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“Of course. If you’re not here by the time I get back, I’ll let Casey and Parker know that’s where you’ll be.”
He turned to leave.
“Shawn,” she said, stopping him in his tracks. He looked toward her. “Thank you.”
“What for?”
“I don’t know if it was you, your parents, or your brother. Thank you for giving me this job.”
“No one else was ever going to get it, Poppy. It was always, and will always be, yours.”
“Until you marry, or one of you settles down.”
He moved toward her and kissed her head again. Being the best friend that he was, he always got away with this. “Let’s not think about that.”
The only woman they intended to settle down with was Poppy.
Grabbing his horse, he took back off out into the fields. He found Casey and Parker with their dads. They were looking at a fence.
“I’m telling you it’s been cut,” Elijah said. “We changed that damn fence last winter, and it was fucking sturdy as fuck. Nothing and no one could get through.”
Shawn climbed off his horse, and moved toward the fence. This was the barrier between their land and the road. It wasn’t a busy road. They’d probably see one person every hour, if that.
He saw where Bruce held the fence.
Pushing up against the post, Shawn didn’t like that their fence had been cut.
“We need to fix it,” Casey said when Shawn showed that Elijah was right. The fence had been cut.
“Were there any missing from the herd? Any sign of anything bad?” Shawn asked.
“Some cigarette butts near the tree there. I don’t like it,” Elijah said. “I spot any asshole on my land, I’ll shoot them a new one.”
Shawn smirked. Out of his two fathers, Elijah was the one to shoot then ask questions later.
“Calm down,” Bruce said. “Nothing’s gone wrong. It’s probably a bunch of dumb teenagers getting their kicks for the night. Don’t worry about it.”
“There’s no beer cans,” Elijah said. “Horny teenagers go with beer. It’s a foregone conclusion. I think this is something else, but we’ll play it your way.”
Shawn looked out onto the road. He looked left then right as they all fixed the fence with the tools they kept strapped to their belts. Shawn wouldn’t leave the house without some kind of repair kit.
Something didn’t sit well with him, and he didn’t like it. When his parents had first settled down into town life, there had been a lot of graffiti and defacing of their property. Perv, whore, slut, disgusting, had often been spray painted on their cars when they’d been shopping. He’d cleaned it off his locker as well.
He hoped this was just a silly trick from a bunch of teenagers, and not something more sinister.
****
Parker found Poppy exactly where Shawn said she’d be, sitting at the side of the lake, overlooking the water. He’d long lost count of the number of times he’d found her here. This was the one place she always came to that seemed to offer her the comfort she sought.
“Are you okay?” he asked, taking a seat beside her.
“Yeah, I’m fine. Is it time for me to go home?”
“Not yet. Enjoy the setting sun. Most of the ranch hands have gone home. There’s no rush.”
“I love it here so much. I remember when Shawn brought me here, and we’d spend most of our summers here. My mom was nervous that you’d all have a bad influence on me. Then she changed her mind, and she was more than happy for me to stay here.”
“This is your home, Poppy.”
She nudged him, and a smile curved her lips.
“You’re not going to tell me it’s all going to get better.”
“Nope. You know what everyone is telling you, and I don’t want to repeat the same stuff.” He picked up a small stone and threw it out into the water, watching the surface ripple. “Did you enjoy your new job?”
She laughed. “It’s not exactly a job job. I loved it. It was a lot of fun. Louise stopped by, and we had some tea, talked.”
Parker nodded, and turned his gaze toward Poppy. She didn’t look at him.
“Do you know who’s dropping me off?”
“Casey. He’s taking a shower now.”
She got to her feet, and he watched as she brushed away the grass and dirt from her jeans.
This was the first day of many to come. He knew at times it was going to feel like it was impossible to breathe, and then at others, it would be easier.
Parker would be there every single step of the way.
“You’re all grown up,” he said.
She laughed. “You’re like three years older than me and Shawn. Not that much older.”
“Nah, the old fart stuff we’ll leave to Casey.”
They took their time walking back to the main house.
“I couldn’t clean those grate things on the barbeque. I tried, but I couldn’t lift them.”
