No Strings Part 25

You and Morgan can stay for dinner too, Reese. There's plenty."

As she walked away, Reese turned to Tina. "In denial?

What?"

"Partly, yes. And partly because she said she didn't feel like they were in trouble." Tina shrugged. "Everyone's got their own way of coping." She motioned to Morgan who walked over with the two crew members. "How is she?"

"Worried."

"Yeah. That's about all we can do, isn't it?"

Reese nodded. "Afraid so."

Dinner was a mostly quiet affair with Tina trying to force conversation among them. Ellen, for her part, at least pretended that everything was fine, telling Jonathan and Matt-the two crew members from Gunnison's Fire and Rescue-stories about some of their more daring guests who'd tried to snowmobile down Cutter's Chute.

Morgan sat quietly beside her, saying little, and Reese recognized the worry in her eyes. This was Morgan's town.

These were her people. She loved and cared about them. It was something Reese wasn't used to. After leaving Vegas, she'd hopped around tourist towns, never staying too long in one place, never learning to truly care about the people there. She was just doing a job. But now she envied the closeness that Morgan had with Ellen and Tina, two people she'd only met since getting transferred here. Two people she let into her life. Not like Reese, who kept everyone at a distance. No wonder, even after six months, she still felt like an outsider. As Morgan had told her once, it was easier for her to cut and run if she didn't get involved in their lives.

All but Morgan. Try as she may, she couldn't say she was not involved with Morgan. She was. Right now, at this very minute, Morgan was the most important thing in her life.

And that scared the h.e.l.l out of her.

She smiled slightly when she felt a light touch upon her thigh and Morgan's fingers gently squeezing. She looked across the table, finding Tina's eyes on them. She didn't care. She reached under the table and covered Morgan's hand, holding it tightly against her leg.

The loud ringing of the phone in the kitchen stopped Ellen in mid-sentence and she nearly ran for it. They all listened intently as Ellen's voice got louder.

"What? Johnnie? I can barely hear you."

"Johnnie Cutter," Morgan said to Reese.

Ellen came back in, the phone still to her ear, her eyes wide.

"Oh, my G.o.d." Reese jumped up, taking the phone from Ellen.

Ellen nearly fell into Tina's arms. "They're alive. He said they were alive."

Reese felt a wave of relief. "This is Reese Daniels," she said into the phone.

"Who?"

"The no-good lady sheriff," she said, grinning at Morgan who was listening.

"Oh, Chief Daniels. Yeah. This is Johnnie. I barely got a signal on this fancy cell phone. Can you hear me?"

"I can hear you. Where are you?"

"I had to hike to the top of the d.a.m.n mountain to get a signal.

I'm standing in waist-deep snow, that's where the h.e.l.l I am."

"What about Rick and Kenny?"

"The kid's got a broken leg, the best I can tell. The d.a.m.n fools were at the base of the chute when it ran. They skied over the top of the canyon to beat it, probably fell twenty or thirty feet. I went down to check on things after I heard the run. I heard somebody hollering for help."

"d.a.m.n, Johnnie. You did good."

"Yeah, well we had a h.e.l.l of a time getting the boy out. He can't put any weight on his left leg."

"Where are they now?"

"Oh, I imagine they're by the fire in my cabin. But he knew everyone would be worried so I hiked up. And who was the d.a.m.n fool flying a helicopter in this wind? I thought I was going to have to do another rescue the way it was bouncing around up there."

Reese laughed. "That'd have been me and Morgan, with a crew from Gunnison."

"And she calls me an old crazy fool." He laughed. "The wind will calm down by morning. Have those fellas swing by with their chopper. There's an open s.p.a.ce on the back side of the mountain. Morgan will know where it is. We'll put together a sled or something for the boy."

"I'll let everyone know. Thanks, Johnnie. We'll be around in the morning."

Ellen grabbed her arm as soon as she hung up. "Well, what did he say? How are they?"

"They're in his cabin. He thinks Kenny has a broken leg.

That's the only injury he mentioned."

"How? I mean-"

"As Johnnie put it, the d.a.m.n fools were at the base of the chute when it ran. He said they had to ski into the canyon."

"It's too steep there to ski," Morgan said.

"Yeah. That was the problem. He said it was a twenty-or thirty-foot drop."

"Oh, G.o.d," Ellen said. "It could have been so much worse."

Reese looked at Morgan. "He said there was a clearing on the back side of the mountain. They're going to ski there tomorrow and have the helicopter pick them up. You know what he's talking about?"

"Yes. It's essentially a boulder field, no vegetation. With this much snow, they should be able to ski it easily. But what about Kenny?"

"He said they would put him on a sled or something." She glanced at Jonathan and Matt who were listening. "That okay?"

They nodded. "That's great news," Matt said. "Sure, we can pick them up."

"I don't know how to thank you all," Ellen said, her eyes misting with tears again. "It could have been so tragic. Those two are my life. I don't know how I could have coped if I'd lost them."

"I thought you weren't worried," Tina teased.

"I lied," she said as tears and laughter came at the same time.

CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE.

Reese stood on the sidewalk as the warm breeze blew around them, staring at the sign. TONI'S HAIR AFFAIR. She glanced at Morgan.

"You're the one who didn't want Stella," Morgan reminded her.Yes, that was true. The week before, as they sat outside in lawn chairs waiting for the charcoal to heat, Morgan had reached over and ruffled her hair. "You need a haircut."

Reese had tried to tame it. "I know. It's never been this long."

"Why don't you go see Stella?"

"Oh, no. She's a hundred years old. The one time I went, she used a curling iron and threatened to tease it if I didn't let her pouf up the back, as she called it."

And so here they stood on the main street in Gunnison, combining a grocery shopping trip with Reese's haircut.

"Go on in," Morgan said. "I'll just window shop." She glanced down the street. "Everyone's getting ready for tourist season.

Can't you just feel it?"

"Yeah. A few more weeks." She pointed at the shop. "I'll find you when I'm done."

Morgan laughed and held up her cell phone. "Don't hunt for me too long."

Reese grinned. "I guess it would be easier to just call you."

She paused at the door. "Have fun. Shouldn't take me long."

But when she saw the crowded shop, the ladies all talking at once, she was glad they'd had the foresight to make an appointment. She looked at the smiling girl at the counter. "I'm Reese Daniels," she said.

"Welcome, Reese. Try and find a seat. It'll just be a few minutes."

Reese looked back at the waiting room, seeing every seat occupied by someone's grandmother. Lovely. Everyone over the age of seventy must have an appointment this morning, she thought. But she didn't have to wait long. A woman, not much younger than old Stella in Lake City called for her.

"You must be new in town, hon," she said as she led Reese to a chair and immediately plunged both hands into Reese's hair.

"Nice, thick hair. Very healthy. Just need a trim?"

Reese met her eyes in the mirror. "Looking more for the summer cut," she said. "I don't normally keep it this long."

"Well, not knowing how you normally wear it, would you like to look at some pictures in a magazine?"

"No," Reese said quickly. "Definitely not." She looked from side to side, then back to the woman in the mirror. "Look, I'm not really a big hair person. It's not that big a deal to me. Just kinda clean it up a little."

The woman lifted her hair. "Over the ears?"

"Not quite that short."

"Bangs?"

"G.o.d, no."

The woman spun the chair around and messed with the top.

"Too curly for bangs anyway."

"I don't have curly hair."

She smiled. "Hon, if this ain't curly, I don't know what is."

Reese narrowed her eyes. "Just cut it."

"Well, I'll do my best, but I don't want any complaining from you.""No, ma'am."

And out came the bottle of water, the woman spraying her hair to wet it, her fingers moving through it as she shook her head in disapproval.

"What?"

"Such nice thick hair and you want to cut it off."

Reese gritted her teeth. She should have just gone to Stella.

But the woman made quick work, her scissors snapping as her dark hair fell to her shoulders and gathered on the plastic cape before slipping to the floor. But as she watched, it got shorter and shorter. As the woman snipped above her ear, Reese arched an eyebrow.

"You have such a pretty face. Nice strong jawline. I felt shorter was the way to go," she said.

"Uh-huh."

She unsnapped the cape and shook the hair to the floor.

"Time for a shampoo and blow-dry."

"That's not really necessary," Reese said as she got out of the chair.

"Of course it is. You have tiny hairs all over you."

"I don't normally blow-dry."

The woman stared at her, her eyes moving past her cowboy boots and jeans to the long-sleeved Ski Winter Park T-shirt she had tucked in, and then to her now short hair. "You don't say?"

She pointed into the next room. "In there."

Reese didn't argue as she settled into the wash basin, leaning her head back into the sink, then nearly jumping up as hot, scalding water hit her head.

"Sorry, hon."