by Jodi Payne
“I think maybe, yeah.” He had a look at the ropes and found a couple with loops already tied on the ends. “Just shoo them all in and count on the dogs to help. Teamwork, right?” Then again, they could end up with baby goats all over the place and he’d be chasing them around until sundown.
“What if we tie them all together in the trailer first? Then we’ll just make them be like kindergarteners in the hall.”
“Oh.” He looked at Sophia and smiled. “I like it. Let’s try that.”
Sophia seemed pleased, and they gathered up rope. Emma was waiting with the dogs when they got back, and Sophia climbed right into the trailer and got to work. It turned out his job was mostly just making sure she didn’t run out of rope.
“Emma, can you get the gate open?” He called as Sophia was finishing up.
“Uh-huh. Is Daddy okay?” That was a question he didn’t want to hear.
He jogged over to her and crouched lower. “What did you tell me earlier? Your daddy isn’t afraid of anything. I haven’t heard yet, so we’re going to hope he is, and we’re going to take care of his place like he’d want us to until he gets home. Okay?”
“Okay.” Emma grabbed his hand and squeezed it tight. “I’ll get the gate. We can do this. We can. Sister says so.”
He squeezed back and winked at her, starting to believe it himself. “She’s pretty smart, huh? We’ve got this.” He kissed her forehead and jogged back to the trailer.
“Okay, Soph. Emma’s got the gate. You lead, I’ll help them get out. Ready when you are.”
Sophia had a fierce look on her face, and she took hold of the rope, a midsized silvery looking goat at the end. “Look, goat. Your name is now Jolene. You are the leader. You and me, we’re going to your pen. Now. Jolene. Come.”
Jolene stared at her.
Tyler snorted, grinning. “You know, my mother used to say I was stubborn as a goat. I had no idea what that really meant until right now. Go on, Jolene! Give her a tug maybe?” Somebody got them all in, there had to be a way to get them all out.
Sophia tugged Jolene out, and then goats started spitting out the back of the trailer, bleating and shaking and being goats.
“Okay, Buttercup. Do your thing and keep them in line.” Sophia sounded tickled.
“Which one is Buttercup?” Tyler brought up the rear and hustled them along. “Do they always smell this bad?”
“Buttercup is the dog, and they sometimes smell worse.” Sophia tugged again, the dog nipped at heels, and they were moving. “Boy goats stink.”
“Right. Sorry. Duh.” The dog. Jesus, he’d seen more in two days than in two years in New York, and he was already forgetting shit. “Get ready to close that gate, Emma.”
“Ready Ty-Ty-McTyleroso!” She beamed at him, so cute.
In fact, the dogs did a lot of the work for them once they got moving, and suddenly they were all through the gate and into the new pen. “Hey!” He gave Sophia a high-five and a nonchalant little side hug. “That was a brilliant idea!” He waited for Emma to climb over the gate and gave her a quick hug too. “Okay. We’ll untie them and then water, yes? And then what else did Papaw say?”
He tugged his phone out of his pocket. Still no word. No news was good news, right? He swallowed hard, forcing down the panic and worry that was roiling in his gut. Even if it wasn’t good news, he had girls to look after and…dinner. And chickens. Whatever. Anything to keep them all busy.
“Dogs and chickens, then we have to make coffee and food for family and cowboys.” Sophia nodded to him. “We’re the ones in the big house, so we’re the ones that provide.”
Someone had heard that over and over, Tyler would bet.
But food for…he could make enough cocktails to go around no problem, but food? For all those people? He was going to need some help. “Your dad feeds everybody every day, huh?”
“Daddy feeds somebody every day, but when stuff is bad, that’s when everyone comes, you know? It’s like…it’s our job—taking care of things, because we can. And if we can, we should.”
His phone began to ring, Matthew’s name coming up.
Oh, God. Please be good news.
“You ladies get water for these guys, okay?” He walked away to take the call. “Hello?”
“He’s been shot twice. He’s in the ambulance with Peggy and they’re heading to St. Marks. He’s awake, talking, pissed as hell. Krissy is heading too. Two of the assholes are heading to the hospital, two are heading to jail.”
Tyler froze a second, letting all of that sink in and trying to get a breath. Pissed off meant Matt was okay. He’d be okay.
“You got all that?”
“Yes. Sorry.” Right. All business. Okay. “Thank you. The girls are fine, the goats are in, I’m about to start thinking about food, but I have no idea how to feed so many people. Who should I call?”
“Hold up. Sister, where’s that chili at?” There was a muffled answer. “Get in the big freezer in the garage. There’s a bunch of chili frozen. Put it in the slow cookers. There are three.”
“Oh wow. Great. Thank you.” He took a big breath. Maybe he wasn’t going to have a nervous breakdown today after all. “Please tell Matt his girls are just fine and I—I’m…thinking about him.” And I love him.
“I will. Thank you, son. We needed the help.”
“You’re welcome. Let me know if there’s more news. I’m going to get dinner going.” They probably could have handled this without him. One of the teenagers or someone would have been here. But it was good to hear he was useful, and even if he wasn’t where he really wanted to be right now, he was in the next best place. He was here with Matt’s girls. He hung up and headed for Emma. “All done here?”
Emma was covered in water, head to toe. “Yep! Doggies are fed and watered. Sophia’s doing the goats.”
There were worse things in the world than water.
“Tyler! Help!”
Uh-oh.
He ran to Sophia, who was on her butt in the mud next to the biggest goat he’d ever seen, a bucket and a stool upended beside her.
Worse things…like mud.
He kicked off his flip-flops rather than lose them in the muck. “What happened? Are you okay?” He offered her a hand up.
“I was trying to milk her, and she kicked me, and Daddy got shot!”
Oh man. “Hey. Papaw called me just now. Your dad is okay and going to get looked at in the hospital.” He pulled her up and caught her eyes. “He is pissed off. And the guys are all going to jail.”
“Yeah? He—he’s okay? You promise to God?” Poor baby, she was trying so hard to be brave.
“The doctors have to look at him and it sounds like he’s hurt, but yes. I think he’s going to be okay.” He tucked a stray length of platinum hair behind her ear and smiled at her. “Can I tell you something? I’m scared too. But you have been smart and kind and helpful today. Everything your dad would want you to be. It’s hard, but you’re doing great. You’ve helped me a lot.”
“Yeah? I want to cowboy up. I’m just…milking goats is hard.”
“You need some help? I’m a little bigger, it might be easier for me. We can finish together and then get you both inside to wash up. Emma’s all wet too.” Milking goats. Him. Peter would never believe it.
“Please. You rub with your thumbs on the sac, and then pull. If you can start her, I can help, but she’s so nervous.”
Together they managed it. Mostly. Sort of. There was a lot of giggling and missing the bucket, and then they had to get in. They had to make chili and coffee and clean up. He hustled the girls inside and sent them upstairs to shower, and only felt a little guilty for collapsing in a kitchen chair for a minute.
Coffee. Slow cookers. Frozen chili.
Wait for another call, or a yard full of cowboys.
Then maybe half a bottle of tequila.
18
“I want to go home, goddamn it!” Matthew had been poked, prodded, and he was done. His man and his girls w
ere at the ranch, and he was leaving!
“Son, they have to surge on that shoulder, you know that. It’ll happen in the morning, and you’ll be heading home by noon.” Momma was too calm for color TV.
“Give me my phone.”
“They’re fine. The girls are fine.”
Sure, but what if Tyler freaked out? Matthew had lost his shit the first night in New York; everything had been too new, too big. Too much.
“Daddy said Tyler was fine too.” But she didn’t argue again, she handed his phone over with a sigh. “Don’t get yourself all worked up, son. You need to get some rest.”
“Are you going home?” he asked, knowing what the answer was.
“No. Your sister will be here soon to keep me company.”
He rolled his eyes and dialed Tyler.
It barely rang.
“Hello? Matt?” Tyler shouted into the phone. “Hang on…just…hang on a second it’s loud as hell over here.”
There was a shuffling sound, and the voices faded to a dull roar in the background. “Hey. Matt?”
“How are my babies? You have them? He said he was going to hurt them.” Matthew knew that it hadn’t happened, but he needed Tyler to tell him it hadn’t happened.
“I have them, and they’re safe. They’re stuffed full of chili and pie and are zoning on the couch watching TV.” Tyler sighed. “Nobody’s going to hurt them. First of all, there are four cop cars in the driveway, and second, I’d put myself between them and anyone who tried. Are you okay?”
“I got shot.” That wasn’t important. “How are you? Are you okay?” Do you still love me?
“It’s good to hear your voice, babe. Really good. I’m fine.” Tyler sounded a little revved up. “Jonas is here. There are people everywhere, trucks and cowboys, and there’s more food in the kitchen than I’ve ever seen in one place in my entire life.”
“Jonas? Lord…he’s not as scary as he seems.” He was just…fierce. Fierce and a little grumpy. “They’re going to do surgery first thing. I’ll be home by noon. Are you sure you’re okay?” He wasn’t okay. He didn’t want to be here, have surgery, get put under. He didn’t want it at all.
“I miss you, but I’m fine. I was… I was freaking out for a minute but honestly, the girls and the goats didn’t give me time to think much. I wish I could see you, but I’ve got Emma settled, and Sophia’s in a good place, and I want to keep them from worrying.”
“I appreciate it. What did you tell them? Do they know I’m hurt? Did you tell them they were safe with you?” His mouth wouldn’t stop running.
“They know. They have ears, and Sophia is smart. I told them you were going to be okay and… Matt. You would have been so proud of them, Sophia especially. You were hurt and they were worried, but they knew there was work to do, and…we just got it done. We got a little muddy, but we got it done.” Tyler sounded pretty proud of them himself.
“Oh, y’all…”
Momma waved to him on her way out the door. Thank God.
“Oh, honey. I’m so sorry about this. Are you really okay?”
“I’m… I’m keeping it together. I want you home. Nothing bad will happen during your surgery tomorrow, right? You’ll come home to me? Promise you’ll come home?”
“I swear to God. I want to come home now, but they got to take the bullet out and all. Nothing’s going to happen. I’ll be home.” He felt sick, but he didn’t know what else to do.
“Okay.” He heard Tyler’s deep breath and heavy exhale. “Okay. We’ll be fine. Does it hurt a lot? Is anyone there with you?”
“Momma is here, Rachel. It aches, but they have it all immobilized.” Whoa. Go him. That was a twenty-five-cent word.
“Sounds awful. Are you bored out of your mind? Wait. Look at this.” A second later a picture popped up on his phone of his outdoor kitchen and the yard and driveway with all kinds of people milling around. “It’s the most polite crowd ever.”
“Show me the girls? Please? Don’t wake them. I just need to see them.”
“Oh. Yeah, sure. Let me go inside.” The next picture was of his girls crashed out on the couch. Emma had her head in Sophia’s lap, and Sophia was leaning against a pile of pillows.
He closed his eyes for a second, taking a shuddering breath. “Thank you. I want to come home.”
“Krissy is home. She stopped over to check on the girls too, and then Lisa took her back to their house. She said Jimmy’s going to be in the hospital for a few days but he’s going to be okay.” He got another pic, this one was a selfie of Tyler leaning against the kitchen counter and Tyler had put a little stamp in the bottom corner that said “I love you”.
“You look good. You look like you belong there.” He tried to get a selfie, and he only dropped the phone three times before he got one to send.
Tyler laughed softly. “Man, I milked goats today. Goats. Me. At this rate I’m going to be a cowboy in no time. Oh, look at you. I should let you rest. You look tired, babe.”
“Not yet. Not yet. I won’t sleep. I got a TV though, and there’s a weird little bed here for Momma.” He felt like his heart was racing, like his blood pressure was soaring.
“Okay. I wasn’t really ready to let you go yet anyway. I might never be. I love you. This is crazy. Is it always this crazy?”
“This is pretty crazy, but it’s a ranch. It’s a ranch with a lot of moving people.” It was the only life he knew. “Have I said thank you?”
“Not yet, but that’s okay.” There was that soft laugh again. Like Tyler was trying not to wake the girls. “Sophia saved my butt today, so you can thank her too. You can say it in person tomorrow. If they don’t let you come home, I’ll try to come see you.”
“I’ll be home. I need to come home.” He hated hospitals. He hated feeling weak, and he hated not being with his family.
“That’s what I want to hear. But listen. Don’t worry, okay? I’m fine, the girls miss you but they’re fine. They trust me, I think. Jonas is going to stay the night. We’ve got this. And no one is going hungry for sure.”
“I’m glad you’re there. You and the girls are the most important.” He’d never gotten shot before. Never. He voted to avoid it in the future. It was pretty much a pain in the butt.
“And you. You’re the most important too. Don’t forget that, okay? Well, you and Jolene, the lead baby goat.”
“Jolene the…there’s a lead baby goat?” That had to be the girls’ doing. Had to be. Maybe.
“Oh yeah. We had quite an afternoon unloading baby goats from the trailer. We didn’t lose any. The dogs were helpful.” Tyler sounded amused.
“Wow. Did someone milk? Did you say you milked the goats?” He tried to imagine this, Ty on the little stool, milking away.
“I got the milk out of the goat. I’m not sure you’d officially call it milking because Sophia and I were muddy and wet before it was over, but we did it. She says we have to do it again in the morning, so let’s hope practice makes perfect.”
“Lord, and no one took video? Seriously. Life is so unfair.” He started chuckling, the sound bubbling out of him.
“If there’d been anyone to take video I’d have made them do the miking.” Tyler laughed too. “And I don’t know what Emma did. I think maybe she took a bath in the water she was trying to give the animals. She was soaked head to toe. We got good and dirty today. But everyone cleaned up fine.”
“Emma is dangerous with a hose, God knows.” He shifted, swallowing his groan. Fuck, that was sore.
“Are you still on the phone, son?” Momma came back with a cup of coffee in her hand and Rachel in tow. “Sister, tell your brother to get off the phone. He’s tired and he needs to rest.”
Rachel looked at him, crossed her eyes and stuck out her tongue, then reached over and put Tyler on speaker.
“Tyler, quit trying to have phone sex with the injured one,” she said. “He’s hurt his smart hand anyway. You’ll need to help him get off.”
“Rachel!” Momma’s v
oice blended with his, and then he cracked up.
“Dude, even this clueless Yankee is ambidextrous,” Tyler said, louder than he needed to. “What’s wrong with you?”
“There you go. Welcome to the family Tyler!”
“Honestly.” Momma sat hard in her chair. “You’re worse than Kathy.”
Tyler laughed. “Kathy? Like, give the llamas blow jobs, Kathy?”
“That Kathy.” Rachel came close and kissed Matthew’s forehead. “You’re flushed, Bubba. You need to lean back and relax.”
“Lie down, babe. Get some rest. I need to get the girls into bed and clean this place up.”
“I’ll be home tomorrow to help. Sleep well. Call me if you need me.”
“You do the same. Ask someone to call me after your surgery? I love you.”
“Love you.”
Rachel and Momma both stared at him, wide-eyed.
Fuck a doodle doo.
19
With kids and animals and Matt’s ranch schedule, Tyler hadn’t seen two a.m. since he’d left New York. He didn’t want to be seeing it now, but he couldn’t fucking sleep. He’d been alternately pacing and staring at the ceiling since he’d tucked the girls in.
That had been a long, emotional process, but he’d managed to get them both down, and once their eyes had closed, they’d crashed. It had been a long day. Even Emma, who’d been pretty anxious, was out cold when he last checked on them.
Fifteen minutes ago.
For the fourth time.
He’d tried warm milk—nasty stuff. He’d tried listening to music. He’d tried counting sheep, and that had almost worked but as he dozed off, they’d turned into baby goats and run amok, and as they all went charging off a cliff, he bolted upright, wide awake.
That was when his heart had started pounding and it hadn’t stopped.
Texas was scary as fuck. Scarier than New York could ever be. At least there he knew things. He knew his place. He understood everything. Here, he was constantly surprised, constantly off balance, constantly busy…
