Tending Tyler

by Jodi Payne

  Sophia’s eyes went wide. “Oh, can you make a fuzzy sunrise? Daddy puts orange juice in Sprite and it’s so fancy!”

  “I can.” He could do even fancier…maybe for dinner. He pulled the grilled cheese out of the pan and stuck them on plates. “Is Emma’s sandwich ready? You girls sit and I’ll make your cocktails. Straight down the middle or triangles, Soph?”

  “Triangles.” She peered at the sandwich. “You did so good! It’s so pretty!”

  Emma teared up. “I want a pretty sandwich too.”

  Oh man. Tears. Shit. Be strong, brother. “I’m sorry. You asked for peanut butter, Em. Maybe tomorrow?” He cut Sophia’s sandwich into triangles.

  “Hey,” Sophia sighed, the sound long-suffering, and then she whispered. “Em, dude, breathe. I’ll share—halvsies?”

  Emma blinked at her sister. “Yeah? For reals.”

  “Sure. It’ll be like lunch sandwich and dessert sandwich.”

  He stared at Sophia for a second, thinking how proud Matt would be of her right now. She’d saved his bacon twice by taking care of Emma, and they were just making lunch. “Thank you, Sophia, that’s really nice of you.” He gave her shoulder a squeeze.

  Emma smiled as she took her seat and he split the sandwiches between them. “Lunch sandwich, dessert sandwich…and cocktails coming right up.”

  “Yay!” Emma dug into her grilled cheese, and Sophia winked at him. She was so much more grown up at ten than Em was at eight, and he had to wonder if it was because she had those extra years with her mother.

  He watched them talk and eat as he made their drinks, frothing up the orange juice first with some ice in a covered bottle before pouring it into glasses and adding the Sprite. They both reminded him of Matt in different ways, even if Sophia did look more like her mom. She had Matt’s way of looking after people, and Emma had his generous spirit.

  He cut a slice of lime and couple of strawberries into spirals for garnish and set the drinks down on the table. “How’d I do?”

  Both girls went wide-eyed, like he’d done magic.

  “Oh, wow.”

  “Sister, it’s so pretty.”

  “And a strawberry!”

  Score one for the man that didn’t know how to make peanut butter and banana.

  He pulled up a chair and dug into his own sandwich, which he’d cut in half, not triangles. He was such a dork. “So we’ve had enough swimming for a while right? What do you girls want to do after lunch?”

  “Did Papaw come yet?” Emily bounced in her chair. “Can we go see the new goats?”

  He shrugged. “We can go find out.”

  “I want to make curtains for the playhouse.” Sophia looked at him. “And take our beanbag chairs out there.”

  “That’s an idea. Curtains will be pretty and help keep the sun out. Do you have fabric?”

  “Mamaw has a whole closet full.” Sophia shrugged and grinned. “She makes quilts.”

  “Well, let’s see how the day goes. I can’t drive you over there. Do you guys have summer reading or anything for school?” He always had in the city. Three or four books a summer, and challenges too, where he’d read a certain number of books and win a prize.

  “We do! You know about the library?” Emma sipped her drink. “Oh, this is nummy. Do you have a library where you live?”

  “I do. There’s the big New York Public Library. Very famous, big statues of lions in front of it. There are smaller branches too, but this is the cool one.” He pulled up a picture on his phone to show them. “See? Where’s your library?”

  “That’s big!” Sophia blinked up at him. “Daddy buys books for our library, and Aunt Rache pays Miz Culpepper.”

  Emma nodded. “The library is in Uncle Jonas’s house, ’cause he lives in the city.”

  “Oh! Right. He told me about all the books he sends home from the convention in the city. That’s how I met him, you know. He came into my bar after the convention one day.” His handsome cowboy had ordered a Cuervo and a Bud Light. He remembered that moment well.

  “He did.” Sophia gave him the most serious look. “He went to find books, and he found you. He told Krissy you lit up the room.”

  Emma chuckled. “That’s because Tyler is blond like you, Sister.”

  “He did, huh?” He smiled, hoping his little bit of sunburn would cover up his blush. “Maybe because I’m so pale compared to everyone here. It was good to be found.” Man, these girls. He was falling in love fast.

  “Were you scared to be alone? Like in the dark at home?” Emma asked.

  Tyler looked at her, right in those little, curious, eyes. “No. I wasn’t. My mother raised me there. My friend used to live there with me. It was a place full of love. I got a little lonely sometimes maybe.” More than sometimes, but she didn’t need to know all of that.

  “Oh. Is that because you’re big? I get scared alone in the dark all the time, and I have to get Daddy or Sister. Daddy’s never scared.”

  He wasn’t so sure about that, but the faith these girls had in Matthew made him proud. Matt was a great dad.

  “I was scared sometimes at night as a kid too. It’s totally normal.” He gave her hand a pat. “I was scared by the bull the other day. I’d never seen anything like that.”

  “They can be scary.” Sophia sounded totally sure of herself. “Daddy says that they’re smart enough to be wicked, and that’s why they’re so expensive.”

  “I believe him. That bull definitely wanted a hamburger.” He winked at Sophia.

  He noticed the way Emma was watching him. “Something on your mind, Em?”

  She got shy for a second and shook her head. “No.”

  “No? Are you sure? You want to know something about me? About New York?”

  She took a deep breath. “Are you and Daddy married now?”

  Whoa. That only took two days. He must have blinked at Emma a second longer than he should have, because she shook her head.

  “Sorry.”

  “No, it’s okay.” Hopefully. He was just going to be honest. These girls were way too smart for him. “We’re not married, but I understand your question. I… I do love your dad. And I know he loves me. We’re not married, but we’re definitely together now.”

  “Are you going to live here? There’s room. You can keep your books in the library here.”

  “Em, we can’t ask that stuff. That’s like, grown-up stuff. Noah told me.”

  “Hey, you can ask. If we don’t want to answer the question, we just won’t. Okay? It’s cool. He’s your dad, so you get to know some of these things.” He and Matt needed to have a parenting talk; he was flying blind here. “And I’ll just be honest. I know I’m invited to stay, and I know I want to stay. So that’s where it is right now.” He had to get back to New York eventually to clean out his apartment and get his stuff. And how weird was it to even think about that?

  “Cool. I like you. You’re nice.” Emma yawned. “Can we watch Moana, please?”

  And that was that.

  There was something about being eight he’d like to revisit.

  “Yep. We’ll watch Moana. Help me clean up?” He got up and headed for the sink with his plate. The girls followed him, more than happy to help, to participate.

  Maybe they’d have a nap.

  16

  The fence was down, for sure. Someone had cut the wires over damn near fifty feet of fence.

  Rage bubbled up inside Matthew, acidy and vicious. “Goddamn it! Did you see tire tracks?”

  “Yeah.” Jimmy gave him a wave. “They stop by that crop of rocks over there and head out toward the tree line. I’d say they drove in off the county road.”

  Krissy counted the boys off into teams. “Go see who you can round up, bring ’em up to Little Tim in the near pasture. Keep count and keep in touch. Jimmy, Ed, stay with us.” She looked at him. “Want us to check out the tracks, Boss?”

  “I do. We need to put up some barriers back here—maybe get the backhoe out here and dig it out
so they can’t drive out here.” It wasn’t like they could get the money out of them that he could. No way. So this was personal.

  Fuckers.

  Krissy took Ed and rode off toward the trees, leaving Jimmy with him. “If they wanted to steal the cattle, why cut the fence here? That’s what I’m thinkin’. Why?”

  “You think they’re intending to pull them into a trailer and run?” That made the most sense to Matthew. “They can’t think they’re just trying to steal random livestock. All ours are branded.”

  “This is a lot of fence just for letting cattle out. And everybody knows your brand. Are they just—whoa, shit.”

  Krissy and Ed were riding back at a good clip with a pickup on their heels that was honking and kicking up a long line of dust.

  “Come on.” Oh, he didn’t fucking think so. This was his land. His home.

  He leaned down and spurred Violet on, eyes fastened on the truck.

  When the first shot came and Ed fell, it took him a long minute to figure out what the hell.

  “Motherfucker!” The next two shots came from Krissy, who whirled around in her saddle and took out the truck’s front tires. As the truck started to swerve, Matt caught Ed moving out of the corner of his eye and Jimmy scooped him right up, riding back toward the fence with him.

  “Go! Go!” Matthew started shooting, refusing to let these sons of bitches steal anything—men, cattle, anything.

  There were four of them. Given that they were with him and Krissy, it was damn near even.

  Damn near.

  A shot hit right at Krissy’s mount’s feet, and he reared, sending her flying to the ground where she all but disappeared in the tall grass. Fuck.

  Matthew laid down a line of fire as he headed toward Krissy. He heard the windshield blow out, heard the cracks of return fire.

  “Boss! Boss, it’s Vernon.”

  “Who?” Fuck, did he send Violet back riderless? She was a big fucking target, and his people would be coming for him. He sent off another shot, hearing a cry. Bingo.

  “Vernon, asshole. The bastard I caught stealing straws the second day after we hired him. You had me call the sheriff?”

  “Oh. Shit.” Yeah, he vaguely remembered that. He’d been in the hospital with Sophia. She’d caught pneumonia and had been so goddamn sick. “You hurt?”

  “Some.”

  Fuck. Okay. He slid down, grabbing his extra ammo from his saddlebags, and slapped Violet’s flank. “Go home. Get the others.”

  He bent to check Krissy. “How bad is it?”

  “Well. I landed—” Krissy grimaced and shook her head. “Think my shoulder’s out. Not my shooting hand, that’s a blessing. You want to give it a pull?”

  It was definitely out; he could see it. It would be nice and purple eventually, to match the shiner she obviously didn’t know she had yet.

  “You got it. Hold up.” Matthew held his breath, listening for footsteps and hearing only his heart beating in his ear. “Brace yourself,” he whispered, then he got a knee against her ribcage and wrapped his hands around her upper arm. “Ready?”

  Krissy looked away and took a breath. “Not a bit. Go.”

  He pulled, and she paled, but didn’t say a word, didn’t squeak.

  “I’m going to kill you, tear those little girls apart, set your house on fire, and shoot those bulls.” The voice dripped with venom, and Matthew could no more not respond to the threat against his daughters than he could decide to breathe water.

  “You’ll fucking try.” He whipped around and shot. He didn’t monologue, he didn’t play games, and he didn’t have time to be anything but sure.

  Even when two more shots rang out and fire spun him around, making him dizzy.

  “Boss!”

  “Don’t let them near my girls.”

  17

  The nap was good; all of them dozed off not ten minutes into Moana. But Tyler woke up to shouting.

  He stuffed his feet into flip-flops, left the girls sleeping, and hurried out of the house to find cowboys in the drive and horses and chaos out by the barns. “What the hell?”

  Were those police cars? Shit. Ambulances.

  Fuck, fuck. “Matt?”

  He scanned the mess for Matt and didn’t see him, or Krissy either, but he saw Lisa and jogged that way. “Lisa! What the hell is going on?”

  “There was a shoot-out, I guess? Y’all have to go the other way! Pick them up off the access road.” Lisa ran past him to the cops.

  What? Shoot-out? What the fuck? Pick who up?

  And where the fuck was Matt?

  He looked around, feeling out of place. He didn’t know anybody, and nobody had time for someone so completely useless.

  A truck and trailer pulled into sight, Luke in the windshield frowning deeply. He wasn’t going to have any answers but at least Matt’s dad was a familiar face. He stepped up near the driver’s side door and waited, feeling about as foolish as he looked.

  “What the fuck is going on, son?” Suddenly Luke looked so much like Matt, that it was scary. “Are the girls okay?”

  He looked back at the house which still—thankfully—looked quiet. “They were napping when I left them, so they’re fine. But I just got out here, I have no idea… I don’t know where Matt is. Lisa said there was shooting…? I need to know where Matt is.”

  Whatever was going on out here, he couldn’t help. No one would let him anyway. Matt would tell him what he could do. “I’m sure he’s fine. He’s fine, right?”

  He could feel the panic growing in his chest, rising in his throat. Matt’s fine. He’s fine.

  “He’d better be, or I’ll kick his branded ass. Joshua! Joshua Peters, what the fuck is going on?”

  Wow. That was loud.

  Someone with a badge came up. “Luke. There’s been a report of a shoot-out. I need to know how to get the EMTs out there.”

  “Matthew?”

  “That’s the rumor. Please, sir. Can you get us back there?”

  “Back where? Someone tell me where the hell they were!”

  A cowboy ran up, a bloody streak over his cheek. “The fence was down back near the access road. That’s where they are. There were four in a pickup, the boys are holding them, two are hurt. Krissy says the boss cain’t be moved. Come on, Sheriff.”

  The sheriff and the cowboy left at a run, and Luke grabbed his phone. “Mother. Our boy’s been shot. Get your ass up here.” Then he hung up and stared at Tyler. “Okay, what the hell happened?”

  He’d stopped hearing much after he heard Matt couldn’t be moved. He’d just about stopped breathing too. He looked at Luke and blinked. “I…what?” I was watching Moana with the girls.

  “Tyler!” Luke raised his voice, but he wasn’t angry. He was just very serious, gray eyes like Matt’s but older staring into him. “Why was my son out there?”

  “He was—” He blinked again, his brow furrowed as he thought about it. “We were swimming with the girls, and Krissy came over and told him a big section of fence was down and the cows were out. He rushed out there with her and a bunch of the guys on horses. I told him I’d watch the girls and I—we didn’t know about any of this.”

  “Okay. Shit’s fixin’ to get real for a bit. Like stepping on a fire ant hill real. Can you handle the girls?” Luke’s phone started ringing and buzzing in his hand.

  “Yes.” Yeah, that he could do. “I can. I will. I have them.” He looked at Luke’s phone, not that he’d have any idea who was calling.

  “Good. Thank you. Make coffee.” He answered the phone. “Rache. Your brother’s been shot. Don’t know. Call Jonas? Tyler’s staying with the girls. Yes. Gotta go. Momma, are you headed over? I need to deal with these goats.”

  “We can get the goats, Papaw.” Sophia was standing there, white as a sheet with her sister. “Just unhook the trailer for us. The three of us can unload them.”

  “Oh. Girls.” Tyler held his arms open for them. He wanted to get in someone’s truck and go to Matt, see him and
be with him. But these girls were Matt’s whole world, and Matt would want them safe and cared for. He’d go. Later, he would go when things had calmed down and he knew what was going on. “We can do it, Luke. The girls will show me, and we’ll get it done.”

  Emma came to him, but Sophia was focused on her grandfather. “You have to go get Daddy and Krissy. You have to.”

  “I’m going, girl. You get them goats in a pen and watered, okay?”

  That was Matt’s fierce love for his family in her.

  “Yessir.” She nodded. “We can do it.”

  Tyler caught Luke briefly. “Call when you know something? I’m in Matt’s phone. Please.”

  “Of course. Yes. As soon as we find him, okay?” Luke started unhitching the trailer. “Aunt Rachel and Uncle Allen will probably come over to help with the feedings, but I’m not sure.”

  “Today is my day for the dogs, Em is doing chickens, and we’ll feed and water the goats. Do I need to milk Bean and Vera?”

  “Do you remember how?” Luke asked, and she nodded.

  “It’s hard, but I can.”

  “That’s my girl. Y’all cowboy up now. I’ll call.”

  Then Luke was gone, leaving him with two little girls and a trailer with a bunch of tiny goats.

  “We need to get ropes and get the dogs out. They’ll help.” Sophia sighed softly. “Em, dogs. I’ll grab some rope.”

  “Okay!” Emma ran off toward the house.

  “I’ll help.” He followed Sophia, grateful for the tenacity and confidence of a ten-year-old. “You just tell me what to do. I’ll learn.” At the very least he could carry more rope than she could.

  “You see the new pen? We’re gonna have to get the little goats over there from the trailer.” She started to look a little worried. “The dogs will get them if they run and herd them back.”

  “Okay.” So not okay. “We got this. You and I will, uh…kind of pen them in with the rope? Yeah? And we’ll have Emma hang out by the gate and close it after they’re in.”

  Well, this was one way to keep his mind off things.

  “You think we could? They can jump some, but they’re just little.” Sophia led him to a garage and opened a door on the outside of the building. It was filled with rope and bits of leather and mousetraps.