“Welcome to Hunt Ranch!” she said, before bounding up the steps behind Emmett.
“Hop in your truck and I’ll show you the way,” Jonah said.
We did as he instructed and I rolled down my window for him when he jumped on the truck’s step bar.
He bent down slightly. “Back up a bit and head in that direction,” he said, pointing at a cluster of wood buildings. I did so, slowly. “That was the main house, as you can guess. This here,” he said pointing again to a tall wood structure to our left. It was open but covered. “This is our hay storage. Next to that is our main barn and the pen’s attached to that on the other side.” We rounded a small bend. “Carriage house to store all our machinery. A few of us ranch hands live above the carriage house, including myself,” he said, glancing at Bridge. I felt like clocking him, but he was just trying to be nice. That didn’t mean I had to like the attention he was giving her. “Horse barn,” he continued. “We’ve got a few other little buildings a hundred yards or so that direction.” He pointed east and I saw a peppering of buildings. “Those were original to the ranch in the late eighteen hundreds. Here we are,” he said, gesturing to the left. “All of these weren’t built until nineteen-twenty or so. They don’t look that much different, do they?” he laughed.
We came upon a little silver Airstream tucked below some pine trees at the bottom of the sloping hill parallel to the main house. Bridge looked at me and I shook my head to keep quiet until we were alone. Jonah walked off the step bar as I came to a stop near the trailer and ran around to the passenger side, opening the door for Bridge.
“Thank you,” she said, taking his hand and stepping down.
I opened the back doors and started grabbing bags. Jonah followed suit by opening the back door nearest him and grabbed the remaining. I nodded my thanks.
He led us to the trailer and walked the small stairwell to the round pocket door and opened it. I stepped inside after him, directly to my right was a built-in sofa that butted against the width of the trailer, save for a small wall of cabinets that lay perpendicular against the wall farthest from the door. Along that same wall, was a small fridge, closet, and across from those was a small sink and stove. There was also a small laminate table in front of the sofa. Past the center accordion doors laid two small twin beds on opposite ends of the trailer walls and beyond that, a small bathroom with toilet, sink, and tub with shower. The entire place was a trip back in time to the seventies, complete with gold laminate floors and countertops, but it looked and smelled clean and had new mattresses and bedding. I hope they didn’t buy that for us, I thought. I felt bad enough imposing on their hospitality as it was.
“There’s heat, electricity and running water,” Jonah mentioned, setting our stuff on the sofa. “Although, you might want to keep a few extra blankets around when a blizzard comes ’round, and they will.”
“Thank you, Jonah,” Bridge said, studying her surroundings. “We’re very grateful,” she added.
Jonah smiled and nodded. “I’ll leave you to it. Dinner’s in an hour. See you there?”
“Of course,” Bridge answered waving at him before closing the door.
We stood in silence, taking in our surroundings.
“It’s-It’s definitely different than L.A.,” she said, breaking the quiet.
I was used to living in confined spaces living in a Brown dorm, but this was all very new to her.
“You’re going to be okay with this?” I asked.
She stiffened her upper lip. “Of course. I wasn’t lying when I said I was grateful. Besides, maybe they’ve got a shop in town. We can, like, spruce it up a bit?”
I laughed at her. “That’s cool, Bridge. I’ll give you some cash.”
“Can we afford it?” she asked.
I pretended to calculate in my head. “I think we can swing it. Besides, I need to go into Kalispell for a few things anyway. Find a bank, somehow open an account without Dad finding out, find a doctor for you.”
Her face dropped. “I almost forgot,” she said, a sad smile gracing her face. “The whole reason we’re here.”
“Exactly,” I added, inspecting the trailer, “which means boys aren’t even an option out here.”
“What the hell?”
“I saw how Jonah looked at you. I’m just sayin’.”
She rolled her eyes. “Which bed do you want?”
“Bridge, I mean it, no boys.”
She stiffened her back. “Spencer, you really know how to piss a girl off, don’t you? Trust me, my focus is a little preoccupied at the moment.”
Chapter Thirteen
We unpacked as best we could and I noticed there wasn’t a TV or pretty much anything of convenience really.
“We’re going to have to make a list,” I said, stepping back out into the cold.