Page 31 of Opposites (Never) Attract
“Jesus,” Ethan breathed. “What-”
I’d never seen Sunshine run before. And in those fancy wedges, I didn’t see how she could pick up any speed, butshe was kicking up a cloud of dust behind her as she bee-lined straight toward me.
“Not well,” I said. “That’s how she took it.”
The entire clan poured out of the house behind her. Including Harmony’s blind dog Jenny, who was running off in the wrong direction, while Harmony’s goose was honking at Sunshine’s heels.
“Harmony!” Monica Calloway yelled. “Come back, please.”
“Harmony!” Everyone else echoed. “Come back!”
“It’s Kaitlyn!” Sunny roared over her shoulder.
“Who is Kaitlyn?” Ethan asked.
“She thinks she is.”
“Start the truck,” Sunshine yelled. “Now!”
“I think she’s talking to you,” Ethan said, backing up a few steps, like he was afraid of a charging lion.
I didn’t blame him. Sunshine looked like an Amazon princess charging into battle. Her fists were clenched, her face was red, and if she’d had a weapon, I would have been nervous. As it was, I was used to charging wild things.
But, damn, she was fierce.
Her wish was my command, so I hopped back into my pickup truck and started the engine. A few seconds later, Sun was throwing herself into the passenger seat.
“Drive!” she barked at me.
“Yes, ma’am. Any particular…” I stopped talking when I saw her face. She was tears and rage and shock. She just wanted to get away.
I reversed the truck at stuntman-worthy speed, and drove away from the Lodge like it was chasing us.
The two families were in our rear view mirror, bent over and panting as we made our getaway.
“Did you know?” she snapped at me, her arms crossed over her heaving chest, her damp eyes shooting out sparks.
“Oh, no, sweetheart. Don’t lump me in with them. I knew. But, I’m not your family. Yes, I volunteered to come get you in New York. But, as far as I was concerned, none of it was my business, and it certainly wasn’t my doing.”
“You made it your business when you offered to come and get me.”
“Fair enough. But, I’m not your enemy, and I think you know that, or you wouldn’t be using me as your getaway driver.”
Wiping her eyes, she looked out the window, back towards the ranch. The McGraws and Calloways were getting smaller, but distance and speed weren’t going to make the truth go away.
Without thinking about it, I headed towards town.
Last Hope Gulch wasn’t much more than a public square that abutted a set of abandoned train tracks that used to bring cattle to market in Cheyenne two hundred years ago. Last Hope Gulch grew up around those tracks.
The first Calloway – the widow who refused to sell her land to the McGraw who wanted it – started selling goods to people on the train. Her daughter started cooking, and a café sprung up. It wasn’t long before a bar joined the dusty main street.
Last Chance Goods and Provisions.
Last Meal Café.
Last Stand Bar.
All original to the town. That’s how the Calloway kin ended up running the local businesses, while the McGraws owned all the land and the cattle surrounding it.
