Chapter Text
After accidentally sleeping in late, I threw on some jeans and a t-shirt and headed downstairs to the kitchen for a cup of coffee only to be met with Dad and Tate lining up donuts on the kitchen island.
“You can do that?” Tate asks Dad
“Yeah. Grandson, you can... you can do whatever you want.” Dad glances over the donuts and hands Tate one before leaning on the counter to watch the boy eat.
“Morning Daddy, Tate,” I say from the doorway
“Hey sweetheart,” Dad says before taking a drink from his coffee.
“Grandpa let me have the biggest donut,” Tate says from the island.
“Grandpa usually lets me have the biggest donut but I’ll let it slide this time” I joke as I walk over to the boy and tear off a small piece of a donut from the plate in front of him.
“What are your plans for today?” Dad asks as he hands me a cup of coffee.
I take a sip of the plain black coffee “Nothing really. You need me to do something?”
“No. I’m giving Kayce a ride back to Broken Rock later if you want to come”
“Sure,” I answer before I eat the small piece of donut still in my hand. I take one last drink from my cup before setting it in the sink and washing the leftover donut residue off of my hands. “I think I’m gonna ride out and meet up with Kayce. It’d be nice to see that stallion tame for once” I kiss my father on the cheek and tussle Tate’s hair on my way out the door.
/
After an hour of riding Sundance, I came upon Kayce and the seemingly tamed stallion. I whistled at my brother to get his attention before riding closer to him. As I stopped Sundance next to my brother, I noticed he was now sporting a split lip and a fresh bruise on the left side of his face. “What the hell happened to you?” I ask as I reach out to turn the left side of his face closer to me.
Kayce swats my hand away “A bear spooked my horse and I fell off”
“A bear spooked your horse? Did you land on your eye and split your lip on the way down?” I sarcastically question.
“Something like that. I was headed back to the ranch if you’d like to join me” He says, changing the subject.
“I’d like that,” I say as I turn Sundance back in the direction of the ranch.
After a few quiet minutes into our ride, Kayce decides to break the silence “Dad told me he was pricing stallions yesterday morning, so I’m assuming that means Travis was here yesterday. Are y’all still…”
I interrupt Kayce “Why has everyone been asking me this”
“It’s cause we care,” Kayce says “or we’re all just a little nosey about the whole thing”
“I saw him and we talked. We’re just gonna be friends from now on.” I explained.
“Really?” Kayce says in a surprised tone “You’ve had a thing for Travis since you were 16.”
“It was just time to move on,” I state as I fiddle with Sundance’s wayward mane.
Kayce looks over at me “Man, you’ve really grown up”
“Of course, I’ve grown. You just weren’t there to see it. I think I was fourteen the last time we went on a ride together.” I say bluntly.
“It hasn’t been that long” Kayce mumbles.
“Yes, it has,” I argued “The last time we went on a ride together, you told me you got some girl that you barely knew pregnant. Two days later you moved out and joined the Navy.”
After a few seconds of silence, Kayce spoke “I’m sorry. I should’ve talked to you before I left. But you were just a kid. Hell, I was still a kid. There was nothing you could’ve done”
“I know that I just…” I let out a deep breath as I thought of a way to sum up what I wanted to say “I don’t want to wait another ten years to go on a ride together”
“I agree” Kayce replies “Did you know Tate says you’re his favorite aunt?” He says in an attempt to lighten the mood.
I laugh “Of course I am. I don’t even think him and Beth…”
Ring Ring
Kayce’s phone ringing pauses our conversation “Hello? This is him.” Kayce’s smile dropped into a worried look “Wha... where is she? N-No, I'll be... I'll be right there.”
“What’s wrong?” I ask.
Before I could get an answer, Kayce kicked his horse and booked it toward the lodge with me following close behind.
\
Less than twenty minutes later I was sitting in the backseat of my father’s truck, watching Kayce look anywhere but at our Dad. The silence and tension inside the truck were almost too much for me to handle.
“Wanna talk about the bruise?” Dad asks Kayce
“Fell off the horse,” Kayce replies as he keeps his eyes focused straight ahead.
“Yeah. That a fact?” Dad laughs “Son, there's... “
“I don't wanna hear it.” Kayce interrupts.
Dad lets out a frustrated sigh “I'm not trying…”
“I don't wanna hear it.” Kayce interrupts louder.
“Well, God damn it, maybe you need to hear it, son, because every day, it's something new with you,” Dad says.
“It could've happened at any school, anywhere,” I say in somewhat of a defense for my brother.
Dad glares at me through the rearview mirror then directs his anger back to Kayce “But it didn't, did it? It happened at hers.”
“I don't wanna talk about it,” Kayce says. As we got closer to the school Kayce seemed to become more antsy “Anywhere's fine. Just let me out here.”
Dad keeps driving closer to the school “Well, there's a spot…”
“Stop the fսcking truck!” Kayce yells and jumps out of the truck as soon as it stops.
I climb over the center console and buckle myself in the front seat “Well that was a fun ride” I sarcastically say.
“You’d think after all these years your brother would have come to his senses by now,” Dad grunts as he puts the truck in drive.
I look over at my father’s frustrated face “Dad, don't push it with Kayce. You know how stubborn he is”
“He’s just like your mother” He scoffs. His phone rings from the center console and he quickly picks it up. “Hello. She said what?”
/
As we drive closer to the lodge I see my older brother and sister standing by the porch.
“Can I have one day without a crisis, God? Please, just one fսcking day.” Dad mumbles as he stops the truck in front of my siblings and rolls down his window “How bad?”
“You tell me,” Jamie says.
Dad rolls his window up and makes a call on his phone. Jamie reaches over and knocks on the window. Dad pauses his phone call and rolls his window back down. “Can I just have one fսcking minute to myself here? Please?” Dad asks before rolling the window back up.
I silently get out of the truck and make my way over to my siblings. “Is this something that I need to be here for?” I ask.
“Oh you’re gonna want to hear this,” Beth says.
“The governor called him on our way home. I didn’t catch the whole conversation but whatever she said pissed Dad off.” I warn my siblings as we wait for our father to exit his truck.
A minute later Dad steps out of the truck and closes the door behind him. “What?” He asks. Jamie starts to speak but Dad puts his hand up to stop him “No, not yet. You and I are gonna have a conversation.” He says to Beth. He turns to Jamie “What?”
“Talk to me about cancer,” Jamie says. I feel my heart rate rise at the mention of that word.
Dad glares at me then looks back over to Jamie “Okay. What would you like to know?”
“For a start, how long have you had it?” Beth grits.
“Well, I don't have cancer. I had a tumor in my colon. It was removed.” Dad chuckles “Nice, uh... Nice to see you two exhibit some real emotion.” Dad says before walking up the porch.
“This isn't funny. These aren't the kind of secrets that you can keep.” Beth says sternly.
“Yeah, well, it doesn't seem like much of a secret.” Dad turns his attention towards me “Clara, you and I will be having a conversation later.”
“Not about this.” I say firmly “I didn’t say a fucking word to them. I’ve kept my mouth shut about the whole thing like you asked. Did you forget about your loose-lipped doctor?”
“You knew about this and you didn’t say anything?” Jamie asks.
“Take that up with Dad” I answer before storming past Dad into the house and up into my room.