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Sitting in the dirt, she pulled off her bloodstained glove At least Rao and had her properly i a tetanus shot But here she didn’t even have a bandage

As her grandfather ht have said, this was a metaphor for life It kicked you onto your behind and et up and keep going

But sometimes it hurt Sometimes it hurt a lot

The drive fro’s Wind River Mountains was long and grueling But Tanner had learned that if he started early, paced himself, and took occasional rest breaks, he could le day He drove with the n and the radio blaring whatever country music station he could tune in So, loud and off-key

But ht about Rose In hisby the creek, alone and proud, trying to prove to him that she didn’t care But he knew that she did care He cared, too And it wasn’t just because he’d made love to her or even that it had been wonderful It was her honesty that got to hie, tenderness, and coe—and she deserved so much better than the hand that life had dealt her

In teeks he’d be going back to his job in Texas He didn’t plan to see Rose—no future there except pain and regret But he already wanted to He wanted to see her, to touch her, and to sleep with her—so much it hurt

At dusk he stopped for drive-up coffee, switched on his headlights, and turned the radio up full volume to keep him awake It was after eleven when he took the freeway exit and alht by the tin that said MCCADE RANCH, 4 MILES A doe and her fawn crossed the road in his headlights Tanner braked to let them pass A fewhouse

The lights were off in the house, but Tanner had already planned to sleep in the small, empty bunkhouse that stood nearby He shouldered his duffel and stepped out of the truck, his legs stiff fro drive The air thatof sagebrush, grass, and cattle Wyo air It smelled like home

The bunkhouse was unlocked, the beddown his duffel, stripped off his clothes, and crawled between the sheets

In the , noisy family and join them around the breakfast table He would be cheerful, unco to shoulderseason on, there would be plenty to do—tending the cows and calves,sure the new little ones were healthy, war care of the other animals

He would visit the two lonely graves on the hilltop and try, again, to make peace hat had happened, or at least try to make some sense of it

And he would try not to think about Rose

But as he sank into sleep, the face he saw in his drea crimson blaze down its left border

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Teeks later