Kate turned and glanced around the front yard, then wandered down the porch steps to check the side of the house. Her mom’s truck was missing. The house was locked. She took out her phone and called her mom. It had hardly been an hour since they last talked. Her mom knew very well that Kate was going out. But now she felt like an idiot for not taking her keys. She could envision them sitting there on her bedside table. Leaving them was more of a habit than anything. Her parents had never locked the door when she was growing up, though the ranch used to be more lively, with people coming and going constantly: her father and the ranch hands in and out of the office, her mom supplying coffee and lemonade and baked goods to a revolving door of people. Kate had simply come and gone as she pleased.

  Of course, that was fifteen years ago. Now they apparently had hooligans sneaking around the ranch for Instagram-worthy pictures.

  Her mom’s phone went directly to voice mail, so Kate assumed she was still driving. A clap of thunder startled her from the silent curse she was muttering, and she looked around as Nathan drove up, hanging out the window of his own truck as large raindrops started to ricochet off the windshield. Perfect, she thought, climbing the porch steps until she was back under the safety of the porch roof.

  “Horses are secured in their stalls. I’m heading out for a bit. I’ll let them out again after the storm passes.”

  Kate nodded, wondering where he was headed. Then she spied his camera on the passenger seat. This was probably exactly the kind of weather Nathan and his friends had traveled out here to photograph.

  “Did my mom say where she was going?” Kate asked.

  “To the hospital. She forgot she wanted to be there when the physiotherapist came around to talk about cardiac rehab. She said something about your dad being a poor historian and not liking to exercise.”

  That sounded exactly like her dad. Oh, he was no slouch with hard work. He’d spend all day in the stables mucking out stalls, but ask him to eat healthy or exercise and he’d wave you off with a gruff sound and shake of his head. Trying to explain the benefits of cardio to that man went in one ear and tumbling out the other.

  Luckily for her dad, her mom would take detailed notes.

  That meant she would be gone for the next few hours at least.

  Great.

  For a second, Kate wondered why her mom didn’t try to call or text before heading to the hospital. Why her first instinct was to leave a message with Nathan. But the longer she considered it, the more it made sense. Her mom had gotten used to not having Kate around.

  Kate was off living her own life, just checking in from afar on occasion.

  She hadn’t meant to lose this part of her life when she’d left Hatchet Lake. She’d only been desperate to see what existed beyond it. How could she possibly be happy with fields and horses and the same small town of people for her entire life?

  But then she’d become a vet, taking care of livestock for a living, and now she spent most of her time in other people’s small towns. On other people’s farms and ranches and fields.

  “Are you locked out?” Nathan asked as it finally dawned on him.

  “Looks like it,” Kate muttered. She glanced back at the door, contemplating breaking into the house or scaling the side of the porch the way she used to do as a teenager. She decided against it, feeling far more breakable than she did when she was fifteen.

  Birthing calves and running around after livestock was hard on the joints.

  Her mom would also probably frown on Kate breaking a window because of her own stupidity, so she stopped eyeing the perfectly palm-sized rock in the garden bed.

  Another crash of thunder and Kate shivered. She wasn’t cold. Not really. But the idea of sitting here on the porch for the next three or four hours sounded unpleasant. She supposed she should head back to the stables. She had waited out her fair share of summer storms there before. At least the horses would be good company.

  The sky darkened overhead. At this rate, she’d be soaked even if she ran to the stables.

  “Do you want the key to the guest house?” Nathan asked.

  “No, thanks,” Kate said. Sitting in the guest house, knowing that it was his space right now, would feel strange. There was a level of intimacy, of friendship, that came with being welcomed into someone’s space, and seeing as they were definitely not friends, taking Nathan up on that offer was the opposite of what she wanted to do.

  “You can’t just sit out here.” Nathan watched a gust of wind drag raindrops up the porch and over Kate’s shoes. “Your mom could be gone for hours.”

  “Oh, I don’t doubt it,” Kate said. “I’ll just sit in the stables with the horses.”

  “Or,” Nathan said as a grin tugged at the corner of his mouth. “Consider this. You get in the truck and come with me.”

  “I’ll take my chances in the stables.”

  “Oh, come on. The damp, musty stables, where you’ll inevitably start doing chores to pass the time. Or a warm, pine-fresh vehicle.” He flicked the tree-shaped air freshener hanging from his mirror. “Seems like an easy choice to me. And you get to spend quality time with one of your dearest friends.”

  “Not friends,” Kate said, making that clear.

  “Would someone who’s not your friend offer to save you from the rain?”

  “I don’t need saving.”

  Nathan rolled his eyes at her, deliberately, making sure she saw. “You are the most stubborn woman I have ever met.”

  “Thank you. I take after my father.”

  “Of that I have no doubt.” He inclined his head in a come-hither motion, and Kate planted her feet. “Just get in the truck and don’t make me beg. You might even have a good time if you stop fighting me for five seconds.”

  “Doubtful.”

  He sighed, drumming his hands along the wheel. He didn’t look at her. “Kate, get in the truck.”

  “No.”

  “Do you really expect me to tell your mother that I left you out here by yourself in the middle of a thunderstorm?”

  “I’m a big girl. Pretty sure I’ll survive.”

  “Kate,” he sighed, taking his camera and placing it on the back seat. “Just remember that I’m doing this as a friend.”

  Before she could utter the words “Doing what?” Nathan was out of his truck. He grabbed her from the porch, scooping her off her feet in a smooth motion and throwing her over his shoulder like she was nothing more than a bundle of straw. Kate yelped, startled, grappling for a handhold as her world spun. She awkwardly managed to take hold of the belt loop of his pants, steadying herself. She watched his boots sink into the mud as he carried her to the passenger side of the truck.

  “Put me down!” she demanded, hoping that he could hear the threat that oozed out between her clenched teeth.

  “Sure thing, Princess.” He set her down, grabbing her shoulders to steady her as she got her bearings.

  “Are you crazy?” she stammered.

  Nathan just swung the door of the truck open, looking at her sternly, his dark brows meeting in the middle. “Get in.”

  Kate did but only because she was too dizzy to march away. She slumped into the seat, waiting for her head to stop spinning.

  Nathan was back in the truck and adjusting the controls on the dashboard in an instant. “Now we’re both soaked. Are you happy?”

  “I’m pretty sure that’s your fault.”

  “For dealing with your stubbornness? Yes, that’s all on me.”

  Kate huffed, crossing her arms as a warm blast of air poured out of the vent. She didn’t say thank you because if she had learned anything, it was that Nathan had a bad habit of trying to save her from things she did not need saving from. But as the heat enveloped her, she found that she was glad not to be waiting out the storm huddled on the porch.

  Though she’d never tell him that.

  Maybe she was taking her obstinacy to the extreme, but it was a trait that had carried her through life. There was no point giving it up now.

  “Where are we going?” Kate finally asked as Nathan took a left down the road instead of a right toward town.

  “On an adventure.”

  “An adventure?”

  “Yeah, ever heard of it? I think you could use a little fun. I don’t know if you get a lot of that.”

  “For someone who apparently wants to be my friend, you’re walking a fine line.”

  “Hey, real friends are the ones who tell you how it is. And you, Kate Cardiff, are far too stubborn for your own good. It’s time for you to see the world through my eyes.”

  And with that, he raced down the road, music blaring, taking them into the heart of the storm. After a while the rain grew heavier, and Nathan turned on his windshield wipers just as another boom of thunder rumbled through the truck.

  He drummed excitedly on the steering wheel. “We’re getting close!”

  “How close do we have to get?” Kate wondered, turning down the music to hear him better.

  “As close as it takes to get the best photo.”

  “And how close is that?”

  “We go with our gut. It’s what separates us from the amateurs.”

  Kate shook her head, unable to help the smile that curved the corners of her mouth. She was no beginner at driving in the rain. Usually, she wasn’t that bothered by it. But her first instinct would probably not be to drive straight into a massive storm cell.

  “Hey, was that a smile? Look who’s already having fun.”

  “It’s a smile of disbelief.”

  Nathan pressed on the gas. “You haven’t seen anything yet.” He sped down the country road, fields of wheat and tall grass pressing in on either side. The grass eventually gave way to cornfields, and a spark of lightning snapped in the distance.

  The rain fell heavier as they approached the mass of clouds opening like a dark mouth to swallow them whole. Nathan flicked the windshield wipers up to max.

  Kate’s blood hummed beneath her skin, her heart rate kicking up. There was something thrilling about the chase. Something terrifying as well, racing toward the twisted lightning strikes.

  Another boom of thunder sounded and she grabbed the edge of her seat, feeling the vibration through the truck.

  The thunder and lightning worsened as the storm passed over them, the cloud system stretching its gnarled, broken fingers over the green fields that bordered the stretch of quiet highway.

  “Heart racing yet?” Nathan asked as they drove through a sheet of rain.

  A roar ripped through the air, the road beneath them trembling again, but this time it wasn’t the storm. It was a large, olive green Volkswagen van that came racing down the road behind them.

  “What the—”

  “Don’t worry,” Nathan said. “That’s just Rusty and Tara.”

  “Your photographer buddies?”

  He nodded as the van swerved around them into the oncoming traffic lane to pass. They blared the horn just because they could, and Kate watched as a man and a woman waved at them from the other vehicle.

  Nathan tapped his horn in greeting, then the van pulled ahead, tearing off down the road.

  Just as the butterflies started racing up her throat again, the rain eased, the storm pulling away from them and gathering over the field. They drove another minute, and the rain stopped altogether.

  “There,” Nathan said, pointing ahead to a spot on the shoulder where the van was already parked.

  He pulled over behind the van and they piled out, shoes sinking into the rain-soaked gravel on the side of the road.

  “Took you guys long enough,” Rusty called, pushing back a mop of fiery red hair as he hopped out of the van and straight into a puddle. He was lanky and freckle-faced, sporting a flaming red sunburn across his nose.

  The woman, Tara, was petite, with long, dark, pin-straight hair and an impressive pair of biceps. She pulled open the sliding door on the side of the van to join them. Inside were modified living quarters with a small bed, seating area and kitchen, but it was the sheer amount of technology hooked up to the dashboard and strung across the van that caught Kate’s attention. Green weather graphs and storm-tracking apps lit up the space and, for the first time, Kate realized just how serious this whole photography business was.

  “This is Kate,” Nathan said as they approached. He held his camera in one hand, his other at the small of her back like he was afraid she might bolt. “Rusty,” he said, nodding to his friend. “And Tara.”

  “Ah, the rancher’s daughter,” Rusty said, reaching out to shake her hand. “Nice to finally put a face to the name.”

  Kate shook his hand, wondering what exactly Nathan had been saying about her. Probably complaining about how stubborn and difficult she was. It was basically what she’d been doing with Sarah in regard to him, so she supposed that was fair.

  “He finally dragged you out here, did he?” Tara said, something of a smirk on her face.

  “Entirely against my will,” Kate agreed, glaring at Nathan. “Practically kidnapped me.”

  “Hey, I was just being nice. Otherwise you’d be soggy and sitting on the front porch.”

  “Do we even want to know?” Tara asked.

  “The princess here forgot her keys,” Nathan explained.

  “Oh, so we’re back to that?” Kate said, crossing her arms at the word princess.

  “We never left.”

  “Looks like we’re getting a little break,” Rusty said, glancing in the opposite direction. A band of streaky white clouds interspersed with blue daylight passed overhead, but behind them came another band of the storm. It was like a ripple in a calm pond, moving across the sky.

  “This is perfect,” Nathan said, looking at the cloud formations piling up in the field. “Tara?”

  “Already on it,” she said, fitting a different lens to the front of her camera. She lifted it up, focused through the viewfinder and started snapping. She took a rapid succession of shots. As she did, the sky lit up across the field, lightning spiraling in the distance.

  “I got that!” Tara shrieked, looking down at her camera to confirm. She reviewed the photo. “I freaking got that!”

  “Yeah, you did!” Rusty cheered. He climbed back into the van and music spilled out as he cranked the radio.

  The second band of the storm rolled overhead and the rain started again, dropping sporadically at first. Kate tilted her head back, watching the clouds speed over her. Before the clouds could let go, she took shelter in the van.

  Nathan grabbed a rain jacket with a comically large hood and something to cover his camera, then he dashed out into the field with Tara. His smile was as electric as the storm, his laugh contagious. Tara perched on a rock way out in the field, wearing cutoff overalls and combat boots, the wind catching her long, dark hair. With her camera, she looked like some sort of explorer set to embark into the wilds of an unknown land.

  “So,” Rusty said over the din of the music. “How’s your first storm chasing experience? It is your first, right?”

  “To take pictures? Definitely.” Kate lifted a shoulder. “It’s better than I expected, but if you tell Nathan I said that, I’ll have to kill you.”

  Rusty made an exaggerated show of crossing his heart. “I’ll take it to the grave.”

  The rain grew heavier, and Tara gave a little shriek, running back to the van. She snapped a picture of Kate and Rusty as she approached and then ducked inside to stash her camera. Nathan raced back as well, skidding to a stop and diving into the van beside Kate. He knocked his hood back and grinned at her. For the first time, Kate noticed the way his hair curled when it was damp, the freckle beneath his left eye, and the way his eyelashes fluttered when he was laughing. For a moment she was breathless. Completely and utterly. It was as if she’d been caught in some sort of spell.

  But it was also the most alive she’d felt in months. Since Cal had cheated and they broke it off. Maybe even before that. It was like the blood pounding beneath her skin, and in her pulse points, and in her ears, finally meant something again.

  Lightning struck hard in the distance, flashing across the van. Nathan turned away, the spell between them shattered, but Kate’s heart continued to thunder in her chest as she looked at him, the beat stronger than any thunder that rolled across the sky.

  Chapter Eight

  Hospitals smelled like rusty metal.

  Kate had always thought so.

  And despite the fancy finishes in the room and the clean linens on her dad’s bed, this hospital was no different. Hidden beneath the aroma of his half-eaten breakfast—plastic-looking eggs and cranberry juice—Kate could smell it.

  The rust.

  She hated it.

  “Hey, Dad,” she said as he looked up from his meal tray. Kate dumped her things onto the chair in the corner of his room. Her mom had gotten sidetracked at the nurses’ station as she so often did. Apparently it was easier to get the truth out of them when her dad wasn’t cutting in and denying everything they said.

  “Morning, baby,” her dad said, holding one arm out for her.

  Kate flitted to the edge of the bed, folding into his side. No matter how old he got, how much gray leaked into his hair or how many wrinkles appeared beside his eyes, the strength of his hugs never seemed to waver.

  “I see they snagged you a paper,” Kate said, glancing at the headlines.

  “I have an understanding with the porters.”

  She chuckled. Only her dad would be more concerned about sorting out his morning paper situation than the reason he was actually in the hospital. “I hope the understanding doesn’t include supplying you with a bunch of junk food, because that definitely does not abide by your new diet and I will have to tell Mom.”

  Her dad gaped in mock offense. “I would never.”

  “Mmm-hmm,” Kate said, smiling at their teasing. She pressed her nose against his shoulder, feeling the smile fall from her face. “But how are you really feeling?”

 

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