by Claire Adams
Surprisingly, there were no other cars parked on the soft shoulder of the road when we pulled up.
“Looks like we might have the place to ourselves,” Wren said. “Although sometimes people walk in.” She grabbed a few towels from the back seat.
We walked in about an eighth of a mile from where we parked. I felt good, excited at the prospect of getting to swim.
Except when we got there, there was a slight problem.
“I forgot a bathing suit,” I said. “Well, really, I don’t have one.”
“That’s okay,” she said, unbuttoning her jeans. “I don’t have one on either; I was just going to go in my underwear.”
She pushed the jeans down, revealing slender but well-muscled legs. Her underwear was pink with black stripes and looked like it very well could pass for a bathing suit.
“That’s the thing though . . . I don’t have underwear on. Or boxers or anything.”
“Free-balling it?” she asked with a grin.
“Errr, yeah.”
She shrugged. “Then I guess you’re just going to have to take your pants off.”
“I’m not doing that.”
“Why not? There’s no one else here.”
“Yeah, but people could show up at any time.”
“We’ll leave the towels right here on this rock, so if anyone else shows up, you can just swim over and so long as you get up here fast, you’ll be able to wrap the towel around you before anyone even notices.”
“Sounds like you’ve got it all figured out.”
“It’s just too nice of a day not to go for a swim.”
She had a point.
“Do you usually not wear underwear, or was today just laundry day?” she asked.
“I usually don’t.”
I’d stopped wearing underwear in high school because I hated the feeling of all that fabric down there; briefs were too constricting, but boxer shorts were too baggy and wouldn’t be comfortable when I was riding.
Wren looked around. She pulled her shirt off. Her torso was as toned and slender as her legs, and her breasts… Well, I had to look away. She looked too damn good.
“In I go!” she said after she’d thrown her shirt over her shoulder. She took a running leap off the rock and dove into the clear water. It did look incredibly refreshing. She resurfaced and bobbed there, watching me. “Come on!”
I thought of all the guys back at Reynolds, who not only would give their right arm just for the chance to dive into this water, but who would also give their right nut, too, to have a girl like Wren calling for them to jump in after her.
“All right, you’ve convinced me,” I said. I pulled my shirt off and shucked off my pants, then jumped in, feet first.
The cold water swallowed me up, and I let myself plummet before I stopped and started swimming for the surface. I opened my eyes and could see the blurred beams of sunlight shooting through the water. When I broke the surface, Wren was right there.
“Hi,” she said.
Then she splashed a big wave of water at me and dove away before I could return the favor. I dove after her, but she was fast, and it had been a long time since I’d swam; there was no way I’d be able to catch her. So, I flipped over onto my back and let my arms and legs splay out to the sides and I floated, staring up at the big blue sky. A few seconds later, I could sense that she was right next to me again, and when I turned my head slightly, I saw that she, too, was floating on her back.
“Isn’t this nice?” she said. “Much better than riding a horse.”
“I don’t know about that, but it is nice. And you did great, by the way. On the horse.”
“I find that hard to believe, but thanks.”
“This is nice, though,” I said. “I thought about it a lot when I was in—” I stopped, because I hadn’t talked to her about this yet, but it seemed like something maybe I should mention, if we were going to be hanging out. Which was I wasn’t expecting to do, but was hoping might happen again. “You may know already,” I said. “This being a small town and all. Maybe you heard a thing or two about who I am, where I’ve been. If you haven’t, I guess it’d probably be good if you heard it from me first. I was in prison, for seven years. I killed a man.” The water was up around the sides of my face, nearly touching the corners of my mouth, so my ears were submerged and my voice sounded muffled, disembodied, almost like it was someone else talking. Could she even hear me? I turned my head and looked at her.
“I did hear something about that,” she said.
“Well, it’s true.”
“Funny. Most of that gossip usually isn’t.”
“That doesn’t bother you?”
“Are you asking if I’m fearing for my life right now?”
“No, I just… I don’t know. I think some people might have second thoughts about hanging out with someone who’d been to prison.”
“No one’s perfect,” she said. I thought she was going to continue, but she didn’t. She seemed content to leave it at that, and, if she was, then I guess I could be, too.
I made it back in time for the evening chores, and once the horses had been watered and grained, I made my way up to the main house. I was curious as to what Garrett wanted to talk about, though that curiosity waned when I saw that Jacob and Keith were there too.
We all sat the dining room table, and I could tell by the expression on Keith and Jacob’s faces that they didn’t know why they were here, either. We all looked expectantly at Garrett.
“Now, there’s a reason I wanted us all to get together again,” Garrett said. He threw a stern look in Keith and Jacob’s direction. “And it’s not because the last meal we had together went so well.”
I sat there, wracking my brain as to why Garrett had invited us all up here again. Last time had been so excruciating, I about wished I was back at Reynolds.
“We want to first start by saying that we’re not trying to create any conflict here,” Marie said.
Garrett nodded. “That’s right. And this is probably a ways off, anyway, but it’s the sort of thing that everyone will need some time to think about.”
“I’m not so sure I like the sound of this,” Keith said.
Jacob remained silent, though he kept looking over at me as though I had some knowledge about whatever it was Garrett was going to say.
“Well, why don’t you have a listen first, and then you can decide how you feel about it,” Garrett said. He cleared his throat. “Marie and I aren’t getting any younger,” he began. “And while we both love what we do here, we’re getting to the point in life where we’d also like to go out into the world and see what else is out there.”
“You’re selling the ranch,” Keith said, visibly perking up. “That’s understandable.”
“No.” Garrett shook his head. “We’re not selling the ranch, at least not right now. We’ve looked into buying a condo in Florida, though, and I think we’ve found one we’re going to purchase.”
“Florida?” Jacob wrinkled his nose. “Are you serious?”
“I have an aunt who lives in Naples,” Marie said. “I spent a lot of time there in my childhood, and I always hoped to go back. Not year-round, of course.”
“So, you’re making Dad move,” Keith said, sounding like the petulant teenager he must’ve been.
I looked down at the worn wooden tabletop and let my eyes fall shut. I took slow, deep breaths, and imagined that I was falling through an endless black hole. I’d started doing this at Reynolds, sometimes to simply pass the time, others to block out the chaos. The talking at the table continued around me, and though I could hear it, I was simultaneously able to tune it out and not truly hear what they were saying. There was a lot of back and forth. And then one sentence jerked me out of fall.
“If he’d like, Ollie is going to take things over.”
My eyes flew open. “What?” I said.
Keith snorted. “What were you doing—falling asleep over there? For Christ’s sake.”
> “We’d like you to run things for us,” Garrett said. “With the idea that you’d eventually take over the place—”
“Are you fucking kidding me?” Jacob shouted.
“Yeah, this has to be a joke, right?” Keith chimed in. They were both glaring at me as though I’d orchestrated the whole thing.
“What?” I repeated.
“You’re telling us that you’re just going to hand over the reins to some ex-con to run the place for you? Do I need to tell you what a horrible idea that is?” Jacob said.
“That’s exactly what I’m telling you. And you can tell me it’s a horrible idea all you want, but it’s not up to you to decide, I’m afraid.” Garrett looked at me. “I know this probably seems like a lot. And it’s something Marie and I would like you to think about—you don’t have to give us an answer yet.”
“You want me to run this place for you guys?” I asked, still not believing what he was saying.
“It’s clear to anyone who sees you that you’re in your natural element here,” Garrett said. “Now, if you told me you didn’t want to because you wanted to move to the city and live the metropolitan life, I might not agree with it, but it’s your choice, and of course I wouldn’t stop you. But if you’re happy being on a ranch, then why not take things over for me here? Believe it or not, out of all my employees, you’ve worked here the longest.”
“Minus the seven years he was imprisoned, of course,” Jacob said. He pinched the bridge of his nose and squeezed his eyes shut. “I’m just having a hard time believing any of this. Are you suffering from some sort of early-onset dementia, Dad? Is that what this is? Do you even realize what you’re saying?”
“I realize exactly what I’m saying,” Garrett snapped, a hard edge in his voice. “Which is why we had all three of you here at the same time—so I could assure you that this decision was made while I was sound of mind. Also to give the two of you some time to digest the idea because I knew it wasn’t going to be an easy pill for either of you to swallow.”
“But what if he doesn’t want to do it?” Keith asked. I might as well have not even been in the room. “Then what?”
“Then we’ll address that if we have to. As much as I’d like to say this ranch is going to stay in the family and be something that gets passed down through the generations, it’s difficult to promise that when the two of you show so little interest.”
“And we’re not just going to be gone forever,” Marie said. “We want to scale back, is all. I’m personally getting tired of the snow, the long winters. But we need someone to look after the ranch, and then maybe we’ll come back for part of the summer, because I really can’t bear the thought of not seeing some of our regular guests ever again.”
“That’s all well and good,” Jacob said, “except for the part where you’re leaving it in the hands of…you.” He looked at me now, looked at me as though I were no better than a pile of manure that happened to be in his way. I knew what they wanted—they wanted to hear that Garrett and Marie were going to fly south for the winter and leave the ranch for them to do what they’d like with, whether that be sell to developers or sell to someone else who’d be interested in keeping the guest ranch going. They’d take their cut of the money and be done with it.
“It sounds like your mind’s made up, so I don’t really see why you brought us here,” Keith said, standing up from the table. “You want us to give us your blessing? It’s a bad idea, if you ask me. Anyway, I’m going to hit the road. Let me know if you change your mind about the whole thing.”
Jacob stood, too. “You’re making a big mistake, Dad,” he said, before he followed his brother out of the room.
And then it was just the three of us sitting there. “They left before I could offer pie,” Marie said. “I know no one’s had their supper yet, but I’ve got that nice peach pie just sitting out there on the counter. I’m going to go slice it.”
While she was out in the kitchen, Garrett gave me a smile. “I didn’t mean for that to come as a big shock,” he said. “It might’ve been better to pull you aside and give you some warning, but it’s been something I’ve been thinking about for some time now.”
“You were thinking about this while I was in prison?”
“Sure was. I figured if it was something you might be interested in, you’d accept my offer when I said you could have your old job back.”
I bit my lip. “I don’t know why you’re being so nice to me, Garrett.”
“I told you, you’re like a son to me. Some days, you feel more like a son than those two.” He jerked his head back toward the doorway Keith and Jacob had disappeared through. “Those two have never had any interest in anything to do with this place, unless they thought it was me talking about selling and then the only thing they’d want to know is how much they were gonna get. They don’t have an appreciation for the land, for the animals, for the hard work it takes to run a place like this. And that’s okay—this sort of life isn’t for everyone. But it’s in your blood, I’ve always known that, and if what I just said is something you’d be interested in, I’d be more than happy to let you take this place over. Now, Marie and I would still own it, and should the time come to sell, we’d make sure you got a cut, but I don’t want to shut it down. Also, I can’t keep doing what I’m doing, much as I hate to admit it. Age is the one thing none of us can escape.”
It seemed too good to be true, and because of that, I was wary. Not that I didn’t trust Garrett, or believe he only had the best intentions. But I certainly hadn’t been expecting any of this once I got released, and the fact that it was happening was still hard to believe.
“I really appreciate everything you’ve done for me,” I said. “And you know there’s no way in hell I’m going to move to the city and live some urban life. But…I just don’t know if me taking this place over is such a good idea.”
“And why’s that?”
“Because…” Because a part of me felt like everything that Keith and Jacob were saying was true. That someone who had killed a man, who’d just gotten out of prison, shouldn’t be running a guest ranch, didn’t deserve anything even close to that. I had not expected a good life once I got out, not in the least. I imagined I’d have to get a job at a gas station, maybe the overnight shift at the twenty-four-hour place right off the highway, except I’d heard horror stories about how difficult it was to get hired anywhere if you were a felon. “Because I don’t deserve it,” I finally said.
“People all make mistakes.” Garrett glanced over his shoulder toward the kitchen, where I could hear Marie opening and closing cupboards. “I’ve made a few myself,” he said, lowering his voice a little.
“You ever kill anyone?”
“No, but I came close.”
“What happened?”
“I almost beat a man to death.”
“You did?”
“I sure did. Probably would have if the sheriff hadn’t shown up.”
“Who was it?”
“Marie’s ex-husband. He was a violent drunk, and he’d been controlling and abusive toward her when they were married, hence why they were no longer married. But a person like that doesn’t like to relinquish control, and he’d come over one night and tried get her to go back home with him. I was down at the barn but came up to the house because I heard some commotion. He was trying to drag her down the porch steps by her hair.” Garrett shook his head. “I about beat his head into a bloody pulp. So, I understand how it is a person like yourself could do what you did. You’re not violent by nature. You’re not mean-spirited. You don’t go out looking to pick a fight. But things happen sometimes, beyond our control, we find ourselves in situations that we didn’t plan on. It doesn’t mean you’re a bad person, or that you don’t deserve a second chance.”
Marie came back, carrying two small plates with slices of peach pie and whipped cream. She set one plate down in front of me and the other in front of Garrett, her gaze going from him to me, then back again.
“The air feels mighty thick in here,” she said. “What are you two talking about?”
“Nothing,” Garrett said, picking up his fork. “Just telling Ollie here that just about everyone deserves a second chance.”
She nodded emphatically. “Please don’t listen to Jacob and Keith,” she said. “They’ve always had a hard time getting used to a new idea that wasn’t their own, and they’ve never adapted well to change. But Garrett and I both know how much you love this ranch and how well it would do if you decide you want to run it for us. We have all the confidence in the world in you.”
And it felt sincere, like this wasn’t just something they were saying to be kind. Obviously not, if they were really serious about letting me take over the ranch for them some day. That was a big deal, and even with the two of them sitting there telling me straight to my face they wanted me to do it, it was still hard to believe.
Chapter Thirteen
Wren
For the first time, I found myself at work, eager to not be there. I was going back over to the ranch once we were done here for the day, and I was going to try riding Sweetpea again. I was sort of looking forward to that, but mostly I was looking forward to seeing Ollie.
The rush from lunch had just slowed down when Paula Kelly walked in. She was wearing her usual zany outfit, this time, a bright floral skirt that looked like she had made it herself, with a sleeveless hot pink blouse. She didn’t come in often, but you could always expect her to be wearing some eye-catching, eccentric sort of outfit.
She made her way over to the counter and sat down. “Hi there, Paula,” I said. “Let me just get this order out, and I’ll get you some coffee.” I carried the three plates I had over to the corner table and served them to the three people on vacation from Seattle. “Let me know if you need anything else,” I said as they tucked in to their meals.
“How’ve you been?” I asked Paula. She was someone I’d always found interesting; she generally kept to herself whenever she came into the restaurant, and she didn’t come in often enough for me to think of her as a regular, but she had been coming by once every couple of months for years now.
