up to Grandma Austin?
Maybe there was some way for Maria to get to know her grandma better.
Tim thought she could by being her friendly self.
But if any progress was happening, it was imperceptibly slow.
§
That evening, the heat was intense, and heavy clouds rolled over the ranch. By the time Maria, Jessie, and Rob had finished in the kitchen, the clouds were bursting. Maria looked out into a sheet of rain. How could she get up to the house?
“I’ll take you up to the house in my truck,” Rob called from behind her. “You can leave your ATV here under the overhang.”
“Are you sure?” Maria asked.
“Sure I’m sure,” Rob said stoutly. “It won’t take me more than a minute to pull the truck around. You just hold tight.”
He ran into the soaking rain.
“You didn’t even take an umbrella!” Jessie called after him. She propped a fist on her hip. “That man’s gonna catch the world’s worst cold, and it’ll be his own fault. Who does he think is gonna take care of the kitchen when he’s in bed sneezing?”
Maria suppressed a giggle. “At least it’s a warm rain.”
Rob’s truck pulled up by the kitchen. “You girls ready?” he shouted across from the driver’s seat. “Jessie, come on!”
Jessie looked back into the kitchen, maybe for an umbrella, then shrugged. “What’s the difference?” she said, and raced to get into the passenger side of the truck.
Maria shut the kitchen door behind her and rushed out to the truck. A blast of rain hit her, but within a second she was inside. “Thanks, Rob,” she gasped.
“No problem,” Rob said. Beneath his cowboy hat, his plaid shirt was soaked. “I’ll drop Jessie off at home and take you up to the big house.”
His and Jessie’s house, close by, had an attached garage. He pulled into the garage and let his wife out.
“See you tomorrow,” Jessie told Maria. “Stay dry!”
Maria laughed. “I’ll do my best!”
Rob pulled close to the ranch house to let Maria out.
The rain was still flooding down. How could one set of clouds have so much rain in them?
It wasn’t even beginning to clear up, and it had been pouring for quite a few minutes.
Maria said, “Thanks a lot, Rob,” and dashed to the house, wrestling with her key under an overhang that thankfully shielded her from the storm.
Her hair and clothes were damp, although not wet enough to change.
But she was cold. She would get a sweater.
At least she was looking forward to a nice cozy evening—she was going to have a video call with Dad and Grandma.
In the living room, she found Aunt Steph talking to Savannah, who was sitting on the couch looking glum. “You’ll be all right here by yourself,” she said. “I’m sorry you can’t go with us, but the invitation was for adults only.”
“I don’t see why you all have to troop through the rain to hang out at Scarlett’s house,” Savannah grumbled. “I thought Annabelle wasn’t even getting along with Scarlett.”
“They’ve been friends a long time,” Aunt Steph said, “and I’m glad their family invited us to dinner.
Maybe it will help Annabelle and Scarlett make up, and they could get ready for the Miss Rodeo Montana pageant together.
It doesn’t have to be a competition. They can both work to be the best they can be. ”
“Well, I don’t see why they couldn’t have invited me.” Savannah sighed. “I guess I’ll be okay here. I’m past babysitting age, you know. I don’t need somebody watching me.”
Maria cleared her throat from the doorway. “Hi, Aunt Steph,” she said. “Hi, Savannah.”
Savannah brightened. “Maria! Are you gonna be here tonight? Or are you going to Scarlett’s house too?”
“I’ll be here,” Maria said. “I’ve got a video call for a while this evening, but after that you and I could play a game.”
“Good.” Savannah hugged her knees. “I don’t mind so much now, Mom.”
“Good,” Aunt Steph said, visibly relieved. “Thank you, Maria. I suppose the Hamptons should have invited you too, but they probably didn’t know you were here.”
Thank goodness. Playing games with Savannah sounded fun, but Maria didn’t think she wanted to be much more social than that. “That’s all right,” Maria said. “Savannah and I will be perfectly fine.”
§
It was nice talking to Dad and Grandma. They were concerned about the sabotage, and Dad warned Maria to be careful as she went around the ranch. “I don’t want you going out there in the dark,” he said, “unless you’ve got somebody with you. You might want to start carrying, if you aren’t already.”
“I thought of that,” Maria said, neglecting to tell him that the Montana Rider had told her something similar. “In the morning there’s a lot of ranch hands around, though, so it’s not so worrisome. I’ll be careful at night.”
Off the call, Maria went downstairs to look for Savannah. She wasn’t in the living room.
“Savannah?” Maria called. Hopefully the girl hadn’t gone outside in the rain. It was still pouring, and completely apart from the risk of running into outlaws, it wouldn’t be good to go out in the middle of a rainstorm.
“Savannah?” Maria called again.
“We’re in here,” Savannah’s voice responded from somewhere beyond the living room. “Come join us!”
We? Maria followed the voice to the family room and found two people at the pool table: Savannah, concentrating over her pool cue, and Tim, who raised his eyebrows at Maria.
This was awkward. Savannah must have gotten Tim to hang out with her since Maria had the video call.
Well, now that Maria was here to stay with Savannah, Tim would probably go back to whatever ranch hands did on a night off.
Maybe he was still sleep-deprived and wanted to get to bed early.
“Hi,” Maria said. “Sorry my video call went late. I was talking to my dad and grandma. But I’m here now.”
“Well, howdy, Maria.” Tim nodded at her in a way that reminded her of something.
Somebody else had made that same gesture.
Was it Rob? No, it wasn’t Rob. No, she remembered now—the Montana Rider.
She didn’t want to think about the Montana Rider.
She was feeling sillier about the whole thing every time she remembered it.
“Hi, Tim,” Maria said.
“You’re just in time,” Savannah said. “Tim and I are gonna play cards. Do you know how to play poker?”