The Weston Front

by Gray Gardner

  “You look upset,” Kelly softly said, pausing on the path as the cabins came into view.

  “No,” I shook my head, sucking in a deep breath. “This trip is actually exactly what I expected. I can uh, make it from here I think.”

  “Sure,” she nodded. “Hey, let me know when you want to leave your cabin and do something after lunch.”

  “Yeah okay,” I waved over my shoulder, walking down the little hill.

  Caroline came back to the cabin at around 2:00 pm with flushed cheeks and a bounce in her step. I was about to make a joke when she decided to just be forthcoming.

  “We did it in the saddle on his horse!” she gasped, falling into the green padded lounger next to mine on the deck. She stretched her arms over her head and let out a satisfied groan.

  I blushed as I sat up and set my coke down. “I’m sorry?” I smirked.

  “Oh, don’t act like you and The Ass Face never did that,” she grinned, and then she covered her mouth quickly. “Oh, Blake…I’m sorry…”

  “No,” I waved my hand at her, standing and stretching my legs. It hadn’t stung like all those times before when people brought him up. “We didn’t ever do anything like that.”

  She bit her lip and stood next to me.

  “Sorry.”

  “Was he any good?” I asked, grinning up at her.

  Her eyes rolled into the back of her head as she bit her lip. “He is fucking amazing,” she groaned, absently rubbing her hands up and down her hips.

  “Okay, yeah, I get it,” I surrendered, holding my hands up and heading inside the sliding glass door. “Ready to go off-roading?”

  She nodded as I waved my hand in front of the screen panel in the kitchen and pulled up Kelly’s name. No answer. I tried her again, shrugged at Caroline, reapplied some sunscreen to my face and arms, and then followed her out the door. We approached the ATV paddock just as about twenty other people did so we had to wait around in the crowd and get the general instructions and safety lecture.

  “Made it,” Rowdy whispered, coming up behind us and placing a hand on Caroline’s back. “You girls are hard to find sometimes.”

  “Just waiting our turn,” Caroline grinned, running her hand along his leather belt in the back.

  “Y’all checked off that you’ve ridden four-wheelers before,” Rowdy said, frowning at the crowd. “You can skip this part. Again, you signed the release forms.”

  “Let’s go,” I whispered quickly, leading the way around the back of the crowd and through the covered concrete slab holding rows and rows of ATVs.

  “Helmet,” Rowdy said, handing Caroline a pink one and me a black one.

  I buckled it under my chin and it fell over my eyes a little. Caroline giggled as he adjusted hers for her.

  “Stay close, no sharp turns, and follow me. We’ll take the dry creek bed trail,” he grinned, starting up an army green one and pulling out into the sunlight. Caroline jumped on a yellow one and I started it for her, reminding her of how to switch gears with her left foot.

  “Oh, yes, okay, I got it. Come on!” She smiled, pulling out at full speed. She swerved around a tree and I cringed as I watched her. This could go sour pretty quickly. I’d have to keep a close eye on her.

  I pushed the helmet off of my forehead and turned to get onto a red four-wheeler. Instead I ran into a wall of muscle concealed in a starched white shirt. Like I said, ninja.

  “What are you doing all of the way down here?” he curtly asked, eyeing the group of adventurers clumsily climbing onto the ATVs and revving the engines as they tried to get into first gear.

  “We’re going on a ride,” I replied, stepping around him and that intoxicating manly smell and reaching for the handlebars.

  He quickly grabbed my wrist and pulled me back into him. “Where’s Kelly?”

  Ugh. He was always asking me that. I rolled my eyes up at him and shrugged.

  It was his turn to frown as he narrowed his eyes down at me. “I don’t think it’s a good idea for you to ride away from the group. These things roll very easily.”

  “I’m going with Caroline and Rowdy,” I stated, stepping around him and trying to swing my leg over the side of the large black vinyl seat. “It’ll be fine.”

  “And I said you ride with the beginners on the fire trail,” he said in a low voice, grabbing both of my shoulders and pulling me back. “Or you don’t ride at all.”

  Rowdy suddenly pulled up with Caroline right behind him.

  “We’re just going up to Big Bear Rock and back, west,” Rowdy said, nodding his head once at me.

  “Y’all go on,” he insisted, his fingers now digging into my shoulders.

  “No,” I started to say, but they had already driven off, leaving us in their dust. I jerked myself out of his grasps and adjusted my shirt. “Okay,West, what the hell is your problem?”

  “You need to stay with your host,Blake,” he responded with a mocking tone, like he was speaking to a kid. And how in the hell did he know my name?

  I was about to say something else but I stopped myself. There was no point in arguing so I just nodded and exhaled as I turned for the beginners pulling out of the paddock. For the boring ride.

  “What, no argument?” he asked, walking next to me.

  I paused and looked up at him.

  “Do youwant me to argue?” I softly asked, feeling a little defeated.

  He seemed surprised for a moment, and then sighed heavily as he rested his hands on his hips. He looked like he was deliberating, but then he suddenly frowned and pulled his phone out of his shirt pocket.

  “Yeah,” he answered, looking right at me. “He didn’t show up? Which pool? Yeah, I’ll be right there.” He put his phone away. “I have to go to the family pool. The lifeguard didn’t show up. Don’t go off behind Rowdy, do you understand?”

  “Okay,” I replied, looking down at the toe of my boot. I heard him exhale as he just stood there, then he turned and quickly walked off. I watched him go, wondering if he would really know if I rode off after Caroline. I figured he would, since he was half ninja, so I turned to join the beginners on the boring flat fire trail ride.

  And they were already gone, the keys to the four-wheelers locked up in a clear plastic box. Great. No one in sight as far as the eye could see. I actually kicked a rock across the dusty pathway as I made my way back to the cabin. It was only 3:00 pm. What was I supposed to do for the rest of the day? If I didn’t keep myself busy I would definitely start thinking about Daniel…and the wedding-of-the-year I’d planned…and everyone’s looks of pity.

  I tried relaxing in a bath; that took up thirty minutes. I blew dry my hair; twenty minutes. I sat out on the deck and checked my Facebook on my iPad; twenty minutes.

  Letting my head fall back on the lounger, I stared at the puffy clouds moving across the sky and hoped that dinner would roll around soon. But that was two hours away. I walked back inside and lay flat on my bed, turning on the little television mounted on the wall at the foot of the bed and impatiently watched a few shows on the Travel channel. Even the people who had gone all of the way to rural France to take cooking lessons from a chef who didn’t speak a word of English looked like they were having more fun than I was.

  My phone beeped and woke me from a catnap. I stared at the screen as my eyes adjusted. Uh-oh.

  Chapter Three

  The shadows were long and the room had grown cooler when I rolled over and stared at my phone. Caroline was going back to Rowdy’s to eat and spend the night. Perfect.

  Rubbing my eyes, I walked out to the touch panel and found that I had five messages. I touched the icon and they were all from Kelly; apologizing, asking where I was, asking if I was mad and that’s why I wasn’t answering, asking if I could just get back to her so she would know I wasn’t lost in the woods. Christ, was anyone else getting babied like this?

  “Kelly,” I greeted, watching her face relax on the screen. “Just took a nap, that’s all.”

  “Oh good,”
she huffed, wiping her hair out of her face. She looked like she’d been running. “So should I come get you for dinner?”

  I shook my head, replying, “No, I’m just going to get something brought out and stay here tonight.”

  “No campfire?” she asked, wiping sweat off of her forehead.

  “No. I’ll just stay here.”

  “Okay, I’ll see you tomorrow at breakfast then,” she smiled, signing off.

  I sat alone in the living room as it grew darker, reading books and magazines on my iPad. I drank a coke and ate a slice of cheese from the small refrigerator, then gave up and just went to bed. I hadn’t felt so lonely in a while. I took it as a good sign…like maybe I was actually starting to feel things other than a broken heart.

  The next day I walked along the sunny road to breakfast, smiling and chatting with a couple of older guys who wanted the ‘full ranch experience’ and a reason to break away from their wives and kids.

  “You’re not married?” one asked, smiling down at me.

  I adjusted my baseball hat in the morning sun and shrugged. “Haven’t found Mr. Right yet,” I replied, trying to sound more cheerful than I felt. I needed Caroline to run interference, but she was nowhere in sight.

  “It’s nice to know all the good ones aren’t taken yet,” the short one grinned, frowning as his friend shot him a look. “What? My brother hasn’t found a wife and his girlfriends are insane.”

  I smirked and shook my head. Of course it was the girlfriend who was insane, not his little brother who couldn’t settle down.

  “We’re going to the shooting range after we eat. Want to come?” the tall one asked.

  That sounded fun. Nothing made me feel in control like shooting one of my guns.

  “Yeah,” I nodded, breaking off from them as they approached the Dining Cabin. I didn’t like it in there. “I’m just going to the coffee shop to grab a bagel. Meet you there?”

  “Sure!” they called, stumbling out of the way as the doors opened and West marched out. I turned and headed for the coffee shop cabin, but I could feel his eyes piercing right through me. My whole body pulsed with my heartbeat.

  “Hey!”

  I kept walking. Surely he wasn’t talking to me. Surely I hadn’t wronged him. I’d been in my cabin for the last twelve hours.

  “Hey! Blake!”

  Jesus. I stopped and turned, squinting up at him as the morning sun shone brightly. He stopped in front of me in a light blue shirt, looking all dangerous with his stubble, and brooding with his frown.

  “Star Wars fan?” he asked, raising an eyebrow as he stepped a little too close to me.

  “Yeah, I guess,” I replied, looking down at my faded black t-shirt. It had a gray sphere on it and said ‘Death Star’ in the Star Wars font. Dan had given it to me after we first met; because, he said, when I slept I breathed like Darth Vader. I couldn’t part with it because it was the softest, most comfy shirt I owned.

  He opened his mouth to say something but I quickly jumped in and asked, “Where’s Kelly?”

  His eyes narrowed but his mouth turned up in a slight grin as he silently looked down at me. He spoke after a few seconds of contemplation. “Aren’t you going to get breakfast? You didn’t have any dinner last night.”

  “I,” I began, pausing at his knowledge of my eating schedule, “I ate in my cabin and now I’m going to the coffee shop.”

  Nodding, he put his hands on his hips and shot a look at the Dining Cabin over his shoulder.

  “Those guys looked like they wanted to eatyou for breakfast,” he sighed, giving his head a shake.

  “They were just being friendly…”

  “Trust me. They want to be more than friends,” he interrupted, making my skin tingle as his eyes peered down at me.

  “Well we aren’t going to get couples massages or anything,” I smirked, hands on my hips now, too. “We’re just going to the shooting range…”

  “You aren’t going anywhere with them,” he abruptly stated, shaking his head with a determined look.

  Oh really? My mouth fell open at his command, but honestly I just didn’t feel very combative at the moment. I couldn’t seem to form cohesive thoughts around him, either. He would end up getting his way, anyway.

  “Fine,” I muttered, shaking my head as I turned. “I’ll just go back to my cabin.”

  As I shuffled over the flagstone pathway and into the cute little cabin with the coffee counter and bakery rack, I heard a heavy sigh behind me.

  “I’ll take you to the shooting range since Kelly seems to be elsewhere,” he grumbled, pouring himself some coffee in a paper cup.

  “Really, don’t do me any favors,” I said under my breath. I thought he’d heard me and slightly panicked, but he was just moving to the window to pull his phone out and text.

  “Ready?” he asked, not looking up from his texting.

  “Look, you seem busy and you probably are hosting your own guests so…I mean, come on, I can make it to the shooting range and back without incident.”

  “Let’s go,” he ordered, holding the door open and just looking at me, his mouth pressed in a tight line.

  I stood there for a few seconds, gripping my paper coffee cup and bagel, then just gave in and started walking. Eating as we walked, I kept shooting quick glances up at him and wondering if he really didn’t have anything better to do. I was about to ask him how long he’d been at the ranch just to break the awkward silence between us when he reached over and wiped the corner of my mouth.

  “Cream cheese,” he muttered, showing me the white smudge on his finger.

  All I could do was frown up at him and his handsome smile. Then I quickly came to my senses and swiped the back of my hand across my face in a very elegant, ladylike way, of course. He kept smiling and kept right on walking as we tread through some scattered trees and came upon an open space and the popping sounds of gunfire. We’d almost made it to the veranda with the instructors, when all at once West’s phone started ringing and those two guys from breakfast jogged up behind us

  “Ready to shoot? I hope they have a semi-automatic so I can tear shit up, Call of Duty style!” the tall one said, rubbing his hands together.

  The short one stepped closer to me and asked, “Have you ever held a gun before? It’s a powerful feeling. I’ll help you out of you’re scared, though.”

  “Yeah, hold on,” West barked into his phone, shoving his body between the men and me. He reached down and grabbed my hand causing me to involuntarily gasp, which I hated, then pulled me along behind him as he marched back towards the main buildings in the distance. “We have to go.”

  “Wait, what,” I stuttered, wondering how I could feel so humiliated at being manhandled and yet so turned on by the feeling of my hand in his at the exact same time. My boots shuffled through the dirt and grass covered trail as I tried to keep up with his brisk pace. He continued to hold my hand as he resumed his conversation on the phone.

  “Just tell him I said to wait and I’ll be there soon,” he ordered into the white smart phone.

  “Hey!” I finally grit through my teeth, yanking my hand away when we reached the black top road. “I don’t really understand what’s going on here but…”

  “That’s exactly why I couldn’t leave you there,” he sighed, gesturing down the road. “Now come on, I have somewhere I need to be.”

  “Then go,” I sighed, rubbing my eyes and letting my shoulders sag. I really didn’t want to fight him, but I had really been looking forward to getting in some target practice. “I’ll be fine.”

  “You’ll be fine somewhere else,” he stated, checking his watch. “Those morons had no clue what they were doing and would probably end up hurting you, themselves or someone else trying to impress you. Trust me, it’s better for everyone if you just go to another activity.”

  For some reason that hurt my feelings. I couldn’t explain it, but I felt a little wounded that I could be the cause of so much trouble in his mind.

&nb
sp; “Just,” he began, shifting his weight and heaving a sigh. He ran his hand down his face before he continued, his features softening a little. “Just go to the Hobby Lodge and wait for Kelly…please.”

  I didn’t look up at him as I nodded in compliance. I couldn’t. If I saw the harsh look on his face I was afraid I might start crying. So I just walked around him and quickened my pace as I headed back to my cabin. There was no way in hell I was going to the Hobby Lodge to hang out with all of the screaming, crying kids.

  My eyes watered as I jogged over the little hill but I didn’t let a tear fall until I entered my cabin. It was quiet and lonely. Was this something I would just have to get used to for the rest of my life?

  Dan, I thought,Dan, was I really so terrible? I wish you could explain it to me just a little better. Why am I not marriage material? What did you ever like about me? Did I change so much? Did you? Why did you lead me on for so long? I wasted so much time waiting for you. Why are you such a fucking asshole?

  I worked myself up and as the self-pity tears subsided, the anger seeped in. Misplaced, of course, but it had to go somewhere. I walked to the touch panel and waved my hand in front of it, pulling up Kelly’s name. I called, no answer, so I called back every thirty seconds for about five minutes. Oh yeah. Now I was really irritated.

  Chapter Four

  I clutched my white smart phone so tightly to my chest that my knuckles were turning white. Someone put a hand on my back and I looked up. Her face looked concerned as the blue and red lights danced simultaneously across her aging features. She looked kind.

  “We’re going to take good care of her, Honey, I promise,” she softly said as people rushed around behind her in the cold darkness.

  I nodded and shivered, wrapping my arms around my body. Why was everyone here? Weren’t we all going to the hospital? I looked down at my dirty boots as I sat on a small flat rock by the road in the middle of all the chaos. I was so confused.