The Thunder Rolls: The Dawson Brothers #8

by Parker, Ali

  An hour later, I had danced with all the women more than once and it wasn’t long before local cowboys started to ask them to dance as predicted. They were making fast friends and I took this opportunity to order another club soda and walk around the joint a bit.

  I went to the left wing of the building and heard a lot of shouts, hoots and hollers. I thought there must be an arm-wrestling match going on, but as I got closer I saw that it was something else—something better.

  “Well looky here,” I muttered to myself as I looked at the mechanical bull set in a small ring of air cushion. A cowboy was riding it and to my surprise, the bull operator was quite aggressive. The cowboy flew off and landed on the cushioned ground. Everyone hooted and hollered. I was gonna have to try this.

  “You gonna try that thing?” a woman said beside me. I turned to see the woman I’d met at the burger joint the day before.

  “Maybe. It’s Billy right?”

  “And you’re—”

  “Dylan.”

  “Dylan, seems like you showed up here after all—”

  “Yeah I did. I’m here for work,” I said. “You said Friday, didn’t you?”

  “Yeah, but I come here most night anyways. Thursday is practically Friday,” she said.

  “Who’s next?” the operator shouted.

  I wanted to shout that I was next, since the itch was there to try it. But another cowboy beat me to it. They were lined up near the operator. I had a mind to get in line, too.

  “So are you going to ask me to dance, Dylan?” Billy said putting her hand on my chest and running it down slowly. She did not hesitate to show her interest.

  “Billy” a deep voice shouted at her. She turned with a frown and her hand slipped from my chest. I followed her gaze to a familiar sight. Four cowboys were walking toward us and I had seen them before, at the livestock show and rodeo back home. These were the cowboys that had tried to start shit with me in the pavilion. The mean one with the tattoos and championship belt buckle was the one that had called her name.

  “Gotta go,” she rolled her eyes and started off in order to meet them, but they got to us first.

  “What did I tell you, Billy,” the mean one said.

  “Andy, I was just asking this cowboy to dance is all,” she said, but his black eyes were not on her, they were on me. I squared my shoulders ready for this confrontation that was obviously unavoidable. But I remembered that I was on the clock and representing the Larson Dude Ranch and needed to be on my best behavior. It was a good thing I hadn’t been drinkin’ or I’d be quick to lose my temper.

  “Think you need to leave our sister alone,” the mean one who she called Andy said.

  “Yeah, you don’t want to get on our bad side,” another one said, who I could only assume was another brother.

  “Robert, really he didn’t do anything wrong. I asked him,” Billy said, getting between us.

  “Stay out of this, Billy,” yet another brother said. He also had black hair, but with lighter brown eyes. He grabbed her arm and pulled her to him.

  “Christian, stop it,” she said.

  “Like the lady said. She just asked me to dance. I haven’t had time to give her a response,” I said.

  “Dylan, there you are. We need to get back to the ranch. Jessica is sick. She’s hurling in the parking lot,” Riley said, coming over to my side. She was quick and didn’t realize she had just stepped into the ring of fire.

  “Alright, we can go,” I said, as she grabbed my hand. “Ya’ll have a nice night now,” I tipped my hat at the steaming brothers. Then just to play with the fire a little I tipped my hat specifically at Billy. “I’ll save that dance for you anytime you’d like it. I’ll give it to you.”

  Andy stepped toward me but one of the others grabbed him back, just as Riley was pulling me away. I laughed walking away. I knew that I shouldn’t have made that last remark, but the hellion in me couldn’t help it. I was a Dawson after all, and Dawson’s don’t take shit from nobody.

  12

  Helen

  I couldn’t understand why I was feeling so jealous over our guests flirting with Dylan. It made sense, he was, in fact, a very attractive guy. Even I was not immune to his charms. Of course these young women would flirt with him—that made perfect sense. But why did it bother me so much? Was it because of how that kiss affected me? I was trying not to think about it but it popped into my mind every time. Every day I was battling down feelings of lust for this man that had rescued me from the runaway horse. You combine that with the loneliness that I had been feeling since my husband passed away and you had a perfect storm. A very dangerous storm.

  I felt a tap on my shoulder. I looked up at Eddie, my cook.

  “Yes?” I asked, looking up from the picnic table that I was wiping down in the eating area.

  “Is something bothering you, Helen?”

  “No, why do you ask?”

  “Because I’ve been calling your name over and over from just a few feet away and you haven’t looked up from aggressively wiping down this table. Did this table do something to you?” He raised an eyebrow at me.

  “Oh Eddie, I’m sorry. I didn’t hear you somehow. I guess I was just lost in my own thoughts,” I said, feeling a little bit embarrassed that I was thinking so deeply about Dylan that I didn’t even hear my own name being called from just a few feet away.

  “Breakfast is just about ready. The coffee is on and all the entrees are done. What time are the other weekend guests arriving? So far just the family is on its way here from their bungalow. They stopped at the corrals, I can see them looking at the horses with their kids. I’m sure they’re headed this way for breakfast. What about the other guests? I haven’t seen anything of them yet. Do you think they will make breakfast?”

  I looked around realizing he was right. Both of our Thursday arrivals—the family as well as the three girls—seemed to be late sleepers this morning. But at least the family was up and going, and on their way to breakfast. But looking towards the bungalow where the girls were staying, it didn’t seem like there was any activity coming from there. We didn’t have any structured schedule for guests of the Larson Dude Ranch. You could sleep until 5 p.m. if you wanted, we didn’t force anyone to do anything. Some guests came out to just do nothing but be in the country, sip iced tea on the porch, and relax, and that was fine, too.

  But what bothered me about this late sleeping was that it was the three women that had gone out with Dylan the night before. I knew they didn’t stay out late, because I had been at my bedroom window when his truck came back. I felt ashamed that I had been watching and waiting, feeling so jealous. So I knew that they weren’t out too late, but that didn’t mean they didn’t stay up late. Perhaps Dylan stayed up with them, perhaps he even stayed in their bungalow. The thought of that brought a cold sweat over my body. I was feeling angry—again.

  “Yes Eddie, that’s fine. Our guests can sleep in if they want too. Just concentrate on this family. The other arrivals aren’t coming until dinner time. So go ahead and make enough dinner to accommodate four more guests. If they don’t show by dinner, we will put food aside for them for when they do arrive. You know you can never really put a time on the drive to get here from all over the state.”

  “Sounds good, Helen. Are you sure that you’re alright? You can tell old Eddie anything,” he said, with a look of concern on his face.

  “No, I’m fine. I’ll just finish up these tables,” I said.

  I continued to wipe down the tables, with more elbow grease than necessary. I was working off some of the anger.

  “Good morning, Helen,” the mother of the children said, coming toward me. I donned a big smile. I couldn’t be thinking about being jealous over Dylan now.

  “Good morning. I hope y’all are hungry. We have a real good cowboy breakfast for y’all to enjoy. There’s juice for the little cowboys and coffee for the grown-up cowboys,” I said putting on my best show.

  “Thank you. We are hungry,”
she said, moving past me toward the buffet of food and drink. Eddie immediately took over talking cowboy banter as he said the menu out loud. The kids took to him real quick like they always did.

  The father was still at the corral talking to Marshall. But where was Dylan? My face started to turn pink with anger as I thought about him lying in an orgy of those three girls. It was a thought that was making steam come out of my ears.

  I decided to walk toward the row of guest bungalows and my heart was racing as I did so. I thought that at any minute Dylan was going to walk out of the bungalow that the girls were staying in. He had already moved from the guest bungalow I’d put him in that first night to the ranch hand bunks. The same one that he had stayed in when he worked here many summers ago. But now I was paranoid that perhaps my pushing him away had pushed him straight into the arms of one of these gorgeous young women, if not all three of them.

  “Good morning,” I heard a deep voice say. I turned to the side to see Dylan tipping his hat at me. He was leaning on a fence post that was hidden behind a stone wall. He was drinking coffee from his thermos. I was shocked to see him there, but also very relieved.

  “Good morning,” I said in return, but I kept walking. I felt like a fool that I had let my imagination run away from me. But I still didn’t know if he had spent the night with one or any of the women in that bungalow. I couldn’t exactly ask, but it would be unprofessional of him and cause to send him home.

  But as far as his personal affairs in general—well it was none of my business, I had to keep reminding myself of that. I kept walking straight into the stables. There was nothing that I needed to do in there particularly, but it was a good place to hide. I stopped behind the stable door and just hid in the dark shadow for a second. I took a deep breath trying to release the anger I had built up by imagining Dylan with someone else. After a few moments, I was good. I looked over the stables since I was already there, making sure everything was in good order.

  Dixie let out a neigh from her stable pen. We were careful not to saddle her for any of the guests. I scratched her nose. “Hungry girl?” I grabbed a few carrots and fed them to her. It wasn’t her fault she was scared of the wind. She was an animal, and animals were unpredictable by nature. I still loved her.

  The rest of the day, I kept busy with work. I also kept busy ignoring Dylan. Maybe it felt a little childish to do this, but every time I saw his face or talked to him, I thought about that kiss. So the only thing I could do was work. I helped Eddie prepare the meals, which was something that I didn’t usually do. But it was work, and it occupied my mind.

  Just before lunch was to be served, I was walking around telling the family that I was going to be ringing the lunch bell soon, but that they didn’t have to go to lunch right then and there. It would be served over the next 2 hours. When I walked away from them, I saw Dylan. He was showing one of the young women, I believed her name was Jessica, how to ride a horse. I watched as he put his hands around her waist and helped her on to the horse for her lesson. The girl gave him a look, very flirty. That tinge of jealousy came over me again. I couldn’t watch anymore and had to look away.

  After I made sure that lunch was set and the guests were taken care of, I took the time between this break and the arrival of new guests during dinner to go into town and do some errands. Really I just needed to get away from seeing Dylan flirt with these women.

  Heading for the market, I went over my list in my mind. I needed to pick up some items for my own home. I always spent so much time on the needs of the ranch that I forgot about my own home half the time. I pushed my cart around the market, dropping thing into my basket.

  “Helen Larson! How are you darling?” I heard a sweet voice say.

  I turned around to see Imogene Bradford pushing her cart toward me. She was the co-owner of the dance hall, Mickey’s. I had a lot of respect for her because she was a businesswoman in a small town, just like me.

  “Hello Imogene. Good to see you as always. How are you?” I gave her a big smile.

  She gave me a quick hug and a smile. “Oh you know, busy as ever. How are you, honey?”

  “Things are good. The ranch is all booked up for the weekend. Just taking some time to do some last-minute errands. I hear Mickey’s is doing really well these days,” I said.

  “Oh yeah. We had the swell idea to install a mechanical bull, and I tell you those boys line up to show off to each other like you wouldn’t believe. And at $10 a ride, it has already paid for itself. Plus, it gives the patrons something to watch. It’s quite fun. You should come out for a night. I don’t see you around there much anymore,” she said.

  “I just got so busy,” I said, not wanting to admit that it made me sad to go there because Steve and I used to go together every Wednesday or Thursday night. It was our thing and our date night rewarding ourselves for always working the weekends. Now I couldn’t step foot in the place without thinking about that. But I didn’t want to bring it up now.

  “I bet you are busy. I saw the new ranch hand you have out there. What a cutie, what a cutie,” she said, bobbing her eyebrows up and down.

  I felt my face turn pink. How did she know about Dylan? What else did she know? Did she know that we had kissed? It was out in the pasture, anyone driving by from the main road could have seen that. Did the whole town know? I had to cover my embarrassment.

  “He used to work at the ranch many summers ago. He just wanted to get away from his own ranch in East Texas with his family for a bit, so I’m just helping out an old friend,” I said, giving her the same excuse that Dylan had given me.

  “If you say so, darling. You wouldn’t hear no trouble from me if you did indulge in something like that. Lord knows I would,” she laughed, with a little cackle. I was feeling frustrated and embarrassed. I respected this woman and didn’t want her to think that I had a boy toy living on my ranch. So I quickly had to excuse myself before she was able to get the truth out of me about that passionate kiss that was driving me insane.

  “I’ll keep that in mind. Now, I’ve got to get going since I have guests checking in fairly soon,” I said, walking away from her and heading to the registers. I did have more shopping to do, but I just needed to get out of there. I didn’t need her spreading the word. She worked at a dance hall after all and probably drank quite a bit and would let her mouth fly when she was drunk. I didn’t need the whole town thinking what she thought, that I had a boy toy living on the ranch. Having a rumor like that around town would be bad for business. This was why his kiss was even more wrong than ever, it put my business in jeopardy. I couldn’t have that.

  I left the market angrier than when I had left the ranch. So much for getting Dylan off my mind. He continued to invade my thoughts no matter what. I would have to have a talk with him. He would need to be leaving the ranch after this weekend, cutting his stay short. That’s all there was to it.

  13

  Dylan

  It had been an interesting weekend. I had spent it doing my work as a guide on the ranch. But I had also spent it politely fending off the advances of the three New York women, and politely trying to receive advances from Helen. It was a very ironic position to be in. Helen wouldn’t even make eye contact with me. I had really screwed up by kissing her. If I had known that doing that meant she wouldn’t talk to me the entire time that I was here, I would take it back. No matter how good of a kiss it was. No matter how many sparks it set off inside of me.

  By mid-afternoon, all of the guests had checked out. I had a mind full of things that I wanted to say to Helen, and I couldn’t keep them in any longer. I walked around the ranch looking for her, and finally found her in the bungalows, changing the sheets and mopping the floors.

  Knock knock. I knocked on the wall and walked in the open doorway. She turned and looked at me.

  “What is it? Does Marshall need me?”

  “Marshall has gone, so has everyone else. The work is all done,” I said. She stiffened a bit at this last statemen
t. “I need to talk to you.”

  “All right. What do you need?”

  “I need to know why you’ve been ignoring me all weekend. Is this all about that kiss? I’ve already apologized about it. We’re friends, and you’ve been acting like we’re not. How long are you going to stay mad at me?”

  “Not very long. I think that you should cut your trip out here short. I would prefer it if you left tomorrow back to East Texas. Or anywhere else you want to go, it’s none of my business. But you can’t stay here. It was a mistake to let you stay here in the first place.”

  “What?” I said, stepping to her. She had her back to me, and I put my hands on her arms and got in front of her as best as I could. “Look at me. Actually make eye contact with me. You have been avoiding even that,” I said, looking directly into her piercing gray eyes.

  “That is for the best and you know it. Do you know what they’re saying about me in town?”

  “What? What do you mean?”

  “No, you wouldn’t. Because you’re only thinking about yourself and your needs, like a typical man. I don’t need this. I don’t need that kind of gossip about me. It’s going to ruin my business. You are going to ruin my business,” she said. I didn’t know what she was talking about and was so confused.

  “What do you mean, Helen? I’m not here to ruin your business. I am trying to help. I will do everything I can to make this business profitable and good. I care about you and I want to help you,”