Second Chance Read online

  So outside of her horses and dog, Ava didn’t have much of a social connection in Moose Gap. Being a woman in a man’s world of ranching was a little bit isolating. Her dating prospects had been a little slow lately too. Still, the solitude of her life seemed to fit Ava. She felt most at peace on the ranch, nestled and protected in the shadows of the Tetons, surrounded by raw beauty and the soft nickers of horses happy to see her every day.

  Bing was usually by Ava’s side throughout the day but he was apparently off chasing a rabbit, or a chipmunk, or some other creature that would dare take his attention away from her. Oh, I’m so pathetic. She missed him already and he’d only been gone from her side for about half an hour. Can you say “co-dependent” Ava? Draining the remainder of her water, Ava put her Stetson back on and headed back to her poop pile. It was time to get those vocal chords working and sing her way through the rest of her chores.

  By 8:00 p.m., Ava had everything finished outside and had polished off two microwave meals. She’d just finished a hot, steamy shower that did wonders to help work the kinks out of her sore muscles. She still had some bills to pay, but then she had the rest of the night to herself.

  Should she start a new book or watch a movie? Probably a movie, where she could cuddle up with Bing on her bed and munch on a bowl of popcorn. Hea-ven! However, she had just bought a new fantasy romance novel and was really looking forward to losing herself in that for a while. Ava had always been a dreamer and there was no finer way to dream than reading about magical lands and a steamy, sexy love affair.

  Oh, who was she kidding? She was so exhausted she seriously doubted she could last through the opening credits of a movie or the first paragraph of her new book. Looked like another night where she would be in bed and asleep before nine o’clock. Which is fine by me. My life is exciting enough! Yup, I have plenty to do and new experiences to be had all the time. Except…Ava couldn’t help but think that her life boiled down to one day after another of back-breaking work and early nights to bed snuggled with her dog.

  It’s not that she minded hard work. Quite the opposite. Ava’s parents had instilled in her a diligent work ethic and she took pride in running the ranch. Still, she often dreamed of a day that she might meet someone with whom she could share her life.

  Ava grabbed her brush and hair dryer, and went to work on her wet head while she enjoyed a little day dream. Yes, Ava dreamed, it would be nice to have a strong, gorgeous, sexy hunk of a man. One who would appreciate Ava for her accomplishments, and who would make crazy love to her every night. A man who would hang on every word she uttered and think that Ava hung the moon and stars. Oh, and he couldn’t be jealous that Bing was the number one man in her life. That’s not asking for too much, is it?

  Ava mentally frowned at herself. Why was she obsessing so much about all the ways her life was lacking. Why did she feel a need to have a man in her life? Why this...loneliness? What the hell? Loneliness is exactly what I’m feeling!

  And this was completely baffling to Ava. When had this happened, and why was she now just recognizing it? Okay, slow down Ava and let’s Freud this a little. Ava had always prided herself on her independence, her resourcefulness, the fact that she didn’t need to depend on anyone. The hurt she suffered when her parents were killed was so consuming, she never wanted to feel that way again. The easiest way to avoid that was to never depend on anyone again. To never love anyone again.

  CHAPTER 2

  Dressed in a pair of sweat pants and an old t-shirt, Ava sipped on a cup of herbal tea while flipping through the ranch bills that were coming due over the next week. She loved having her ranch, but the paperwork was the pits. A necessary evil.

  Working solidly for the next half hour, Ava wrote out checks for all the bills that were due, which weren’t that many. There was something nice in the small nature of her farm. She would never get rich the way things were, but that wasn’t important to her. It was important that she was able to handle the ranch on her own, ensuring that she didn’t need to depend on anyone else. It didn’t take Freud this time for Ava to figure out those feelings. She clearly was having some abandonment issues over her parents’ death. Which made it all the more weird that she was having feelings of loneliness. And daydreaming about having a man in her life.

  There was that sharp pain again in her chest. Why does it still hurt even four years later? As if feeling her sadness, Bing laid his big head in her lap and gave a little whine in commiseration. She could always count on Bing to make her feel better. She stroked his soft head, winding her fingers down to the back of his ear for a nice scratch.

  Dogs always made everything better. Well, not all dogs. Just Bing.

  Ava continued thinking about her parents. Jaron and Selena Clairmont had been married for twenty-five years when they had died together in a terrible car crash. They weren’t even traveling far. Just a routine trip to the grocery store. Unfortunately, the mid-sized Virginia town in which they lived was also home to a chronic drunk by the name of Bill Whettington. While Jaron and Selena talked about how their day had been and what would be for dinner that night, Bill Whettington plowed through a red light while her parents had the green. Just that quickly, Ava was alone in this world.

  Ava had always thought her parents were nothing short of saints but after they were gone, she could only envision them as angels. They had always encouraged her to pursue her dreams, teaching her to face adversity with a positive attitude and a determined work ethic to be successful. Throughout Ava’s life, they had scrimped and saved for her to be able to pursue her greatest passion… horses.

  Ava had been riding from the age of six and never looked back. She always knew her life’s career would be centered on horses. As that fickle bitch fate would have it, Ava had just started at The University of Virginia pursuing a degree in Equine Studies when that bastard Bill Whettington killed her parents. Her world was turned upside down and now here she was, four years later, running a horse ranch in Wyoming.

  Ava never understood why some people said, “something good always comes out of something bad”. Sure, she had her dream job on her dream ranch, pursuing her life’s passion. But that was all because her parents had been killed by a drunk driver. She would never consider that to be something good that came out of her parents’ death. That was just circumstance, plain and simple, and she would give this all up just to be able to hug her parents one more time.

  Still, Ava couldn’t be any more grateful to her parents than she was when she learned that they’d left her this ranch when they died. She had no clue they even owned it. There was some vague mention in their will that the property had been owned by her father’s family for generations.

  It appeared she came by her passion for horses honestly. Generations of Clairmonts had worked this land and raised horses. Admittedly, she was in a state of shock following her parents’ death, so even to this day, she really wasn’t clear on all the details. All she knew was the estate attorney assured her she held the title to this ranch free and clear, and her parents had funded a trust with $1,000,000 in life insurance to help her get started. So she withdrew from college, packed her Subaru wagon, and headed west.

  Ava still puffed with pride when she thought about how she’d started her business. She knew she wanted to breed horses, but more than that, she wanted to train them. She’d always had an affinity with training. A horse whisperer she’d been called on more than one occasion.

  So she’d moved to Moose Gap, Wyoming, taken $100,000 of her parents’ insurance money and hired the best ranch manager in the area. Her requirements were clear. One year of employment, and the manager would teach her all there was to know about the business. At the end of the year, she would give him a $25,000 bonus and he would go along his merry way.

  That was almost three years ago and J&S Ranch had since become a modest success. Well, if “modest” meant that she was breaking even and able to draw a small salary, then yes, she was modestly successful. She had regular client
ele and was able to start offering riding lessons on the weekends. Sure, she worked eighty hours a week, but it was a job she loved. Not just love, I adore it. Yes, Ava adored her life. Except for that pesky loneliness that was plaguing her. Why was she so unsettled about this lately?

  Her thoughts were interrupted by a low growl from Bing. He had lifted his head from her lap and was staring intently at the front door. His ears were perked slightly forward, and the hackles on his back were raised.

  “What is it, Bing?”

  He growled again and his hackles rose a little higher.

  “Come on Bing, you’re starting to freak me out just a tiny bit here.”

  Bing responded by looking at Ava and tilting his head slightly to the side. The quizzical look on his face put Ava at ease.

  “Do you need to go outside before we hit the bed?”

  Bing barked once and ran to the door. Ava followed. She turned on her front porch light, opened the door and Bing ran off into the night to do whatever business he had on his agenda. While waiting on him, Ava took her tea cup to the kitchen and rinsed it out. She glanced around the kitchen to see if anything else was out of place.

  The kitchen was her favorite room in the old farmhouse. She had renovated it when she moved to the ranch. It had knotty, pine floors which she’d restored and white washed cabinets she’d painted herself. She’d splurged on the stainless steel appliances but reasoned that she more than made up for it by the junkyard find that was her kitchen table. The ten foot table made of reclaimed chestnut wood had hand carved, square inlays and a trestle base. It sat under a wrought iron chandelier with metal roosters upholding the lights on each arm. She had to do some minor refinishing but the table was in amazing condition. Of course, she had a hodge-podge of mismatched chairs surrounding it, but she didn’t think that in any way diminished its beauty.

  Ava turned off the kitchen light and went to let Bing in. She opened the door but he wasn’t on the porch. That’s odd. Bing always went out and did his business fairly quickly. He was not one to run off or linger outside at night. Ava told herself this was because he was too afraid to be out in the dark by himself, but in reality, Ava was the one who didn’t like the dark and was more comforted when he was by her side.

  “BING! Come on!”

  Nothing.

  “Let’s go knuckle head. I’m tired”.

  Ava listened intently and couldn’t hear him at all. She peered hard into the darkness surrounding the house. The porch light illuminated just a few feet outward, and past that she couldn’t see much. Over to the right, the outside light on the main barn illuminated the front of the barn and part of the paddock, but the area around that was pitch black as well.

  This is just great. I have to go find my dog in the sinister black of the night. Probably a serial killer lurking behind a bush, just waiting for the dumb female to walk his way.

  Ava slipped on her tennis shoes that she kept by the front door and stepped out on the porch. The night had cooled the air considerably and Ava felt a slight chill on her arms.

  “BING!”

  Even though Ava was a little spooked in the dark, she didn’t feel any real apprehension. Moose Gap was a very safe community and crime was virtually non-existent. She was sure that Bing was just sniffing around and got caught up in some delicious rabbity scent.

  THUMP.

  Ava jumped and her head snapped toward the barn. Ava stilled and listened intently.

  THUMP.

  It was definitely coming from the barn and her first thought was that one of the horses was kicking the inside of the stall. Or maybe it was Bing somehow stuck inside. Which was ridiculous, because how could he have gotten inside? She was pretty sure she had closed the door and secured the latch. It wasn’t locked, because, hey, this was Moose Gap, Wyoming and no one ever stole anything out here. But being the diligent ranch owner that she was, and wanting to hurry up and find Bing so she could go to bed, Ava headed toward the barn to investigate the weird noise.

  Stepping into the light at the barn door, she felt a weird prickling on the back of her head, as if her hair decided to stand at military attention. Mentally shaking off her foreboding, Ava opened the door and walked inside. Reaching to the right for the interior light switch, Ava gave it a flick. The overhead lights came on and flooded the interior with bright warmth. She didn’t see Bing.

  Walking forward, she approached the first stall which belonged to Beastie Girl, a small, delicate little mare she had bought about a year ago. As she reached the stall door, Beastie Girl stuck her head out and gave a soft nicker. The sound was comforting. Moreover, Beastie Girl was calm, if not curious as to why she was getting a visitor at this time of the night. If something sinister was in the barn, no way would Beastie Girl be so calm. Two more heads popped out of their stalls.

  “Hey King… Hey Macy. Seen any serial killers lurking around?”

  Both horses just stared at her.

  “How about Bing? Have you seen that doofus dog?”

  Again, more staring.

  “Well, thanks for all of your help. Your support means the world to me. Truly, I wouldn’t be what I am today without the three of you.”

  Giving each horse a soft rub on their muzzles, Ava walked the remaining length of the barn to the back door. Opening it to step outside, she was thankful for her foresight in installing lighting on the back of the barn too. She was immediately bathed in a soft, sulfurous glow. Ava peered into the dark but couldn’t see anything past the edge of the light.

  “Bing, come on buddy. It’s time to go inside.”

  She listened but heard nothing.

  Now she was really starting to worry about Bing. What if he got bitten by a snake he had disturbed while it slept? Or fell down a ravine? Or carted off by dog thieves? Okay, the last one was stretching it a bit, but in the Wild West, there were always dangers out in the dark.

  Ava decided to head back to the house and get a flashlight so she could check out more of the property. In fact, she decided to grab her gun too. It would be just her luck to run into a bear and not be prepared. Damn dog. Remind me again why I love you so much? Rather than cut back through the barn, Ava decided to walk around it. Between the lights on the front and back of the barn, she should have enough ambient light to see where she was going.

  Ava closed and latched the back barn door, and headed to the right. She had taken two steps when she immediately tripped over a shovel that she had left lying on the ground from her mucking duties earlier in the day. Falling forward, Ava landed on both her hands and knees.

  “Shit, shit, shit”, Ava muttered as she pushed herself up off the ground and wiped her dirty hands on the legs of her sweatpants.

  Way to go Grace Kelly.

  Grabbing the shovel, Ava stomped off along the side of the barn toward the house. Being careful to watch where she walked, in case her stupidity had caused her to leave any other farming implements lying around, Ava reached the end of the barn. From the corner of her right eye, she caught a bit of movement.

  Bing! Ava turned with a smile on her face although she fully intended to give him a little tongue lashing for making her work this hard to find him. Instead, Ava came face to face with what she could only describe as a monster straight from a nightmare.

  CHAPTER 3

  Blazing red eyes that radiated pure evil. That was the first thing Ava noticed. It was quickly obvious that this was not a human. Whatever this thing was, it was tall and somewhat shaped like a man. It had blotchy, gray skin and was completely bald. The thing was reed thin, except for a pot belly. Its arms were extremely long with its hands hanging almost to its knees. And a dirty loincloth was the only thing that kept it from being termed totally “naked”. Gross.

  While it seemed like she stared at the creature for an eternity, it was probably no more than a second or two. Just long enough for the loathsome thing to appraise her and issue a low, rumbling growl.

  Ava didn’t hesitate.

  She swung the shov
el with all her might and smacked the thing in the head. The creature fell to the ground. Score one for the defenseless, female human.

  Her celebration was cut short. While her smack job was good, Mr. Gray didn’t stay down and lurched up off the ground. Once it was standing again, it swayed back and forth. Ava took a bit of pride in the fact that she had hurt it. Or maybe that was a hypnotizing pattern the monster employed before striking a death blow.

  Regardless, a hard hit with a sharp shovel had not really phased Mr. Gray. Not wanting to ponder the scenario further, Ava bolted back down the side of the barn toward the back door, thinking that at least she had her shovel as a weapon. Maybe she could get in another lucky hit.

  DAMN!

  Ava realized she had dropped the shovel, probably from shock, after she bashed Mr. Gray in the head. Oh, well. She had to depend on swiftness of feet at this point.

  Running as if her life depended on it, and she was most confident that it did, Ava rounded the back corner of the barn and slammed straight into a hard, muscled male body. Ava involuntarily screamed but it was cut off as a hand came down over her mouth. Thinking Mr. Gray brought a friend to this party, she immediately started punching, kicking and clawing like a wild hellcat.

  Keeping one hand over her mouth, her captor wrapped his other arm around her, pulling her tight to his chest. This pinned her arms, stilling her frantic blows. Then he leaned down and whispered to her. “Hush and be still. I’m here to help you.”

  Whether it was the calmness of his voice, or the fact that her lifetime supply of adrenaline had been expended, Ava sagged in relief. She nodded to indicate she understood and his arms released her.

  She immediately took in the fact this man was very tall. Easily taller than her father’s 6’5” frame. He had light colored hair but she couldn’t tell the exact shade with just the ambient light from the back of the barn. He wore his hair long, with varying lengths that brushed his shoulders. Again, the lighting was not being very cooperative so she couldn’t tell the color of his eyes, but she felt them boring into her. Then the stranger grabbed her hand and softly said, “Follow me.”