It's Just A Ranch

by Misty Malone

  “So what’s wrong with that?”

  “It’s what happened next. Dad came by a few minutes later on his horse. He stopped and came over to the rock and asked if I was having any luck. I told him I’d had a few bites, but that was about it. He said I looked wet and asked what happened. I told him I fell off.”

  “But he knew?”

  “He did. He asked why my shirt wasn’t as wet as the rest of me. Before I could answer he said it looked to him more like I got hot, took my shirt off, and jumped in for a quick cool off. Then he asked me again what happened. I told him I fell off. Then I learned a very important lesson. Don’t ever lie to Dad.”

  “I can’t imagine he’d like that much. What happened?”

  “He made me cut a switch. He’d never used one on me before, and he never did since, but boy, he sure did that day.”

  Her eyes were big as she stared at Garrett. “He beat you?”

  He had an instant frown on his face and looked appalled. “No, he absolutely did not beat me.” He looked at her intently for several moments. “I’ll bet you’ve never been spanked, have you?”

  “Of course not.”

  “I feel sorry for you.”

  Chapter Four

  Mindy’s eyes flew open and she looked at Garrett, shocked. “Are you serious? Why would you say such a thing?”

  Garrett was much calmer as he spread the blanket out and motioned for her to sit down. “I obviously can’t speak for every family, but in our family, including my aunts and uncles, parents love their kids. They do all they can to keep their kids safe and happy. That includes raising them. When I say raising them, I don’t mean just babysitting them, like it seems so many parents these days do. I mean, raising them. They teach them what’s right and what’s wrong. They teach them manners. They teach them to respect other people, and to respect themselves. I learned early on that if you go to bed at night after working hard, or doing something good for someone else, you feel good about yourself, and that’s a good feeling.”

  “Okay, I like it so far, but—”

  “Let me finish. Kids aren’t born with this uncanny ability to never do wrong. Everyone makes mistakes. If a parent loves their child enough to raise them right, they correct them when they’re wrong. There are a few kids out there, or so they say, that only need to be told something one time, and they change their ways. That’s by far not the majority of them. Most of them need to be taught. My parents always told me when I did something wrong. They explained why it was wrong, and made sure I understood what they said. That was my warning. If I did it again, I got another talking to, but that was usually done before or during a spanking.”

  “Did that happen often?”

  Garrett had to fight back a smile. That was asking about something most people would consider to be private, but he could tell she was not at all familiar with the concept of spankings. If they were ever to have a relationship this was a conversation they’d have to have eventually, so he answered her question. “It certainly wasn’t a daily thing, and they decreased as I got older and caught on to what was proper and what wasn’t, but they were more frequent when I was little.”

  “Wow. I can’t believe that Max and Helen would do such a thing, especially when you were little.”

  “Why not? Mom and Dad loved me. That’s what a spanking is, after all. It’s just one way of them saying I love you, son, and I won’t let you get hurt, or bring shame to yourself, or regret what you did later. After the spanking they held me and made sure I knew how much they love me. And you knew they did love you; you could feel it in their arms as they held you.”

  “That sounds crazy. I don’t know how you could feel that. It looks like what you’d be feeling is a sore butt.”

  “Oh, I felt that, too, for sure, but trust me, I also felt their love.” He paused a moment. “If you’ve never felt that special kind of love, I feel sorry for you.”

  She was shaking her head. “How can you say having a sore butt like that is a special kind of love?”

  “Your parents have to love you or they wouldn’t do it. Think about it a minute. It would be a lot easier for them to just give you a good lecture, or ground you, or ignore it, like some parents do. But for them to take the time and put forth the effort to spank you as they correct you, explaining why what you did is wrong, they have to love you. That’s sure not taking the easy way out on their part.”

  Mindy was quiet, but obviously thinking. He gave her time to digest his words. If she had any questions, he wanted her to feel free to ask. Finally, she shrugged her shoulders. “Maybe. That’s sure not how my parents showed me they love me.”

  “Like I said, all families are different. In my family, being spanked wasn’t something you looked forward to, and they certainly weren’t fun. But because of that, you did try to avoid them. They worked better for me than what the parents of some of my friends did. They’d ground them, but they’d just sneak out, or get really upset for a long time if they made them miss something special. A spanking takes care of it right away, and then it’s over. And it hurts enough that the next time you think about doing it again, you remember what happened the last time, and you think again.”

  “I don’t know. I’d have to give that more thought before I could buy into it, I think.” They were both quiet for a couple minutes, watching the creek, before she turned toward him again. “What did you want to talk to me about?”

  “I’ll tell you in a minute. First, let’s sit down on this blanket. I brought you out here for a reason. A lot of times if you’re here in the evening and you’re kind of quiet and watch, you see some animals coming over to the creek for a drink. I don’t really know if this is the time of day all animals usually come out, or if the animals around here have figured out our men are done working by this time and figure it’s safe to come out now or what, but they come out and play in the little meadow by the creek. I thought you might like seeing some of them.”

  “Oh, neat. I’d love to see them.”

  “Let’s sit down over here and just watch for ten, fifteen minutes, unless you’re in a hurry to get back to the house tonight for some reason?”

  “No hurry. I’d love to see some animals.”

  The two of them sat down on the blanket and looked out over the meadow and creek, watching. After a few minutes, Mindy broke the silence. “It’s really pretty here, even without the animals.”

  “It’s one of my favorite places when I want to get away for a bit.”

  A few minutes later, Garrett reached over and gently laid his hand over hers and talked very quietly. “Slowly turn your head to your left and look by the creek.”

  She did and gasped. “They’re so cute. What are they doing?”

  “The mother raccoon is getting their supper. She’s turning over the rocks in the creek and finding crawdads.”

  “That’s so cute.” As they watched, one of the young raccoons started to wander off. When the mother raccoon turned and saw he wasn’t right behind her, she called out to him. He came back, and as Garrett and Mindy watched, it appeared the mother raccoon was scolding her little one. They laughed quietly as they watched. She went back to her crawdad hunt, but before long the same mischievous little raccoon started wandering off in another direction. This time when the mother saw it she went to it and swatted it with her paw as she was again scolding it.

  “Look,” Mindy said. “it looks like the mother’s spanking the baby raccoon for wandering off again.”

  “She must love her baby,” Garrett said with a small grin. “She’s keeping it safe.”

  They watched a few more minutes, as both little raccoons followed their mother and stayed close to her. She showed them how to lift the rocks and look for food. After they ate, she took them back to the meadow, where the two young ones played a few minutes before she led them back into the woods.

  “That was the cutest thing,” Mindy said. “Thank you for bringing me here.”

  “You’re welcome. Let’s h
ave our talk, before I forget why I brought you out here. We can talk quietly, though, and we may see some other wildlife.”

  “Okay. What did you want to talk about?”

  “I want to talk about us. I’ve enjoyed getting to know you better, and the time we’ve spent together.” She looked down, but didn’t say anything. “But your reaction to my words just now is what I want to talk about. I have no idea what you’re thinking.”

  She looked up at him. “What do you mean?”

  “One day I think you’re enjoying our time together, too, and I think I’d like to ask you out for supper. But the next minute you’re acting aloof, like you’d rather we not take this any further than friends. I don’t usually have too much trouble telling if a lady is wishing I’d get lost, but I seem to get different signals from you at different times.” He waited a few moments, but she still didn’t say anything, so he continued. “Therefore, I’m just going to ask you straight out. Have you enjoyed our time together? Would you like to see that continue, or do you want me to get lost, leave you alone?”

  “No, please don’t do that. I have enjoyed our time together a great deal.” She looked up at him with a confused expression, and shrugged. “Sometimes I’ve enjoyed it too much.”

  “Okay, you’re going to have to explain that to me. How can you enjoy it too much?”

  She took a deep breath and let it out slowly, trying to draw strength. “Garrett, you’ve been wonderful to me, and you deserve the truth.”

  “Thank you.”

  “But the trouble is, I don’t know if I can be honest with you, because I’m not sure of my own feelings yet.”

  “Why don’t you tell me what you can, and maybe I’ll understand? Maybe we’ll even be able to help you sort out your feelings.”

  “I don’t know about that, but I’ll try to explain what I mean.” He nodded, hoping to encourage her. “I came here to kind of revitalize. I kind of got—I don’t know, maybe burned out, and I felt hollow inside. I was just kind of going through the motions of living. Mom and Dad were worried, and kept talking to me. I finally did see what they were saying, and they were right. So I quit my job, and I’m going to try my hand at something totally different, but I need a break in between.”

  “You’ve never talked about what you did before.”

  “No, I haven’t. It’s too hard. It brings back memories I’m trying to escape from.”

  Garrett considered her words for several long moments before responding. “Mindy, let me say something here, and if you’re not ready to consider it yet, maybe you can think about it over the next few days or weeks.”

  “Okay.”

  “From my experience, you can’t escape a memory by trying to forget it.”

  “So, are you saying it’s just always going to be there, I’m never going to be able to get past it?’

  “No, I’m not saying that. But for me, I have to attack it head on. I have to think about it, even if it’s hard, and talk to someone about it. I usually talk to my dad. He’s good at helping me sort my feelings out so I can finally deal with it, once and for all. Usually, once I do that, the memory may still be there, but I can put it in the back of my mind then and get on with my life.”

  “That sounds really nice, but I honestly don’t know if I can do that.”

  “I didn’t say it would be easy, because it certainly isn’t,” Garrett said in a soothing manner. “But I always feel a lot better afterwards. Think about it over the next few days. If you decide you want to try it, I’ll be happy to listen and try to help you through it. If you’d rather go see a therapist of some kind, I can help you find one. You don’t have to decide right now if you’re not ready, but give it some thought, okay?”

  “I will,” she promised.

  After a few quiet minutes, he approached her again. “I understand what you’re saying, but that doesn’t exactly answer my question, about us spending time together. Are you saying—”

  “I’m sorry, I meant to answer that, or at least try. Let me try again. I came here to get my head on straight again. I’m not looking for a relationship, involving someone else in my life, until I feel better about my own life.”

  “Sometimes the best relationships are the ones you aren’t looking for. They just happen.”

  She looked up at him and slowly nodded. “I think you’re right. That might explain—” She stopped.

  When she didn’t finish her thought, he casually tried to encourage her. “That might explain what?”

  “I have enjoyed our time together. That’s why when you first started talking to me and said you didn’t know if I wanted you to get lost, I said please don’t do that. To be honest, I’m not sure what I want, but I know I don’t want you to get lost. I’ve been telling myself to keep it at friends only until I get things sorted out, at least, but that’s been kind of difficult at times.” She blushed. “I probably shouldn’t be saying some of this.”

  “No, I’m glad you are. I think we’ve had similar feelings, Mindy, so please don’t be embarrassed. I promise I’ll be totally honest with you, and I hope you’ll be honest with me in return, so maybe we can sort some of these feelings out. Will you do that, please?”

  “I’ll try.”

  “I think we’ll both feel better if we know how we each feel. I’ll be up front and tell you right out, I like you. I’ve really enjoyed the time we’ve spent, and I’d like to take it to the next level and explore a possible relationship. I’m telling you that up front so you know, but I’ll also tell you I won’t push you. If you want me to stop spending time with you, I won’t like it, I’ll be disappointed, but I’ll respect your wishes.”

  “No, I don’t want that.”

  “Good. I’m glad to hear that. I’ll let you decide what you want, Mindy. If you want us to stay just friends, I’ll try. If you want to explore a possible relationship, I’d like that. But we’ll go at your pace.”

  “Thank you, Garrett.”

  He nodded. “Think about what I said before, though, please. I meant what I said about relationships, too. I think if two people enjoy being together, that shouldn’t be ignored. If it feels natural, and it feels good, don’t push it away. I personally don’t see any reason why you can’t start a new relationship while you’re dealing with issues from your past. Sometimes talking to someone who is new in your life can be very helpful. Whatever happened in the past is new to them, and they may have fresh ideas on it. Hearing about it is often different from living it, and they have a different perspective on it.”

  She was being very quiet, but he could tell she was considering his words. “Maybe,” she said after some thoughtful time. “That does make sense. I’ll think about it; I promise.”

  “Thank you. I can’t, and won’t, ask for more than that. Now, if you’ll slowly turn around and look back behind you, there’s a doe and her fawn getting a drink.” They spent the next hour watching the deer, then two rabbits playing, and simply talking.

  As the sun was about to set, he figured they should head back, but decided to wait and let her see what the sunset looked like from there. “How’s the car hunt going? Have you decided which ones you want to test drive?”

  “Yes, I think so. I’m glad you asked. Do you think I could borrow someone’s car tomorrow to go into town? I have it narrowed down to three of them. I thought I’d test drive all of them, and assuming I like the way they all drive, I’ll see what kind of deal I can get on any of them. When I priced them out on line, they’re all within about a thousand dollars. I’ll see what kind of deal any of the dealers are willing to make.”

  “That’s a good idea. If you like one over the others, keep that in mind, though. If you’re spending money on a major purchase like a car, something you’ll have and use for some time, it might be worth the extra thousand dollars to get the one you like the best.”

  “Good point. I’ll keep that in mind, as well.”

  “You can use my SUV tomorrow if you want.”

  “I th
ought you had a truck.”

  “I do, but I have an SUV, too. There are times when a pickup’s not the best choice of vehicle.”

  “I’ve never driven anything as big as a pickup or SUV.”

  “You can drive it around a little bit if you want to try it. It’s actually easier than you’d think. If you don’t feel comfortable in it, though, I’m sure Mom would let you use her car.”

  “Maybe I’ll talk to her. Thanks.”

  “Good luck. I hope you find what you’re looking for and they’ll give you a good deal on it.”

  “Thanks. I’m anxious to get a car.”

  “Is there somewhere you’ve wanted to go? We could have gotten you there if you’d have said something.”

  “No, there hasn’t been anywhere I’ve wanted to go especially. I just feel funny not having a car. I like knowing I can go somewhere if I want to.”

  “That independent streak I’ve seen in you?”

  She saw the little grin on his face, and couldn’t help but smile. “I might have a tiny independent tendency now and then,” she admitted.

  He laughed out loud as he pointed behind her again. “If you have a tiny independent tendency now and then, that sunset behind you is mildly pretty.”

  She turned and looked, and gasped. “Oh, my gosh. That’s beautiful.” She sat staring at it, smiling.

  “Yeah, I always liked watching the sunset here. The creek provides just enough of a sparkle to make it special, doesn’t it?”

  “It really is special.” After a few minutes of watching, staring at the sky, she leaned back against him. “I love it out here. Mom kept telling me she thought spending a little time on the ranch would be good for me. I always thought she was making too much of it, it’s just a ranch. I agreed, though, because I thought that’s the kind of place I was looking for. I wanted something quiet and slow, not much happening, where I could just clear my mind.”