Everest didn't expect the trek from her picket gate to the rancher's own to be so long. She had trekked just a few feet along the road before coming across the abandoned house beside hers. She could barely see the house except for the top of its old shingled roof and three bucket chimneys jutting out at different angles. Tall, wispy perennial grass sprang high in dense masses all over the property, covering the whole house up behind it.
The house must have been about two stories though, for the roof looked way taller than hers.After spaning the overgrown expanse, she didn't come upon the rancher's residence at once. Rather, the road took a gentle dip downhill and then she could see a white picket fence stretch on and on for a distance. Kissing the fence was a wide expanse of freshly mown grass.The piece of grassland stretched on and on for a range, rising and dropping in match to the topography. Then Everest could see a tall two-storey in the distance. Two chimneys stuck out of its tall roof and she could see smoke, but it didn't seem to be coming from the chimneys.She hurried down the road to where the wide picket gates were. It was getting darker, and although the cold had dispersed, she still didn't feel strongly about traversing an unfamiliar piece of land so late in the day. She walked through the gates, breathing in the sharp grassy scents in the air.A tire-track marked sand-and-gravel driveway led down to the house which she could now see better and closer. She could hear the boisterous laughter of men and she frowned a bit, wondering if she would be welcome there.Throwing caution to the wind, she strutted into the property. The toy set box in her arms was starting to feel heavier and she had to return it to its run-away owner. The box happened to have four sets of tires at the bottom and a long-stemmed handle to drag it by, but doing that would have taken her years to get to the residence.On either side of her were wide expanses that stretched on and on, like golf courses. They might as well be, she thought.As she neared the house, she could now see where the laughter had been coming from. At the front of the house was a long diner table laden with feast and about a dozen or fewer men sat around it. They ate and talked loudly, making her wince. From the way they were dressed, she knew they were ranchmen. She wondered where the head rancher was, or what were they called?Bonnie Casss hadn't mentioned the residence being so large. Did they all live here? Like a ranch bunkhouse or lodge?Before she could ponder more on her question, the little girl darted into view. She had put on matching yellow platform flip-flops. She was at the front end of the long table, which barely touched the tip of her head and seemed oblivious to the men as she darted in and out between their chairs after something.Then Everest saw what she had been chasing. Well, hardly saw it. It was a snow-white fur ball of a small animal. It had just darted under the large table and the giggling girl had gone on her knees after it when one of the men seemed to notice her. He put out a hand to hold her back, uttering something. The kid frowned, stood up slowly then planted both her feet on one of his leather boots. The guy gave a mock howl, winning laughter from his mates as the giggling kid scampered after the snowy fur ball.Everest found herself smiling at the antics. The smile quickly slipped when about a dozen pairs turned to her. Her face suddenly felt hot as she wondered how silly she must look, clutching a plastic box like that.Pursing her lips to stop herself from biting on them, she lowered the box."Good evening," one of the men said in a gruff baritone.She heard a few whistles and raised her eyebrows. What the heck?"Hello. I'm here to return this to an Ilene," she said instead.All the pairs of eyes turned to the kid who had finally appeared at the other side of the table, near the porch. The kid froze and looked down at the ground.Somebody cleared his throat in the background and she looked up to see a guy at a barbeque stand just ahead of the feast. She had failed to notice the guy turning huge slabs of fatty meat at the grill.The guy strode towards her, a suspicious look in his eyes. Everest thought he looked rather sexy in the checkered shirt unbuttoned at the neck, rolled up sleeves, denim and stetson. Who didn't rush a cowboy in a stetson?He stopped just a few feet from her, his look intimidating."Queen," he said, his eyes still on her.Everest watched the now sullen kid trudge to stand beside him. She wouldn't look up from the ground and had found sudden keen interest in rubbing one foot against the other.Her eyes widened as she looked back at the guy. She hoped she hadn't just put the kid in trouble. From the aura he gave off and the other men's reaction to him, he was obviously the head guy."I... I just wanted to return her toy set. She left it behind when she left the shed. . ." She trailed off when the man still wouldn't stop staring at her as though she had offended him."What shed?" he demanded, glancing down at the kid for a second before returning his tired frown to her.She tried and failed to smile. What was his problem? "I just moved into the house up the road."The guy frowned harder and looked back down at the kid. "Queen."The girl slowly raised her eyes to him. It was already moist and shone with emerald tears."Did you go up to Mrs Casss' little house today?"The girl crossed her hands behind her and played with her feet more. "No, I didn't, Daddy," she said slowly.The father pursed his lips and continued to stare at his daughter.Shards of guilt threatened to slice Everest's heart into tiny pieces. She started to open her mouth to defend her when the kid sighed deeply and spoke up."Yeah, I did," she admitted sorrowfully and bent to pick up the long handle of the box.Awkwardness lolled heavily in the air as the girl dragged the box up to the house. The din from the feasting men seemed to fade into the background as Everest and the man had a staring competition.Everest for one was pissed off. What was the big idea anyways? Why was he so angry? And at her who was a complete stranger?If situations had been different, she might have found herself appreciating his physique. He was tall, probably standing at an inch above six feet, nothing daunting for her since she was also tall herself. He looked to be in his mid-twenties and was caucasian but had smooth tan skin from what she could tell from the hat-shadowed face and muscular arms.But something else about him piqued her interest, something she couldn't quite put a finger on.Was it his intense grey eyes that seemed to x-ray her or the way his dark blonde hair fell in waves in front of his forehead beneath the stetson?It didn't matter anyhow. He was some rude bastard. And was still starting at her rudely like she was a child he wanted to scold.She gave him her best slighting look. "I had better be going then."He grunted in reply and nodded. His reprimanding look still remained on her as she turned to leave.She half-expected him to call her back and apologise and thank her but nothing of such happened as she walked up the long driveway to the picket gates.Everest scowled and had half a mind to kick at the gates as she got unto the road.Whatever his problem was, he could shove it up his arse."What are you thinking?"Mentor's eyebrows puckered in a frown. He stopped staring into space to glance at the guy on the other side of the table. "Sorry?"Fabian stopped wiping at the table with a rag and flicked his long black hair out of his face. "What you thinking, boss man?""Hmmm," Mentor said absent-mindedly, shrugging. "Nothing much."It was Fabian's turn to hum in disbelief. But the guy didn't want to push it. So he went back to wiping at the table. "As I was saying, she said I had to get my ass home by twelve on weekends. Like, who does that? Is she seriously going to stay up all night waiting for me?"Mentor's mouth bent in a smug smile. "Dude, given your indiscriminately wild nature, I'd say your mother being autocracy is the best for you."The guy smiled, dropping the rag on the table. "Not you too, boss. Come on, she's making it hell for me."Mentor picked his own rag to give the table one last wipe. "I have a feeling she's going to stop doing that the day you start sho
Mentor was already settled in bed. He picked up his phone from the nightstand and found Shilla's number.After three rings, the call was picked. A baby voice came over the line."Heyyo?"His eyebrow quirked and he smiled. That had to be Dexter, his two-year-old nephew. "Hi, Dexter. It's Uncle Mentor. Can you give the phone to your mommy?""I don't have a uncle," the boy protested rather loudly.A chuckle broke from his lips. "Yes, you do, sonny. I'm Mommy's brother."The boy didn't reply to this and all Mentor heard was heavy breathing on the line. He started to wonder if he should cut the call or try calling his brother-in-law and he settled for the former, the latter being something he didn't look forward to doing.As luck would have it, Shilla's voice came in the background. He heard her asking her son who he was speaking to. The boy blew a loud raspberry and giggled, and then Shilla's voice was speaking on the phone."Oh my God, Mentor. Sorry about that." She chuckled. "I can har
If this wasn't pure bliss then Everest didn't know what it was. Lounging in a cold and calm lake on a cool night, all alone and with nothing to disturb you.Despite the frigid cold in the air, the pale white full moon shone down in all its glory. Its multiple bursts of reflections on the repose lake shimmered and sparkled like a thousand white jewels on the sleeping water.Although it was yet to rain for the season, the fresh, earthy scent that came with rain permeated the air like an air freshener. Everest could see the bright, translucent beads of moisture that the early late-night dew had formed on the blades of grass about the lake.Daring to explore beyond her backyard had been worth it after all. The landlady hadn't mentioned anything about a lake being on her property, so when she had found it in all of its restful glory, she had been astonished.It turned out the picturesque prairie that stretched on at the back of her house had an ending after all. She had just finished her s
The next two days were pretty uneventful for Everest. She spent time setting up her small rented house properly and of course, keeping up with her friends online.She had been wanting to go into town to check out stuff but had been putting it off to enjoy a few days of quiet she had come here for. Opening the pantry and finding it full of all of a bag of chips and pretty much nothing else had done it for her. She had had no choice but to go into town today.She walked down the piazza and broke into a small laugh on seeing the bustle before her.Finally! It seemed like she had found her way to the market successfully. She dropped into the nearest canopied seat at an open shop to the side and stuffed the map back into her tote bag to wipe the film of perspiration from her hot brow, breathing heavily. The real reason she had been postponing going into town was the absence of transportation. The distance from her side of the town to the umbra was a huge fucking stretch that couldn't be
Mentor Gayle Calloway had never found himself so worked up like this before. Well, at least, not in the past four years. The most he had done was get angry at some occurrence on the ranch or get worried.But the way his heart palpitated so fast like the workings of a water turbine, and the way the thing called fear clutched his whole being in a vice-like grip, it all sprung a new one on him.And that it was all happening because of his new neighbour was something that scared him the most. Akin to the emotions of a prepubescent school boy getting a first glance from his crush.When the subject of his unwonted feelings smiled his way, Mentor could have sworn his heart had done a rolling somersault in his chest of its own accord. Was it because of the way that elegant smile showed the slight dimple on her left cheek and lit up the room? Or the way that same glow of a smile seemed to affect all the males around her, dazzling them into a frozen audience?"Hi," she said softly. He struggle
It was early morning, maybe a bit past six. Filmy blankets of mist still wandered in the low sky, shrouding everything down below it in damp layers of cold. Everest wrapped her white terry robe tighter around her body and shut the curtain. Then she turned away from the window and leaned against the wall beside it.She covered a yawn and eyed the four-poster bed. Going back to sleep would be a good thing right now, but she had made up her mind to start working today. Her days of lazying about were over.After that trip to the market a few days ago, she had barely stepped out of the house. With the gardening equipment she had found in a metal box in the barn, she had worked on her front garden, discovering her very green fingers. Then she had been to the big bookshop cum library in town just yesterday afternoon. Bored and having all day on her hands, she had wandered her front yard as though looking over her garden when Mrs Casss's rusty old truck Lassie pulled up at her front gate.Th
A normal day at Calloway Cattle Ranch involved nomadic cowhands and ranch hands herding the cows out to new pastures all day, workers that operated the dairy and those that were in charge of animal care and the likes. Most of the ranch hands slept in the ranch bunkhouse, a gentrified redbrick building that sat further up the hillMentor walked towards the large stable, having handed off his daughter to a trusted worker who was wager to give her a tour. The stable held a total of thirty-four stalls and twenty-nine horses, with seventeen lined on either side of the wide longitudinal walk path.The smell of juniper and steed enveloped the air as he entered through the main front door.He could hear some whistling ranch hands busy in the empty stables with spades and iron pans and he remembered the stables were supposed to be mucked today."Nice morning, boss," they greeted him.He returned their greeting and nodded."Where's Pinky?" he asked a guy carrying a filled pail beside him."He's
It was afternoon before Everest knew it. She had spent all day on her laptop sketching and then working on the foundation of two houses. Now the inertia had worked a kink into her shoulder.She pushed to her feet from the desk and massaged her shoulder blades, working her neck from side to side. She closed her laptop to put it to sleep and walked toward the dressing table.She bent to inspect her fatigued face in the mirror. Her black curls were packed into a puffy bun on the top of her head, and now perspiration clung to her hairline.She stood and examined her pink dress shirt and tight black leather shorts. Maybe she could go out.The sheet of perspiration in her hairline trickled down her right temple. A cold shower should probably be in order first. Everest had started toeing off her sneakers when she remembered the lake and how it'd be a perfect place to have a cold afternoon bath. Besides, the shower was likely to be too hot at this time of the day anyway.While slipping off t