The Last Ranch by Michael McGarrity Page B

evening had turned out to be. He told her that if he hadn’t found the stack of unopened mail in his desk, he would have not known to show up until it was too late.
    Through all his small talk, Raine smiled pleasantly until she suddenly put down her half-empty glass, looked him straight in the eye, interrupted, and asked, “Are you ever going to get around to inviting me to your room?”
    Caught off guard, Matt smiled sheepishly. “I’ve been working up to it.”
    She stood and pulled him out of his chair. “Not quickly enough.”
    In his room, they eagerly undressed each other, impatient to touch, taste, see, breathe each other in, and explore the hidden places. They made love explosively and did it again almost immediately, only more slowly, deliciously. Snuggled in his arms, Raine asked when he planned to return to his ranch.
    â€œI was thinking to leave in the morning.”
    She wiggled a hand free and found him erect and ready. She straddled him, let him slip inside her, and began to move. “Can I convince you to stay until noon?”
    â€œI’ll consider it.”
    She bent down and kissed him, her nipples touching his chest as he began to thrust deep inside her. “I’d be most grateful,” Raine gasped.
    ***
    A fter a late Sunday breakfast in the hotel restaurant, they went to Raine’s room and made love again until it was almost checkout time. Susie called while they were dressing, and urged Raine to hurry up, as the major was anxious to return to El Paso. They kissed one last time outside Matt’s door.
    â€œLet’s do this again, real soon,” Matt suggested lightheartedly, happier than he’d been in months.
    Raine smiled, tight-lipped, her eyes suddenly sad. “Maybe we can after the war is won. I ship out for England in a week. I was going to tell you, but . . .” Her voice trailed off. She touched his cheek. “I’ll write.”
    The news stunned him. Somehow he found the willpower to force a smile. “I’d like that. Stay safe, Raine.”
    â€œI will, promise.” She picked up her suitcase and walked down the hallway. Turning once to look back at him, she waved and smiled before disappearing down the stairs to the lobby.
    From his room, Matt watched the married major load Raine’s luggage into the trunk of his car. Raine got in the backseat, with her girlfriend Susie up front next to her lover. As the trio drove away, Raine never looked up.
    Matt drove home in a stew, trying to figure out why he felt so let down. It had been, after all, nothing more than a weekend fling. No promises or pledges had been made, no words of love exchanged. That he was a hundred and fifty dollars richer didn’t console him. Such a weekend might not come his way again for a long, long time. Maybe he was grateful, maybe he was sad. Maybe he was both.
    With the sun dipping to the west, he approached the ranch house surprised to see Ribbon and Peaches lolling in the pasture near the water tank. If Patrick had brought Anna Lynn and Ginnyto the ranch along with the ponies, the timing couldn’t be worse. He found him alone on the veranda, feet up on the railing, smoking a cigar.
    â€œAre they here?” Matt asked.
    â€œWhere have you been?” Patrick countered.
    â€œIn town. Are they?”
    Patrick shook his head and handed Matt an envelope. “She sent this.”
    Matt tore it open and read:
    Dear Matthew,
    I’ve been asked by my sister Danette to come to Idaho and help her move to California. You may remember I wrote you when you were overseas that she’d lost her husband in an Air Corps training accident and was about to have a baby. She stayed with us for a while and had a lovely baby boy named Joshua, before she returned home.
    I’m not sure how long we’ll be gone, but I think it’s good for us to get away, especially with all that has happened. The timing is perfect now that the