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although I was still young, I wasn’t that young anymore. I was thinking about to starting a pot of coffee when Ali turned the light on in the little kitchenette and pressed the button to start it. She must have read my mind.
    “Sorry, I was here earlier. I had a couple of the guys bring your bags in the truck while I went through the place and dusted. I restocked the shelves in here from the big kitchen and…”
    “Alison. That kiss…” I interrupted, my mind and body conflicted.
    “Oh?” She looked at me with an embarrassed expression.
    “You’re now my sister,” I hated the words coming out of my mouth, much more than I cared to admit.
    “Yeah, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean for that to happen. I kind of got caught up-” She sounded apologetic.
    “It takes two. I should have known better,” I tried to smile, to put her at ease. I tried to keep the anger out of my voice, hating what I was doing.
    “What do you think Sandy thought about that? She might mention it to Mom?”
    “Oh god, I don’t even want to know,” I told her. Actually, I was mortified at what my mom would think.
    “Dad’s the one I’m worried about,” Alison admitted.
    “I thought you were worried about the Bart clan?”
    “Yeah, them too. We’ve really made a mess of things haven’t we?”
    “We didn’t start the mess; we’re just in the middle of it.”
    “I’m worried.”
    “I’m not, not yet,” I told her, but hearing how bad things were getting from Jackson, had me concerned.
    I was glad the conversation had turned away from the kiss.
    “I knew we could put in some long days if needed, and we could always bring in outside help for the water issue. The fences and the dead calves worry me more. That’s somebody messing around,” I finished the thought aloud.
    “They aren’t messing around. It’s Tim’s family, I’m sure of it.”
    “What side of the ranch do they butt up to?” I asked her.
    “The sides where the cattle are coming up missing, fences keep getting cut… Calves…”
    “Looks like me trying to be a slacker and get the easy job backfired on me huh?”
    “We can only hope it’s an easy job. The other reason Jackson has put off on keeping somebody on it-” She let her words trail off.
    “What?”
    “It could be dangerous.”
    “I can take care of myself.” I told her.”
    “You always could,” she said, stepping close to me.
    I had to put some distance between us, my feelings were in turmoil. I was having an internal war, and there had been too much happening too fast and Alison’s kiss had added a layer of confusion that I wasn’t expecting. The fact that I enjoyed it, wanted more, terrified me. I sat at the small table and watched her pull two coffee cups out of one of the cabinets and set them on the counter. A knock on the door had me turning to see who it was, the screen door the only thing closed.
    “Hey kids, can an old cowpoke come have a cup of coffee with you?” Jackson’s voice floated out from the gloom.
    “Come on in, you don’t have to knock,” I told him through the screen.
    “Didn’t know if you guys were busy catching up,” he said, his expression funny, I couldn’t read it.
    “We’re just talking about the issues on the ranch. Ali here thinks the Bart boys are behind it all. Thinks this might be dangerous.”
    “She may be right. We can’t get the useless sheriff to investigate anything. I just got word; Tim is out of the hospital.”
    “Good, maybe the boys in the holding cell will be gentle with him when they find out what he tried to do.”
    “He’s not in custody either.”
    “What?” Alison asked, her body going rigid.
    “You’re going to spill that coffee,” Jackson pointed. “Sheriff must have sweet talked somebody. Last I heard, even the deputies were on board with locking him up. I guess he’s back home by now and with Karen smooching on you and the whole town seeing it, there might be trouble,” my face burned.
    “Couldn’t help it,”