had failed him so completely. Clay had turned his back on the faith he’d grown up with. To his way of thinking, God didn’t care much about Clay Logan, so Clay Logan wouldn’t care about Him.
It was something of a shock to discover he’d been wrong.
Mr. Dewey extended his hand to Clay again. “If there is ever anything I can do for you, young man, all you have to do is ask.”
Looking stunned at the tale, Hollister asked, “Does Karen need to see a doctor? I’ll be happy to cover the cost.”
Karen scowled fiercely at him. “No! I won’t go to the doctor, and you can’t make me. He’ll give me shots.”
Mrs. Dewey wiped the tears from her cheeks with her palms. “You don’t have to have any shots, honey.”
Mr. Dewey shrugged. “It’s amazing, but she seems fine.”
“I’d feel better if you at least spoke to a doctor about this. Come inside and use my phone.”
With Hollister leading the way, the trio followed him into the lodge leaving Tanner still sitting on his horse.
Clay studied the boy’s dejected posture. He knew something of what the boy had to be feeling. “Care to give me a hand putting the horses away?”
“I guess.”
Dismounting, Tanner fell into step beside Clay as they led the animals to the barn. Inside, the building held a dozen large stalls filled with thick straw waiting to give the weary trail ponies a well-deserved rest. The warm smell of horses, grain and hay were scents Clay knew well. He’d grown up on a ranch, and he’d spent his whole life as a cowboy.
Side by side, Clay and Tanner worked in silence following the routine Clay had taught the teen and his family during their trek into the wilderness. The boy’s attention to detail, his willingness to follow directions and lend a hand had made him an ideal partner on their recent trip, unlike his less-than-helpful little sister.
“I didn’t push her. I was trying to pull her back from the edge,” Tanner said at last, as he slowly brushed down his mare.
“I’m not sure I’d blame you if you had. I considered it more than once.” Clay pulled the heavy saddle and sweaty blanket off his horse and threw it over the stall door with ease.
Chuckling, Tanner began brushing with renewed vigor. “She is a pain.”
“No kidding. You have my sympathy.”
“Mom and my stepdad spoil her rotten.”
“And anything she does wrong you get blamed for because you’re the oldest.”
Tanner looked surprised. “You must have a sister, too.”
“I do. Her name is Maya, but she wasn’t the one who caused the trouble in our family. That was all me.”
“Is your sister the oldest?”
“No, she’s the baby, but I have an older brother.”
Neither of which he’d seen in seven years. Had it really been that long? How much longer would it be until Jesse forgave him? Would he ever?
And what about Nicki? Did she ever think about him? He thought about her far too often.
Each time Clay received a call from Maya he wanted to ask about Nicki, but jumping off a fifteen-foot cliff into a freezing lake was a whole lot easier.
“How can I get a job like this?” Tanner asked, breaking into Clay’s somber thoughts.
“You bum around for a while, take odd jobs on ranches, wander farther and farther away.” His voice trailed off as the aimlessness of his past hit him.
Was that all his life had been up to this point? Where did it go from here?
“Away from what?” Tanner asked.
“For me, a place called High Plains, Kansas.”
Away from the windswept prairie. From the rolling Flint Hills covered in deep green grass where cattle grew fat and sleek and a boy could ride all day without seeing anyone but a lone hawk circling overhead against a sky so blue it hurt his eyes.
Clay patted his horse’s neck as he stared at the snowcapped Rocky Mountains outside the doorway without really seeing them. Instead, he saw Nicki looking shy and beautiful; saw the moonlight reflected in her eyes as she gazed up at him inside the gazebo by the river.
He’d kissed a few women since that night, but none of them matched the sweetness of Nicki’s lips.
And all he’d done for her in return was to sully her good name.
He could still hear Jesse’s voice raised in anger condemning Clay for ruining her reputation and for so much more unspoken between them. A condemnation Clay knew he deserved.
He glanced at Tanner. The boy was still waiting for his advice. “Ask Mr. Dodd about hiring you on as a summer hand. If he and your folks say yes, then prove you’re reliable and willing to do the tough jobs. After a year or two of learning the ropes he might let you guide.”
“My stepdad wants me to start working for him when I turn sixteen, but I’d rather be a cowboy.”
Clay threw back his head and laughed. “Your dad owns the largest hotel-building company in Dallas. He’s worth millions of dollars. Go to work for him. It’ll pay a whole lot better.”
Tanner managed a sheepish grin. “Will you be here next year?”
“Will your folks leave the princess back at the castle?”
“Not much chance of that.”
“Then I may be looking for work elsewhere. Two weeks with that girl’s fits and tantrums was more than enough for me.”
This had been his last trip of the season. Soon, the mountains and valleys would be covered in a snow blanket that would last until April. Hollister had already offered to let Clay stay on over the winter, but he hadn’t made up his mind yet. He’d been guiding here for three years, the longest he’d spent in one place since leaving home, but lately he’d been feeling restless again. Like it was time to move on.
“Do you have kids?” Tanner asked.
“Me?” Clay shook his head. “I’m not the settle-down-raise-a-family kind of guy. That’s my brother’s thing.”
Why was it that his words didn’t carry the conviction he normally felt? Maybe it was because Tanner reminded him so much of Jesse, and Jesse had been on Clay’s mind a lot.
He should have been there for Jesse when his wife died.
Clay moved to the second horse waiting to be unsaddled. He hadn’t learned about Marie’s death until three weeks after the fact. The phone call from Maya back in July had missed Clay by two days. By then, he’d been deep in the Canadian wilderness with a hunting party and couldn’t be reached.
He returned
