Page 22 of River Ride

I ran to open the door and watched a guy in a cowboy hat get out of the first truck. Davey and Jackson jumped out of his truck too.

Virge and I should’ve gone straight home with the groceries like Dad told us too. Now we were all going to get to the ranch at the same time and the groceries wouldn’t be put away.

The big red truck and trailer combo was Annie’s, but she wasn’t driving, Mick was. Lucy and Tammy climbed out of the back seat. The only one I didn’t know was the guy in the cowboy hat.

Virge ran up behind me and said, “We haven’t even gone home to put the groceries away yet, bro. Let’s say hi and get going.”

“Yeah, we have to move ass, bro.”

The girls came running in first and Travis reached out his arms and hugged Tammy. She backed away from him and stared at him like he was a stranger.

I felt so fuckin bad for Dad when she did that, I wanted to give her a shake and make her see how lucky she was to have Travis for a father.

The rest of the gang came running in and Dad got a different look on his face when he saw the guy wearing the cowboy hat. He stuck out his hand, and said, “Rowdy, how’s it going?”

“Not bad, Travis.”

“You haven’t met my boys, Rowdy. Harlan and Virgil, my sons.”

“Happy to meet you boys.” Rowdy Butler had that famous grin on his face that he wore in all the ads for the cowboy gear. “Hope we have a few weeks of rodeo fun ahead of us.”

“I’m sure we will.” Annie smiled at Rowdy, and I felt the tension tighten up in the squad room.

“You boys go to the ranch and get the food put away,” said Travis. “I’ll be along in a few.”

“Copy that, Dad,” said Virge.

We got moving. Should’ve had it done by now.

Wild Stallion Ranch. Montana.

Virge drove our loaded Jeep to the ranch and never stopped talking once about Rowdy Butler, World Champion Rodeo Rider, coming to stay at our ranch with us.

“I don’t think Dad was expecting Rowdy to be with Annie, Virge. I saw the look on his face when he first laid eyes on the rodeo king.”

“Huh. Wonder why Rowdy is with Annie.”

“Because he’s the coach for Jacks and Davey and for Lucy’s barrel racing. He goes with his kids to the rodeos they compete in.”

“Yeah, I guess that makes sense.”

Virge drove fast and we had a lot of the groceries put away by the time everybody got to the ranch. We had extra time anyway while the horses were being unloaded and put into the corral.

Shoving packages of hamburger meat into the fridge, Virge asked me, “Did Tammy say hi to you? She never spoke to me, and she don’t look like herself. I don’t think she’s one bit fixed, Harlan. Dad is going to freak right out if she does anything weird.”

“She has to be fixed, Virge. They wouldn’t have let her out of the hospital unless she was good to go.”

Virge grabbed another bag of stuff for the fridge. “I’m saying, she don’t look it.”

“Hope you’re wrong. Dad will shit himself blind if she ain’t done being crazy and shooting people. She’s released into his custody for chrissakes and he’s responsible for her from here on out.”

Virge shrugged. “Just say’n I’m worried, is all. She don’t seem right to me.”

“We’ll watch her for the rest of the day.”

“Damn right we will. I’m not letting her turn Dad upside down again.”

When everyone arrived at our ranch and settled in a bit, Annie and Lucy checked the fridge and the pantry and talked about what they were going to make for dinner while Travis, Rowdy, Mick and Billy sat on the porch and knocked back a few cans of Miller.

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