I gave him a wave and led the way past the now-empty cattle lots. The beefers were back on pasture after a godawful yippee-ki-yay drive on horseback at the beginning of the week. My ass was just now starting to feel like a normal butthole again. My brothers had found my discomfort amusing to the extreme, but I rode it out like a fucking trooper.
The first week of September had brought a slight respite in the crushing heat so the ride was comfortable. Dahn seemed less uptight this evening, even asking me a few timid questions about the birds we spotted here and there. We rode up on a gentle hill and stopped, the horses lowering their heads to graze, as the two of us looked down on land that had once belonged to ourfamily but now was the property of Hillman Banks Agriscience. Perhaps one day we might be able to buy it back from the big ag company. Knowing what the books looked like, that day would be in the far, far distant future, if ever. A creeping sadness settled over me. Farmers having to sell off parcels of land to survive was all too common in this country.
“Are you and the sheriff boyfriends?” Dahn asked out of the blue.
The question tugged me from my mulling over the future of the American farmer slash rancher.
“We’re dating. Nothing official has been said, but I think I’d very much like to be his boyfriend.” Dahn wrinkled his nose. His horse shifted slightly under him as the song of a male cardinal wafted by us. “I’m not sure why you dislike him so much that you make that face. You barely know him.”
“He’s a cop,” he mumbled, his reins resting gently in his dirty fingers. The boy was always grimy, even more so now that we lived here. Granny liked to tell me, when I would bemoan about the boy’s griminess, that he was a child and children were meant to be dirty. Also, and this was not scientifically backed by any research, she claimed that Oklahoma dirt was good for the system of a growing boy. I highly doubted that but Baker seemed robust enough. Still, I preferred things tidy. Guess that was down to years of medical training.
“And that instantly makes him a bad person?” I asked and got a shrug. “Who is telling you Ollie is a bad person because he’s a sheriff?”
“Nobody.” He stared out at the corn waving below us.
Uh-huh. Nobody my ass. I had a pretty good idea of who was filling my son’s head with such crap.
“Okay, well, nobody doesn’t know what they’re talking about. Ollie is a good man, kind and considerate, and with a fierce drive to keep the people of this county safe.” This little chat had justcemented it for me to accept Ollie’s offer to bunk with him when my mom and aunt were here. “I think you just need to get to know him better. So, that being said, Ollie graciously invited us to stay with him for the week your grandma and Aunt Joey are here.” Dahn’s attention flew to me, his eyes round. “I told him that I thought I would run it past you, but you’ve not spoken to me in a decent tone for days, and now that I hear the things falling out of you, I’m going to accept his invitation.”
“Dad! He’s a cop!”
“He is, and I’m a dentist turned rancher, and you’re a school student. I like Ollie, and I love you, and I would love to see you two get along. The only way for you to grow to like him as much as I do is to spend time with him.” He started to argue. I closed that down with a sharp look. “This discussion is over. We’ll head to Ollie’s house tomorrow after we clean our room at the house for Grandma and Aunt Joey. Ford can take you to the rec center for your final showmanship class and the round-up for the 4-H kids takes place. When I get back from the airport in Tulsa with the ladies, we’ll have dinner at the ranch, get them settled, and head to Ollie’s. No arguments. Unless you can cite me a reason to not like Ollie other than something racist or because of his job?” His lips pressed so tightly together they looked like a papercut. “I didn’t think so.”
“I hate it here!” he snapped. “And I hate you and Dad and stupid Ollie!”
He turned his horse and galloped off at breakneck speed. Or tried. Seemed old Pumpernickel was not one to gallop anywhere, so within a moment I was beside Dahn once more. The silence on the ride back to the ranch was deafening. I let him sit in his emotions. He was entitled to be pissy over being made to do something he didn’t want. Much like I was entitled to be angry at the garbage being fed to my too-trusting son by little brats.
Linc and Bella were at the goat barn feeding the caprines some animal crackers when we rode up. Dahn nearly threw himself off his horse and made for the house, running into Baker and Hanley exiting.
Baker threw a look at the still saddled horse and glanced down at my son. I couldn’t hear what was said, but Dahn spun on his heel, returned to the paddock, and led his horse into the barn. I sat atop Persimmon for a long moment before dismounting and taking my horse inside as well. Dahn was lugging his saddle to the rack, the weight of the western saddle making him strain, but I had to give him credit. He did not ask for help.
I left him to his work, and I took care of my steed, the others coming into the barn to witness the stilted silence. After I curried and watered my horse, I took a moment, in the privacy of a stall, to text Ollie.
Hey, is the offer to bunk with you next week still open for Dahn and myself? ~D
Of course. ~O
Then we graciously accept. ~D
Excellent. I’ll stock up on candy and scary movies that you won’t approve of him watching. ~O
That made me snicker.
The dentist in me just died a little inside. ~D
I’m kidding. No candy, and no scary movies. Well, maybe one candy bar and one scary movie. ?? ~O
I sent him a middle finger emoji and got another winky face in reply.
Yes, this man was a keeper. I just needed to get my son to see in Ollie what I saw. I stepped out of the stall, smiling. My son saw me. He threw me a withering look, barged past Bella, his cheeks wet with frustration, and left us standing in the barn watching his skinny back stalk into the house. The screen door slammed. Granny yelled. And that was that from the house.
“Nice ride?” Linc asked and got an elbow in the ribs from Bella. “I meant that sarcastically.”
“It’s fine.” I removed my hat and rubbed my hair. “It was okay on the way out, then he asked about Ollie, and things went downhill from there.” I glanced at the empathetic faces before settling my sight on Baker. “He’s been hanging out with this group of boys at the rec center. At first, I was happy he’d made friends so quickly, but now I’m concerned about the sort of things they’re telling him. You know how peer pressure is…”
They all nodded. Not one single adult on this planet didn’t recall how much sway your friends held over you when you were a child. We’d all been there.
“Who are the boys you think he’s getting this shit from?” Baker asked, his arm dangling around Hanley’s shoulders. The horses shuffled in their stalls, the buzz of a few flies filling the air as the sun sank slowly in the sky.
