Maisey was cleaning her brush from putting a coat of stain on a cupboard door when a blast of cold air ripped through the house. She'd had the window in Ned's room as well as in the kitchen open to take the smell out of the room. It had been getting cooler now that it was the fall. Brett was away more trying to settle feed and water supplies around the property, and preparing for winter.
The kitchen was almost done, she'd worked on it a lot since her trip to West Ridge. She hadn't told Brett about the trip, and she'd dodged conversations about going to Medicine Hat by ordering clothes over the phone from the shop that had helped her the last time she'd gone to Medicine Hat. They'd been delivered that morning, the boxes and bags were mostly unopened in the kitchen.
"You've got a little paint on your nose." Brett said from the doorway, he'd already showered so it was obviously she'd been in her own world when he'd come in. "You sure you don't want me to stay?" Maisey looked confused, "Friday night," he reminded her, "Slim's with the crew."
"Oh right," Maisey rubbed get nose on her sleeve. Slim's made sense for why he was in so early. "I'm sure. I have Henry and I promised my therapist I'd try a whole night alone."
Brett frowned, "you don't want me to sleep with you?"
"I meant evening," she corrected herself, "I need my nightmare talisman."
Brett laughed, "Is that what we're calling it?"
"I do not really know what else to call it," Maisey felt her cheeks warm and turned get attention back to the door she had been staining, "but if you find a cowgirl you want to go home with just text me and I'll get Henry to sleep with me."
Emotions warred inside Brett with the cavalier way she spoke about it. "Ouch, replaced by a dog."
Maisey kept her back to him and her head down like she was still working, "at least it's a very cute dog?"
"I'm going to leave now," Brett laughed, "before you find other ways to insult me." Before he closed the house door he called back, "There's a storm coming so make sure you close up the doors and windows."
She waved her hand in the air and waited until until he was out the door before she put the brush down. She was lucky Brett hadn't noticed that it had no stain on it. Her hands shook too much to paint anymore: there was not going to be anyone on the ranch if she had an attack. She had been trying to stay busy to keep an attack at bay but she knew now that painting was not going to be the solution.
Another blast of wind took her to the window. This one smelled of rain. Methodically she checked all the windows and then went out on the back porch to bring in the blankets and pillows she usually kept out there. She sent Henry out to do his business and then closed up the back door--as an afterthought she locked it and then locked the front door as well.
She was snuggled up on the couch watching Wizard of Oz when the power went out. Her phone was at 15% battery life--of all the times not to remember to charge it. She sighed deeply, frustrated and stood up at the window to stare out at the rain, thunder rumbled and distantly a flash of light. The storm was her first storm in Alberta: she found it frightening in the dark and alone. She'd lived in Vancouver so rain and wet were not new, but she'd read that Alberta storms were different because there were no mountains to interfere and fewer heights to block the weather from coming in from any direction.
Maisey fired up her laptop and plugged her phone charger into it before flipping open the writing site and debating again about publishing. She remembered what her therapist had said and that she was trying to be brave again. With hesitant fingers she hit publish on both stories, deciding it couldn't hurt to try and see what happened. She'd read hundreds of books on that site, she knew how quickly readers could post, she knew how frustrated readers could get and she hoped that they would not say things that were uncomfortable for her and would read it. Maybe it would be lethargic for her like the therapist said it might: maybe it wouldn't, but she had to do something with the hundreds of thousands of words she'd written.
Lightning flashed twice in quick succession and the thunder rumble. Beside her Henry raised his head and growled. She reached to pat his head but the dog jumped up and barked at the closed curtains over the window angrily. Nervous, Maisey fingered her phone and wondered if she should call Brett. A part of her wanted to and a part of her wanted to deal with whatever it was that was upsetting Henry alone. Light moving outside settled her question.
Brett's line rang but he didn't pick up, she tried Andy and Travis and Tony with the same result. Henry refused to settle down: finally she searched for Slim's and called the bar.
"Slim's, Jason here," came the loud voice.
"Jason, it's an emergency," Maisey told him, "I need you to find Brett Frank's and tell him he's needed at home."
"Brett, you say?" Jason repeated back and looked at the cowboy in front of him, "He's actually right here waiting on a beer, one sec." Jason handed the phone over to a confused Brett.
"Hullo?" Brett plugged one ear, "Maisey? I can't hear you over Henry? What's wrong with that do...." the line went dead in his hand. He dropped a $10 on the counter and told Jason to keep the beer. Tony was at the pool tables between Brett and the door: Brett hollered and he strode out of the bar with his cousin.
"What's going on?" Tony asked when they reached the parking lot.
"Maisey called Slim's." He said, "The line went dead but Henry was making a lot of noise."
"It's probably just the storm," Tony mused, debating whether or not to go with his cousin.
"Are you willing to risk her life on that because I'm not."
Tony climbed in the truck with Brett, taking off his cowboy hat as he got in the truck and shaking some of the water off it. Brett eased out of the lot and headed for home. The house was dark, he looked over and realized the barns were too, "Shit, power's out, better get your guys home to check West Ridge," Brett told Tony as the other man was already dialing. "Do you recognize that car?" He pointed to a small car that was parked up on the side of the road above the driveway to the ranch.
"No." Tony's blood ran cold, "It's got BC plates--and Bandit says there's nothing wrong with the power at West Ridge."
"Shit." Brett pulled into the yard, watching for people or movement. He saw and heard nothing: nothing but Henry barking loudly. "That sounds like he's near the back," Brett told Tony.
"I'll go around back," Tony said, "You stay here in case they come around the side of the house."
"Be careful." Brett glowered. He approached the door and pointed out shoe prints in the mud and up the steps. Whoever it was had come to the front door: he tried the door and found it locked. He hoped that it was Maisey who locked it, not someone else. He waited outside to see if someone came around the house like Tony predicted. After a few minutes Brett took out his keys and unlocked the front door.
"Maisey?" Brett called, "Maisey are you okay?" He closed and locked the front door. Henry came over and licked his fingers.
"I am now." Her voice called from her room. She sounded small and shaken.
"I'm going to let Tony in and then I'll come to you, stay put." Brett crossed the kitchen to the back door and unlocked it to let Tony in. Tony pointed to the muddy footprints that were back and forth on the porch, stopping in front of the window that looked into Maisey's room and the door. The muddy tracks seemed to come back from where they'd come. As they closed the door the car at the top of the driveway came to life and drove away. The cousins exchanged looks. "Call Travis for me while I go check on Maisey."
Tony nodded. If there had been a clap of thunder or a crack of lightning Tony doubted they'd have heard the car leave, it was just by fluke that they had. Henry settled down, going for a drink of water and some food before laying down in front of the back door, watching the dog door like he expected something to come through it. After talking to Travis, Tony crouched down and realized that Henry was guarding because something--someone, rather, had been trying just that, he'd have to show Brett.
Brett came into Maisey's room with the light from his cell phone casting light, there were more shadows than clear sight, "I'm here Maisey. Tony's in the other room."
Her closet door opened slowly and Maisey peeked out, "He was at my window." She shuddered, "And tried to get in both doors--Brett if I hadn't locked them because I was afraid of the storm whoever it was might have gotten in here."
"But you did, so they didn't." He hugged her close. "Are you going to have a panic attack?"
"I thought I would when the phone died and then Henry was barking and growling and I was so scared I just climbed in the closet and went as far into the corner as I could and I just hoped and prayed." She shivered and pushed closer to Brett, "Apparently I'm just not meant to have a normal night on my own."
Brett chuckled and leaned back to look at her while he was searching her face for any fear, "Did you get a good look at the person? Would you know who they were again?"
Maisey shook her head, "It was like a scene out of a horror movie."
"Not to make it worse," Tony said from the door, "But you might want to rethink the doggy door."
Tony showed them the scratches on the inside of the door where someone had tried to reach up with a stick to force the deadbolt open: the stick and bits of cloth were on the floor. "Good dog Henry," Brett knelt down, "I'm going to have to call the sheriff."
"What about the power?" Tony asked, "It's a little odd that West Ridge is fine." Maisey had sat down at the table with a glass of water.
"I'll call the power company after I call the sheriff and Andy." Lights pulled in the driveway and Brett told Maisey to stay put. If he was calling the Sheriff he needed to stop as many people from walking around as he could. It was Travis and Andy with the Sheriff right behind them.
"I didn't even get a chance to call you yet," Brett called out to the Sheriff.
"Funny thing about small towns." the Sheriff laughed, "How's the young lady?"
"Shook up," Brett admitted, "Someone tried to break in." All three men swore. "Unfortunately I didn't know that when Tony and I showed up so we weren't as careful about where we stepped, and I don't think its a coincidence that our power is out here but West Ridge is on."
"I'll go check the power," Travis said, Tony went with him, the lights of their flashlights on.
Andy indicated the house, "Is Maisey really okay?"
"I'm fine, Doc," she came out to the porch, "I might not be later when the adrenaline wears off, but I can't say too many good things about a good guard dog and following one's gut."
Brett was telling the Sheriff about the call from Maisey, the car at the top of the driveway and what he'd done since they'd arrived. He told the Sheriff that Tony had gone around the back porch. Andy stayed with Maisey while Brett took the Sheriff around the back of the house.
"I'm fine," Maisey said before Andy could ask again. "When Henry wouldn't stop barking and growling I got into the closet. I was already in the closet when I saw the light in the window and a face there, I haven't got a clue anything more than it was a man and it was not familiar."
"That dog has been an amazing asset for you." Andy nodded at Henry, "And he's not even fully grown or fully trained."
"The rain will wash away anything useful won't it?" Maisey asked.
"Probably," Andy told her, "But lucky for us--or unlucky, depending on how you see it--that stick will have finger prints on it from when they tried to reach in through the dog door."
The rain continued to poor down, pinging off the barn roof. "A lot of luck happened tonight," Maisey told him. "Whether they were here for me, or the ranch, it doesn't matter, I doubt this will be the last time they try and if it's anything like what I've gone through with the rest of my like: a storm is about to hit."