Page 51 of Wind Called

“Okay,” he said easily. “Just let me pack a few things.”

Was this a stupid idea? Maybe it would have been smarter to put together some camping gear and sleep under the stars by one of the other vortexes they’d seen on the map.

Problem was, none of them were located in designated camping areas. True, people camped where they weren’t supposed to all the time, but Bellamy wasn’t sure she wanted to get evicted by a Forest Service ranger while they were trying to see if the vortex energies worked on Marc as well.

Besides, she’d had her “awakening” — even though she kind of hated to think of it that way — at the ranch, so it just made sense to have him stay there with her.

It would sure be a hell of a lot more comfortable.

And since Ike had texted her overnight sometime, telling her he was going on a business trip to Singapore and might be kind of hard to reach for the next few days, it wasn’t as if she had to worry about him showing up out of nowhere and conducting a pop inspection of the property.

“All set,” Marc told her as he closed the dresser drawer where he’d stowed the clothes he’d brought along. His toiletries were already stored in the bathroom, so that part was taken care of. “Now what?”

“Well,” she said with a grin, “I did tell you I owed you a drink.”

His expression turned amused, although he sounded serious enough as he replied, “You don’t think it’ll mess with our little experiment here?”

“Of course not,” she said. “I had wine that first night I heard the voices on the wind, and we drank the night before we had our hike on the Devil’s Bridge. I don’t think that has anything to do with it. I think we’re just supposed to…sort of live our lives, I guess.”

“Don’t you think we should at least call my grandmother and let her know what happened at Red Rock Crossing?”

That probably made the most sense. They could tell Tricia about Bellamy’s experience, and then she and Marc could go off and enjoy the rest of their afternoon.

Unfortunately, they couldn’t have that drink at Sedona Vines, since she was supposed to be out dealing with a family emergency, but they’d think of something.

“Okay,” she said. “Let’s give her a call.”

His grandmother sounded startled by what Bellamy had to relay, but she didn’t ask too many questions, and only said she’d pass along what she’d heard to Angela and Connor and the other elders.

“So that’s handled,” Marc said as he returned the phone to his pocket. “Where should we go have a drink?”

“Here, probably,” Bellamy replied, now looking a little shamefaced. “I mean, I called in to work because I’m supposedly in the middle of a family emergency. I’m not saying my boss has spies everywhere or anything like that, but a lot of people in this town know me from the wine tasting rooms and might say something if they saw me off partying hearty at the bar at Enchantment or whatever.”

He had to admit she had a point there. And really, this was a beautiful spot…with a beautiful wine fridge.

If that drink turned into another, and they decided to have a little fun afterward, it would be a lot easier if all they had to do was walk down the hall to the bedroom.

“Sounds good,” he said. “Let’s go see what you’ve got.”

Most of the stuff in the wine fridge was bottles she’d obviously bought at the local grocery stores or maybe Trader Joe’s, although the closest TJ’s was all the way over the mountain in Prescott. There were also a few bottles he could tell had come from local wineries, but the pinot grigio she pulled out clearly had come from Safeway.

“Is this all right?” she asked, brandishing the bottle. “I don’t have too many whites from the wineries around here, but this stuff is actually pretty good.”

“It’ll be fine,” he said.

And it was, cool and crisp and just what they needed as they sat on the patio and watched the fountain splash away in the sun. Striped lizards sat on top of the wall, clearly soaking up the rays, and the whole place felt so relaxed that it was hard for him to remember they were apparently sitting on top of a vortex here.

He didn’t feel any different. But then, Bellamy also hadn’t noticed any changes…well, until she heard voices whispering on the wind.

They sipped wine in silence for a moment. Then she said, “I think I could get used to this.”

Was she talking about being at the ranch with him, or not having to worry about being at work?

Probably a bit of both.

“I like the idea of cocooning here,” he told her. “I don’t mind not going out. And we’ll order in tonight, just to be safe.”

“DoorDash doesn’t come all the way out here,” she said, but she didn’t look too worried.

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