Page 5 of The Breakdown

Natalie watched out the back window for a long while before she faced front again. She wiped at her tear-stained cheeks and sniffled.

“I know it doesn’t seem like it right now, but it’s going to be okay,” Vaughn said softly, more worried about the marks on her neck than the burning car.

“Please don’t speak of things you can’t possibly know.”

Vaughn tried again. “The car, it’s replaceable and—”

“I didn’t have full coverage,” she stated. “I couldn’t afford it.”

“Oh.”

“See? It’s not all going to be okay. None of it is.”

Vaughn remained silent. Natalie looked at the surrounding desert as the storm carried on, strong winds now jostling the truck.

“Are you okay?” Vaughn asked. “Did someone…hurt you?”

Natalie touched her neck but didn’t speak right away.

“Because you’re safe now. And we can call the police when—”

“No!”

“Okay,” Vaughn said, not wanting to frighten her.

“I can’t let him know where I am,” Natalie said, almost to herself. “I can’t let anyone know.”

Vaughn let the comment go, sensing that she was more like a scared, cornered animal than a rational human being. One wrong move and she’d scamper, never to be seen again.

“How far to your place?” Natalie asked.

Vaughn pointed. “Just right up here.”

They pulled onto the ranch road, this one leading them to the broad wrought iron entryway with the words Midnight Mine Ranch spelled out overhead. Vaughn climbed out briefly to open the gate below and returned to the truck.

Natalie mouthed the words of the ranch aloud as they drove through.

“Neat name,” she finally said.

“Thanks.”

“It’s yours?” she asked.

“Yes, ma’am. Been in my family for three generations.”

“Wow.” She looked at her. “What kind of ranch is it?”

Vaughn slowed the wiper speed as the hail stopped falling. She drove down the front drive, through the countless cottonless cottonwood trees and the large corrals that flanked them. And beyond those, stood the stables. “Horse ranch,” she said. “We breed the finest quarter horses around.”

Natalie’s eyes grew wide and she stared back out the window, presumably to look for said horses.

“You like horses?” Vaughn asked, once again thinking about her missing broodmares. She’d put a good portion of her horses in the stables before she’d left, knowing a storm was due to blow in. But a few remained turned out, and according to what she could see, her missing broodmares still weren’t among them.

“I love them.”

“Really? You ride?”

She shook her head.

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