I’m taking an online class, too, so my time’s at a premium.”
“What’s the class?”
“Music appreciation.”
Brynna smiled. Kurt was practical and had excelled at math, but he had a creative side and had composed music since he’d been in junior high. “Still play that guitar we found at the hock shop? You must have been in eighth grade.”
Kurt grinned. “Nothing wrong with it.”
Back inside, Frank took a bowl of salad greens from the refrigerator and they all sat at the dining room table, Devlin’s absence glaringly obvious.
Static burst from the police scanner, followed by a brief conversation between the truck and Reed Kingsley, the local fire chief. The fire truck had been dispatched to Logan’s Hill, outside town.
Brynna’s pager went off then, and she groaned. “Not already.”
She dreaded relying on the skills of her one ER rotation, but she was the only local doctor. Rather than the hospital, however, it was Dev’s number that appeared. “It’s Dev,” she said and got up to retrieve her phone from her purse in the other room.
He answered on the first ring. “Brynn?”
“Dev. Where are you?”
“Stuck in Washington. There’s a serious thunderstorm right now, and I’m grounded for at least another three hours.”
“Washington,” she said, irritation lacing her tone. “You’re supposed to be in Rumor. At the dinner table with the family right now. It’s Tuck’s birthday party.”
“I didn’t forget,” he said. “I can’t help it if the weather turned against me.” Static crackled as if to emphasize his logic.
“You’re incredible, blaming the weather for your lack of planning. You might have thought ahead before leaving for Washington. You didn’t tell me you were going.”
“I didn’t plan to. I had a chance to pick up a part for Sky Spirit, and the weather service didn’t predict anything like this. I know you’re disappointed. I had every intention of—”
“If you intended to be here, then you should have stayed and not flown off when you knew we had plans.”
“I had plenty of time.”
“Or you just didn’t care whether or not you got back in time.”
“Brynn, I said I was sorry. What more can I do now?”
“Sorry doesn’t fix a thing. You should have stayed. My whole family is here—except you—and my parents, of course. They never show up for anyone’s birthday, either.”
“That’s not fair.”
“Isn’t it? My steak’s getting cold. I’ll see you when you get around to coming home.” She turned the phone off and tossed it into her purse.
Seeing her face, Melanie asked, “What did he say?”
Brynna took her seat. “He’s grounded in Washington.”
“I’ll bet he’ll really be grounded when you get ahold of him,” Tuck said, jokingly.
“I’m not his mother,” Brynna replied, not amused. “He can do whatever he da—” She glanced at the younger boys and picked up her fork. “Darn well pleases.”
After a few minutes of stilted conversation, Brynna lightened her mood for the sake of her little brother’s party and they finished their meal. After the dishes were done, Tuck opened his gifts, finding practical things, like laundry bags and towels from Melanie, an alarm clock and a Game Boy game from Kurt, and Brynna had purchased a laptop computer as a gift from herself and Devlin.
Tuck’s eyes lit up. He discarded the packing, plugging it in and figuring out how to use it. Within minutes he had it connected to the internet and was showing the boys children’s sites and places to download games.
“This is way cool, sis,” Tuck told her and gave her a hug. “Now I won’t have to go to the library or borrow someone’s PC. Thanks.”
“You’re welcome. Remember, there’s a word-processing program in there for your assignments, too.”
He grinned. She had always been the one to enforce homework and study time. Thank goodness, because he’d earned scholarships, just as she and Kurt had before him. Melanie was the only one who hadn’t been interested in school or college. She’d always single-mindedly wanted to get married.
Melanie sliced cake and Brynna scooped ice cream, Brynna was just starting to eat her portion when her beeper pulsed at her waist. Her pulse raced at the thought of Dev paging her, but this time it was the clinic. Brynna called to discover a fireman had been brought in with minor burns.
“What’s going on?” she asked Rae Ann.
“A fire started on Logan’s Hill,” her friend replied. “It’s spreading through the forest.”
“Oh, no.”
“And there’s more bad news.”
“What?” Brynna asked.
“Firefighters found two partially burned bodies where the fire started. So far, they haven’t released any names. But you’re the doctor on call.”
“I’ll be there.”
The firefighter wasn’t badly injured. After treating and releasing him, she drove home to an empty house. The spreading fire was a scary situation. She felt vulnerable and alone, and told herself her hormones were getting the best of her, because she never felt this way. When midnight rolled around, Dev had still not returned and she finally fell into a restless sleep.
Dev slid on his sunglasses against the June sun and studied the smoke rising from the horizon where firefighters still fought the blaze that had started the night before. Logan’s Hill was a good fifteen miles from the Holmes Ranch, so to be visible from here, the fire must be a serious threat.
He turned to unload cartons of new salt holders and grain feeders from the bed of his Ford Lariat pickup. Colby had decided that it was time to get the barn in shape and update its features before hay had to be cut and cattle rounded up come late summer and fall.
Unconsciously, Dev wondered if he’d still be working the ranch when fall came. So far the cowboy life suited him well. He’d learned a lot about training and caring for the horses, as well as the everyday tasks, and he was comfortable with the job. But the call of the wide-open sky was a lure he couldn’t resist, and when the itch to fly hit him, he had to take a few days off and scratch it. Did that make him irresponsible?
In the four days since his wife had blown him away with the news of her pregnancy, he’d been thinking a lot about responsibility. And after last night’s fiasco of missing Tuck’s birthday and getting the cold shoulder when he’d seen her this morning, he wondered all the more.
After stacking all the cartons inside the barn, he hung his hat, flipped open his pocketknife and opened the boxes. It took several minutes to find the proper tools and set about installing the feeders in the stalls, and the task gave him ample time to think.
He’d never considered himself irresponsible. But then, he didn’t have many responsibilities. He had attorneys who handled his investments and paid his taxes. He showed up for an occasional stockholders’ meeting and had to sign papers and approve decisions, but other than that, his time was his own. He didn’t want any part of his father’s business, even though he’d taken a lot of flack for not joining his father and older brother.
Over the past few years, he’d tried his hand at the lumber business, construction and now ranching—all outdoor jobs. It wasn’t that he hadn’t found anything he liked; it was that he liked everything and wanted to try it all.
But a