by Misty Malone
Ty came over on Tuesday, which was a night they usually spent studying, and asked how her paper in her difficult class was coming. She quietly said, “Fine,” and then started telling him about their latest shopping trip for the wedding. She then told him about another place she thought they should take his grandfather when he came to visit.
Ty patiently listened to the entire story, but was becoming concerned. “Cheyenne, I know you’re excited about all these events coming up, but you are keeping up with your studying, aren’t you? I don’t want you to put that on the back burner for a couple weeks, or you’ll get too far behind.”
“No, I’m fine,” she assured him.
“Let me see what you have so far for your paper that’s due Monday.”
“I’d rather let you read the whole thing when it’s done.”
He looked at her a few moments, studying her. “Cheyenne, you know I can tell when you’re not being honest with me. Think about that before you answer this question.” He paused a moment. “Have you started your paper yet?”
She immediately looked down, and Ty had his answer. He gently pulled her chin up to look at him and said, “Honey, why haven’t you started it yet?”
“Because that class is so hard, and there’s so much more fun stuff to do.”
Ty sighed. “Cheyenne, I should take you over my knee right now for not starting it yet, but it’s not due until Monday. It’s not late, so I won’t spank you. Not yet, anyway,” he added with a stern look. “But you know you need to put a good effort into this paper. You’re good at writing papers and generally get high grades for them. You know as well as I do that a good grade on a paper in this class could help you a great deal. And the subject of this paper is something you do understand. I know there’s a part of this finance class you’re having trouble with, but this paper doesn’t have anything to do with that. You’re capable of turning in a good essay on this subject.”
She sighed. “You’re right, Ty. I know an A on this paper would help me a lot in this class, and you’re right, I do understand this part of the class. It’s just that there’s so much going on right now, so many things I’d rather do than work on it.”
Ty looked at her with a very stern face. “Well, young lady, you need to have priorities. The wedding’s not for six months yet. Taking a week or two off from shopping right now won’t hurt a thing. In fact, it might help if you two give it a bit of a break. Then you can clear your heads and start back in fresh. Now, I told you I won’t spank you tonight, and I won’t. But I am putting a restriction on you.”
“What do you mean, a restriction?”
“No more shopping until this paper is done. I want you to go to your classes so you don’t get behind in any of them, keep up with your work in your other classes, and get this paper done. I’m going to go home early tonight so you can get started on it. I’ll come by tomorrow evening and see if you want some help organizing your thoughts into a paper, but tonight you have a lot of research to do to get started. But I’m serious, Cheyenne. You are not to do any more shopping with Lynelle until that paper is done, and done well.”
“But Ty—”
“No buts, Cheyenne, or you butt will be over my knee. You need to have that paper written by Saturday evening so we can go over it and make any changes that need made before it’s due on Monday. Today’s Tuesday and you haven’t even started your research yet.”
She sighed. “So I’m going to go home now and let you get started on that research.” He got up and kissed her. “I know you can do this, Cheyenne, but you’re going to have to do a good job on this paper. No more shopping until it’s done.” He kissed her and left.
After he left, Cheyenne sat there, thinking. She knew she needed to get the paper done, but she didn’t like him telling her she wasn’t allowed to go shopping. After her mother, she didn’t want anyone telling her what to do ever again. She and Lynelle had a shopping trip planned for Thursday, and she didn’t want to cancel it. It wouldn’t take long, but there was a sale starting Thursday, and they were going to go in the morning so she was back in time to go to her finance class in the afternoon. She decided she’d work hard on her paper the next couple days, and then it wouldn’t hurt to go on a short shopping trip Thursday.
Having decided that, she got busy doing the research she’d need for her paper.
Ty went back to his house, and for the first time, he was questioning whether he’d done the right thing.
Normally she would have her research done by now and be organizing it. On top of that, she was distracted. She was excited about shopping with Lynelle, and about playing hostess to his grandfather. Both those things were fine, but she was so excited about both of them that most of her time was going to them, and not her paper and other schoolwork.
Although she still had time before her paper was due, he was doubting his decision not to spank her. He knew how much a spanking helped her calm down and focus. It hadn’t been that long since her spanking for wanting to give up on that class, but he still felt she needed to focus. He sighed, still unsure if he’d done the right thing.
He called Clay and talked to him a few minutes. “I thought I’d let you know, Cheyenne has a paper due Monday and she hasn’t started on it yet. I told her she’s not to go shopping until her paper is done.”
Clay sighed. “I’m sorry, Ty. I know Lynelle’s been doing a ton of shopping for the wedding, and I knew Cheyenne was going with her for a lot of it, but I think she’s going overboard. I need to back her down a bit, or this is going to be a long six months.”
Ty laughed a bit, but had to agree. “Maybe. But I’m not saying I don’t want them shopping together. I know they’ve become closer friends, which I personally am really happy about, but I was hoping you could maybe talk to Lynelle and tell her Cheyenne’s busy this week. That way if she doesn’t ask her, Cheyenne won’t have to turn her down. She’s still struggling in this class and a good grade on this paper would really help her.”
“I understand,” Clay said. “If Lynelle doesn’t ask her to go, she won’t be tempted. Makes perfect sense. I’ll call Lynelle and talk to her right now.”
The next evening Ty was pleased. Cheyenne had an abundance of information to work with. “I’m impressed,” he told her. “That had to have taken a while.”
“It did,” she agreed. “I didn’t have an early class today, so I stayed up late working on it last night. Then I worked on it again between classes today. I’ve got some ideas on what I should put in the paper and in what order, but I’d love to get your input.”
They spent the night working on it, and they both felt good when he went home that evening.
Lynelle called Cheyenne shortly after Ty left. “So, how’s the paper coming along?”
“It’s coming along. Ty helped me tonight, and I think I have my notes pretty much arranged. We’re still on for tomorrow morning, aren’t we?”
Lynelle was surprised, and was quiet a minute. “You mean you still want to go?”
“Of course. It’ll be fun, don’t you think?”
“Well, yeah, but Clay said you weren’t going shopping until your paper was finished, so I figured our trip was off. I wasn’t going to mention it so it wouldn’t tempt you.
“But the sale’s tomorrow. I’ll have plenty of time to do the paper tomorrow night. I’ve been looking forward to going.”
Lynelle hedged a bit, remembering what Clay said. “Are you sure? What will Ty say? Won’t he be upset?”
“What Ty doesn’t know won’t hurt him. Or me,” she added with a little giggle. “Or did Clay tell you not to take me? Is that it; are you afraid you’ll get in trouble with him?”
“Well, he told me that Ty said you aren’t going shopping anywhere until your paper’s done, so he told me not to even ask you so I wouldn’t be dangling a carrot in front of your nose.”
“Oooh, these men are going to drive me crazy! I’m a big girl, and if I want to go shopping for an hour or two tomorrow morning it
isn’t any of their business. We weren’t planning on staying all day or anything. I have a class tomorrow afternoon.”
“So you still want to go?”
“Heck, yeah, unless you’re afraid of getting in trouble with Clay.”
“Hey, if you can handle Ty, I can handle Clay.”
“They shouldn’t even know, anyway. They’ll both be busy on the ranch.”
“Good point. Come over here in the morning then, Cheyenne, and I’ll drive.”
The next morning Cheyenne was at Lynelle’s early and they left for their shopping trip, both excited. Everything went well. Their shopping trip was successful and they had a wonderful lunch. They were on their way home when Lynelle’s car started to miss. She looked at Cheyenne, concerned. “Did you hear that?”
“Yeah, I did. What was it?”
“I don’t know, but it didn’t sound good.” About then they heard a popping sound, and steam started coming from under the hood. She quickly pulled to the side of the road and they both jumped out and moved away from the car.
Once the steam slowed down a bit and they no longer feared the car would catch fire, they talked about what to do. Deciding to call AAA and have them come tow the car back to Lynelle’s house, Lynelle took out her phone. “I don’t have any service on my phone. That’s odd.”
Cheyenne took hers out. “I don’t, either. We must be in a dead zone or something. This is really odd. Now what?”
“I don’t know. Maybe we should start walking until we get service on our phones.”
“Okay. Which way should we walk?” They decided to head back toward the little town they’d just passed through not too far back.
While they were walking, Ty and Clay were heading back to work after lunch. “Did Cheyenne say anything to you about going anywhere this morning, Clay?”
“No. I wondered where she was. I figured you knew.”
“Nope. I figured she’d be here working on her paper until she left for class.”
“I can call Lynelle and see if she knows where she’s at.”
He took his phone out and placed the call. “I just hope nothing’s wrong,” Ty said. “She usually tells me if she’s going somewhere, and she didn’t mention anything. Besides that, she’s not answering her phone. That’s not like her.”
Clay stopped walking and looked over at Ty. “No answer. That’s not like her, either. Where do you suppose they are?”
“I don’t know, but I’d say there’s a good chance they’re together,” Ty said as he checked his watch. “She usually leaves about now to get to her class. She could just be going from wherever she is straight to class, I guess.”
Clay looked at his friend, obviously concerned. “She could. But I don’t like this, Ty. Cheyenne should have been home before now, and they should both be answering their phones.”
“I know. What do we do now?” They discussed it a bit and then made a few more calls.
“She didn’t tell your housekeeper or cook where she was going, and she left earlier than normal,” Ty said.
Clay closed his phone. “I talked to Lynelle’s mom. She said she and Cheyenne went shopping for the wedding, but were planning on being back before now because of Cheyenne’s class this afternoon. She checked and said Cheyenne’s car is still in their lane, and she hasn’t heard from them.”
“Your sister is going to have one sore butt when I find her,” Ty said. “There’s no way she could have her paper done yet.”
“And I told Lynelle she was not to even suggest they go shopping. She’s going to be sitting just as gingerly tomorrow as Cheyenne.”
“In the meantime, what do we do now, Clay? If they planned on being back in time for Cheyenne’s class something must have gone wrong.”
Clay thought a moment before responding. “Let’s get the men working on cleaning out the back part of the barn and doing the repairs it needs, and then we’ll go look for them.” Ty agreed, and half an hour later they were in Clay’s pickup, ready to go to Lynelle’s to talk to her mother, when Cheyenne drove up the lane. Both men got out of the truck and were at her door when she got to the house.
She saw the frowns on their faces and knew she was in some big trouble. She tried to minimize it, though, and hope for the best. “Hi, guys. What are you doing here?”
Ty took her in his arms and pulled her to his chest, genuinely relieved to see her. “Are you okay, Cheyenne?”
“Of course I’m okay,” she answered. “What’s going on?”
“That’s what we’ve been wondering,” he growled. “Where have you been?”
“I had some errands I had to run,” she tried.
“You’ve now made your spanking worse, Cheyenne. We know you and Lynelle went shopping. Now, with that in mind, let me try asking that again, and think a minute before you answer, unless you plan on being honest this time. Where have you been?”
Cheyenne’s shoulders slumped, but she immediately answered this time. “You’re right, we did go shopping. But her car quit on the way back. We tried to call AAA, but apparently we were in a dead zone because neither of our phones worked. We started walking, thinking our phones would start working soon, but we ended up walking for almost an hour before either one of us could get any service. Then her phone was dead, and I only had enough for one call, so we called AAA. Apparently when we kept trying to call constantly, it wore the batteries out, even though we didn’t have service. I’m sorry, Ty.”
“I want an honest answer to one more question, Cheyenne. Were you really planning on going to class this afternoon?”
“Yes, Ty, of course I was. And that’s the truth. By the time the tow truck dropped us off at her house I’d already missed part of the class, so I didn’t go. I would have missed most of it anyway by the time I got there.”
“Okay. And Lynelle’s okay?”
“Yes, she’s fine.”
“For now maybe,” Clay mumbled.
Cheyenne looked at him, but didn’t say a word. She knew exactly what he meant, unfortunately. She looked at Ty, and as if he was reading her mind he confirmed her thoughts. “We’ll discuss this later, after supper. Clay and I have work to do now. I’ll be anxious to hear your explanation.” He turned to head back toward the barn, but stopped to add, “And I hope for your sake you choose to tell me the truth this time.”
Clay looked at his sister seriously. “And, Cheyenne, don’t you dare tell Lynelle what’s coming. I want to give her every opportunity to be honest with me, and if she knows you two got caught, I will be very disappointed in you.”
“As will I,” Ty said rather loudly, as he continued walking. “And I’ll do something about that disappointment.”
Cheyenne looked at her brother. “What if she calls me?”
“Your phone’s dead; remember? If she calls, you don’t have to answer.” He turned and followed Ty out to the barn.
Chapter Thirteen
Cheyenne went to her room and sat down at her desk. She knew she should be working on her paper, but how could she possibly concentrate on it now? What a mess she’d made of things. Ty was furious with her, she could tell, and so was her brother. Her dad had left early this morning for supplies, so he didn’t know what had happened yet, but she was sure that he’d be upset, as well, when he found out. And poor Lynelle didn’t even know how much trouble she was in because of her.
She looked at her phone as she thought about Lynelle. She should call Lynelle and warn her. At least then she could come clean with Clay and maybe lessen the damage a bit. But what if Clay somehow found out she’d called her? Clay would really be upset with her, but even worse, he’d tell Ty, she was sure.
Cheyenne had tears in her eyes as she thought about Ty. The thing that bothered her the most about this whole mess was how disappointed Ty was when he found out she’d gone shopping after he told her not to. And what was worse, thinking back on it now, she had no idea why she thought it was so important to go shopping this morning. In hindsight the whole idea seemed ridi
culous.
She admitted to herself it was all because she was angry about that stupid class. She was frustrated with it and with herself for not understanding it. She wanted to do something that was fun instead of spending one more minute on it. That stupid class seemed like it was controlling her entire life. She also admitted that Ty telling her she couldn’t go shopping any more until the paper was done was the proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back. That stupid class was ruining her life!
And nobody was going to tell her what she could and couldn’t do ever again. She may have let her mother do it once, but it was not happening again. Ever! She’d felt very strong about that before she left to go shopping this morning, and she still felt just as strong about that. Not ever again!
So why did she feel so bad and tear up every time she saw the hurt look on Ty’s face? She spent almost an hour thinking about that. She loved Ty. She was sure of that. And she hated the fact that she’d disappointed him. She was sure of that, too. But she was confused about a lot of things.
She tried to work on her paper, but still couldn’t concentrate. A little more thinking led her to one conclusion. She couldn’t understand her feelings right now, but she knew one person who would be able to help her sort them out. Ty. But ironically, he was also the person she’d disappointed, and disappointing him was what was making her feel so bad.
But she knew she wouldn’t be able to get much done on her paper until she’d done something about her feelings, so she did the only thing she could think of. She did what Ty kept telling her to do; she turned the problem over to him. Content with her decision, she got busy.
When the three men came in for supper they looked around for Cheyenne. She was almost always in the kitchen helping Maria finish up supper and getting it on the table. When Clay and Ty commented on her absence and gave each other a questioning look, Sam caught that look. “Okay, boys, what’s up? Where’s she at?”