[The Shifters Committee 01.0] Time Shifters

by Rebecca Foxx

  Monica rolled her eyes at the mention of Billy’s name. He was her producer. And that’s how things would stay.

  “Definitely another guy,” Monica said. “Let’s toast to that.”

  Chapter 4

  “You got anything going on tonight?” Carson asked. “A date for instance?”

  Mathew sighed and kicked the dirt. “You know I’m not dating anybody. So I’ll probably just head into town and pick up some supplies. Just my normal routine nothing different.”

  “You see that’s the problem with you, Mathew. You’re always doing the same thing and expecting different results.”

  “What do you suggest I do differently?” Mathew asked, very curious as to what his friend would say.

  “You should come over and have dinner with me and Sally. That would give you a taste of what family life can really be like. When was the last time a woman cooked you a good meal?”

  “Every day at the diner, I get a well-cooked meal. I’m sure from time to time one of the cooks is a woman.”

  “You know good and well that’s not what I mean but I see that you just can’t help making jokes. It’s not going to be funny when you end up an old man without a woman to take care of you. I’ve seen it happen to plenty of men. They spend so much time playing the field and enjoying the bachelor life and they think that it’s going to last forever. You need to wake up and snap out of that because it’s definitely not going to last forever.”

  “That’s what people keep telling me. But it seems to be going pretty well for me so far. And I just don’t think that I’m the marrying type. It’s just that stupid will. Every time I think about it I get so damn angry. It’s like the old man knew my weak spot and he wanted to make sure that I knew he knew.”

  Carson shook his head and looked at the ground. He wondered how long his friend would insist on being stubborn. “If you want to walk around feeling sorry for yourself and angry with your father for leaving you a fortune with a few strings attached then go right ahead. But I have to say that I think that’s a pretty foolish way to go about living your life.”

  Carson extended his hand and told his friend that he had other business to attend to. “Anyway, if you change your mind and you do end up wanting a home cooked meal tonight make sure that you give me some advanced noticed. Wives tend to like that.”

  Mathew tipped his cap and thanked his friend for the thoughtful offer. Then he stood in the driveway and watched the pickup truck kick up dust as it disappeared into the distance.

  Once again he was all alone with his thoughts. He didn’t like that one bit. Maybe Carson was right. Maybe a woman in his life would help him feel better. Maybe a feminine presence would help him get his mojo back. It had been a long time since he’d really felt his usual masculine strength surging through his veins. Too long. His father’s will required that he get married in order to receive his inheritance. But that wasn’t all it required. There was another condition that he had never told anyone about. He not only had to get married but he also had to have a baby. He felt like screaming to the heavens = for some way out of this situation. Where would he be able to find a woman who would agree to both a marriage of c0nvemnciance and would also agree to have his baby? It would be strictly a business arrangement without love or romance. The whole thing seemed so ridiculous.

  He didn’t want to spend any more time thinking about it, so he hopped in his truck and rode into town. It took him about ten minutes to get to his usual place for lunch and dinner. Goodwin’s Diner. He had never learned how to cook and he never would. He enjoyed the greasy fare that Goodwin’s offered him. But he also knew that he couldn’t eat like this forever. This is the greasy food that his father had eaten for the past years of his life after his wife had passed. This was the food that had clogged up his arteries and led to the massive heart attack that had killed suddenly shortly after his 74th birthday.

  He took off his cowboy hat and nodded at a bleach blond waitress in her early forties. She always looked forward to seeing the tall, lean, brooding cowboy. He sat in the same seat every day and ordered the same greasy cheeseburger with French fries and a Coca-Cola.

  “Good afternoon, Dolores,” Mathew said.

  The middle-aged woman smiled and batted her lashes. She had been holding out hope for years that this lonely cowboy would ask her out one day even though she knew that he was clearly out of her league. It was more of a fantasy than anything else. And as long as he continued coming into the diner and sitting in her section she didn’t really care whether or not it came true. Most of her customers were overweight truckers who smelled like cigarettes or chewing tobacco. It was a real pleasure for her to deal with someone like Mathew.

  He sat down in his usual booth and placed his cowboy hat down on the seat. He ran his fingers through his hair. He still had a full head of it even though and didn’t need to pluck out any gray hairs yet. He was thankful for his youth. But what was the point if he didn’t have a woman to share it with?

  He heard a bit of commotion at the other end of the diner. It wasn’t unusual for the truckers to get a little bit rowdy around lunchtime. So he didn’t pay much attention to the extra noise. They had been on the road for God knows how many hours. And if they needed to let off a bit of steam by getting a little rowdy then so be it. But the noise didn’t die down like it should have. Instead, the voices got louder.

  “Sir, I don’t know where y’all from but we won’t have any drunkenness in here. Not at this time of the day.” That was the voice of the silver-haired manager Bill McKibben. Bill had been working in the diner since Mathew was a child. It had been a long time since he’d heard him have to raise his voice.

  “Shut up old man! Go get us some more beer and stop standing there looking stupid!”

  Mathew’s ears pricked up. That accent didn’t sound at all familiar. Suddenly he sensed that there might be trouble on the horizon. He wasn’t the type of man to sit around and let someone, especially an older man that he had known all his life, get pushed around. He put on his cowboy hat and stood up. Then he began walking towards the commotion. He felt someone pulling on his arm. He turned around. Dolores was looking up at him with frightened eyes.

  “Now, don’t go starting any trouble now. They're just some out of towners. Think they’re from New York or something. They had a few too many drinks. But I don’t think they mean any real harm.”

  When Mathew heard that they were from New York his eyes lit up. He would love the opportunity to show some out of towners how hospitality worked out here in the west. He felt a rush of energy surging through his body.

  As he got closer to the table, he made eye contact with Bill. The white-haired man tried to wave him off. But Mathew wasn’t going to sit idly by while these out of towners caused trouble.

  He finally got right next to the table. He put his hands on his hips and looked down at the three men who seemed to be the cause of the problem. Mathew wasn’t all that impressed by them. They were all much smaller that he was and they had a bunch of flashy jewelry. Definitely from out of town, he said to himself with a snicker. Nobody from around here would dare walk around with so much gaudy jewelry.

  The three men were talking and joking loudly amongst themselves. It took them a few moments before they noticed the tall cowboy standing over them. When they finally caught sight of him, their eyes got wide with fear. That made Mathew smile. What a bunch of punks, he thought. I’ll show them a thing or two about how real men conduct themselves.

  “What seems to be the problem, fellas?” Mathew said. The three guys looked at each other, then at the white-haired manager who was now smiling at them triumphantly. He was more than willing to step back and let the younger man handle this rowdy bunch.

  A pudgy man with diamond studs in his ear and gold chain around his neck was the first to speak up. “Who said there was a problem?” He kept his eyes locked on Mathew’s for a few moments but he couldn’t handle the intensity of the cowboy’s gaze and he soon lowered
his eyes.

  “Now, what I suggest you fellas do is pay your tab and head back to wherever it is you’re from.”

  “How do you know where we’re from?” The pudgy man asked, looking from left to right to his friends for some kind of support. They seemed more than willing to follow Mathew’s suggestion.

  “You don’t seem like you’re from around these parts,” Mathew said.

  “Sorry, not everyone out here can dress up like a cowboy. But that’s a real cute outfit that you got on. Where can I get me one just like it?”

  All three of the men at the table started laughing. Mathew could feel his face turning red. He never let people talk to him like that. He never let people laugh in his face. Never. He clenched his fist and grit his teeth. He had half a mind to start swinging on all three of these out of town punks. But when he looked up and saw Bill staring at him with a stern expression, he knew that he better cool it or else he would end up getting himself into trouble.

  The manager realized that it was time to step in. “We don’t need any problems with the sheriff. But that’s exactly what’s going to happen if you fellas don’t get out of here in the next five minutes.”

  The manager turned towards Mathew and looked him dead in the eye. “And I don’t want any trouble from you either, Mathew. These fellas are about to be on their way. Ain’t that right?”

  There were a few moments of silent tension. Mathew wasn’t in the mood for talking he was upset that Bill had felt a need to intervene. He was upset that he hadn’t been able to really intimidate these out of town punks.

  “We don’t want any trouble for you either, Mathew,” the pudgy man said with a big stupid grin on his face. He was clearly enjoying himself at Mathew’s expense. That made Mathew even angrier. He could have torn them from limb to limb. He could his heart pounding in his chest. It had been awhile since he had gotten this worked up.

  “You fellas better hope that you don’t cross my path again. Might not be anyone there to protect you.”

  “I think the old man is actually protecting you.”

  Mathew made a move towards the pudgy man. But Bill’s stern eyes forced him to keep control of himself. He looked with disgust at all three of the men and headed back to his table.

  A few minutes later Dolores came by with his cheeseburger, fries, and Coca-Cola.

  “You don’t need to go getting involved in any type of foolishness,” she said. “Those guys have been coming in here for the last few days. I think one of them owns the old Gatson ranch.”

  “What?” Mathew asked, nearly dropping the glass of Coca-Cola. “Those punks actually own property out here?”

  “At least, one of them does,” Dolores said. “I think he’s a music producer or something like that.”

  The old Gatson ranch was only about five miles away from Mathew’s property. He couldn’t believe that he lived so close to them. If what Dolores was saying was true then this probably wouldn't be the last time that they crossed each other’s paths.

  Chapter 5

  Monica had only been in Denver for two weeks and she was already feeling completely exhausted. Billy was keeping her in the studio every night until 3,4,5 in the morning sometimes. He was a maniac—the kind of producer who wanted everything to be perfect. No games, no bullshit. He would only accept perfection and that's why Monica had chosen to work with him five years ago.

  Coming to Denver to record her first full-length album wouldn’t have been possible without Billy’s support. She still hadn’t adjusted to life out west, but she was determined to keep an open mind.

  When she walked into a downtown diner, it didn’t take her long to notice that she was one of the very few African-Americans in there. A few black men in trucker gear turned, looked her up and down and then went back to eating their breakfast. They might have thought she was stuck up or something but once again she quickly brushed off the negative attention.

  “Hello, miss,” a middle-aged blond hair waitress said to her. “Would you like to sit down or is your order to go?”

  Monica hesitated a moment before answering. She looked around the diner for a moment. It was your typically greasy spoon. Back home she would have never looked twice at a place like this. But she wasn’t back home. She had come all the way out here for new experiences and inspiration for her album. And an important part of that process was stepping out of her comfort zone.

  She told the waitress that she wanted to sit down in a booth. The bleached blond raised her eyebrows in surprise. Then she led Monica to a booth.

  She ordered coffee, bacon, eggs, and toast. She couldn’t wait for the food to come. Her stomach was growling and her mouth began to water. She could hear the bacon and eggs crackling. And the smell of grease was thick in the air. She was glad that Billy hadn’t stocked any food in the fridge. If she didn’t leave his ranch, there was so much that she would miss out on. It wasn’t long before the waitress came back with the steaming hot plates. Monica immediately dug in. The bacon and eggs tasted delicious, very greasy but delicious. She was reminded of the down home southern food she used to enjoy during the summers with relatives. The sweetness of the maple syrup was the perfect compliment to the grease and she washed it all down with swigs of black coffee. Within minutes, she was completely satisfied. She leaned back in the booth with a big smile on her face.

  She turned and looked out the window. What she saw made her sit straight up in the booth and sent an electric charge through her body. It was a man. He was well over six feet. He was wearing boots, blue wranglers, a white button-down shirt, and a ten-gallon. Everything about him seemed so exotic. Monica had only seen men who looked like on television, never in real life. And she would never have believed that such men actually existed. But here he was coming into the diner. Monica began to feel tingly all over. She saw attractive men in New York every day of her life but she couldn’t remember the last time that a man had made her feel like this. She quickly pulled out her mirror, reapplied her lipstick, and put her hair into place. She only wished that she had put more thought into her outfit—flats, black spandex, and a t-shirt definitely wouldn't do her curvy body justice. There was no time to worry about that. She just wanted to make eye contact and see where things went from there.

  She had a clear view of the cowboy as he entered the diner and pulled off his hat. She was not disappointed by his full head of blond hair. The waitress greeted him and led him to a table. He greeted some people and shook a few hands. So he’s a regular, Monica thought. Interesting. He was coming right towards her. Even though her eyes were locked on him, he hadn’t noticed her yet. Please just look this way, look this way she said under her breath, desperate to feel the energy emanating from his gaze. As he came within a few feet of Monica’s table, the cowboy finally seemed to notice her. She noticed that despite his smiling face, there was something sad and melancholy, maybe even poetic in his eyes. But when he caught sight of her, his eyes seemed to brighten a bit. She blushed and lowered her head. When she looked up, he had already walked by her. Her whole body tingled with excitement. She wondered if all the men out here were as sexy as the blond cowboy. But one look around the diner supplied her the answer to that question. No, he was definitely one of a kind.

  Monica wasn’t sure how it happened, but she suddenly heard a booming masculine voice right above her head. It was the cowboy. He was standing over, looking down with a confident grin. The deep timbre made her entire body vibrate with pleasure. He introduced himself as Mathew. Monica, quivering with excitement and desire could barely get a word out of her mouth. But she finally did overcome her shyness, the conversation ending up going somewhere she would have never anticipated.

  Chapter 6

  Monica had worried about how Billy would react to the news that she would be leaving Denver for the weekend to spend some alone time with Mathew. But surprisingly he had taken the news well, or at least well enough that they hadn’t gotten into an argument.

  She had no idea where Mathew p
lanned to take her but she hoped that it would be somewhere romantic. As she finished packing her bag (he had given her strict orders to only bring one) she heard the honking of his truck in the driveway. She hurried to the window to see what he wanted. He was leaning out the window and motioning for her to come down. She had on a sundress and flip-flops. She hoped that would be appropriate for wherever he planned to take her.

  Mathew got out of the truck and loaded her bag into the back.

  “You look very pretty,” he said. “Those colors look great on you.”

  Monica blushed and took note of the light blue and white pattern of his dress. If those were the colors he liked, then she would be sure to wear them again.

  “So are you going to tell me where we’re going?”

  “You don’t like surprises?” Mathew asked with a big grin on his face. His smile always made her legs tingle. He seemed so confident and in control.