Sarah moved first to the refrigerator to see if there was any type of energy drink in it, though she had her doubts there would be. She’d need to head to town and buy some at some point, maybe when they got her car. She would have done it the night before, but she’d just wanted to get here. She found nothing but bottled water and food.
Leaning against the counter on the island, she stared at the coffee pot that was still on and the no doubt sludge in the bottom of it. She had no other choice. She cleaned it all out, found the filters and coffee grounds and set it to run a new pot. Sarah stared out the window as she waited for the coffee to brew so she could take the first sip. It wasn’t going to be good, but it would do in a pinch.
The house felt empty. If there was anything Sarah knew, it was what it felt like to be alone. She spent most of her free time alone, really any time she could get. She was an introvert to the core, and she needed that time to recharge. Eli was nowhere in sight, even though her truck was still parked out front.
When the coffee was finished, Sarah took a mug and poured herself a cup with a heavy dose of milk and sugar in it. She took two sips before she went back to her room and found the boots that she’d thrown against the wall the night before. She dragged them on, pulled on her light jacket and her beanie over her mess of hair from sleeping with it wet.
With her coffee in hand, she went back downstairs and out the front door. She breathed in the fresh scent of clean air, the bite of cold drawing into her lungs and nearly making her cough. It was far colder outside than she had thought it would be. Wrapping her hands more tightly around the mug, Sarah settled on the porch swing, which was covered with a light dose of frost. She ignored it as she stared out at the fields in front of her.
The area was gorgeous, just like Eli had told her it would be. The sun was already high in the sky, and she was surprised there was still frost on the ground with it being so late, so she figured the storm clouds mustn’t have left until midday. The hills rolled in every direction she could see. Forested trees stood starkly in contrast to the plains on one side of the house. Sarah had no idea if it was north or south or what. Jagged cliffs and rocks—the ground seemed to jut into the sky and block the world from view.
The house was nestled against them, but the fields were in front of her. Wooden fences with barbed wire stretched between, getting so small she lost sight of them. Another sip of coffee settled in the front of her head, and she knew the caffeine was working in her system to wake her up and make her function properly. She finished her cup before she dragged herself inside for a second one.
Sarah made a second trip outside to check out the rest of the grounds. As she stepped off the deck, she knew she wasn’t in Texas anymore. She felt like she was in a mix of the Great Plains and the Rocky Mountains, and she supposed she was close in both regards, situated somewhere between where one ended and the other began.
With her breath nearly gone from the beauty, Sarah walked around the corner of the house and was stunned again. She could still see for miles. Miles and miles, so many she now knew why this region was considered big sky country.
“Wow.”
She finished her coffee as she walked around the house, spying a freshly painted red barn off to the side and down a hill with an old truck or two parked outside and a couple of tractors. She had no idea what the tractors were for, but they didn’t look like normal ones at all, and one of the trucks had something odd on the back.
Turning, Sarah went back to the house and got herself a third cup of coffee. She’d no doubt need to start a second pot soon enough to keep herself going. As soon as her third coffee cup was filled and thoroughly sipped, she turned toward the fireplace in the den.
There was no flame flickering in it, and she wasn’t sure how to turn it on, so Sarah avoided it as she dragged out the bench for the piano. The legs scraped against the floor, and she cringed. She wanted to be quiet, which she realized was stupid if she was going to play. She set the coffee mug on the top of the piano before she stood up and opened the bench to see if there was any music in it.
Sarah had songs memorized, and she could play just about anything by ear, but a classical piece here and there did her heart well. There were a few books of music in the seat, and Sarah pulled out one of them and set it on the piano. She put her hands on the keyboard, the keys cold under her fingertips.
It didn’t take long for the music to flow from her. She played through random songs in the book before she gave up and just went with whatever came into her head. Some of it was melodies she had learned and loved as a kid, and some were from the classics. She lost herself in the music, letting it be the distraction she needed so much.
Chapter 6
Music floated through her mind,and Eli turned onto her belly in bed. She brushed a hand against her cheek and then her eyes before she turned onto her back again. She had to blink through multiple layers of sleep before she was able to see clearly. Eli reached over and grabbed her phone to check the time. Her alarm was set to go off in the next ten minutes, which was a blessing and curse. She really could have used more sleep.
The music she’d thought she’d been dreaming continued to echo through her ears, and it wasn’t until Eli stood in the center of her bedroom still in her underwear and socks that she realized it was coming from the den upstairs. Smiling to herself, she pulled on a clean shirt, snapping the buttons as she went.
In her bathroom, she ran the toothbrush through her mouth and then redid the two braids down each side of her head. It was enough to make her feel decently girly but also kept it out of the way when she was wrangling cattle and machinery. The last thing she needed was to get her hair caught in something when she was the only one around.
Flicking the braids behind her back, she splashed cold water onto her face to try and wake herself up a bit more. She’d need some coffee before she grabbed her water and headed out to the pasture for her afternoon check of the cattle. In her white socks that pulled up to mid-calf, Eli walked through the carpeted basement and up the stairs to the main floor of the house.
The music got louder as she got closer to the den. Even she could tell the piano was slightly out of tune. The last time she’d had someone there to mess with it had been summer when her older sister had come through for the week—insisting on taking up two of the rooms in the house so Eli hadn’t been able to rent them out to guests and it cost her money, but that was an argument for another day, one she’d had several times.
Eli got to the top step and smiled. Sarah had to be playing. She was the only other person in the house, and Eli knew it wasn’t a recording. She rounded the corner, walked through the kitchen, and moved toward the den but stopped. There was a barely-there pot of coffee, enough for maybe three-quarters of a cup. Seizing the opportunity, Eli pulled down a mug and dumped the rest of the coffee into it before turning the machine off. She’d clean it out later.
With the sweet elixir in her fingertips, she moved toward the den and the music. Sarah played, her eyes closed as her hands and fingers moved back and forth on the keys, hitting them in what seemed to Eli to be random timing and places. She knew the notes, of course. She’d been taught them at one point when her mother had insisted she take lessons from Mrs. Parris in town, but that had only lasted a couple years before they had both thrown in the towel.
Eli slid into the den and sat on one of the oversized chairs. Sarah hadn’t noticed her yet, and she wasn’t about to interrupt whatever was going on. She missed the days when her sister would play and practice for hours after school. Their mother had been a gifted pianist as well, but neither of them could compare to this.
Her coffee was close to finished when Sarah stopped playing abruptly and turned to Eli with a hand over her heart. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean...I’m sorry.”
“What on earth for?” Eli said, cocking her head to the side and grinning. “For playing the piano?”
“I didn’t know anyone was here.”
Eli chuckled. “I’ve been in and out all night and finally caught a few hours of sleep. Did you sleep well?”
Sarah nodded and closed the lid on the piano.
Nodding her head at the instrument, Eli raised an eyebrow. “Don’t stop if you don’t want to. It’s here for a reason, and I can’t play for anything, much to my mother’s disappointment and two years of lessons.”