Dakota Storm

by Dawn McClure

  Without a word in greeting, David climbed right up into the sprayer. He turned the key to check the codes, knowing damn well his dad watched his every move. His dad had never been impressed with words. Fixing whatever was wrong with the sprayer would help David establish some sort of groundwork where it came to the two of them. He wanted to come back to work on the ranch. Had thought about it every day while he was gone. But his staying depended solely on the irate man currently yelling at an unfortunate tech at the implement in town. A man he loosely called dad.

  David accessed the codes via the 2630 touchscreen display. He saw a code for a circuit fault on a left wheel speed sensor. Easy fix. It would take him no more than half an hour to fix. After turning the key off, he wanted to cross himself like a Catholic as he climbed down to face his dad.

  “Can you fix it?”

  No welcome home, no hug, no emotion. But this was better than he'd expected, so he ignored the tight feeling that had settled inside his chest at his dad’s curt words. “It'll take me less than a half an hour. Just need a cordless impact.”

  “Done.” His dad brought the cell back up to his ear. “Never mind. I got it covered.” He slipped his cell back in his pocket and looked David over. His dad wore his trademark straw hat, dark jeans, and a plaid shirt. Had about fifty extra pounds around the middle since the last time David saw him. He also looked twenty years older.

  “You back in town for good or on leave?”

  “Back for good.” He knew better than to ask his dad if he needed help on the ranch. Big Mike would respond with a big hell no. Instead, David would focus on the job at hand and hope another would come his way. If his mom was right, then Big Mike needed to slow down and not put so much on his shoulders. “I'll go grab the impact.”

  “Where you stayin'?”

  David stopped after only taking a step. This probably wasn't going to go over well. He had a thought to lie, but he didn't want to be, nor had he ever, been that type of man. Lord knew he'd made enough mistakes throughout his life. He didn't need to add liar to the list of adjectives that followed his name. “Caroline's.”

  His dad shook his head and spit on the ground at the mention of her name. He jerked his head in the direction of the barn door. “You can stay in the guesthouse. No sense in jumping back into the bed you left.”

  David ground his molars together, determined not to say anything he’d regret. He'd never slept with Caroline, but he wasn't going to argue the point. “Yes, sir.”

  “You see your mom yet?”

  “No. I stopped here at the barn first.”

  “Go on and see your mother before you start here.” Without so much as a clap on the back, his dad turned and left him standing alone in the barn.

  No reason to let the warm welcome hurt so much. Every scenario he'd envisioned of their reunion had gone drastically worse. He should be thankful his dad had even spoken to him. Right. Because I hadn't hoped...

  David stared down at the ground, which quickly began to blur. Not once after the age of six or seven had he allowed his dad to see him tear up or cry. That would have been suicidal in the Buchanan house. But he couldn’t quite stop the images of him following his dad around the ranch when he’d been a kid. He’d idolized his dad. Put a lump in his throat that he couldn’t seem to swallow down.

  How could someone stand right next to you and yet you miss them?

  His dad fired up his four-wheeler just outside of the barn and peeled away. David took in a big breath of diesel fumes. Just let it go…

  “Hey, thought that was your rental parked out front.”

  At the sound of Matt’s voice David blinked rapidly and pretended to look at the shield he'd have to remove to reach the wire that was broken on the sprayer. “Hey. Not five minutes back and the old man put me to work.”

  He heard Matt walk up behind him. They'd talked at the bar when he'd returned after dropping Caroline off at her apartment. Smoothed things over a bit. They sure as hell weren't the best buddies they'd been since childhood, but at least Matt wasn't swinging anymore.

  “Loose wire?”

  David nodded, still trying to get his shit together. When he finally managed to blink away the tears that had gathered in his eyes at his dad's dismissal, he stood and faced his old friend. Matt hadn't changed at all. Still tall and lean, the bill of his ball cap pulled low, and full of it. He bore a striking resemblance to Misty in the eyes, but otherwise if a person didn't know any better, they’d never have thought they were twins. Brother and sister, yeah, but Matt had always looked older than Misty.

  Just like last night, he wanted to ask Matt a thousand questions, all having to do with Misty, but that just wasn't a road he could go down yet, so he settled with, “What are you up to today?”

  Matt hooked his thumbs in his jean's pockets. “Big Mike texted me about half an hour ago. Asked me to come over and look at the sprayer.”

  Now that wasn't something he'd ever thought he'd hear. “My dad texted?”

  Matt nodded. “He still won't mess with codes and doesn't have time to learn, but he's learned to work that cell phone pretty damn good. Anytime I was home from college he'd call me over for this and that. He either texts me when I'm around or he calls my dad. He's even called Misty a time or two. He's damn near run off just about every hired hand in the area.”

  David nodded. Now that didn’t surprise him in the least. “Thanks for that.”

  “I did it for Big Mike. I didn’t do it for you.”

  Nice reminder for where they stood.

  Matt adjusted his ball cap and glanced over his shoulder, probably looking for the fastest way out of there. “Well, since you’ve got it covered, guess I'll head out.”

  “Hey,” David said, stopping Matt before he could leave. When Matt faced him again, he braced himself for what had to be said. “Listen, you know damn well I never meant to hurt her. I'd never intentionally hurt Misty.” The words were what he'd meant to say to Matt the other night, but they'd been getting along so well that he'd never brought up the subject.

  Matt met his gaze with narrowed eyes. “Intentional or not, you really did a number on her. It'll take more than an apology to fix what you did. To be honest, I don't think she even wants that from you. Best just to leave her be.”

  Was that a threat or a suggestion? Hard to tell coming from her twin brother. “I'm going to apologize to her. Just have to find the right time.”

  “She's moved on, so it doesn't make much difference. She'll likely be heading out to Rapid this fall. Brandon won't be far behind. Her roots might be in Garner, but she wants to dig them up and transplant them to the Black Hills. Can't say I blame her.” Matt looked at the sprayer and his gaze traveled over the barn. “You said you were staying in town. Do you plan on working the ranch with your dad?”

  “That's the plan.”

  Matt nodded. “Well, I'll catch up with you later. Misty's still out fixing fence, so I'd best get back to helping her or she'll have my ass. You know how she is.”

  David opened his mouth, almost telling Matt to tell Misty that he said hi, but promptly shut it, thinking better of it. “See you around.”

  He gave himself a few minutes to get his shit together, and then started heading toward his parents’ house, remembering his dad wanted him to go see his mother before he started work on the sprayer.

  David needed to re-adjust his expectations on returning home. Had to battle the old saying that you could never come home again, because he had every intention of staying and fixing what he'd messed up.

  Misty took another bite of her turkey sandwich. She was thoroughly enjoying her break as she sat on the hot hood of her truck while Matt tightened the barbed wire on the fence and she browsed Facebook. Thanks to the Co-op not having enough fence posts they'd had to call Big Mike for a few spares. She figured while she waited for Big Mike to drop them off, she'd eat the sandwich she'd packed for lunch and check out what everyone else was up to.

  “You get the text from J
eff? Says he's throwing Abby, Tucker and us a bonfire on Saturday for graduating,” Matt called out.

  “Yeah, I saw it.” Not that she was going.

  A few years ago she’d gone to all the barn parties and bonfires in Garner. Even threw a few back at the lake on a hot summer’s night. Most of that changed when she started dating Brandon. For one, he wasn’t much into the drinking scene, and two, he didn’t really mesh with her friends. Besides, she’d enjoyed staying in the dorms with him to watch movies and study while everyone else went out and made asses of themselves.

  “You going?”

  She hadn't even given the text a second thought. She took another bite of her sandwich, then looked up at him. Around a mouthful of turkey she said, “No,” as though she were saying duh.

  Matt stopped and looked over his shoulder at her. “Oh, come on. I need a DD.”

  What the hell was wrong with him? “When don’t you need a DD? Don't you ever think of doing something else with your time? Like maybe finding a good woman?”

  Matt shook his head, the corner of his lip lifted in a smirk. “Where's the fun in that? Jennifer will probably be there.”

  “I said a good woman.”

  Jennifer. Ha! Jennifer Pierson reminded Misty of a barnacle. A barnacle that had planted itself squarely on her brother's ass. If he told Jennifer to jump, she didn't even ask how high, she just started jumping like a bucking bull fresh out of the chute. All energy and no finesse. “Ask Abby. Maybe she'll drive.”

  To this day her best friend still had a crush on Matt, although she’d probably deny it. Abby didn’t bring it up anymore, but just as Misty had gushed over David growing up, Abby had done the same about Matt. And though Matt couldn’t see it, Misty saw the way Abby looked at him when she thought no one was looking.

  Matt made a grunting sound and didn’t answer her.

  A trail of dust appeared down the dirt road, drawing her gaze to a dark blue F350 Ford. “Big Mike's here.”

  She polished off her sandwich and hopped off the hood, then she swiped her hands together to get rid of crumbs. A few more hours of this bullshit and she had a hot date with her shower. Brandon was picking her up at five and they were going to head over to the country club and play a round of golf. She wasn't very good at it, but he said golf cleared his mind. She held on to the hope that slapping a little white ball around would clear her mind as well.

  When the Ford stopped she waved and made her way to the tailgate. The sunlight glinted so harshly off the windshield it nearly blinded her. Without looking at the driver she let the tailgate down and grabbed as many fence posts as she could carry. She started walking toward her brother, arms full. “Thanks. We really appre…”

  Blood rushed to her head, and she tripped over her own two feet as though she’d run into a stump put in her path. David, having just stepped out of the cab of the truck, lunged toward her, but he’d been too far away to keep her from going down. Before he even got to her, she was already picking up posts while he repeatedly asked if she were okay. She snapped a quick, “I’m fine.”

  He wouldn’t stop trying to help her. She wanted to swat him away, but her hands were full. For the love of God. “Excuse me,” she bit out, feeling like ten shades of stupid.

  She managed to get her feet to work properly again and carried the posts to where Matt was working. She breezed past David as though he was an escaped convict. This town was just too damn small, and when it came to the two ranches, impossibly small. Rapid City was looking better and better. Last night she'd even started a countdown until she'd move as though she'd already been offered the job. She figured she pretty much had the job in the bag. Brandon let it slip earlier this morning that his dad knew the superintendent of the school where she had applied. If Mr. Reynold's had any pull at all, she was a shoo-in.

  “Y’all need any help?”

  “Hell yeah,” Matt answered.

  “No.” She tossed the posts so close to Matt's boot that one bounced off the heel. She should have dropped the posts on his head. He knew she didn't want to be around David. She shot her brother a look that clearly had shut-your-ugly-mouth written all over it.

  But that was the thing about brothers—they rarely did what you asked them to do.

  “Sure would go faster with some help,” Matt added, glaring back at her.

  “Thanks for the offer, but I think we can manage,” she said over her shoulder. She didn't even look at David. Instead, she grabbed the pliers that were lying next to the fence and started walking away from both of them. If her brother overruled her on this she'd use the pliers in her hand for something else, and she'd bet the ranch Matt knew it.

  “Thanks anyway,” she heard her brother say from behind her.

  His words sounded like an apology. Her hand tightened around the pliers.

  “Well, I have to work on my truck anyway. I doubt my old man likes me driving his around.” David paused, and Misty could’ve sworn she felt him look at her. She knew it was just her imagination, but a weight seemed to have settled against her back. A handful of seconds passed and then David said, “See you later.”

  Not long after, the sound of Big Mike’s Ford revved up, and the rocks beneath the tires crunched as David drove away. Out of the corner of her eye she could see Matt staring at her. She ignored him and went to work. He let it go for a full five minutes before he made his way toward her.

  He tossed a few fence posts down by her feet and hooked his thumbs into the front pockets of his jeans. “You know, I've been thinking about it.”

  She rolled her eyes and went back to work. “Oh Lord, here we go.”

  “Now hear me out. You know I'm not Brandon's biggest fan. I mean, he's okay, but I don't really think the two of you get along well together.”

  She stopped tightening wire and looked up at him. “What is that supposed to mean?” Brandon was a great boyfriend. “I think he’s going to propose soon, so you’d better become a fan. He’ll likely be your brother-in-law one day.”

  She and Brandon had never talked about marriage or him proposing to her, but if a woman was paying attention to the signs, she could feel when a man had made his decision.

  And she'd made hers a long time ago.

  Matt hunkered down next to her, setting a forearm against one of his knees. “David wants to apologize. I think you should at least listen to what he has to say. There's a lot of years between the two of you that you can't ignore. I think he's home for good and wants to make amends.”

  Memories of her and David flooded through her mind. His laughter. His smile. The sense of loss when he left without a word. The dark, acidic feeling of betrayal. She looked away so her brother wouldn’t see the tears welling up. “Well, he can save it. There's no need. He wasn't the only one in the bed of that truck.” A choice she'd come to regret every day since.

  “You've changed since you've been with Brandon.”

  She stood so fast her thigh muscles burned in protest. She glared down at her brother. “Yeah, I changed. For the better. I'm not looking for a good time, I'm looking to the future. I make my decisions with a lifetime in mind and not what's happening at the next weekend party. Unlike some people I know,” she snapped, referring to Matt.

  Matt got to his feet as well. “You used to love fishing. When was the last time you took an afternoon off and went? What about riding? You were the best high school barrel racer in the state at one point, and now you won't even get on a cutting horse to round up cattle. Not to mention that country-wide sized stick up your ass. At least with David you could be yourself.”

  Her palm tightened around the pliers again. At this rate she was going to get a blister from the friction. “Brandon loves me for who I am.”

  Matt snorted. “He don't even know you. Whenever he's around, you're timid and unapproachable. He knows nothing about ranch life, and that's your whole life.”

  “Was my whole life,” she corrected. “Why are you suddenly on David's side? Don't you remember what he was
like our senior year of high school? How he stopped talking to us?”

  Matt shook his head. “He fell into the wrong crowd for a few months. Are you really going to throw away years of friendship because of what he did senior year?”

  “Funny. You seem to forget the details. Falling down drunk at parties and crashing at Caroline's place every weekend.” She gripped the pliers with all the strength she had and wished it were Caroline's neck. “It's not like they were playing cards over at her dad's house at three in the morning. I'm not stupid. And I am myself around Brandon.”

  “Misty, you're afraid to breathe wrong when you're with him. You think he'll leave you if you aren’t exactly what he wants, just like you think David did.”

  She sucked in a breath, shocked her brother would throw that in her face. He knew right where to plunge the knife. And boy, was his aim right on target.

  “No,” she said calmly. “I don't believe he’ll leave me. I may be different, but I'm a better person. See, that's what love does. It makes you become the person you're supposed to be. But you wouldn't know anything about that. You just hook up with Jennifer when the mood strikes you. If you kept a woman around for longer than an hour, you'd have to change, and that’s not something you’re willing to do.”

  “You got it all wrong. When the person is right for you, they’ll love you for who you are, not what you pretend to be.” Matt tossed his gloves on the ground and picked up a fence post. “You're forgetting one simple fact: we're twins. I know you better than anyone. I know when you're lying to other people, and I know when you're lying to yourself. Right now, you're doing both pretty damn well.”

  Chapter 3

  The bonfire at the Harrington's farm was sketchy by nine Saturday night and a full-out drunken frat party by ten. Misty hadn't wanted to go, but her brother said she should at least make an appearance, and although they hadn't exactly been getting along the past few days, she figured he was right. Of course, the bonfire was more of a glorified kegger, but she wasn't staying long.