Picking Up the Pieces

by Carolina Mac

  Clay finished the song and the dancers stopped and clapped for him. He was making his way down the two steps at the side of the stage when a drunk cowgirl rushed up and threw her arms around him. I knew her but couldn’t think of her name.

  “That was a great song, Clay,” she slurred. “Want to go out to my truck?”

  Harper flew past me and Kate and I heard her say, “He’s not going to your truck.”

  “Who are you?” the girl took a stance between Clay and Harper.

  “None of your business.”

  Two of the girl’s friends zeroed in on Harper and one of them pushed her. Game on.

  Harper pushed back and then Bonnie Sue Dempster (I remembered her name) clocked Harper in the eye. She stumbled backwards into me and Kate. Kate grabbed Harper’s arm and propelled her across the dance floor to our table.

  Mistakenly thinking the dust-up was over, I didn’t see Laney slip out of Jack’s grasp in the middle of the dance floor. She charged across the room and dive-tackled Bonnie Sue.

  Laney wrestled Bonnie Sue to the floor and gave her a couple of good rights to the face. In my drunken haze, that’s when I remembered a little too late, that Bonnie Sue was a deputy sheriff from Preston.

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  Sunday, April 12th.

  County Jail. Preston.

  FIRST Sunday morning I’d spent at the County Jail since I’d been on the rodeo circuit. The odd time I’d woken up behind bars lying on an uncomfortable bunk smelling like beer and puke, but those days were over—at least I thought they were.

  “She can go,” said Sheriff Tucker. “Just a bit of a cat fight from the reports I got.” He chuckled. “Wish I’d been there to see it. I’m sure I’ll get a whole different version from Bonnie Sue when she reports for work tomorrow.”

  One of the sheriff’s deputies brought Laney from the lockup and I tried my best not to smile. Her hair was tangled and matted, her mascara caked and streaked—both at the same time—and her fancy Navajo top was ripped.

  “Where’s Jack?” she stared at me and Clay like we were second rate citizens.

  “Sleeping,” I said.

  “Huh.” She set her jaw and her dark eyes flashed. The day was shaping up just fine.

  McKenna Ranch.

  JACK was sitting on the porch smoking when we got home, with Cadence and Rusty stretched out in the sun beside him. “Where’d y’all go?”

  Kate and Harper stepped out onto the porch to greet Laney and ask her if she was okay.

  “Didn’t Kate tell you?” I asked. “We went to Preston to get Laney out of jail.”

  Jack snorted. “Hilarious.” He hooked a thumb over his shoulder. “Take a look at Harper’s shiner.”

  Harper gave Clay the stink-eye, then turned and stomped back into the house. The screen door banged behind her and Clay laughed.

  “I need coffee,” said Laney brushing past Jack without looking at him. “I’ve got a killer headache.”

  Yep, it was gonna be an entertaining day.

  BEGINNING my new routine, I saddled Bowie and headed to the back field to practice for an hour. It had been months since I’d touched my rope and it felt good to have it in my hand again. My rope was part of me. An extension of myself when I was in the ring.

  I’d been at it for almost an hour when I noticed Kate leaning on the fence watching me. She smiled and nodded her head as I jumped off Bowie and took a short break.

  “I didn’t see you there.”

  “You’re so good,” she said, “and I didn’t want to disturb your concentration.”

  Shouldn’t have done it, but I leaned down and brushed her lips lightly with my own. She wrapped her arms around me and tried to make it into something more than it was. I pulled away with a picture of Doctor Lonnigan’s face in my brain.

  Why am I thinking about her? She hates me.

  Kate mounted up and left me to finish my practice time alone. I sat on Bowie and thought about the last relationship I’d had. I was so in love with Linda Loudon. I’d go every day to her practice session and watch her zoom between the barrels, bending low and making every move with precise perfection.

  When I found her in the barn that day in the arms of Rowdy Butler, the tie-down champion, my heart broke in half and I’d avoided any serious involvement since that day.

  Will I ever get over Linda Loudon? Don’t think so.

  I was cooling out Bowie in the barn after our workout when Miss Jane called. “I heard something I didn’t want to hear, Logan.”

  “Uh huh. You hear a lot of things at the Spur, I’d imagine.”

  “Sure do. But Hank told me a couple of guys were sitting at the bar discussing the money Kenny left you boys in his will. I was upset and appalled that people knew about the money. I certainly never told anyone. That was the way your Daddy wanted it.”

  “You knew about the money?”

  “I knew everything there was to know about Kenny McKenna,” she said. “We were… close.”

  “We never told anybody,” I said. “Carson told me she found out from somebody at the bank in Preston.”

  “Tomorrow morning, you should open an account at a different bank and transfer the money, Logan. It’s nobody’s business. Move it to a bigger bank where y’all are just an account number.”

  “I’ll do that, Miss Jane. I’ll do it first thing tomorrow.”

  “Take care, Logan. I don’t want anything happening to my boys.”

  “Thanks for calling, Miss Jane. I’ll tell the boys and we’ll be extra careful.”

  SUNDAY dinner was a silent affair. Kate cooked a roast of beef and made gravy and the food was the highlight. There was no conversation unless Kate and I said something to each other or one of the girls. Laney wasn’t talking to Jack, Harper wouldn’t look at Clay and I could barely keep from laughing between bites.

  As soon as the table was cleared and the dishes done, the girls beat it to the bunkhouse and left the three of us alone.

  “Best if we don’t get tangled up with the hired help,” I said. “I can see where we could get ourselves into one big mess.”

  “You got that right,” said Jack. “Those three are feisty and they could make our lives hell. We got a taste of it already. Much better before when they were just cowgirls working for us.”

  I nodded. “You haven’t said anything, Clay. You in deep with Harper?”

  “Nope. Can’t say I wasn’t thinking about it, but I can keep it strictly business if y’all want. Be better for all of us to keep those three at arm’s length. If we got involved with them and things didn’t work out, we’d have no girlfriends and no hired hands.”

  “Exactly,” I said, “and they are good workers.”

  “And they can cook,” said Jack with a grin.

  CHAPTER NINE

  Monday, April 13th.

  Bank of America. Preston.

  RIGHT after breakfast, Jacky, Clay and I left our domestic tension behind and made the trip to the bank in Preston. We opened two new accounts for the ranch—one for checking and one for savings. We all had to sign on the ranch account, so we all had to go.

  Once that was done, I requested that the money be transferred from the other smaller bank where Daddy had always done business. Our new bank manager was thrilled that McKenna money was coming his way and our old bank would be sorry they violated our privacy and messed with the McKenna brothers.

  “I feel better now,” said Jacky boy. “Nobody will know how much we have or anything about the ranch business.”

  “That’s the way it should be,” I said. “Miss Jane knew about the money, but she kept it to herself like Daddy wanted.”

  Clay raised an eyebrow. “She told you that?”

  “Uh huh. Yesterday, when she called to tell me people were talking about us and discussing Daddy’s money at the Spur.”

  “I’m sad Miss Jane never got to be our second mama,” said Jack. “We would have been a real family, at least for a couple of years before Daddy passed on.
”

  “Uh huh. I’ve had those thoughts too. She would’ve been a fantastic wife for Daddy and a great second mama for us.”

  Seems there were a lot of things Daddy left unfinished.

  McKenna Ranch.

  THERE was a pickup I didn’t recognize parked near the corral when we got home from Preston, and two cowboys were sitting on the porch steps talking to Kate and Laney.

  Harper had been making herself scarce since her little dust-up at the Spur and I figured she was beyond pissed at Clay for whatever reason.

  Now that we’d had our little man to man talk about the girls, we were polite and friendly to them, but things had shifted to a degree and there was a feeling of tension in the air.

  We hopped out of the truck and sauntered over to meet the new arrivals. The two cowboys stood up and the taller one said, “Mel Carter sent us your way, Logan. He said you might take the time to show us some of your moves that got you that championship buckle.”

  “Uh huh, Mel mentioned you boys. Got names?”

  The tall dark-haired kid said, “I’m Rip Saunders and this here is Chuck O’Brien.” Chuck was a bit shorter, with straw colored hair sticking out from under his hat.

  I shook their hands. “Nice to meet you boys. Don’t know how much help I can be to y’all, but I’m willing to try. Come on into the office and I’ll sign y’all up. Don’t think I’ll be ready to start until about Wednesday. That okay?”

  “Sure. Wednesday is fine.”

  The cowboys followed me into the office, and I signed up my first two students. “I’ll find out the going rate for instructors and I’ll give you two a break on the cost for being first out of the chute.”

  “Hey, thanks. We ain’t got too much money, but we ain’t winning any events neither. We need to get better to move up in the standings.”

  “Practice is the key,” I said. “Hour after hour.”

  I opened the barn door intending to get Bowie and start practicing. I walked to his stall and heard raised voices coming from the tack room.

  “Why didn’t you say anything after I got in that fight at the Spur?” asked Harper.

  “Why should I? It was between you and Bonnie Sue. I didn’t start the fight. I was on the fuckin stage.”

  “I thought you liked me.”

  “I like a lot of girls, but I’m not their babysitter. In this case, I’m your boss and it would be best if we kept it that way.”

  “Sure, I get it. Don’t get mixed up with the hired help.”

  “Something like that. Uh huh.”

  “Glad we got that sorted out,” yelled Harper.

  She didn’t sound glad to me, but I was keeping out of it. I saddled Bowie and galloped down the lane to the back field to practice.

  RIDING past the barn after my two hour practice session, I saw another pickup I didn’t recognize drive through the gate and stop next to the old apple tree with the tire swing tied to it. We seemed to be having an influx of visitors we never had before.

  I tied Bowie to the corral fence and strode over to see what our newest visitor wanted. When he got out of the truck I recognized him from town. It was Ronnie Palmer. He pumped gas at the garage in Broken Spur and was a part-time mechanic and not a particularly good one.

  “Hey, Ronnie. What brings you out here?”

  “Word around town is you and your brothers got more money than you know what to do with and I was wondering… like if you’d give me a loan. I’m running short this month and could use a couple thousand to get me straight.”

  I smiled and tried to keep my cool. “No can do, Ronnie. Me and my brothers are trying to get our ranch up and running and we don’t have any extra money no matter what the rumors are. Those stories aren’t true and we’re not giving money away or making loans. We’re not a bank and we’re not loan sharks. You’ll have to look elsewhere.”

  “You should think it over, Logan. I’ve got friends who ain’t as gentle as I am.”

  My blood felt hot in my veins. “You threatening me, Ronnie?”

  “Course not, Logan. Just a word of encouragement. You should reconsider loaning me the money. That’s all I’m saying.”

  “Like I said, Ronnie, we’re not a bank, and we’re not lending out money. The answer is no. It’s not happening.”

  “You best think it over.” He stood with a big greasy hand on the door handle of his truck and stared at me.

  While this annoying conversation played out, Clay and Jack stepped out of the house onto the porch and heard enough to get the gist of what Ronnie had come to our ranch for.

  “You better get going, Ronnie,” said Clay. “This is private property.”

  “Yeah, I’m going. This ain’t over.” Ronnie turned his pickup around and kicked up a lot of dust on his way out the gate.

  “That’s gonna be trouble,” said Jacky boy. “Ronnie Palmer hangs with some unsavory cowboys.”

  “Damn it.” I took off my hat and slapped it against my leg. “That’s the last damned thing I wanted to happen.”

  THE rest of the day passed in a fairly normal fashion except for the girls not talking to us. They were busting their butts working in the barn and in the field with the cattle and not saying a word to me, Clay or Jacky. They were only talking to each other—sometimes in whispers. More trouble brewing.

  At dinner the silence was deafening. I talked to Clay and Jacky at the table and asked a few questions about the daily running of the ranch. When I spoke to the three girls they wouldn’t answer me and never spoke to us through the whole meal.

  By the time we’d finished eating I’d had enough and made a decision. I stood up and said. “Y’all better use the kitchen in the bunkhouse and take care of yourselves. We’ll manage our own meals from here on out. No need of y’all coming into the house. Thanks anyway.”

  Kate’s face dropped and she looked genuinely hurt. I felt bad, but there was too much bullshit going on for me to put up with. I had a million things to think about and I didn’t need this childish crap bringing me down.

  If we’d hired three guys for ranch hands, they would have been making their own meals in the bunkhouse from the get-go. Fair is fair.

  Without a word, Kate turned on her heel and she was gone. The other two right behind her. The screen door slammed, and I said, “Who wants to be first on the dishes?”

  “Jeeze, Logy,” said Jacky boy. “That was a move I didn’t see coming.”

  “Enough bullshit,” I said. “They work for us. If they can’t be civil they can damned well be uncivil in their own quarters.”

  “Ronnie Palmer got you riled up,” said Clay. “You been on edge since he was here.”

  “Sure did. He threatened me—all of us. That means this ain’t over. He’s going to try something else.”

  “Like what?” asked Clay.

  “Guess we won’t know until it happens, will we?”

  Jack groaned. “I don’t want trouble.”

  “None of us do,” I said. “We’ll stick together and see it through. Storms never last long.”

  A horn honked outside while I was carrying dirty dishes from the table to the sink. Jacky peered through the screen and said, “Another pickup out front, but I don’t know who it is.”

  “Go see what they want.” I filled the sink with hot water and squirted in the dish soap. I loaded in the dishes before I trudged outside to see what was up.

  Jack and Clay were standing next to a red pickup talking to Buster Tate. He lived a couple miles farther along down the road with his mama and he worked at the feed store in Preston. Big guy with a beer gut and a beard.

  “What’s up, Buster?” I joined the little group and waited for the line of crap he was going to give us.

  “Hey, Logan. Like I was telling Jack and Clay, I’m in a bad spot this month and I could use a little help. My sister had to go in for Kemo and it’s taking every cent I make at the mill to pay for her treatments.”

  “That’s a great line of bullshit, Buster, but I know
for a fact you don’t have a sister.”

  “Aw, come on, guys. Everybody knows you guys are drowning in money. Have a heart.”

  “That’s a lie going around,” I said. “We are not drowning in money. Daddy left us a bit to get the ranch up and running, and that’s it. The end. We have to work for a living and we’re not money lenders.” I hadn’t intended to raise my voice, but I found myself hollering at Buster. “Go tell that to all your lazy-ass friends. The next one who comes through that gate asking for money will be charged with trespassing. You think I’m kidding? Just try it.”

  “Okay, okay. Don’t get all riled up, Logan. It was worth a shot and now I’m leaving.”

  Worth a shot? How many more were coming?

  After Buster left I sat with Jack and Clay on the porch steps and we had a little chat. “This is getting out of hand,” I said. “Any suggestions?”

  “After we turn them away a couple of times, they’ll get the hint,” said Clay. “No way we can give a nickel to any one of them or it will start some kind of trend.”

  “We’re not giving away Daddy’s money,” I said. “It’s for the McKenna Ranch and nothing else.”

  “Word will get around at the Spur that we’re not lending money or giving handouts to anybody and they’ll forget about it,” said Jack. “I think it’s a passing thing. We say no a few times and they’ll get the hint.”

  “Ronnie sounded like he had something else in mind if I turned him down,” I said. “Makes me wonder what he’s going to try next.”

  Jack raised an eyebrow. “You think Ronnie Palmer is coming back for a second try?”

  “Don’t know for sure, but he hinted at it.”

  “We better lock up when we go to bed.”

  “We never locked up before,” I said. “Daddy never locked the door of the house and we never lock the trucks. Why should we have to?”

  “I’m fixing to load the shotgun,” said Jack. “Just a precaution.”