The Challenge(41)

“Now you need to find that cowboy I mentioned, to spice things up for you. I have to say, I admire you, Beth. I’m sorry to hear about you and Tom.” They were having lunch at a restaurant that was fashionable with the literary set, and Beth realized she was going to miss it. The Cowboy Bar and the diner in Fishtail were not quite the same.

“Yeah, me too,” she said. “I think we were bored with each other. All the fun had gone out of our marriage. I didn’t realize it until he forced a showdown about moving to Montana. But maybe it will work like this, not for him and me, but for Juliet.”

“Commuting to Fishtail, Montana,” Natalie said, “sounds very jet set.” Beth laughed.

“It could happen to you. Wait ’til Charlie decides to retire and wants you to move to a retirement community in Florida, or a dude ranch in Wyoming.”

“I’ll pick dude ranch, go by myself, and float Charlie on an iceberg down the East River,” she said as they finished lunch. She brought Beth up-to-date on the latest publishing gossip, who was sleeping with whom, who was going to get fired, and what big author had a new contract. It was always fun having lunch with Natalie.

“Well, good luck, cowgirl,” she said when they left each other outside the restaurant after lunch. “Send me a postcard, and call me when you’re in New York. Just don’t forget to come home now and then. I can’t wait to hear about the cowboy you find out there.”

“Me too.” Beth laughed and waved as she got into a cab to go home to finish an article she was doing for The New Yorker. It was definitely going to be an interesting experience commuting between Fishtail and New York. But New York would always be there, and Juliet would be off to her own life in a few years.

When she finished the article for The New Yorker, she’d start packing. She still had to find a place to live in Fishtail.





Chapter 11


By the second week in August, the worst of the fires on Granite Peak were eighty percent under control. There were a thousand firefighters from seven states on the mountain, and Harvey was no longer giving daily press conferences. Three of the firefighters had lost their lives, and the summer was coming to an end.

Juliet was spending most of her time at the Pollocks’, with a dozen other kids in their swimming pool. Fishtail felt more like home to her now, knowing that she would be going to school with them. Her friends were excited about it. The boys she had been lost on the mountain with were protective of her, and talked about how brave she had been, and how she had climbed the tree to get the supplies the night before they were rescued. She had met a few of the girls she’d be going to Absarokee High School with, but she wasn’t close to any of them yet. She was closer to the boys she had been spending time with, and when she wasn’t at the Pollocks’, Peter was at her house with her dad. He had taught her to play video games. She was getting good at it, and beat him some of the time, enough to satisfy her ego and not bruise his unduly. They saw the others from their mountain adventure nearly every day. Justin’s ankle was still in a cast and would be for another month. Noel was feeling fine, and their father was still alive. He slept almost all the time now, heavily medicated to ease the pain.

Pattie had called Anne to see how Peter was sleeping, and she said he was fine. Pattie was worried because Benjie was having night terrors and recurring nightmares about the bear that had nearly attacked them. He was sure he could hear it outside their house at night, and he was afraid the bear would show up on the ranch and find him. Anne suggested Pattie take him to a therapist and told her to call June and ask her for a recommendation since she was dating a pediatrician from Saint Vincent’s and knew a lot of doctors in Billings. It sounded like a good idea, although she said Bill didn’t like shrinks and didn’t think Benjie needed one.

“The poor kid hasn’t had a decent night’s sleep since they got back, and neither have we,” Pattie said, worried. She thought the therapist was a good idea, and had thought of it too. She called June, who gave her the names of two child psychiatrists she had worked with who had needed speech therapy for their patients. When Pattie called, the first one offered her an appointment in September, and she took it.

The Pollocks gave their annual end-of-summer barbecue, and Anne could see that Pattie was worried. Benjie was quieter than usual, and less exuberant. She noticed that Justin seemed withdrawn too, but he and Noel were going through a hard time as their father slipped away by inches. Marlene was rail thin and had dark circles under her eyes. Bob was hanging on to life by a thread, he was like a candle that was flickering before it went out. The Pollocks felt sorry for them, and had the kids over all the time, but there wasn’t much anyone could do.

Tom Marshall made a point of checking in with Marlene whenever he could, and offered to do chores and errands for her. He often had the boys over to dinner. Justin seemed to have become a man over the summer, between their three days in the mountains, and his experience with his father. He had told Tom, too, that he had felt responsible for the others when they were lost, because he was older. The incident with the mother bear had marked him too. He seemed very withdrawn these days, and he had to apply to college in the fall.

But the Pollocks’ barbecue was particularly jovial this year. They had a lot to celebrate with Peter and the other kids having come home safely. The whole group was excited to be starting high school in two weeks.