by Zoe Matthews
“I just came to stop by for a minute.”
Colleen’s heart grew with hope. She had always had a crush on Garrett, and for a few weeks when they were sixteen, she thought he had started to have feelings for her too. Unexpectedly, after their first kiss, he had started avoiding her and started flirting with any other girl he could lay eyes on. It had hurt her deeply for a while. After some time, she realized how he was trying to distract himself from the frustration of not living up to the potential she knew he had in his head. She didn’t know if he had ever cared for her as more than a friend, but she always hoped he would someday realize how good they were for each other.
“Do you want to stay until lunch?” she offered. “We could go eat at the restaurant I work at in the evenings.”
“I can’t.”
Colleen’s heart dropped again at Garrett’s words. Then again, maybe nothing had changed.
“I’m going up to the ranch to help them catch up on some maintenance.”
“Oh, I bet they will appreciate that. They are pretty busy with calving season,” was all she could think of to say, although she was glad he was planning on going to their ranch for awhile.
She was so tired of him wasting his life away just because he couldn’t have a job that required a machine that he called a computer. She didn’t understand why he couldn’t use his smarts to be a banker or something that required thinking in that way. He didn’t have to throw his life away just because it wasn’t his dream job.
Garrett nodded and looked away, as if he could read her thoughts and didn’t want to acknowledge them.
“When will you be back?” Colleen couldn’t stop herself from asking after a long pause.
“In about a week, maybe more.” Garrett looked at her, and opened his mouth as if he wanted to say something, but seemed to change his mind. He rubbed the back of his neck, something he did when he was uncomfortable. “I should be on my way. Don’t work too hard.”
She watched him turn to leave and couldn’t stop herself. She walked over to him and threw her arms around his neck. He was tense and stiff for a moment, but she felt him relax as he slid his arms around her waist. “Don’t let them keep you there forever,” she joked. She actually thought it would be good for him if he did spend more than a week at the ranch.
Garrett chuckled and pulled away. “I’ll always come back,” he said before he turned and strode out the door.
Colleen sighed. Sometimes, she just wanted to smack him on the side of his head to knock some sense into him. She knew him better than that. The only way he would change was if he could figure out what he needed to on his own. Giving Garrett advice only made him feel like a failure to everyone around him. She had learned from their childhood to be his support system without showing judgment and was usually rewarded with long talks about life and dreams.
At least he hadn’t been to the bar today. He drank too often, and it turned him into someone else. She hated it. She turned back to the shelf and tried distracting herself from the whirlwind of emotions Garrett always brought with him.
****
Garrett took a long swig from his canteen and squinted through the sun that was already too hot. He was about halfway to the ranch and had yet to stop thinking about Colleen. With her thick, long black hair and deep chocolate brown eyes that seemed to always see right through him, she was easily the most beautiful girl in town. He knew there would never be another girl that captured his attention the way she could.
Other people didn’t see it that way, and that was one of the things that got under his skin most easily. He had heard two men talking about the “Indian girl” Justin let run his shop and how he must have been paying her a very small amount. Otherwise, why would he let someone like that into his home and his shop? Garrett grit his teeth at the memory. He had thrown a few punches that day.
Not everyone felt that way about her. Some were nice to her, but there were enough people who looked down on her because of her Indian heritage to make him feel protective towards her.
If we lived in my time, people wouldn’t treat her that way; the thought crossed his mind frequently in one form or another. If he could go back to the future, he would be able to learn more about computers and get a job that he actually enjoyed doing. He could travel more. His life would be basically perfect. Everything would smell better. He could shower more regularly, and there wouldn’t be animals everywhere to stink up the fresh air. He could take Colleen away from people who constantly looked down on her, and she could experience what it was like to be treated as an equal.
He tightened his grip on the reins of the horse his father had lent him and did his best to push those thoughts out of his head. It wouldn’t do him any good to think about the what-ifs. There was no going back to the time he belonged in - the time he would thrive in. He was stuck here doing meaningless tasks for the rest of his life.
He sighed with relief when he saw the ranch house growing larger in the distance. It was a hot day, and he hadn’t had anything to drink since he left Denver. Not any of the good stuff, that is. Without the dull fuzziness alcohol provided, he tended to think too much, which just made him angry. Now that he was at his family's ranch, he would at least be distracted by people around him instead of being left alone with his thoughts.
A boy who looked to be eight or nine ran out. Garrett barely recognized him, and guilt hit him again as he realized how little he saw his family. The boy clearly didn’t recognize him either, because he stopped running toward him and turned around to run back into the house. “Ma, someone’s here!” he said as he ran inside and slammed the door.
Garrett chuckled. It wasn’t often people came out this far to their ranch and even less often when the children didn’t recognize who was visiting.
Nicky came out of the house with an apron on, and dough stuck to her fingers. “No, I don’t think we were expecting anyone,” she was saying to her son, who Garrett now remembered as Jonathon. “Garrett! You decided to come!”
She ran out to him even though he was still some distance from the house. When he was close to his aunt, Garrett jumped off his horse to hug her tightly. He’d always had a close relationship with Aunt Nicky and relished having the opportunity to hug her again.
“I’m not sure I’m ever going to get used to how big you have gotten,” she said as she looked up at him, squinting in the sunlight, then laughed. “I got dough all over you.”
Garrett shrugged and brushed it off. “There. It’s gone now,” he said with a smile.
“I’m glad you came.” She smiled back and then turned to Jonathon. “You remember your cousin, Garrett, don’t you?”
“Well, I recognize him now that he is closer,” Jonathon said defensively.
Garrett ruffled his hair. “Speaking of getting big, I almost didn’t recognize you either. How old are you now?”
“Thirteen,” he responded proudly. “Pa said I’m big enough now to help train the pups.”
“Wow, that’s a big job.” Garrett smiled genuinely for the first time in a while. He remembered helping Kimberly with the ranch dogs when he was younger as well. There was something about the atmosphere on the ranch that helped to calm all his anxious nerves.
“Well, come inside! Jonathon, will you go tell Pa and Patrick that Garrett is here?” Nicky turned and led the way back to the house. “Shaun will be so glad you came. There is quite a lot that needs to be done around here, and every time they plan on tackling a job, something big happens. The rain this spring only made things worse.”
Nicky chatted happily while she finished kneading the dough and started shaping them into rolls, not giving Garrett much time to respond. Her five-year-old daughter, Josephine, was happily playing in the corner of the room and came over to sit on his lap once he sat at the table. He was surprised she felt she could sit on his lap, seeing as how he had hardly been around since her birth. It took him a moment to think of how to react, but he figured he could wrap one of his arms around her back,
and she snuggled against him and continued playing as if she sat on his lap every day. His heart warmed a little at the sweet girl, and the muscles in his shoulders relaxed a little.
Shaun and Patrick came in together a few minutes later. Garrett stood to give each of them a hug and a pat on the back. He sat back on the chair, where Josephine was waiting patiently to climb back onto his lap.
“Garrett, it’s been awhile. How are things in town?” Patrick asked conversationally.
“About the same as ever. Not much changes around here.” Garrett tried to keep his tone light but could feel the happy atmosphere in the room dampen at his words.
“Dinner is just about ready, and I am making a roast for this evening,” Nicky said, trying to lighten the mood.
“It smells delicious,” Garrett said, trying to redeem himself.
“Yes, it does,” Shaun agreed while he walked to his wife to give her a kiss on the cheek. “As usual.”
The rest of the family piled into the house, washed up, and everyone ate dinner together. It was different for Garrett to be in such a loud group, but he found himself enjoying his family and realizing he wasn’t wishing for a drink like he normally did around this time of day. He smiled to himself and tried to focus on the conversation around him. Maybe being on the farm would be a better idea than he had originally thought.
Chapter 3
Later that night, Garrett left his room in the main cabin to find his way to the outhouse. On his way, he heard hushed voices coming from the sitting room, and slowed down instinctively. He didn’t mean to eavesdrop, but the first few sentences of the conversation caught his attention.
“He has a right to know,” a female voice said angrily. It sounded like Nicky.
“You know Justin has asked us to wait until he has a chance to tell Garrett himself,” Shaun said more calmly.
“Everyone knows Garrett has wanted to go back to the future ever since he was young. It’s not fair to keep him here when he is clearly miserable.”
“Yes, and Justin said he would tell him. He just doesn’t want Garrett to rush into using the portal without time to think things through.”
Shock rolled through him, and it was all Garrett could do not to storm into the room yelling. There is a portal? And everyone was keeping it a secret from him? He scoffed. Some family I have, he thought bitterly.
“But what if he stumbles across it by himself? Then he will be transported to the future with no plan, or any way to contact Keegan once he gets there.”
Garrett pursed his lips. So that’s where Keegan was. He knew there was more to the story he had been told.
“You know the portal only works at a certain time of the day. We can keep him busy away from the portal while it’s active, and he’ll never know. Justin said he would tell him soon. Please just respect Justin’s decision as his father,” Shaun pleaded with Nicky.
Garrett scoffed again, turned on his heel and stormed away. His whole family knew there was a way back to the future, the time he belonged in, and no one had told him. How long had it been since Keegan had left? About two years? All he wanted was a stiff drink, but he knew his family didn’t keep alcohol in their home.
Fury raged through him, and he left the house without watching where he was going. His vision started to clear when he reached the river nearby his uncle’s ranch. With his chest heaving, he thought about what he should do. He could leave tonight, head back to Denver, and demand his father tell him about the portal. A small amount of satisfaction filled him at the thought of waking his father in the middle of the night, but then he thought of Bridget. She was pregnant, and she was already so tired all the time. As mad as he was at his father, he couldn’t take his anger out on her. She was keeping the portal a secret as well, but Garrett knew that she would follow Justin’s wishes even if she didn’t agree.
He instantly decided he wouldn’t go back home and demand answers from his father. However, he could demand answers from Shaun or Patrick. He thought about that idea for a while and realized he couldn’t bring himself to trust any of them, even Nicky and Kimberly. They had all kept this secret, a secret that could change his entire life for the better. They didn’t have his interests in mind; they had his father's. Even if he did storm back into the house and demand Patrick or Shaun tell him about the portal, how would he know they were telling him the truth and not leaving anything out?
He finally decided that his best course of action would be to find the portal himself. He was going to be all over this land for the next two weeks. He would look for signs that there was a portal nearby. He didn’t know a lot about portals, but he was certain he could figure it out. He nodded his head to himself. He would find the portal and figure out when it was active. As soon as he could, he would leave this time where his so-called family lived. He would travel to the time where he belonged.
****
During breakfast the next day, Garrett didn’t say a word. He only grunted if someone tried talking to him, and eventually everyone left him alone. He saw Nicky and Kimberly give him worried glances, but he didn’t let that bother him. They could have told him the truth from the beginning, but they didn’t. They already made their choice. He swallowed the eggs and sausage quickly, only wishing he had something stronger to help wash it down. He needed something to dull the pain of his family's betrayal.
“Garrett, as soon as you’re done, we can head out to the barn that needs fixing,” Patrick said as he stood.
Garrett said his first words of the day, “I’m ready.” He couldn’t forget the manners Bridget had taught him and carried his dishes to the sink before he followed Patrick outside. He listened to Patrick as he described what needed to be fixed and where the needed materials and tools were kept.
He was surprised when Patrick suddenly stopped talking. “Is everything alright, Garrett?”
The concern in his voice almost sounded sincere. “I’m fine. I’ll let you know when I’m done here,” he responded tightly.
Patrick stared at him with a slight scowl, but he finally nodded. “Let me know if you need anything.”
Garrett nodded and turned to get started. “Even if what you need has nothing to do with the barn,” Patrick added.
Garrett watched Patrick as he walked away. How could he act as though he cared for Garrett when he was knowingly keeping such a big secret from him? Garrett shook his head to clear it, then got to work. He would take a break in an hour or so to look for the portal. Soon he could leave this place behind.
****
Garrett wiped the sweat from his brow and climbed down the ladder he was using to fix the roof of the barn. He picked up his canteen to take a few swigs of water. He swished some of the water in his mouth before swallowing; then poured the rest of the water that was in the canteen on his head.
He wanted something stronger to drink badly; it was even affecting the quality of his work. His hands would shake so bad it was hard to hold a nail still while hammering it. Just one drink would help settle his nerves. He gritted his teeth and started his walk toward the well; water would have to work for now. On his way over, he kept his eye out for any sign of the portal. He didn’t have any idea of what he was looking for, but he did figure that his family wouldn’t leave a portal unmarked in some way. They would want to know where it was so they could make sure they didn’t use it accidentally, or use it again if they needed to.
On the edge of the field cleared for the family’s living space, he could see a formation of rocks. He remembered that an old barn used to be built in that spot before a fire burned it down. It was where the last time travel key had disappeared.
He decided to make a detour out there on his way back to check it out. As he walked toward it, he started to get excited. There was a perfectly formed circle of rocks. He was sure the circle was intentionally formed by his family. He could see there was nothing living inside the circle, even though the grass and weeds around the circle were thriving. He knew there was a reason nothing was gr
owing inside the circle. His heart started pounding with excitement. Could it be that easy? Was this the portal?
He reached his hand out to touch the air above the circle slowly, waiting to feel anything to indicate it was actually the portal, but he felt nothing. Disappointment flooded him, but just to be sure it really wasn’t the portal, he stepped into the circle. Again, nothing happened, and his heart sank. Maybe it wasn’t the portal like he had thought. Maybe some of his nieces and nephews had built it when they were playing around the ranch. He stepped out of the circle and started thinking about what he had heard last night. Hadn’t Nicky said the portal only worked at a certain part of the day? This could be the portal; he would just need to find out what time it was active: then he would finally be able to go home. He would keep an eye out for anything else that might be the portal though, in case he was wrong about this spot.