by Parker, Ali
“What the hell? Why am I getting the ranch? Where did that come from?” Wyatt said.
“Because usually the oldest son gets the land,” Abi said, crossing her arms. “Dylan and I both get the short end of the stick, me especially because I’m a girl.”
“That is the old tradition, sure, but Father has never told me anything about me getting the ranch. Truth be told I’m not sure I’d want it. It comes with a lot of responsibility. I’m here working my ass off every day as it is. I love the ranch but sometimes I want to get out there and do other things. The point is, Father hasn’t told anyone who this ranch is going to, and why would it only have to be one of us? He could split it up, there's a lot of acreage here. There’s enough to build another house, maybe even two. Look at Tanner, he’s just down the road, maybe Father will give the ranch to him. Nobody knows and Dylan shouldn’t even be worried about it.”
“I know that. But he is and it’s making him about half crazy,” I said.
Everyone was quiet. Then we heard Father’s truck coming down the driveway. We all jumped up from our seats and hurried out onto the front porch. Father sat in his truck for a moment with the engine shut off. We all looked at each other knowing this was serious.
“No Dylan,” I said.
“Shit,” Wyatt said.
“What does that mean?” Abi asked.
Finally, Father opened the door and climbed out of his truck. He walked slowly toward us and up onto the porch.
“The Sheriff is making your brother spend a night in jail for his offense. Then it will be cleared.”
“What? That’s not fair. Matthew is the one that started it. He’s the one that should be in jail,” I said.
“It doesn't matter. It’s done,” he said, walking to the front door. He looked defeated.
“Connor, Wyatt, I want you both to go pick him up in the morning. Give him a talking-to, I talked to him on the way into town, but I don’t think it helped. He needs his brothers.”
“Yes Father,” Wyatt and I said, in unison.
“And one of you better call Tanner before he hears it from someone else.”
He looked at us and then walked inside. The three of us exchanged looks, not knowing what to say. This wasn’t the first time the Dawson brothers had gotten into trouble, but for some reason this seemed more serious. It was becoming a problem.
“Come on, we got to get busy and feed the animals. Abi, make sure Father eats a little something if you can,” Wyatt said, taking control of the situation.
“Yeah, I will,” she said and headed inside.
Wyatt tapped me on the shoulder and walked off the porch headed to the animal pens. There wasn’t much work that had to be done on Sundays, except making sure the animals ate. I had planned on going to see Lydia. Shit—Lydia.
“I’ll be right there, Wyatt,” I said.
Taking out my phone, I sent her a text.
Hey darling, I won’t be able to make it out to your place today, lots of work here. I’ll call you soon.
I sent the message knowing I was needed here in this time of crisis. Wyatt and I needed to talk and we would need to get Dylan in the morning. I needed to stay in Safety today, tonight, and tomorrow.
30
Lydia Myers
I received a text message from Connor early Sunday morning, letting me know that he wouldn’t be coming to my home after all. I responded with understanding, but I did want to know more. Did this have anything to do with what had happened at the fair the night before, with Dylan? I had a feeling the family was probably dealing with it, but I wasn’t going to pry, so I waited.
Wanting to keep busy, I made myself a large breakfast of potatoes, eggs, and toast with berry preserves. I took a long shower and then looked over some of my work emails briefly. I was trying not to work on Sundays if I could help it, but it was a good distraction from thinking about Connor. He was pretty much all I thought about these days.
Later in the morning, Connor called me. My face lit up with a smile and I got butterflies in my stomach the moment I saw his name appear on my phone.
“Hey,” I said to him, answering the phone.
“Hey you. How is my beautiful lady today?”
“Oh, you know, just having a lazy Sunday. I was thinking of maybe having a late lunch with Whitney if she’s up for it. What’s going on?”
“I was just calling to let you know what happened and why I can’t come out to your place today. I don’t want you to think I’m flaking out on you, because I’m not. It’s this thing with Dylan.”
“I wondered. Is everything alright?”
“No. The Sheriff showed up this morning. The guy he got into the fight with pressed charges on him. For assault. So Dylan has to stay the night in jail, and Father wants me and Wyatt to pick him up in the morning. So I got to stay out here in Safety.”
“Jail? That is very serious,” I said, as my heart fell to my stomach. This wasn’t just boys being boys, and being rambunctious. This involved the law, and it caused me to wonder just how many times the Dawson brothers had been in jail. Had Connor been in jail? There was definitely a violent streak to them and that worried me.
“Yes, it is serious. It sounds like he’s just in overnight, but still, I’ve got to be here to deal with it. I just wanted to let you know, and didn’t want you to think it was because I didn’t want to see you, because I do. I always want to,” he said.
“I understand. Your family needs you right now, so that is right where you should be. I’ll be seeing you soon,” I said.
“All right, I’ve got to go talk to my brother. I’ll see you on Tuesday, right?”
“Yes, that is when the furniture will be delivered and I’ll be there to put it in place. So, I’ll see you then for sure,” I said.
“I’m looking forward to it. You go have yourself a great time at your girl’s lunch with Whitney. I’ll talk to you soon, bye.” He hung up the phone.
Hanging up, I didn’t quite know how I felt about this. It was definitely news that I needed to process. But I didn’t want to be inside my head too much. I picked up the phone and sent a message to Whitney.
Lunch today?
I held the phone in my hand, walking back and forth waiting for her to respond. I needed my friend right now. A few minutes later she sent a message.
Sure. How about I pick you up in an hour? Out running errands now.
Perfect! I’ll be ready.
I put the phone down and poured myself another cup of coffee, then I went upstairs to get dressed. I took my time, even putting on some light makeup. I changed in and out of several dresses before picking one. I basically didn’t want to think about the situation with Connor so I distracted myself by taking time to put my long hair into a French braid and picking the right outfit.
An hour later, Whitney honked in my driveway. I grabbed my bag and went out to meet her.
“Hey, you look really pretty,” she said.
“I was bored. So where are we going?”
“What do you feel like?”
“Honestly, I feel like something simple, like diner food. Cheeseburger and milkshake, that sort of thing.”
“I know exactly where to go,” she said, as she put the car in reverse and backed out of my driveway.
A few minutes later, we were sitting in a booth at a diner. Through the big windows you could see the massive highway bridges crisscrossing each other. Large trucks were in the parking lot, the big eighteen-wheelers. Whitney and I sat across from each other with two large bacon cheeseburgers, sharing the massive order of fries in a basket between our plates, and two chocolate milkshakes.
“This is exactly what I was thinking,” I said, as I bit into the juicy burger.
“I love this place, a proper greasy diner,” she said. “So, how were things at the fair? I haven’t been since I was in Middle School. But I always had fun. I should go next year,” she said, stuffing fries into her mouth.
“It was so much fun. Honestly, I could go
every year as well. We got on all the rides, I won a prize from the carnival games. Oh, and I watched Connor run the horse and pony rides in the kiddie park. His family provided the horses, then he helped the kids ride them.”
“Oh, I know that look. You see a tough cowboy doing anything adorable like that and it just melts your heart.”
“Yes, it did. It was a really fun day, but it didn't end well,” I said.
“What? What did he do? I’ll have to hurt him if he did anything to you,” she said, putting her hamburger down on her plate, surprised and ready for action.
“No, he didn’t do anything to me. His younger brother, Dylan, got in trouble. He got into a fist fight with another guy his age. Connor had to pull him off of the guy and take him home. His brother was drunk, and it wasn’t a good scene.”
“Well, I told you about them. Those boys were like that. Always looking for a fight, and always in trouble. Yeah, it’s attractive at first, the bad boy, the bad cowboy and all, but it can get tiring, especially when you are older.”
She picked up her milkshake and put the straw in her mouth. I almost didn’t want to tell her the rest. I just looked at her and she put her glass down, knowing there was more just by looking at me.
“What Lydia? What else?”
“Connor called me today. We were supposed to hang out, he was supposed to come over but he can’t. Dylan got picked up for assault and he’s in jail, for the night I guess.”
“No!”
“Yep, Conner has to go get him out in the morning.”
“That’s awful, but I can’t say I’m surprised.”
“I know. You told me all this before.”
“Is this the life that you want, Lydia? I know you said you were just having fun with this cowboy, but it seems to have gotten a bit more serious than that. At first I was really happy for you, because you’re dating again and you need that after everything you went through. You needed to break out of your shell. But do you want a life that includes your boyfriend having to get his brothers from jail? Or even himself being in jail because he got mixed up in a fight that his brother started? It’s something to think about.” Apparently finished, she dipped a French fry in the ketchup and popped it into her mouth.
“Honestly, I don’t know the answer to that. I thought this was just the Dawson brothers being young and rambunctious, but Dylan isn’t that young anymore, and Connor definitely isn’t. I don’t disagree, it really is something to think about.”
“Well, if you’re thinking of calling it off, it’s better to do that sooner than later, before you’re completely in love with that cowboy and wind up with a broken heart.” She took a big bite of her burger.
What she didn’t know was that I was already in love.
I took a bite of my burger, just so that I could lower my eyes and cover my face with it. If she saw the look on my face right now she would know that I was completely in love with Connor Dawson. But she was right, did I really want to have jail visits be a part of my life? Being called in the middle of the night to get him out of jail wasn’t what I had pictured for myself.
31
Connor Dawson
“I’m just saying that since we were all like this at his age, what can we possibly tell him?” Tanner spoke firmly as he sat in the back seat of Wyatt’s truck as the three of us drove to the county courthouse, the location of the Sheriff’s Office, and the county jail.
“Same thing you told me when I started a fight at the dive bar,” I said. “It's time to grow up.”
“That’s true. Dylan will grow out of this,” Wyatt said, as he drove.
“I have no doubt about that. But what worries me is that he might end up hurting someone, and hurting himself by winding up in jail for longer than just a night. That could happen before he grows out of it,” I said.
“In that case, this talk may or may not help him. We can’t really know, can we?” Tanner asked. He had insisted on coming with us the moment he heard what was going on. I was more than glad to have both him and Wyatt there to help deal with the situation. We all had gotten into trouble like this, but we usually didn’t get caught. We had stayed out of the public eye, and we knew when to quit. That was the big difference.
We pulled into the courthouse lot and parked.
“Ready?” Wyatt asked.
“Nope,” I said, opening the door and getting out.
We walked into the Sheriff’s Office together. Wyatt stepped up to handle the paperwork. The sheriff came out to talk to us.
“What’s going to happen to my brother?” I asked.
“Well, since we can’t prove who started what, the charges are being dropped. Your brother is not going to press charges against Matthew, and Matthew can’t prove that Dylan threw the first punch. Both of them are dinged up, and both have busted knuckles, so we know they were both wanting to fight. I could have sent this on to the District Attorney, but instead, I chose to hold your brother here in the jail for twenty-four hours to get his attention, and drop the charges as I said. But you all need to hear this. Dylan Dawson just got his last break from me. I can’t continue to look the other way, I can’t excuse his behavior out of deference to your father. Somebody is going to get hurt if this doesn’t stop. Keep him in check.”
I held out my hand for the man to shake. “Thank you, Sheriff. We’ll be sure to set him straight.”
“Thank you, Sheriff,” my brothers both said.
A few minutes later Dylan was coming out from the back carrying a brown paper bag full of his personal belongings. He had a stupid grin on his face, but the moment he saw the angry looks on the faces of his brothers, the smile faded. No one said anything as we walked him to the truck and climbed in.
As we drove away, none of us said much, but you could feel the tension simmering between the four of us.
“Did the Sheriff tell you? I’m not going to get in trouble. The charges were dropped. Seems like that idiot Matthew came to his senses. You all have nothing to worry about, I got away clean and free,” he said.
“You call a night in jail getting away with it?” Tanner said.
“No, but it wasn’t so bad. The food was decent even,”
We all looked at each other and Wyatt turned down a different road. Dylan looked around, “This ain’t the way home. Where we going?”
“The Heights,” Wyatt said.
“Damn right. Let’s go swimming and I can wash this jail stench off of me. I like this, the Dawson Brothers all together for some fun again. It’s been too long,” Dylan said with a smile and slapped his hand on the dashboard with excitement. I don’t think he had any idea of what he was in for.
Wyatt pulled into the dirt road that led to the swimming quarry known as The Heights. He turned off his truck and we all got out. I grabbed Dylan by the shirt and pushed him against the truck.
“What the hell?” he said, turning around looking confused.
“Shut up, Dylan. We’re not here to swim and we damn sure didn’t all get together to take you out for a good time!” Wyatt said, getting right in his face.
“What the hell is this?” he asked.
“It’s time we taught you a lesson,” Tanner said. All three of us stood in front of him with our arms crossed. Dylan looked down at the ground. Now he knew what was going on.
“We’re sick of your shit, Dylan. It’s time to grow up. Look at you, having to have your brothers come pick you up from jail? Does that make you feel good, like a tough old cowboy?” Wyatt asked.
“No, it doesn’t,” he responded.
“Good. I want you to remember this moment. The next time you get mad, the next time you get drunk and want to fight. I want you to think about us all standing here damn disappointed in you. I want you to think about how Father looked asking if he could drive you in so you didn’t have to ride with the sheriff like a damn criminal,” I said to him.
“What are y’all doing to me? I’m haven’t done a damn thing the rest of y’all didn’t do yourselves. I�
�ve seen it with my own eyes,” Dylan said in disbelief.
“That may be true, but it doesn’t make it right. We grew out of it, and it is time for you to do the same,” I said.
“So you’re all ganging up on me for doing the same shit you did when you were my age. What a bunch of hypocrites, all of you,” he said.
“We might have done the same, but we didn’t get caught. You’re getting way too much attention from the sheriff. That night in jail was a break by the way. Do you know that? What if next time you get sent to jail for real, for months or even a year? Is that what you want?” Wyatt said.
“No. Of course it’s not what I want. Sometimes I just get so pissed off, and you know that fucking Matthew and I have history.” Dylan crossed his arms.
“Yes, we know that. We’ve all seen it. But next time you’re going to have to bite your tongue before somebody really gets hurt. And come on, this isn’t just about Matthew,” I said.
“Yeah, we all know. Connor told us,” Tanner said.
“What?” Dylan said, with restrained anger.
“This is about the ranch. You’re pissed off because you don’t know what to do with your life or something? Dylan, the ranch hasn’t been promised to me. Father hasn’t promised it to anyone, and that is the truth,” Wyatt said.
“Oh, come on, it’ll go to you because you’re the oldest. Where does that leave me? What the hell am I supposed to do with my life?” Dylan shouted. The truth was finally coming out.
“Father could split the ranch between us for all we know. What if he ends up giving you the back forty, or the pastures? Then this whole tirade of yours would be for nothing. Don’t you see that?” I said. “You’re pissed off over something that hasn’t even happened.”
“Yeah, and we’re all in the same boat, Dylan. None of us know what’s going to happen, but that’s not how this family works. We stick together, and we work that ranch hard. No matter what happens, it’s going to benefit the whole family, not just one of us,” Tanner said.