Dan planned to sleep outside next to Ann's trailer. But Ann would not allow it fearing the mountain lion. She suggested that Dan sleep inside the trailer on a small sofa. Dan thought that would be inappropriate and he suggested that he sleep in the barn with the sheep. Ann reluctantly agreed that it would be safe and probably more appropriate. She admired him for that, even though she would have preferred to have him inside the trailer.
Ann gave Dan a heavy blanket and he slept in the loft over the sheep. It did not take him long to fall asleep but sometime during the night he was wakened by the sound of lightening and thunder, then there shortly followed a heavy downpour. Dan liked the sound of rain but the barn roof had several leaks so he moved beneath the loft and proceeded to make his bed among the sheep. While finding a spot to bed down he heard the barn door slide open and could see Ann with a lantern.
"Are you okay?" she asked, not letting on that the thunder and lightening was frightening her. She was glad that Dan was there to settle her fears.
"No problem. I am just moving down here with the sheep to escape the leaks. Besides, I suspect that my presence helps calm the sheep."
"Why don't you come in the trailer where it is dry? This is the first real storm that we have had all summer."
Dan sensed Ann's fears and suggested that she stay out in the barn with him and the sheep. Ann agreed and together they spread the blanket over themselves on a pile of straw.
Ann shut off her lantern and the darkness was only interrupted when the lightening flashed. They talked for a couple hours while listening to the rain pound on the barn roof. Ann felt much safer with Dan present and eventually fell asleep.
The rain ended sometime during the night. Ann awoke to find herself snuggled up in Dan's arms. His body next to her kept her warm. She quietly got up crept out the barn door to see that the sky was overcast and there were puddles of water outside the barn. She went into the trailer to fix a pot of coffee while Dan continued to sleep.
It was still a little chilly and damp inside the trailer so she mixed up some bisquits and lit the little oven in the trailer. It was while the bisquits were baking that it started to rain once again. She soon heard Dan knock at the trailer door and she immediately let him in.
They sat at the small table eating bisquits, drinking coffee, listening to the rain, and talking. Dan had planned to accomplish some tasks for Ann during the day but that would have to wait for the rain to stop. Meanwhile he enjoyed getting to know Ann who had been on his mind quite a bit for the last two weeks. She was all that he had imagined. She was sweet and soft. Her smile was captivating and it lit up Dan's mood just to observe her smile. He had been depressed and lonely since his family moved back to the city. He felt free to confess his disappointments and sorrows with Ann. She was attracted to Dan's transparency, something she had not seen in men her age back at the University.
The rain kept Dan and Ann inside the little trailer all morning. It gave them the opportunity to really get to know one another. Dan's fondness for Ann only grew deeper. She was like a jewel that he had discovered in the mountains.
Ann not only found Dan to be a source of security and companionship, she was genuinly falling in love with him. She wondered if he was aware of his embrace of her during the night. In any case it was the first time Ann had ever experienced such intimacy from of man. She would never be the same again. The nights in Hidden Valley would never be the same again when Dan left.