The Traveling Kind (13 page)

“Are you finished
now
?” he asked.

“Yes!” Charley choked on a sob and swallowed it before it escaped to humiliate her. Her hands were clenched into tight fists at her side while she stood tall and unmoving before him.

There wasn’t a word offered in farewell as Shad turned and climbed in behind the wheel of the pickup. His gaze didn’t stray to her when the motor grumbled to life. There wasn’t a look or a wave as the truck pulled away from the house.

“I won’t wait for you, Shad!” Charley cried again. Gary limped over to put an arm around her shoulders in silent comfort. Silent sobs began to shake her shoulders as Shad circled the ranch yard and headed down the lane to the highway. “The stupid fool! Hasn’t he ever seen any movies? Doesn’t he know that he’s supposed to turn right around and come back to me?” She sobbed in a crazy kind of anger.

Seconds later the truck disappeared from sight. Soon she couldn’t even hear the sound of its motor. Burying her face in her hands, she started crying. Gary turned her into his arms, hugging her close while his chin rubbed the top of her head.

“I’m sorry, Charley,” he murmured.

She leaned on him, unable to stop the flood of tears. Sobs racked her shoulders, tearing her apart. There was no relief from the pain inside.

“Come on, Charley. There’s no point in standing out here,” Gary urged. “Let’s go in the house.”

She let herself be turned toward the porch, leaning heavily on the support of his arm. Too blinded by tears to see where she was going, she let Gary lead her. She stumbled up the steps and across the porch floor to the door, the retching sobs continuing to tear at her chest. Inside the house he guided her to the sofa and sat down with her.

“That’s enough, Charley.” Her brother betrayed his inability to handle her tears. “Crying isn’t going to help. If you keep this up, you’re going to make yourself sick.”

Pulling a handkerchief from his pocket, he tried to dam the flow of tears by awkwardly dabbing at her eyes. In self-defense, Charley took the hankie from him and honestly tried to stop crying. The sobbing was reduced to painful, hiccuping breaths.

“That’s better.” There was relief in his voice.

But it wasn’t, not really. It was all on the inside now, all the pain and the heartache. She sat up, sniffling loudly, and pressed her lips tightly together to stop her chin from quivering. Her fingers twisted into the handkerchief, wadding it into a tight ball. Then she was noisily blowing her nose and sniffling some more.

“Damn him!” She swore at Shad, her voice taut and choked with pain.

“Now, Charley,” Gary attempted to soothe her, but she shrugged away from his comforting touch.

“How could I be such a fool?” She bounded to her feet and began pacing the living room. She switched from cursing Shad to berating herself. “I should have had more sense than to fall in love with him. I must have been crazy.’’

“You aren’t the first person to make that discovery,” Gary advised and studied her worriedly. Her lightning changes of mood left him confused and uncertain how to react.

“He told me—he warned me that he’d be moving on, but I thought—” She stopped, closing her mouth at the knife-sharp surge of pain. When she continued there was a betraying quiver to her voice. “I thought he’d love me so much he’d change his mind.”

“You’ll get over him, Charley—in time,” he comforted.

She turned on him in a blaze of anger. “No, I won’t! I won’t get over him—not ever! I’ll never stop loving him—not even when I die! I’ll come back and I’ll haunt him!” she declared.

“You don’t know what you’re saying.” He looked at her uneasily.

“Yes, I do,” Charley insisted and spun away. The beginnings of a sob started again and she pressed the balled handkerchief against her mouth and sniffed in a breath. Her eyes were watering again, blurring her vision. “Do you think he’ll come back, Gary?” The question was barely above a whisper. When he didn’t answer, she pivoted around to face him and repeated it. “Do you?”

He tried to squarely meet her gaze and failed. “I don’t know.” He evaded the question with an indefinite answer.

“But you must have an opinion,” Charley insisted. “Do you think he’ll come back? Not right away, maybe, but someday?”

Her brother clasped his hands together and studied them, taking his time before answering her. Finally he lifted his head and shook it sadly. “I don’t think he’ll come back, Charley. Shad couldn’t have made it any plainer that he wanted to leave.”

She swallowed in a breath, feeling the last hope die with Gary’s answer. She looked away, blinking at the hot tears scalding her eyes. “I would have gone with him if he’d asked me,” she said hoarsely. “I would have lived out of the back end of that truck. It wouldn’t have mattered—just so long as I could be with him.” Even as she made the statement, she recognized that later on it might not have been enough. “But he never asked me, Gary. Not once.”

“Maybe that’s best,” he suggested tentatively.

“The best thing would have been if I had never hired him in the first place,” she retorted. “I knew the moment I saw him that he was just passing through. I should have told him to keep traveling. I guess that’s what he did,” Charley said with a bitter laugh choked with pain. “The only problem is he walked all over my heart as he was leaving. All I can say is ‘good riddance!’”

“That’s right,” Gary was quick to agree. “You’re better off without him. He isn’t the kind to ever settle down. He’d always be wandering off someplace. A leopard can’t change his spots.”

“I don’t want a leopard. I want Shad.” She switched sides again. “If he was going to leave, why didn’t he go before I fell in love with him? Why did he stay so long? He said he didn’t want to hurt me. For someone who didn’t want to, he certainly did a bang-up job!”

“You’re just torturing yourself with all this talk, Charley.” Gary used the cane to push himself to his feet. “Why don’t you let me fix you some coffee? You need something to settle your nerves.”

A truck drove into the ranch yard. When Charley heard it she pivoted toward the door, her heart leaping into her throat. She glanced wildly at her brother. She felt dizzy with hope.

“Do you think it’s Shad?” she whispered. “Maybe he’s come back! Maybe he’s changed his mind and finally realizes how much he cares.”

Outside the engine died and a metal door was slammed shut. Charley rushed toward the front door, her feet hardly touching the floor. When she saw the man walking toward the porch, the world came crashing down around her. She sagged against the doorframe, her spirit broken by abject disappointment. She turned away and leaned her back against the wall, her eyes tightly shut.

“It’s Chuck Weatherby,” she informed Gary in a painful whisper, and pushed away from the wall, putting distance between herself and the front door. “I don’t want to see him . . . or talk to him. Send him away . . . please.”

On the far side of the room, she stopped and listened to Gary limp to the screen door. There was no creaking of the hinges so she knew he hadn’t opened it to invite their neighbor inside.

“Hello, Chuck.” She heard her brother greet him. “What brings you over this way?”

“Afternoon, Gary.” The greeting was returned as Chuck’s footsteps stopped on the porch. “Your hired man stopped over to see me earlier this afternoon. He said he was leaving and wanted to know if I could loan you one of my men for a couple days. I told him I could, but I thought afterward that maybe I ought to check with you.”

“That’s good of you, Chuck,” Gary said. “Russell did leave and, uh, we could use an extra hand around the place for a few more days.”

Listening to Chuck’s steady voice started Charley to thinking. She wiped away the last traces of tears on her face and took a deep breath. Taking a determined hold on her emotions, she turned toward the door and tilted her chin a fraction of an inch higher.

“Gary, why don’t you invite Chuck in?” she suggested in a loud voice.

Her brother cast a puzzled look over his shoulder. His glance seemed to demand that she make up her mind what she wanted. Shrugging at his inability to understand the female mind, he shifted to one side and pushed the screen door open.

“Come in, Chuck,” he invited.

“Thank you.” As the rancher entered the house he removed his hat and ran a hand through his auburn hair. “Hello, Charley.” He nodded respectfully toward her and smiled. “I just came by to—”

“Yes, I heard,” she interrupted him. “Gary and I appreciate your helping us out this way. We know it’s difficult to spare a man at this n time of year.”

“You know that anytime I can help you out, all you have to do is ask,” he insisted and moved slowly across the room toward her. “It’s a shame that Russell just decided to up and walk out without giving you any notice. I warned you all along that he wasn’t the kind of man you could depend on. I’m surprised that he stayed as long as he did.”

“Yes, well. . . .” Her voice wavered as she faltered over the words. She had to pause and sniff in a breath before she could continue. “We had been hoping Shad would stay longer.”

His gaze narrowed on her face, noticing her red and swollen eyes and the stiffness of her carriage. “Is something wrong, Charley?” he questioned with a frown. “Have you been crying?”

Glancing at her brother, she attempted to change the subject. “Weren’t you going to put some coffee on, Gary? You’d like a cup, wouldn’t you, Chuck?” she offered with forced brightness. “I think there’s some apple pie left from lunch.”

“Yes, that would be fine.” Despite his affirmative reply, the rancher hadn’t been distracted from his initial observation.

“Then do you want me to put some coffee on?” Gary asked as if he half expected Charley to change her mind.

“Yes,” she nodded and her brother started for the kitchen. “I’ll dish up the pie while you fix the coffee.” When she took a step to walk past Chuck, he caught her arm and stopped her. He made a closer study of her tear-washed face.

“You have been crying,” he stated.

She flashed a glance after Gary but he’d already disappeared into the kitchen. With a sigh, she met Chuck’s steady look. “Yes, I have,” she admitted because she knew he would see through any excuse she made.

“Because that Shad fellow left,” he guessed and released her arm.

Hanging her head, Charley nodded, “Yes.”

For a minute there was only silence to follow her admission. Then she sensed the growing anger that filled the rancher. It seemed to flow from him in waves. It was strangely more comforting than any kind words would have been.

“I knew something like this would happen the minute I laid eyes on him,” Chuck muttered savagely. “Rogues like that just naturally can’t keep their hands off women.”

“It’s all right, Chuck.” But she was deeply moved by his anger, which put all the blame on

Shad and none on herself. His loyalty was unshakable.

He turned to her, his mouth tight. “Somebody should teach him a lesson. He deserves to be strung up by his heels for hurting you.”

“It wouldn’t change anything.” Her eyes misted over with tears, all the hurt making itself felt afresh. It didn’t matter how many rotten things were said about Shad, she still loved him.

“I passed him on the lane when I was driving in here,” Chuck said. “He can’t have gone far. If you want, I’ll go get him and bring him back here.”

“No.” Pride stiffened her shoulders. “If he doesn’t care enough to come back on his own, then I don’t want him. I don’t want any man that I have to drag to the altar.”

Her reply stole his sense of outrage on her behalf. He breathed in deeply, his expression turning sad and grim. “Charley, I don’t know what to say except . . . I’m sorry.”

“So am I.” Her faint laugh was just short of a sob.

“I’d like to get my hands on that guy for five minutes,” Chuck muttered under his breath. “I’d teach him a thing or two about hurting people.”

Gary hobbled into the living room and paused, glancing from one to the other and guessing at the conversation. “The coffee is done. Should I pour it?”

“Would you stay for pie and coffee, Chuck?” Charley asked, giving him the option to refuse now that he had learned how she felt about Shad.

“I’d like to have some of that pie and coffee,” he said, studying her quietly, “if you’re sure I’m welcome.”

“I’m sure,” she nodded, then deliberately adopted a cheerful smile. “You have always been a good friend, Chuck, a very good friend. That hasn’t changed.”

Just a flicker of regret showed in his ruddy features before his expression was controlled to appear impassive.

“I hope you know that you can call on me whenever you need anything,” he returned, not referring to his own deep affection of her. But his meaning was clear.

Charley didn’t reply to that. Instead she glanced at Gary. “Let’s all go into the kitchen.”

All of them went through the motions as if this was an ordinary afternoon. While Gary poured the coffee, Charley sliced the pie into servings. Chuck started a conversation about ranchwork to ease the stilted silence.

The pie was consumed and a second cup of coffee drunk before Chuck sat back from the table. “That pie was delicious, Charlotte.” He rubbed his expanding stomach.