by Ali Parker
The two strangers, however, seemed to be having a great time.
They were laughing and jostling each other around in a way that reminded me of players on a high school or college football team. There was a definite sense of camaraderie between them, the sort of closeness shared by best friends or brothers.
The closer I got, the more apprehensive I became. Wyatt still had his back toward me, and I’d noticed more details between him, Boone, and Dodge. Clenched fists and jaws. Feet planted shoulder-width apart. Voices low. These were not friends.
But I was a stranger, and I would not step on any toes by being anything but friendly. When I stepped up beside Wyatt, the two men standing across from us smiled at me. Their dimpled cheeks suggested this introduction was friendly, but their eyes said something else entirely.
“Hi,” I said.
“Hey,” the taller of the two said. His eyes looked me over from head to toe and then back up again. “You’re just who we’ve been waiting to see.”
“Oh?” I asked as innocently as I could manage. I looked over to Wyatt and shuffled a little closer to him, hoping the movement didn’t suggest I was nervous. I wasn’t. I felt completely safe with Wyatt at my side.
The same man who had spoken before nodded eagerly. “Yes. What’s your name, sugar?”
Ugh. Pet names. Barf.
“Well I can tell you it’s not ‘Sugar’,” I said, my smile sweet but my tone assertive.
They both chuckled. Dodge and Boone shifted uncomfortably.
I carried on. “My name is Piper. And you are?”
“Elias Buck. This here is my younger brother Hank. We work one of the neighboring ranches up the road and heard Wyatt had some new company for the month.”
“So, you thought you’d come and introduce yourselves,” I said. “That’s nice of you.”
It did not feel like it was nice of them. In fact, it felt just the opposite.
Hank reached out and shook my hand. “So, you’re here for the month, are you?”
I nodded. “Yes.”
“Where are you from?” he asked.
I licked my lips. “Born and raised in New York City.”
“No shit?” Elias asked, his eyebrows inching toward his hairline. “You don’t look like a city girl to me. Hell, you look like you grew up on a farm with the likes of us. You ever been around this many cowboys all at once, Piper?”
I did not like how he said my name. Somehow, he made it sound just as condescending as “Sugar”.
I smiled. “Once or twice. At a strip club.”
Elias slapped his thigh and barked out a laugh. “And she’s funny too? Wyatt, you didn’t tell me your guest was such a crowd pleaser.”
Wyatt didn’t say anything. I didn’t need him to. I lifted my chin. “I’m not here to be a crowd pleaser. I’m here to learn about working on a ranch. And to get to know Wyatt and Boone and Dodge.”
I didn’t know what it was that made me choose my words so carefully, but I was not about to tell them I was here to date Wyatt. No way. These were the sorts of men who would run in the wrong direction with that sort of information. I could feel it in my bones.
“And how’s that going for you so far?” Hank asked.
I shrugged. “I like it better than where I work back home. I like working outside. And the company is wonderful. I can see I was lucky to end up here than at one of the other ranches. I imagine they’re not all this welcoming. Or kind.”
Boone snorted. Dodge put a hand on my shoulder. Apparently, I had said the right thing. A subtle backhand. Not too forceful but not weak, either. Just enough to let them know I wasn’t someone who would stand for their fuckery.
Because there was no better word for how they were behaving.
Wyatt wrapped an arm around my waist. Up until now, he had been perfectly quiet and reserved. “We have to head out for the night, boys. So if you wouldn’t mind getting your truck off my property, I’d be obliged.”
I looked up at him. His stare was hard and cold. His jaw was still tight. For the first time since I’d met him, I found him intimidating.
Elias gave a small bow. “As you wish. You two have a nice night now. We’ll get out of your hair.” He paused to look right at me. “Take care of yourself, Piper. We’ll see you around.”
I resisted the urge to shiver as Wyatt turned me around, keeping his hand around my waist. We took our first few steps, and the truck started behind us. Boone, who was walking on my other side, glanced over his shoulder and muttered, “Good riddance.”
I looked around at the three of them as we kept walking. “So, I gather we don’t like those guys?”
“No, we fucking hate those guys,” Dodge said.
“May I ask why?”
Dodge and Boone looked toward Wyatt, who let out a weary sigh. “Elias and Hank Buck have been a royal pain in my ass for the last twenty years.”
I blinked. “Twenty?”
He nodded. “Our history goes back a long ways. Their father and my father grew up ranching side by side before any other farms were established in the area, and there was bad blood between them. Before my father met my mother, things went real bad between the two ranches, and their father, Elias Senior, set fire to my father’s barn. He killed cattle and horses and sheep and chickens.”
“Oh my God,” I gasped. “What sick person would take a personal feud out on innocent animals?”
“The Bucks,” Dodge said flatly.
Wyatt nodded. “It was a bad time for everyone. My father decided not to retaliate and instead went to law enforcement.”
“Good,” I said.
Wyatt shrugged. “The long-term repercussions haven’t been so good. The Bucks hate me for what my father did to theirs. He cost them a lot of land and money in fines. And their father served time in the county jail. Ever since then, things have been tense. And very personal.”
“Elias is a weasel,” Dodge said.
Wyatt nodded his agreement and glanced at me. “And I suppose you should know this, too. He’s married to Shannon.”
I gaped. “Your ex, Shannon?”
“The one and only.” Wyatt sighed.
“She left you for that bozo?” I asked.
Wyatt gave me a small smile while Dodge and Boone chuckled. Apparently, they agreed with my sentiments.
“Yeah, she did,” Wyatt said. “But like I said, it was for the best. He can have her. And for what it’s worth, I hope they make each other happy. If they do, maybe they’ll finally leave me the hell alone.”
“Pipe dream,” Dodge said.
“Will never happen,” Boone added.
I entwined my fingers with Wyatt’s and gave his hand a squeeze. “I don’t know if this helps, but you know your life is like a western movie, right?”
All three of them started laughing. The sound warmed me up from the inside out and washed away the feeling of unease that had settled in my chest when talking with Elias and Hank.
Wyatt pulled me in a little closer to his side. “Let’s forget about those clowns. Tonight, I’m taking you out on the town.”
Chapter 13
Wyatt
At the end of the drive, Boone and Dodge broke away from Piper and me and headed to their bunkhouse to shower. Piper and I kept going up to the main house, climbed the stairs up the porch, and ducked into the cool shade of the living room.
I popped open the top buttons of my shirt and made for the stairs. “I just want to take a quick shower. I’ll meet you back down here?”
Piper nodded and swung around the couch to gracefully collapse onto it. “Take your time.”
I took the stairs two at a time and went straight for the bathroom, turned on the cool water in the shower, and stripped. Then I stepped under the cool spray of water and scrubbed away the dirt and grime of the day.
I also tried to wash away the feeling of unease that always accompanied a visit from the Buck brothers.
They were just trying to stir the pot, I thought to myself as
I dried off. They were bored, and they heard about Piper, so they figured they’d show up and try to make me retaliate. Joke’s on them.
It didn’t matter what I told myself. Their words and their smirks played over and over in my mind, leaving me feeling like there was something I was missing, something I should be able to put my finger on but couldn’t.
Deciding that it wasn’t fair to bring this along with me on my date with Piper, I tabled the negative thoughts about the Buck brothers and headed back downstairs to find Piper perusing the shelves on either side of the stone fireplace. She turned toward me when she heard my footsteps, and she smiled.
“You look handsome,” she said.
“I had to put a little effort in with you looking so good.” I grinned. Movement down the drive caught my eye. A sleek black limo was inching up the dirt road toward the back porch. “We’re also heading into town in style.”
She followed my gaze out the window and spotted the limo. She spun back to me, her hair swishing around her shoulders. “You didn’t have to.”
“I wanted to.”
She smiled shyly. “Well, in that case, what the hell are we waiting for?”
I laughed as she hurried to the back sliding door, wrenched it open, and hurried across the porch and down the steps as the limo pulled up outside. I followed her out and met the driver outside the car as he opened the back door for us with a courteous nod. “Good evening, Mr. Brewer.”
“Good evening,” I said, tipping my head in return.
Piper slid into the back, and I joined her as she fixed the skirt of her dress. The driver closed the door, and soon, we were pulling away from the house.
Piper’s eyes landed on the bottle of champagne in the ice bucket. I pulled it free, opened the bottle with an obnoxious pop, and poured us each a glass.
“To a good evening,” I said.
Piper smiled. “A wonderful evening.”
We took a sip and sat back to enjoy the drive into Austin.
Within forty-five minutes, we had pulled up outside one of my favorite places in the city. It was a small restaurant, a place not many people went to unless you grew up knowing about it, and the hostess took us to a table by the window that I had booked in advance. The decor was rustic and simple, and it was dimly lit.
Piper looked around as she draped her napkin over her lap. “I wasn’t expecting this.”
“Did you think I would try to peacock you with a gourmet restaurant?”
She giggled. “I don’t know where I thought we would end up, but this is right up my alley.”
“My friends and I used to come here when we were younger and I had more time on my hands. Long before I took over the ranch. Hell, back when I wanted to do anything but ranching.”
Piper cocked her head to the side. “You didn’t always want to work the ranch?”
“God no.” I shook my head. “I fought my father tooth and nail on it. I insisted he sell. Insisted I was made for better things than tending to cattle and brushing horses and shearing sheep.”
Piper licked her lips. “But?”
I shrugged. “My mom died. And my father was all alone. And every selfish thought I had about this future I thought I wanted slipped away, and I knew there was no other place in the world for me than at my father’s side learning everything I could so I could serve him and keep the ranch in the family.”
“That’s beautiful.”
I didn’t know if I agreed that beautiful was the right word for it, but I thanked her anyway before our waiter came to the table and collected our drink and food orders. We each started with a Moscow Mule, which was a great starter for the evening while we waited on our pulled pork slider appetizers and our entrees of pasta.
Piper sipped her drink and watched me over the rim. “What was your father like?”
I smiled as I remembered him. “He was big. Tall. I remember as a child staring at his hands and wondering, wishing, that mine would be like that one day. He could close his whole fist around a beer can and make it disappear.”
Piper’s eyes widened.
“And he was kind. And patient. And never in a hurry. Sometimes, I thought he’d been born in the wrong state. He would have been better suited in Hawaii. Island-time living.”
She smiled. “I know people like that, too. People with no sense of urgency.”
“Yes, exactly. No sense of urgency. He believed everything would get done when it was supposed to, and he was never wrong. Never late. Everything was done exactly on time, and it was quality work too because it was never rushed. He drank two glasses of whiskey on the rocks on Sunday evenings and smoked one cigar. Sometimes, my mother would take a puff or two, and they’d sit on the back porch together reading their books while I was in bed. I used to creep down the stairs and listen to them talk about the ranch. And me.”
“You’re an only child?”
“I am. And not by their choice. They wanted a big family, but it seems that was not what they were destined for. My mother could bear no more children after me.”
“I suppose it’s a good thing they struck gold with you,” Piper said sweetly.
I chuckled. “I gave them a hell of a time as a kid. I have a lot of regrets. I put my mother through the wringer. Scared the hell out of her on more than one occasion.”
“Boys,” Piper said knowingly.
I shook my head. “It was more than that. I got in with some bad kids. The Bucks, to name a few. And for a while, there I was heading in a pretty bad direction. Dad tried to reel me back in by giving me more chores on the farm. It didn’t work.”
“What made you stop?”
“When I saw the real hearts of the boys I was hanging around with. How cruel they were. How they didn’t have respect for anything.”
Piper looked at her lap. “I’m almost afraid to ask.”
I thought back to that summer in ninety-nine. I was fourteen, almost fifteen, and I thought I was the coolest thing on legs. I was untouchable. The definition of teenage boy bad attitude problems. I liked my friends, and I liked doing the adrenaline-pumping shit they liked, like taking big jumps on our bikes, playing chicken in the road with cars, stealing from local shops.
And one day, it went sideways.
They convinced me to go cow tipping one night. When we got to the ranch in question, they tipped a cow, broke her legs, and left her there. I watched the whole thing unfold, and when they ran, I stayed. The farmer came out, shotgun held way up in the air, and found me on my knees beside the screaming cow, crying my eyes out.
Piper cleared her throat. “We don’t have to talk about it, Wyatt.”
“I have a lot of guilt,” I said.
She chewed the inside of her cheek. “We all do about something.”
I’d never hung around with those kids after that night. Not once. And my mother, bless her soul, had thanked God for showing me the way. But it wasn’t God who saved me. It was the poor cow who I watched get shot in the head because of my stupid friends.
Our food arrived, offering an easy distraction from my thoughts and the topic of conversation.
Piper took her first bite of pasta and closed her eyes to savor the morsel. “Oh my goodness. This might be the best spaghetti I’ve ever had.”
“Told you,” I said. “This place is the best.”
We ordered two glasses of wine after our meal and continued chatting.
“Can I ask you something?” Piper asked.
“You can ask me anything.”
She rubbed her lips together thoughtfully and took a deep breath. “Have you ever regretted taking over the ranch in your father’s place?”
“No.”
Her eyebrows arched. “Really? Not even for a second?”
“Nope. Not even a second. The ranch a part of me. Always has been. And me walking away from it would have meant giving it up to strangers. To people who didn’t have memories and family built into the very walls and foundation of the buildings. Who hadn’t bled in the soil and th
e grass. It’s my home.”
Piper looked down into her wine.
I was horrified when I noticed her eyes growing glassy. I reached for her. “Did I say something wrong?”
She shook her head. “No.”
“What’s wrong?”
She lifted her eyes to me and then looked up at the ceiling to stop the tears from falling. “I’ve been thinking about my father a lot. And about how things ended between us the last time I saw him. How mad he was when I told him to sell the restaurant.”
“You still haven’t heard from him?”
She shook her head as more tears welled in her eyes.
I sighed and put my hand over hers. “My father has been dead a long time, Piper. But I still remember the last words I ever said to him. And I can never take them back. They were said out of anger. And I didn’t mean any of them. He said things to me, too, but I have long since forgiven him for them. But he can’t forgive me because he’s gone. And that’s a really hard pill for anyone to swallow.”
Her eyes brimmed over, and tears fell down her cheeks.
“I’m not trying to make you cry, Piper. I swear. But when something like that happens it gives you a fresh perspective. Now I never put myself in a position where I might say something I will regret to someone I care about. I’ll never leave on bad terms.”
“He won’t want to hear from me,” she whispered. “Otherwise, he would have called.”
I ran my thumb over her knuckles. “You won’t regret reaching out and asking to talk to him, Piper. But I assure you, you will regret not doing it. Life is unpredictable. It does not wait for you to have told someone you love them. It does not wait for you to make amends. You can’t let these kinds of things slip through your fingers. I did. And I can never take back the last things I said to my father. To a man I loved and respected more than anyone else in the world.”
Her eyes danced back and forth between mine as her tears continued to flow.
I squeezed her hand. “Do what feels right.”
She licked her lips. Then she nodded and got to her feet. “I’ll be right back.”
