It took almost a week for everything to settle down at the Bogs.
Maisey sat curled up on the porch swing looking at the view and enjoying the peace. She closed her eyes, content. She was feeling more like herself again, less like the terrified girl who had nightmares and jumped at everything. If she was honest with herself she missed Brett laying with her at night and the feeling that imaginary, remembered or real he would protect her from anything. She couldn't tell him that, it was much too soon to want that kind of relationship. She was too damaged to be in any kind of non-platonic relationship.
Today, was moving day. Ned was loading the last of the things he was taking with him, they'd invited her to come but she wanted them to have this last trip together. She promised she'd bring him Anna's chicken salad the minute she could be convinced to make more. She had said her goodbyes the night before but she went in to give Ned a final hug and told Brett to drive safe.
Adelaine had left enough food in the bunkhouse that she wasn't coming in except to deliver pizza, at the request of the crew. Maisey roamed the house, stopping at Ned's old bedroom and realized the door to the locked room stood open. She hesitated only a minute before pushing the door open the rest of the way.
She furrowed her brow, confused. The room was empty.
She stepped inside and moved to the middle of the room, from the smell it had been recently painted, the floors were newer than any other room, done in a laminate that matched the cherry wood trim around the door and she realized it was easily the largest room in the house. She ran a hand over the lighter color wall appreciatively. Turning she saw an door that opened into a bathroom and a long space that used to be a closet but was just an open space. The bathtub was enormous, with jets that she imagined would feel great on sore muscles. But the room also had a glass walled shower on the opposite end of the room that had obviously been redone recently: it was easily big enough for two people, had multiple shower heads and a seat at either end. An envelope with her name on it leaned against the mirror.
"To a special woman," the letter began, "you won't know me, my name is Elizabeth Snow-now Franks--my sweet Ned calls me Lizzy." Maisey took the letter to the porch and sat on the swing, "Whatever wind brought you to our door, whether love, loss or sheer dumb luck please know how much you mean to Ned and our family. If you're reading this, that means you're a pretty special lady because that's who I told my Ned to give this to even though he doesn't know what it says." the letter continued with the story of the house and sketches of what must have been Lizzy and Ned's dream home. Looking at the plans she wondered why they'd never finished them. "This house is now yours," the letter finished, "just remember that a house is just a house if there is no love. Find a way to turn this into your home, full of live and laughter and you will never be unhappy here."
Maisey read the letter twice more before tucking it away. She was determined to do something more than sit around the house despite how nice it felt to have quiet after all the recent excitement. She showered, dressed in some yoga pants and a long t-shirt, braided her hair and packed a backpack with water and snacks: she was going to go hike around by the lake Brett had taken her too. She tossed in a jacket just in case.
Taking a quad, now that she knew how to use it, she let Travis know where she was headed and steered the quad along the trail.
She tucked the keys to the quad in her pocket and stood at the lakeside for several minutes before finding the trail they'd hiked and starting up it. Walking alone meant she could stop and study details like the various bird nests in trees and the songs of distance birds, even the trails bugs left on tree trunks. Using her camera she took pictures of everything, hoping to identify it all later so she could learn what natural things grew here. When she got to the top she sat to rest and watch the beauty below.
She jotted notes in her phone to be used when she started writing again. She used her bag as a pillow and laid back to watch the trees and sky, watching for the birds whose songs she heard. She must have dozed because her phone ringing and echoing across the lake startled her awake. The sun had shifted in the sky.
"Hello Travis," she said into the phone, "yes I'm fine, was watching the lake and listening to nature and fell asleep." She paused, "no, no, I'm good I'll find my way back in a while, you guys go ahead with lunch and don't fret about me unless I'm not back when Addie turns up with pizza.... thanks for checking on me....bye."
She drank a bottle of water and brushed herself off, despite what she told Travis, she'd likely have a sunburn and would deserve to be teased for it. She turned and started down the trail she had come up but noticed something in the dirt: tracks that looked like a very big dog had come up the trail behind her. She whipped her head around searching for the animal.
She took her phone from her pocket, snapped a picture and texted it to Travis. She kept walking normally even though she wanted to run or hide. She answered her phone, without looking at the caller I'd, "Tell me those were dog prints."
"Dog prints?" it was Brett not Travis, "Maisey are you ok?"
"I don't know, " she admitted, "I hiked up by the Lake and now there's giant dog prints that weren't there before. I just sent a picture to Travis," in the distance she heard another quad, "I'm going back down the trail now but I think the fact I can hear a quad coming means it's not just a dog." She kept her voice steady, "Brett I was asleep up there, why wouldn't it have attacked while I was sleeping?"
"Don't think about, just keep walking down the hill, Travis will make sure you're safe while I'm not there."
Maisey laughed to keep from crying, "For once could I just have a normal day?"
"To be fair a wolf is a normal day on a ranch." Brett told her calmly even though inside he was terrified for her. Even an adolescent wolf would kill her if it was hungry enough. "Wolves pick off sick cattle all the time. No one has been up to the lake in years except that one day we were there so I'm not surprised to hear there's a wolf or two in the area. Are you down the trail yet? Do you see Travis?"
"Not yet," Maisey told him, "But I'm going. Tell me about the drive."
"It was quiet. Ned isn't much of a talker. I helped him unpack and we toured the grounds: they've got a library, a wood shop, even a little pond. I think he'll be happy here. The painting was given prime wall placement: there's a fireplace in the living room and we hung it there."
"I see Travis now," she interrupted.
"Good, now keep moving toward him and don't stop."
Travis had a rifle in his hand, he raised it to his shoulder and looked through the scope and motioned to her to hurry, "Brett," Maisey whispered loudly, "he's got the gun pointed at me."
"Rifle," Brett corrected, "It's not pointed at you, he's looking behind you to make sure the wolf isn't stalking you."
"Come on girl," Travis called, putting the rifle down, "Let's get going before it decides it is hungry."
Maisey nodded and hurried to her quad, "Brett I need to go on the quad now. I'll call you when I get back to the house." Brett hung up and called Travis, knowing the other man would wait for Maisey to be well ahead before he followed.
"Any danger?" Brett asked.
"Not likely," Travis smiled, "I may have scared her a bit on purpose, I didn't realize she'd be stupid enough to hike without knowing what the risks were, and without protection."
"It probably never occurred to her that it would be a risk," Brett countered, "She's a city girl and always hiked on well traveled trails. Did she panic?"
"Not that I could tell, she actually behaved pretty smartly by contacting me the way she did and then immediately moving back down the trail. She's damn lucky though, any later in the year and that animal may have been hungry." Brett knew the risks as well as his foreman. He was grateful she was safe and swore to himself that he would never leave her alone again. The two men hung up and Travis followed Maisey back to the ranch.
Brett leaned heavily on the box of his truck touching his forehead to the metal, he was getting in too deep with her, he didn't know how to stop it. Maybe it was time to go into the expansion project: three contractors had been calling him when after the Cattleman's president had chatted with them, maybe it was time to think seriously about what he wanted to the Bogs.