(A standalone sequel to Spitfire.)
It’s been a year since her husband’s passing, and running the ranch is taking its toll on Claire Hutchins. Independent as the day is long, she concedes the need for help. She wants a foreman, an employee to run the day-to-day operation, who can handle a woman calling the shots. Someone who won’t give her any trouble.
Who shows up at her door, first in line for the job? Jeb Carter–ex-high-school sweetheart, longtime rodeo star. And the one man capable of making Clair’s lust burn out of control–of making her surrender completely. Trouble has finally come calling–and he is irresistible as ever!
Author Mari Carr has the reputation as a very good story teller, and in this short story she proves that ability once again. Set against the modern ranching world, a widow needs help and hopes to find someone who is dependable but who recognizes her authority, in spite of being a woman. She is not prepared for the appearance of an old boyfriend, one who turned from her and never looked back as he pursued his rodeo career. Now he’s back . . . and there is no denying that running a ranch all alone is more than any one person can handle. But what about that old relationship? What about those old feelings?
I think this story revolves around the need that most of us have of a second chance, whether that be in relationships or in a career, or in finding our way through difficult times with a spouse or significant other. . . that is, if it is a second chance that we need. It is also about a relationship that may have been right in its basic components — the him and her — but it may have been the wrong time. In this story, the two main characters were probably meant to be together, but he needed a rougher, edgier kind of physical involvement while she was afraid of that need that she saw in herself. Her marriage had been happy and she loved her husband; he had given her the loving support and the time to grow into the woman she was now. Here was an opportunity to reclaim something she had never really forgotten or to have satisfactions she had never explored. Is this situation an opportunity for demonstrating some self-honesty and some growing up? So it would seem with our main characters and so it would seem in real life.
I think that a secondary theme in this short story is that everyone really is seeking a place to call home, whether that be a geographic or emotional sense of place. Certainly the main characters here were both searching: Jeb wanted to find a resting place after his early transient life as a rodeo bull rider; Claire needed a resting place for her hurting and wandering heart. They both needed to find a sense of completion and fulfillment. Psychoanalysts tell us that there are three basics that all humans seek and need: food, shelter, and a sense of safety/home. Perhaps that is the most basic reality that this story showcases. And perhaps that sense of home that all humans seek in love relationships is why ” . . . love makes the world go around.”
This is a beautifully told short story, with a simple plot that is well developed, characters that are rife with flaws but to whom a reader can relate, and a well-described context set in the modern world. Ms Carr has always done well in outlining and filling in the blanks in writing romance, and she has done well here, in spite of the fact that a short story format is often more challenging than a full sized novel. She has proven the ability to work with an economy of words, and that is one of the major characteristics of a very good writer. This is a story that will satisfy the emotions, enliven the libido and entertain the mind. What’s not to like? Would love to have seen this story line developed into a longer piece.
I give this short story a rating of 4 out of 5.
You can read more from Judith at Dr. J’s Book Place.
This book is available from Ellora’s Cave. You can buy it here in e-format.
Oh yes, LOVED this one. I admire an author who’s able to tell a story so packed with characterization and emotion in such a small number of words. Lovely review. 🙂