Coming home

Chapter 1

The air was thick with the smell of rain. Thunder echoed in the distance. Claire Johnson sat on the front porch swing watching the clouds roll in. It had been a hot summer's day. The rain was going to be a welcome relief. She was in need of a break anyway. She sat sideways with one leg dangling, keeping the swing at a steady sway while sipping her afternoon coffee. She caught herself flicking paint off the backrest. It was time to paint again, she thought.

She had spent the day trying to get the inside of the house straightened up. It had been a chore that seemed to have fallen by the waist side. She couldn’t believe she never noticed it got that bad. Sure she hadn’t been home for any length of time in years but she still should have noticed. She should have noticed a lot of things but she didn’t. Now her dad was gone and there was nothing she could do about it.

Claire was the only child of David and Annie Johnson. Although Claire was too young to remember her mother. Annie Johnson had died from complications of childbirth. Both Annie and the child had died. Claire would never have known the story behind her mothers death if it hadn’t been for James Doyle. James had been a ranch hand that also doubled as her dads best friend. She had asked her dad about her mother when she was eight and her dad got furious at her. Claire ran to the barn to cry it out when she ran into James. James was the one to tell her the story and Claire never brought up the subject again to her dad. In hindsight, this was where her interest in psychology stemmed. She had hoped one day to help her father deal with her mother’s and sibling's death.

Claire loved her dad and had no other complaints about her childhood. It was a good childhood filled with many happy memories. Since she was an only child, her dad had wanted her to know the ins and outs of the ranch life, so she spent many hours with him in the saddle going over the runnings of the ranch. He said he wanted her to have the choice one day of running the place or following her own dreams. He thought if she knew how rough it was then she could make an informed decision. Now that her dad was gone, it was up to her to decide whether to sell it or get it back to being the profitable ranch of her childhood. This was far from the clear decision her dad had hoped for.

Claire really couldn’t imagine it belonging to anyone else, but she also didn’t like the prospect of quitting her practice and moving back home. At 29 she felt like an orphan. She had never felt this alone in her life. Even though she was an only child, there was always the bustle of ranch life in her youth. The men would bring their wives and children around when there was work to be done on weekends and sometimes she would get to stay and play, but that was years ago. She wished she could go back to that simpler space in time, a time before the hurt and pain of life.

The ranch was roughly 800 acres. It is one of the bigger spreads in the area. Back in the day, they had ran about 300 heads of cattle. The numbers have dwindled down to about 70 head now. This was only a rough guess, since they seem to have the run of the land beings they roam at will nowadays. Which was fitting, Claire thought. They use to be rotated through the pastures, but with the Roaming J being thrown into neglect, the fences weren’t holding up anymore. It was going to take a lot to get it back up, running, and making a profit again, if that was even a possibility.

Two weeks, two weeks is what she was giving herself to make up her mind. At the end of those two weeks, she was either going to be a rancher or a psychologist and that was that. She told no one that she might not be returning when she took time off. She just referred her patients to a colleague and left. She prepared them as best as she could without telling them anything of her personal dilemma. They were in good hands and she knew they would be fine without her. At least this is what she kept telling herself, now only if she believed it.

The wind was picking up and the rain had begun when it dawned on Claire that she really hadn’t prepared for any type of storm at all. She hadn’t stayed any length of time on the ranch in the last 5 years. Sure, she had come home for the holidays, but she never stayed more than a couple of days before she thought she had to get back to her patients.

Looking back, she regretted it now. All that time she wasted on other people when she should have been here with her dad, making sure he was alright, keeping up with the fiances, and how the ranch was doing. That was time, knowledge, and experience she would never get back. Now she had to dive in, not knowing how many years of books just to see where the ranch stood before she would even know where to start on deciding on her own life.

Claire made a mental not to pick up some emergency supplies in case the lights went off. For the next two weeks she needed to start thinking like a country girl instead of the city girl she had become. She was going to need help. The list of things she needed to get down was growing by the minute. Claire made another mental note to call the temp agency in town tomorrow.

Claire must have been in deep thoughts about something James thought as he yelled her name for the fourth time and she jumped. He had not wanted to end the day like that. Claire had enough on her plate already, but he felt the need to keep her informed at all times. “I’m sorry I started you, but the cows are out again.”

“Again? It’s the second time today. Don’t we have any pastures that will keep them in?” Frustration etched in the corners of her mouth.

James shook his head. “This was the last one we thought was safe. We won’t know how bad the rest are until we ride the line to see. Your dad just didn’t seem like he really cared in the e… well you know… the end.” James still wasn’t sure how to address the death of her father with her and mainly didn’t like bringing it up at all unless necessary. He knew the talk would come one day but he hoped it was much later than sooner.

Oh, I know all too well, Claire thought. I’m trained in knowing but couldn’t tell the signs in my own father until it was too late and for that I will always blame myself. She wanted to voice this but instead said, “Call the boys in and saddle Chaos up for me also.”

“Me and the boys can take care of this Claire. There is no need for you to get out in the rain.”

“And I have total faith in you,’ Claire tried to reassure him, “but the rain is about to blow through and I need to get back into the swing of things and have a look myself,” she replied. “Let me grab a couple of things and I will be right over”, Claire threw over her shoulder as she walked inside. It was best not to give James time to make an argument about it.

James tucked his chin into his raincoat and took off to his small house to call the rest of the boys in. He was the only one that had a permanent residence on the ranch. The rest of the hands had places of their own in the area. There were two bunk houses whose main purpose now was to give the men a place to rest during the day and eat lunch. They housed a good 10 men each back in the day, but that was 20 years ago when the ranch was back in its hay days.

Now there weren’t many cows left to tend and the ranch barley was surviving. He was afraid that Claire was going to decide that this place wasn’t worth it and sell out. He wasn’t sure what he would do if she did. He had lived here for the past 30 years and planned to be here for much longer. That planned ended the night he found his boss and best friend dead. If only he had gotten to him sooner, things might be different. All James knew now was he had to find a plan B in life and he needed to find one quickly,

James knew that Claire was strong enough and smart enough to bring the ranch back around, but he didn’t want her having to make that decision for his sake. He had watched her grow up and knew how stubborn she could be. She was loyal and would do anything for those she cared about. Now that her father was gone, it was up to him to protect her for her own good. James decided that he was going to push her into selling the ranch to the first person that made an offer. Only that would mean telling her the truth about things and he wasn’t sure how to even approach that subject.