Clay
Monday mornings were especially busy on the ranch, with guests still settling in. Stella did her best to problem-solve lodging issues, calling on Clay every other minute, it seemed, to haul extra towels, pillows, and trash cans.
It wasn’t really the work Clay liked to do, as he preferred to be in the barn helping Brody with the guests as they met their horses for the week. But after breakfast Leland had asked Clay to help Stella in particular, in addition to her regular staff, and all of this took Clay further from the barn and the office, where Austin was likely to be.
As for Bea, he spotted her in the arena, trying to help Brody like she worked there, and at one point, as he passed with armfuls of towels, he saw Leland going over to her. Next thing he knew, Bea was on a horse, her little straw cowboy hat perched on the back of her head, taking lessons and enjoying herself like everybody else.
“We’ll find her interesting work to do,” Leland had said in confidence to Clay earlier. “Willing to help with that? We’ll all help of course, but I figured you’d be most interested.”
“Yes,” said Clay. “I am.”
“We’ll have a meeting about it later,” said Leland, and then he tipped his hat at Clay, finger to the brim, and walked off, his long legs making big strides as he headed to the barn.
It was like Leland to make it seem as if absorbing a young child into the life of the ranch was as easy as breathing. Normally, they had a twelve-year-old limit put on young guests, and Bea was only nine. A courageous and energetic nine, but still.
The cell phone in his back pocket rang just before lunchtime, as Clay was about to head to the barn, completely done with domestic chores and ready to shovel horse shit and groom horses and all the grubby work. He wanted to throw himself into that and get all sweaty, and then he wanted to find Austin and plant a manly kiss right on him. Except the ring tone was Maddy’s, so he stopped in the shade of the roofline of Cottage #1 and answered it.
“Hey there,” said Maddy, in a rush, like she usually was on Mondays. “Got a FedEx envelope here addressed to Austin. I figure he’s going to want this sooner than later, and I can’t get him on his phone. Can you—”
“Sure, I’ll get it and deliver it.” Clay nodded like she could see him, excitement building. Only one person needed to send something overnight to Austin, so the envelope had come from Mona and contained the custody papers. Signing them and returning them would take a load off Austin’s mind, and that was worth Clay delaying his return to his regular ranch hand duties. “I’ll be right there.”
Tucking the phone in his back pocket, he trotted up the road from the cabins to the main road, and then to the office. He clomped up the wooden steps into the shade of the porch of Maddy’s office and went inside. Maddy was already standing up, holding out the mostly white envelope, a smile on her face.
“Looks like we’re not going to lose him,” she said. “Leland told me a little bit.”
“Thanks, Maddy,” he said. “I’ll find him.”
As fast as he could, he headed to the barn, where Austin was likely to be, passing beneath blissful shade before stepping out into full sunshine again. Only once he’d passed the main lodge, he saw Austin and Bea headed to their cabin, with Austin walking close to Bea, his arm around her shoulders.
“Hey!” Clay hurried to catch up with them. Once in the glade on the dirt path leading to the cabins, he saw Bea’s face was red, and that she’d been crying. “What’s up? What’s wrong?”
“She just overdid it this morning,” said Austin. “Trying to keep up with Brody and getting in the way. Luckily Leland was there, and luckily the horse whose legs she was going between wasn’t bothered. We figure it’ll be a good idea to have her go to Sue Mitchell’s day camp most days, most mornings, at least. And then we’ll figure out the rest of it. Right, honeybee?”
Bea nodded and sniffed, wiping her nose on her sleeve.
“Can I help?” asked Clay as he held out the envelope. “Look what I brought you.”
“You just did.” Austin smiled. “Looks like I need to wire that money to Mona.”
Austin took the envelope as Bea held up her hand for Clay to take, and together they walked to the cabin. Once inside, Austin rinsed a washcloth with cold water and carefully wiped Bea’s face with it. Clay raced to get her a glass of cold water, which seemed to help her hitching breaths almost right away.
“Listen, Bea,” said Clay as Austin sat down to tear open the envelope and sign the custody paperwork as fast as he could. “Why don’t you and me and your dad go out together tonight? We’ll find a view and your dad can paint and after that we can get kraut burgers.”
“Dad never lets me use his paints. And Mom doesn’t like me painting because it’s messy,” said Bea as she scrubbed her eyes. Then, as if distracted by a new idea, she asked, “What’s a kraut burger?”
“Well,” said Clay. He propped himself on the arm of the easy chair, close to Bea’s chair at the kitchen table without overwhelming her. “I think your dad would be okay with it and, if you like it, we’ll get you your own paints.”
On the heels of that, he thought of adding,and your mom’s not here, but that would pile too many new ideas onto Bea. She might not need reminding, just then, that she wasn’t going to live with her mom anymore. Anyway, she didn’t need to worry about what Mona thought. Just like he was going to make sure Austin knew he didn’t need to worry about what Mona thought.
“Shall we sit here and braid your hair for a minute?” asked Austin. “Then we can go to lunch. And Clay, if you could get Maddy to FedEx this for me, overnight, and put the receipt on my desk. The ranch doesn’t need to pay for my personal business.”
“Sure,” said Clay. He picked up the form with Austin’s tidy signature on several pages of a stack of documents. “But will you wait lunch for me?”
“Yes,” said Bea. She stood up and leaned against Clay, turning her face into his shirt, and he was almost undone by this trusting gesture.
“She’s a little worked up, still,” said Austin. “Maybe we should skip lunch, or bring it back here.”
“No, I don’t think so.” Clay touched the top of Bea’s head, so small beneath the cradle of his palm. “Don’t hide her away just because she’s had a bad morning. Right? Don’t hide her away. Don’t hide yourself away either.”
