Cleo pursed her lips, tilting her head for me to follow her into the garage. In the corner, there was an old, white refrigerator that was damn near as old as I was. It only housed drinks, mainly Dad and Bishop’s beer and a shitload of sweet tea, but as my sister pulled on the door, I could’ve wept and cried.
Because there, amongst the sea of yellow beer cans, was the silver and blue energy drink I loved so much.
“Oh god, I could kiss you!” I said, surging forward and gripping it tightly between my palms.
She laughed, closing the door. “I know I shouldn’t be enabling your bad habits?—”
I reached out and placed my pointer finger against her lips. “Shh, we don’t have to tell a soul. Our secret.” I popped open thecan, groaning as the first hint of sour bubbles landed on my tongue. “Oh, how I’ve missed you.”
“Are you talking to me or the can?” my sister asked.
“Look, I’m glad you’re back…”
“But I pale compared to your precious energy drink,” she said, holding her hands up. “I get it.”
I looked over the rim, giving her a smile. “It really is good to see you, Cleo. I’m glad you’re back.”
She stuck her hands in her pocket, chewing on her bottom lip. “Yeah, me too.”
Cleo had been in Montana for the past few years with her husband. He’d gone up to work on a dude ranch with his brother. What was supposed to last for one summer had turned into three years, but they were finally back.
“Cleo? Lenny? Josie?” Dad’s voice echoed in the small space as he wandered in from the small door off the side of the garage. “Damn girls, I swear?—”
“Don’t even think about finishing that sentence, old man,” I said, wagging my finger in his direction. “It’s been one hell of a morning, and Cleo is the only reason I haven’t run for the hills yet.”
He walked over and pulled me into a tight hug. “Empty promises,” he whispered in my ear. “You wouldn’t leave me to fend off the wolves by myself.”
I pulled back, sweeping my gaze over the man before me. His face was haggard, showing more lines and dark circles that I didn’t want to acknowledge.
I already felt guilty about being late this morning. I should’ve stayed at the ranch last night, so I was here first thing in the morning. It was bad enough that Mom wasn’t here to witness his last first day at the clinic he’d dedicated his life to. She’d gone up to Tennessee to help our aunt recover from a bad car accident, and likely wouldn’t be back until the beginning of July.
Today was all about him, and I decided right here and now not to let anything else cast a dark cloud over the day.
“Come on, you two. There’s someone I want you to meet,” my dad said, wrapping his arm around my shoulder and tugging me out of the garage with Cleo on my heels.
It was only nine in the morning, but the Texas sun beat down on us without mercy. Thankfully, we’d had a wet spring, so the grass still had some color before the summer eventually sucked the life from everything.
There was truly nothing like home. The land had been in my family for generations, and we’d made it ours in every way we could. Mom and Dad had offered us each a slice of land to build on when the time came to settle down, and two months ago, I’d taken them up on the offer.
It was a twenty-acre plot hidden away from the main house by a large grove of oak trees. A small pond was hidden beneath their canopies, just shy of the clearing where construction had begun two weeks ago. I was there the day the concrete slab had been poured, wiping tears away because it’d felt unreal.
For so long, I never thought I’d be secure enough to plant roots. I was always on the go, wandering through a series of broken hearts and dead-end jobs that did nothing but add to the minefield of my life.
“You know, Lenny is the last single daughter, Dad. You should be shoving her in the direction of hot cowboys,” I teased.
My dad scrunched up his face. “As if I’d let any of you loose on these boys. You’d all eat them alive, and I’d have no help left. Besides,” he said, kissing the top of my head. “No one’s good enough for any of you.”
“And you don’t have a ring on your finger yet, Josie,” Cleo called.
I turned over my shoulder, sticking my tongue out in her directionand earning a middle finger from my dear sister before Dad caught her.
“You remember how I got word that one of my buddies from my rodeo days passed during the spring?” Dad asked, and I nodded.
It’d been a somber day in the Hayes household. Dad had just gotten back from the doctor, a visit that told him the lifestyle changes he’d implemented last year weren’t working as well as they’d hoped, when the phone rang informing him of the news.
Dad hadn’t said a word. Just walked out the door, saddled up his horse, and spent the day riding around the ranch. When he’d gotten home, his eyes were red-rimmed, but Mom and I’d pretended not to notice.
We did a lot of pretending these days.
