My dad used to say that rain or shine, there’s always a brighter side. Well, my life always seems to be raining without a brighter side, so I stopped looking a long time ago. I’m better off alone, and that’s how it should stay.
Chapter Two
Tyler
“Daddy, can I go play?” Dash asks, tugging on my shirt sleeve, pointing over to where Amelia’s son was running around with a few other kids laughing.
“I’ll take him,” Lexy, my sister, offers with a smile. “Come on, troublemaker, let’s go play.”
I chuckle as Dash takes off running on his little legs. He’s a damn good kid and the only thing I need in this world. I couldn’t be more grateful to my sister for all the help she lends. If not for her, I’d be at my wits’ end. She’s been helping me with Dash since he was two months old, after I caved to admitting I needed the help.
Admitting defeat is something I’m not used to. I don’t like to and don’t when I can avoid it. But after the shit Dash’s mother pulled, I didn’t want to trust anyone with my son. It took me a month to even talk about it without rage in my voice. I wanted to kill the woman with my bare hands. Instead, I had to settle for the judicial system doing its job.
“You see the hot blonde over by Mammon?” Beau asks, plopping his ass down in the chair next to me. “Chick is hot.”
“She’s Mammon’s little sister,” Garrett says, leaning back in his own chair, arms bent, hands clasped behind his head. His cowboy hat balances on his knee.
“No shit?” Beau chuckles.
“Yep.”
I glance in the direction of the woman in question, seeing her standing close but not too close to Mammon. I gotta admit she’s beautiful. Blonde curls that cascade down her back, the casual dress she’s wearing forms to her body, giving just the right fit to her curves. From here, I could see she has both tits and ass. Full package for a man who was looking to get laid.
I needed to, but not with her. The last thing I needed was to get my rocks off with one of the club members’ siblings.
This didn’t mean I couldn’t enjoy the view of her.
“Lily told me she’s one of the new teachers the school board hired,” Garrett says, his voice pulling me back into the conversation between him and Beau. Lily is Garrett’s sister, who works in the elementary school office. The two of them were what I’d call busy-body churchgoers, they only go for the chance to gossip. In a small town like ours, gossip is always swirling around like wildfire.
“What’s Lily got to say about it all?”Beau asks, brow cocked.
“Nothing much yet, she’ll be blathering on once school starts up. With it being summer break, all she’s talking about is hearing the whispers that one of the girls at her church has been caught in what she calls a sinful position.” Garrett rolls his eyes. “Sunday dinners at Mom’s house, you know it’s always something as the two of them talk about gossip.”
I feel for the man and what he puts up with, but he loves his parents. It’s the only reason he goes to those dinners.
Thankfully for me, Lexy and I don’t have the same issue. She and I are tight. Tight enough that she now lives at my place, and we don’t need to fight or argue with each other. Our parents passed away three years ago, leaving us both an inheritance. It’s not an overly large amount, definitely not enough to have helped Maddox with the ranch, but it would’ve been enough for Lexy to live on her own while going to school to finish her degree. However, that’s not the way we were raised. Mom and Dad raised us to always look out for one another.
One of our dad’s greatest lessons taught us both the meaning of hard work and blessings. You work for what you have or need. Wants always come second. You don’t need to have the world to be happy, and that’s the way we both live.
Eventually, I want to find a piece of land with a house or build one close enough to the ranch that I could have a home of my own away from the ranch, but because of my job, it’s easier to live on the property. Being the ranch manager, I have to be able to get here in minutes if need be. Besides, I wouldn’t move away from here unless I had to. The farmhouse works perfectly for us. It might be on the smaller side, but it wasn’t too small for us.
Besides, we have enough space in the two-story home Maddox and William have let Dash and me stay in since Megan nearly took my son from me. At the time, we’d been living off the ranch, and I was driving in every day.
There was even a small barn off to the side that I use for storage. Mostly, it’s where I keep Dash’s bike, my dirt bike, and ATV.
“Hey, Tyler,” Lexy calls, holding my son. “I’m going to take him home, he’s getting tired.”
“I’ll take him.” I start to get up, only to have my sister wave me off.
“You stay and enjoy yourself. I’ve got him.”
“You sure?” I ask, not wanting her to feel obligated to take Dash for me.
I love my son and will do anything for him. He might be a handful, but that’s all boys. Especially ones his age.
“Yeah, I’ve got him.” She nods. “I’ve got to take care of some work on my computer for school.”
“Alright.”
