At that moment a shiny pickup flew down the road towards the ranch house. It stopped in the yard, then started up the road that lead up to us and the fence.
The big new Ford rolled to a stop next to us, and a stunning blonde in a cowboy hat rolled down the window.
"That city girl chatting your ear off, Luke? Don't forget to run that new irrigation line."
Luke tipped his hat towards her and smiled perfunctorily.
"Hi sugar," she said, waving at me. "Don't take up too much of Luke's time, we need his muscles to mend fence all day." She laughed and Luke looked irritated.
"Get out of here, Coralie," he said, waving her away, "you're the one always taking up my time."
She laughed again, the high peal of her voice disappearing once she had rolled the window back up. She hit the gas and disappeared in a cloud of dust.
"Have you and her ever--?" I asked teasingly, and before I could complete my sentence. One look at Luke's embarrassed face, and I knew what the answer was.
"She's hot," I said, my voice barely rising above a whisper.
"She's hot alright," Luke said, "and her daddy's got the biggest ranch in Suffolk County. Everywhere she goes around here, people treat her like she's royalty." Luke put his coil of wire on a fencepost, and he looked irritated again for a second.
"She always wants to go out dancing in town," he complained, "I know we're young, but sometimes I feel like I can't keep up with her. She has all the damn time in the world to party."
I giggled for a second, thinking about them together.
"But you like her?" I asked, hoping the answer was no.
"I do."
I kicked a clod of dirt with my boot. I couldn't keep the disappointment from welling up in me, even if I knew it was ridiculous, and that my entire interest in Luke was ridiculous. It seemed to me like Luke and Coralie were destined to be a couple.
"I'm going to head back to the house," I said, feeling a little upset about everything.
"Wait," Luke called after me. "Do you know how to ride a horse?"
"Yeah," I answered, yelling back up the hill, "why?"
"I'd like you to see our land up by Steven's Pass before we sell it to the goddamn developers."
"Okay," I shrugged.
"There's a storm blowing in next week," he said, "so we'll have to ride up there tomorrow."
"Okay, sounds good." I couldn't help smiling broadly. The idea of riding horses with Luke made me happy.
"Tomorrow early," he said, as if he couldn't trust me to get up on time.
"Tomorrow early," I repeated before waving goodbye and traipsing back down the hill to the house.
****
Luke hadn't been kidding when he said early. I huddled against the morning chill as we rode up the steep trail towards Stevens Pass. The mist-enshrouded mountains rose up in front of us, looking ominous and foreboding; I secretly wished I was back in my warm bed.
Still, I was glad to be out doing something with Luke.
He calmly handled his horse, riding up the steep, rocky trail, and I followed, my body already sore.
We rode for hours, neither of us saying very much, until we reached the top of the pass and looked out over the land that Luke's family would be selling soon.
I gasped out loud when I saw it. It was a beautiful place. The sun had just begun to burn away the haze of the clouds, and the misty valley below us was glowing in the beautiful, early morning light.
"Sure is pretty," Luke grumbled, his disappointment at the impending sale evident in his voice.
"Who exactly owns the land?" I asked as we made our way down the rocky hillside into the valley.
"My dad does," Luke said, "but he put it up for a vote, and the family's divided. One more vote, and we'd have kept it. I guess most of us want the money we'd get from the sale. Hard to say no to millions and millions of dollars, especially when you've been scratching a living from the dirt all your life."
"What about your dad? Does he want to sell it?"
Luke was quiet for a second.
"No. He doesn't. I guess if it came down to a tie, he'd be the one to call it. We're going to vote on it one more time next week, and I don't think anyone's going to change their minds--the land's good as sold."
He said it as if he was totally resigned to it happening, and I could see that it made him sad.
"I made a lot of memories up here," he said, shaking his head, before we arrived at a tiny cabin.
There wasn't much in the musty little building; a couple of cots, some canned supplies and a wood burning stove. There was a cross on the wall next to some faded black-and-white pictures. I watched as Luke took the things off the wall and carefully wrapped them up in some rags.
"Well," he said, "I think I'm going to go fishing one last time in the creek here."
"I'll watch you," I giggled. The sun was out, and the idea of spending a lazy day sunbathing next to the water sounded wonderful.
Luke cast into deep pool by the edge of the creek as I sprawled out on a rock. I took my shirt off and lay down with my belly on the warm stone, reaching behind me to undo my bra strap.
My body settled blissfully into the warmth, but a second later, I realized I'd forgotten to put sunscreen on my back.
"Luke," I called, a little nervous about asking him to do something. "Can you get my sunscreen."
"Sure thing," he said, reaching into my bag to get it. He arrived on the rock beside me.
"And can you get my back?" I purred.
"High maintenance," he growled as he dripped warm sunscreen onto my back.
"Shut up," I giggled, thrilled that Luke was teasing me.
I almost moaned out loud when I felt the way his strong hands massaged my back, spreading the sunscreen around.
"Thank you," I breathed when he was done.
"Sure," he said, his voice sounding a little huskier.
We relaxed by the creek for a couple hours, until some dark storm clouds started to move in. I grumbled and put my clothes back on, and Luke kept fishing. I watched as the line jerked and his eyes widened in surprise, and then he slowly reeled in a massive steelhead.
I shrieked with excitement and took a picture with my phone, and a few seconds later, the skies above us opened up, and heavy rain started pouring down.
"Shit," Luke swore. It was a long walk back up to the cabin, and by the time we arrived we were soaked.
Luke stripped off his wet shirt, and I huddled next to him as he started a fire. In a few minutes, the fire was crackling and we were both toasty warm.
"I'll make us some coffee," Luke said, pouring grounds into a blue enamel coffeepot and setting it on the stove. I jumped when I heard thunder, and the rain increased in intensity, drumming furiously against the roof of the little house.
"Is there any way you could save the land?" I asked him as we both stared into the fire.
"Not unless my cousin Darren was to marry a rich environmentalist from the city over the next couple of days." We both laughed. I'd met Darren the night before, and he was about as redneck as they came; he was also so broke he would’ve probably sold the fork he was using at dinner just to make a quarter.
I kept studying Luke's features in the firelight as we spoke, unable to keep my eyes off him. We were sitting close around the little stove, and every so often he would reach out and touch my leg or shoulder, and it drove me crazy. The warmth of the fire, the sound of the rain, and the easy rhythm of the conversation between us invigorated me. Hours flew by, and the rain still hadn't let up. Eventually, the sun went down.
Luke didn't seem worried. We had plenty of firewood and supplies, not to mention a giant fish to fry. We ended up staying at the cabin, and by the time we were both ready for bed I was warm, drowsy and full from the best meal I'd ever had. Luke went outside to check on the horses, and I followed him into the pitch-black night.
"They seem happy enough," he said, as his horse nuzzled him. He turned around and almost ran right into me in the dark.