“You don’t think it is?”
“I guess,” he conceded.
“So, do you want to come with me?”
“Where?”
“Around. Here and there. Hither and yon. It’s addicting, walking. If you give it a chance.”
“You’re talking to someone who faked sick notes from his mother in order to get out of playing P.E.”
“Nevertheless.”
“Sure,” he said. “Just let me lock up.” Heading back toward the shack, he turned around. “Do you need to use the bathroom or anything? Would you like something to eat?”
She shook her head. “No. But you might want to get yourself a water bottle.”
“It’s not that hot.”
“But it’s dry. And I’m not sharing.”
Ross went inside, turned off his laptop, got a can of Coke out of the refrigerator and locked the door behind him as he left.
“Coke?” she said. “Really?”
“You drink what you want; I’ll drink what I want.”
He thought they’d be walking back toward town, but at the head of the driveway, she turned left instead of right, and he followed her lead as they strolled along the road, through the desert, toward some of the bigger ranches. He had to admit, it felt good to be outside in the open air. He was starting to get a taste for it, and though for his entire adult life, walking had merely been a way to get from room to car, from car to room, from room to room, he found that he was actually enjoying this little hike.
At least until Jill brought up the angel.
“I’ve been asking around,” she said. “After you told me…what you told me. It’s hard to get anyone to talk about it, but my friend Cissy did—she was there—and she said your story’s pretty much on the money.” Like Ross, Jill had stayed home on New Year’s Eve and, like Ross, she’d heard nothing about what had happened at the party.
“Does she think it’s an angel?”
“It seems like everyone does.”
Ross stopped walking, turning toward her. “Maybe that’s what it wants them to think. Maybe it put that idea in their minds.”
“It’s dead, isn’t it?”
“But it’s supposed to have some kind of power anyway. At least that’s what people are saying. And with all of these deformed chickens and dead cattle and missing kids…”
“I don’t think it’s an angel either,” she told him.
“But what is it? It’s obviously something.”
She turned away, started walking again. “I don’t know.”
Neither of them spoke for awhile, but the subject was on both of their minds, and the mood as they continued on was more sober than it had been a few minutes prior. Looking off to his right, Ross could see, far in the distance, a hulking barn that he was pretty sure belonged to Cameron Holt.
Somewhere over there, the dead body of that dark flying thing was rotting in Holt’s smokehouse.
The idea made him uneasy. Ross stopped. “Let’s head back,” he said.
Jill nodded, not arguing, and they turned around, walking in silence back the way they’d come.
The mood brightened considerably as they approached the L-Bar D. Suddenly thirsty, Ross popped open the tab of the Coke can he’d been carrying and took a long drink. Jill squeezed water into her mouth, then squirted some at Ross. It felt as though they’d broken through some sort of gloom barrier, and he found himself wondering if that were possible or if the change in emotional temperature was all in his head.
Jill walked back with him to the shack, and though neither of them had said anything, he hoped that meant they were going to have sex. But instead she told him, “I need to get back.”
“Now?” he said, disappointed.
“Yeah. I have some telemarketing work to catch up on. There’s no rest for the obnoxious.”
“You want me to drive you home?”
Jill shook her head. “That’s okay. I’d rather walk.” She gave him a quick kiss. “Maybe I’ll call you. You could use some credit card insurance, couldn’t you?”
“No. But I’d like to hear your spiel.”
“I’ll be calling when you least expect it.” She refilled her water bottle from his sink, gave him another kiss, then walked outside, waving as she headed up the drive.
He watched her until the dirt lane curved behind a palo verde tree and she disappeared.
A few moments later, Lita and Dave returned in the pickup. Ross had a partial erection left over from his unfulfilled hopes, and he pushed it down before walking out to greet them. “So how’d it go?” he asked, though he already had an idea since they were back so early.