You Shouldn't Have Come Here

Calvin watches Grace unpack, enthralled by her beauty—especially her long blonde hair and blue eyes. However, he vows not to chase another woman so soon. Grace hoists her heavy bags onto her bed, surprising him with her strength. She walks through the house, which is covered with taxidermized animal heads. Calvin offers to help her, but she stresses her independence. Grace has a bag that she will not open in front of Calvin, and Calvin has a basement where guests are not permitted.

Alone in her bedroom, Grace puts her clothing in the dresser and discovers another woman’s underwear. She also finds a crack on a window with a smear of blood. Checking her phone, she sees she has no cell service. When Grace asks Calvin about the underwear, he says it belonged to his former girlfriend Lisa, who died a year ago. He says the wi-fi does not work, but he does have a landline.

For dinner, Calvin makes hotdogs, beans, and bacon. Though reluctant, Grace tries the food and enjoys it. The pair sit at a table drinking beer and conversing, asking each other about their backgrounds. All Grace offers is that she “work[s] in banking” (23). She learns Calvin’s parents died over a year ago. He says the ranch is a working farm, and he must get up early to take care of the livestock.

Grace wakes, saying, “I had the best sleep of my life” (29). She walks through the house in her pajamas and finds coffee that Calvin left for her. He enters the house without his shirt and she thinks, “It was like an artist had chiseled each ridge in his abs and perfectly sculpted his pecks” (30). He offers to show Grace the ranch.

When Calvin sees Grace’s casual attire, he advises her to purchase clothes that she can get dirty. When she jokes with him, he thinks, “I wasn’t sure exactly what she did in banking or what she did with her clients, but I got the feeling she was ruthless, or at least she could be” (32-33). As they walk through the yard, he describes what he grows in his garden, and ducks and chickens surround them. Calvin says he has a friend who collects and sells his eggs. He shows Grace the Wind River, and offers to teach her how to fish.

Grace drives to Betty’s Boutique. She meets the titular proprietor, Calvin’s surrogate mother, who asks many questions. Grace picks out some cut-off shorts and cowboy boots. Betty realizes she rented a room at Calvin’s and says she takes care of the honeybee hives at the ranch. As Grace leaves, she notices the check engine light in her car. She also realizes Betty called her by name.

Calvin returns to the house to the smell of Grace preparing dinner. They hear the ducks and chickens, and realize a predator is among them. Calvin shoots at a raccoon that has killed several chickens. He thinks, “Death was something you just got used to way out here. Too many predators” (44). Grace helps him care for the birds, then continues preparing dinner. Calvin pretends to like her brussels sprouts. Grace tells him about the warning light in her car, and he offers to have his mechanic brother Joe fix it.

Grace emerges from the bathroom that night in a white silk nightgown. Calvin sees her, and asks if she would like to sit on the porch with him and have a nightcap. They watch the stars and drink whiskey. Grace says, “Sometimes I think about leaving and moving someplace quiet, someplace simple, where people live for the moment” (52). Later that night, she wakes to a woman screaming. She lies awake, wondering if she was dreaming or if the scream was real.

The next morning, Calvin offers to teach Grace how to fish. At the Wind River, she makes a wager: Whoever does not catch a fish first must jump into the river naked. As they fish, Calvin’s friend Charlotte Miller approaches. He introduces the women, who size each other up. Charlotte questions Calvin’s fishing lesson and asks if he will help her gather duck and chicken eggs. As they walk away, Grace catches a large walleye. Calvin hugs and congratulates her: “She had her catch of the day, and I had mine. Grace just didn’t know it yet. She was my catch” (65).

Grace dresses in her running attire and stretches, watching Calvin and Charlotte collect eggs. She recognizes how much Calvin arouses her. She wonders what motivates him, sensing it is something beyond simply living on a farm.