Rugged Cowboy

by Elana Johnson

  Nate had taught him how to do that. How to hide how he really felt until he could release it. How to deal with people he’d rather not deal with and make them think he didn’t want to be anywhere else, even if he didn’t like them.

  “It’s a complicated process,” Dallas added. “Because of where it is in this model. Labor-intensive.”

  “How much longer?”

  “At least an hour,” Dallas said, and he worried about his kids. They hadn’t had dinner yet, and their lunch had been snacks and beef jerky from a gas station halfway between Sweet Water Falls and Temple. Thomas knew to be quiet, but Remmy was six years old, and Dallas almost started crying thinking about her in his bedroom, scared, hungry, and worried.

  “I need to go see my kids,” he finally said.

  “No,” Josh said. “Get this done, and we’ll leave you alone.”

  Dallas did what he said, but he knew Josh and his friends wouldn’t leave him alone. They knew where he worked. They knew where he lived. If they knew those things, they knew where the kids went to school, and they knew where his parents were.

  Fear accompanied his every move, and just over an hour later, the radiator was done.

  “How much?” Josh asked. “Would you charge for everything you did?” Mario stood next to him, his arms folded and his biceps huge.

  Dallas looked back to the truck and considered all he’d done. “If I owned my own commercial shop or you took it to someone like that, that job would’ve easily been four grand.”

  Josh looked at Mario, who nodded just once.

  “We’ll take it off Martha’s debt,” Josh said, starting for the passenger side of the truck.

  “How much does she owe you?” Dallas asked. “You know we’re not married anymore, right?” In so many ways, his life with Martha had been broken. At the same time, he knew they’d be inseparably twined for the rest of his life.

  “She owes a lot,” Josh said. “Your wife likes the speeders, and they ain’t cheap.”

  “She’s not my wife,” Dallas called after him. “I don’t owe you anything.” Plus, Josh could continue to show up, day after day, and say Martha owed him something and Dallas wouldn’t know. He’d been given no ledger or sheet. Just Josh’s word.

  Josh paused at the front bumper and looked back at Dallas. “She said you’d take care of her,” he said. “Are you saying you won’t?” He took one menacing step back toward Dallas. “Because that changes how she’s treated, you know.”

  Dallas swallowed. “Where is she? What have you done to her?” He didn’t want to care, but the truth was, he did. He’d care about anyone who’d gotten themselves into the situation that Martha obviously had.

  Addicted to something hard core. No way out. No money to pay for the habit.

  His compassion warred with his fury, and that caused his fingers to curl into fists.

  “She’s safe,” Josh said coolly. “For now.”

  “I want to talk to her,” Dallas said.

  “We don’t control who she talks to,” Josh said. “If she’s not answering your calls, man, that’s her decision.” He knocked on the hood of the truck, and Mario started it. Josh got in, and Dallas listened to the engine purr as he backed out of the driveway.

  He wanted to race down the street after them, shouting threats and telling them never to come to his house again. Men like Josh did what they wanted though. They took what they wanted, because they thought it belonged to them.

  Dallas spun back to his house and dashed inside. He went to the master bedroom and knocked on the door, saying, “It’s Daddy, Thomas. Open the door, bud.”

  Several moments later, the door swung open, and his son’s tear-stained face appeared. He looked resolved and stoic, but Dallas saw all the turmoil beneath the mask. “I’m sorry.” He swept his son into his arms and held him tight. “Remmy, come on.” The sobbing little girl came over too, and Dallas held them each with one arm, as tightly as he could, right against his chest.

  “It’s okay now,” he whispered. “It’s okay now. I’m here, and it’s okay now.”

  A couple of hours later, Dallas stood in the doorway of his bedroom and watched his children sleep in his bed. Martha had not answered his calls that night, and he was currently listening to Ted talk about his options.

  “We need to find her,” Ted said. “Get her out of there. Find out what she owes, and pay it off. Then they’ll leave you alone.”

  “Okay,” Dallas said. “Nate?”

  “I hate this plan,” Nate said, his voice echoing because Ted had the two of them on speakerphone. “But Teddy’s right. The only way this goes away permanently is if the debt is paid and done.”

  The three of them knew more about debts being paid that most, that was for sure.

  Dallas wanted to ask about Jess, but he kept the question beneath his tongue. He’d call her next. He kept his voice low as he asked, “How do we find her?”

  “We know people,” Nate said. “Right, boys? We all know someone a little shady from our time in prison. Maybe now’s when we work the system we lived inside for a while.”

  Dallas frowned, but he didn’t confirm or deny what Nate had said. Everyone in River Bay had a past, that was for sure. Some had done bad things, but most of the men there had made bad choices, which lead to bad things happening, which lead to their incarceration. They weren’t inheritently bad men.

  “I can call Jesus,” Dallas finally said. “But he’s probably not even in the country anymore.”

  “Can’t hurt to try,” Nate said. “If this is the only way you’re going to get out from under this….” He let his words hang there, and Dallas hated this feeling of being trapped between two impossible solutions.

  His lungs hardened, and all he could see was the horrible, red-rimmed eyes of his children as they melted into his arms. He would not put them through that again, which meant he could not allow Josh to “drop by” his house again. Or his workplace, his parents’ house, or anywhere else he and his kids might be.

  “I’m going to call him right now,” Dallas said.

  “I’ve got a friend in law enforcement that could help,” Ted said. “And about two dozen of the best lawyers in Texas who know how to find people online. I’ll put some feelers out.”

  “I’ll call the Warden,” Nate said.

  Dallas turned away from his sleeping kids. “The Warden?”

  “Yeah,” Nate said. “We’ve stayed in touch, and he’s dead useful with stuff like this. He has ears in places no one else does.”

  “I bet he does,” Dallas said. He hadn’t been close to the Warden, and he hadn’t known anyone had. The Warden held himself apart from everyone, and Dallas had dealt with him several times because of the beating he’d taken.

  “Let’s talk tomorrow,” Nate said.

  “You sure you’re okay there tonight?” Ted asked.

  “There’s room at the ranch,” Nate said. “We can make sure no one comes near you or even onto the property.”

  “I’m okay,” Dallas said, though his gratitude for his friends couldn’t be quantified. “But thank you.”

  “I’m going to come stay with you,” Ted said. “He has two kids. He shouldn’t be alone.”

  Dallas let him and Nate talk to each other, though they were talking about him, without saying anything. This was just another one of those times where he had to let someone else take care of him.

  Nate had done it in River Bay. They’d all looked out for each other after that. He thought of Slate and Luke still behind bars, and when Ted said, “I’ll be there in twenty minutes, Dallas. What do you need?”

  “Could you stop and get some Frosted Flakes?” he asked. “My kids love those, and we’re out.”

  “Sure,” Ted said. “Anything else?”

  “No, I think that’s all.” He drew in a deep breath. “And guys, we’ve got to go check on Slate and Luke.”

  “Yes,” Nate said instantly. “Let me call the Warden and find out about the next family day.�
�

  “Okay,” Dallas said. The call with his friends ended, and he took a deep breath. If he didn’t make his next call right now, he wouldn’t do it. He thought of Jess, but he scrolled through his list to find Jesus’s number. They’d been in the infirmary together for a few days in the first six months of Dallas’s stay at River Bay, and they’d bonded a little bit.

  His line rang and rang, and no one answered. He didn’t get a disconnect notice, but his heart still fell toward his shoes. His feet hurt. His back hurt. He hadn’t been anticipating driving for four hours and then working on a broken down vehicle for five more.

  He’d missed his date with Jess, and his children had been abandoned once more. Fierce anger burned through him, and he started to dial Jesus again. He wasn’t going to let this drop, even if the conversation would be hard to have.

  Before he could connect the call again, his line rang, and Jesus’s name sat there. Hope shone brightly in Dallas’s soul, and he quickly connected the call. “Jesus,” he said.

  “Amigo,” Jesus said, holding onto the O for a long time. “What’s up, bro?”

  “Jesus,” Dallas said with a chuckle. He cast a quick look behind him at his sleeping kids—his angels—and softly stepped out of the room. “I’m looking for my ex-wife,” he said as he went down the hall. “And you’re sort of the expert at finding someone who doesn’t want to be found.”

  “Not sort of the expert, muchacho. I am the expert.”

  Dallas laughed with Jesus, and said, “All right then. Can you help me?”

  The next morning, Ted sat at the kitchen table with Thomas and Remmy, all three of them eating through an entire box of Frosted Flakes. Dallas lingered in the kitchen, a hot cup of coffee in his hands, watching them.

  Ted was such a big teddy bear, and everyone he met loved him. Even stoic, masked Thomas had smiled the moment he saw Ted in the kitchen. They’d been laughing about something one of Ted’s dogs had done a couple of days ago for ten minutes. Dallas watched the clock, but he honestly didn’t care if the kids went to school today.

  By the time he’d gotten off the phone with Jesus, it had been too late to call Jess. Nate had texted to say he’d spoken with Ginger, and they wanted Dallas to take a couple of days if he needed them to make sure his family was safe.

  He wasn’t going to the ranch today. He was going to rekey the house and tell the landlord that he’d done it afterward. He was going to install cameras in the eaves just to make sure he knew who was coming and going around his house. He didn’t care if he had to donate the new locks and camera equipment to the landlord; he needed to keep his kids safe.

  “Daddy, will you do my hair?” Remmy asked, climbing up on a barstool. “We have a magician coming today.”

  He wasn’t sure how the two things were related, but he pushed away from the counter and approached his daughter. He bent to get the hair kit out of the cupboard under the sink and opened it. “What am I doing?”

  “Can you do the half-braid?” She peered at him over her shoulder, and she was the cutest thing on the planet. He loved her dark eyes and light skin, that smattering of freckles across her face, and that adorable Texas accent.

  “Yeah,” he said, pulling out the comb and the water bottle. He could braid so much better now than he’d been able to two months ago, but it required wet hair to get just right. “When is the magician?”

  “After lunch,” she said.

  “Good,” Dallas said. “Because we’re already late for school.”

  “We are?” Remmy peered at the clock while Thomas got up and put his cereal bowl in the sink.

  “I’ll go get my stuff,” he said. “Sorry, Dad.”

  “I don’t even care if you go today,” Dallas said. “In fact, I’d love to just keep you with me all day, so I know you’re safe.”

  Thomas hesitated, clearly the idea of skipping school appealing.

  “I can’t miss, Daddy,” Remmy said. “We do a spelling test on Monday, and the magician.”

  “Do you want to miss the magician?” Dallas asked his son as he started to spray his daughter’s hair. “I’m assuming it’ll be a whole-school assembly.”

  “I mean, I don’t really care,” Thomas said.

  “You don’t have to go,” Dallas said, meeting his son’s eyes. “We can take Remmy, and then come back here.”

  “Okay,” Thomas said, detouring back to the table and Ted.

  “I want to go, Daddy,” Remmy said, looking at him with wide eyes.

  “I just said you could,” he said. “Now face the front so I can part your hair.” He worked with the comb deftly now, pulling it from her ear and up to the crown of her head. He brushed down the rest, noting how thin and wispy her hair was. He gathered the top into a ponytail and split it into three pieces and began to braid them together.

  He finished the job in a few minutes, feeling the weight of Ted’s eyes on him. “There you go, bug. Go get your bag and put on some clean clothes too.”

  Remmy skipped off to get the job done, and Dallas looked at Ted, who grinned. “You just did your daughter’s hair in a braid.”

  “Yeah,” Dallas said.

  “How’d you learn how to do that?”

  “I watched a lot of videos online,” he said with a smile. “And she sat still for me for a lot of practice sessions.”

  Ted stood up and took his bowl to the sink too. “That’s amazing, Dallas. I barely recognize you.”

  “I wasn’t a father in prison,” he said simply. He took Ted’s seat and looked at his son. “What do you want to do after we drop off Remmy?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “We could go to the trampoline park,” he said. “Or get a real breakfast that isn’t made of only sugar.” Dallas still hadn’t eaten, and he could go for pancakes and bacon. “Or just come back here and watch The Last Airbender.”

  Thomas looked up at Dallas, and he definitely had the same light eyes Dallas saw whenever he looked in the mirror. He had most of Dallas’s facial features, but his hair was dark like Martha’s.

  “Can we get breakfast and bring it back?” Thomas asked.

  “The pancakes will be soggy,” Ted said. “And the eggs cold.”

  “We could call for delivery,” Dallas said. “They have apps for that these days.”

  “Sold,” Ted said, groaning as he sat at the table.

  “You literally just ate half a box of cereal,” Dallas said, grinning at Ted.

  “Yes, and in another hour, I’ll need a stack of pancakes with blueberry syrup.” He grinned back at Dallas, who shook his head.

  Ted’s phone rang, and he checked it. “Oh, this is my old boss.” He jumped up and walked away, saying, “Counselor,” in a booming voice.

  Remmy came skipping down the hall. “Ready, Daddy.”

  “All right.” Dallas also groaned as he stood up, his back still twitchy from yesterday. “Let’s go guys.” He nodded to Ted, who was on the phone in the living room. The three of them were quiet on the way to school, and Dallas got out and opened the back door for Remmy, giving her a tight hug with the words, “I love you, Rems. Have a good day. I can’t wait to hear about the magician.”

  “Okay, Daddy.”

  He marveled at the resiliency of six-year-olds, and he cast a long look to Thomas, still sitting in the front seat of the SUV. He sighed, wishing his son could shrug off last night as easily as his sister had.

  “All right,” Dallas said on the way back. “The Last Airbender and pancakes?”

  “Yes,” Thomas said, finally cracking a smile.

  Dallas returned it and swallowed. “Are you okay, Tommy?” he asked. “I was thinking maybe you’d like to go see someone. Talk about Mom, and Aunt Amy, and what happened yesterday. You know? Just someone who won’t judge you, or give you any suggestions, or anything. They could help you and help you make sense of your life now.”

  Thomas nodded, but he didn’t say anything.

  “Think about it,” Dallas said. “It might be goo
d for you.” Dallas thought it might be good for him to talk to someone too. He could get some help for his current problems. He reminded himself that he had Nate and Ted, and they had a solution they were working toward.

  His conversation with Jesus had been great, and the man said he’d been living in Miami. He had a lot of contacts down there, and he said he’d be back in touch with Dallas once he had more information.

  They returned to the rental, and Dallas sat on the couch with Ted while Thomas got the movie set up. He ordered the breakfast foods they all wanted, and with the movie going and Thomas all curled up in the recliner, he looked at Ted.

  “What did your friend have to say?”

  “He’s got a PI in Florida who says he’s seen Martha down there.”

  “Really?” Dallas asked, shocked by that news. He supposed her mother lived in Florida, and it felt like someone had flipped a switch and flooded his mind with light. She was probably living with her mother. Using her mother.

  Instant anger flowed through Dallas again, and he set his jaw. “Once we find her, then what?” he asked.

  “Then we get her out,” Ted said. “Pay off the debt. Be free.”

  “Free,” Dallas echoed, wanting that so badly. He remembered every single day of the thirty months he’d spent in prison, and he’d yearned to be free then too. This wasn’t nearly as confining as River Bay, but he still felt trapped.

  “Once we find her, we’ll go,” Ted said. “Okay, Dallas? Don’t think about it too hard. We’ll all go, and we’ll get her out.”

  “I don’t think she wants to get out,” Dallas said. “That’s the problem.”

  “Yeah,” Ted said. “But you need her to get out, so we’ll do what we can.”

  “Okay.” He focused on the movie, hoping Ted would get the message that he didn’t want to talk about this anymore.

  Several minutes later, the doorbell rang, and Ted got up with the words, “That should be the food.” He stepped over to the door and just stood there.