6. Chapter Six

Chapter Six

Tim rolled over in his queen-size bed, feeling a little body nearby. When he opened his eyes to see Ryan Collins in bed with him, he was a little surprised.

Tim's mind raced, and he remembered the boy had been in the hallway when Uncle Josh and he decided to turn in for the night. Ryan was coming out of the bathroom, still half asleep.

After a quick shower to rinse off and a pair of sleep pants, Tim slid into his bed to find Ryan sound asleep, having gone into the wrong room. Tim was too tired—and too drunk—to move the boy, so he dozed off and left him there.

Tim slipped out of bed and went to the bathroom to take care of his morning business. After a quick piss, he shaved, and brushed his teeth. His head was suffering from a next-level hangover, and his hair was all over the place, making it impossible to leave the house. He stepped into the shower and gingerly washed his pounding head.

In all honesty, Tim wasn't used to drinking so much beer, but he didn't really regret the headache after he remembered the discussions from the night before. Having Uncle Josh be frank with him regarding his feelings about Tim's parents and even the loss of Shane was more than Tim ever thought he'd hear. It gave him more insight into his family than he'd been able to gain before, and it left him feeling a lot closer to his aunt and uncle.

When he heard the toilet flush, he peeked out of the shower curtain to see Ryan standing at the sink to wash his hands. Apparently, Aunt Katie had a little stool available for him, and Tim thought it was cute.

"Morning, Ryan. You need a shower?" he asked as he rinsed the shampoo and soap from his body, thankful his morning wood hadn't made an appearance due to the drumbeat in his head.

"Miss Katie made me take a bath last night, but I'd rather take a shower when I gotta. I take ‘em with Dad in the morning before we start our day, but he says when school starts, I gotta take ‘em at night ‘cause there won't be time in the mornin'. I getta ride the bus to school, and I think that's gonna be cool. You ever ride the bus?" The boy's questions came in rapid fire fashion as Tim turned off the water.

Tim reached out to grab a towel off the rack before he stepped out of the shower. After securing it around his waist, he picked up another to dry his hair. "We lived near my school, so I walked, but I always wanted to ride the bus." Tim ignored the feelings brought on by the memories of back in the day. No good would come from rehashing any of it in the bright light of day.

"My best friend, Tommy Morrow, lives down the road. He's a year older than me, and he rides the bus, so I asked Daddy if I could ride the bus. He said Miss Terri could take me to school with her little girl, Beth. She's in kinneygarden, and I don't wanna show up with a baby. Beth is really little, and if the other guys see me with her, they'll think she's my sister." Ryan sounded exasperated at the thought as Tim pulled on boxer briefs under the towel.

"Who's Miss Terri?" Tim asked as he went to his room with Ryan on his tail. He went into the closet to grab a pair of Wranglers and a gray Bud Lite T-shirt he'd won at a bar in college during a dart tournament. The shirt was a great reminder of a time when things didn't suck.

He walked out of the closet and tossed his clothes on the bed where Ryan sat, watching him carefully. "Miss Terri works in Daddy's office at the ranch. She's only gonna work in the mornings while Beth's in school, and she told Daddy she'd take me to school with Beth, but I wanna ride the bus," the boy repeated.

"How many people work at the ranch?" Tim didn't know anything about Matt's operation, but he was pretty sure a cattle ranch needed more than one or two people to run the operation successfully.

"Umm… Miss Terri, Papa Marty, Danny, Stevie, and Carl. Stevie and Carl only work in the mornin' and after school. Danny, Daddy, and Papa Marty do most of the work, and Gramma Jeri helps sometimes." Ryan held up his little fingers as he named people, which was too cute for words.

Tim wasn't sure who any of those people were except for the grandparents, but it sounded like Matt might have a few high school kids working for him part-time. However, Tim's biggest concern at that moment was Lanny Whitehead, Matt's former rodeo partner, so he was in a hurry to get to the ranch to check out the bastard. It was a judgment based on nothing other than his Uncle Josh's assessment, but Tim felt he needed to witness their interactions for himself to know if there was anything more between them.

"Let's get you dressed before we go down to the barn and help the boys feed the horses. We can come back for Aunt Katie's breakfast and after that, we're going to the ranch to help your dad move cattle," Tim told him as he finished dressing.

He took Ryan to the spare room and got him dressed for the day before the two of them went downstairs to find Aunt Katie at the counter making a batter. She smiled at Ryan. "Ryan, would you go down to the barn and tell Hank that Josh will be down shortly?"

Ryan grinned before he headed for the door without a word. After he was gone, Katie looked at Tim with a small smile. His head was still pounding, and an ass chewing wasn't exactly what he wanted that morning. "Aunt Katie—"

She reached into the cabinet and grabbed a glass, filling it with water before she opened a small package and dropped something inside which fizzed immediately. She handed it to Tim and smiled. "Josh is in the shower. I already gave him hell, but not too much. I'm glad you two talked last night. I know sometimes men need a little liquor to grease the wheels, so I'm not gonna say more than this isn't gonna be a habit with the two of you drinkin' all night. Drink this and go watch over the barn, please? Josh was standin' in the shower with his eyes closed. It's been a while since he's had a hangover." The smile on her face told Tim she wasn't exactly sorry about it as she pushed the fizzing glass closer.

Tim chuckled and nodded before he drank the elixir in one large gulp, heading out the back door after he grabbed his boots from the tray. He went to the barn and helped feed the horses and tack up the ones they were gonna use at the Collins' place. Ryan was in the hallway picking up twine as the others were breaking up hay flakes to feed the board horses.

Hank stepped out of the stall, so Tim walked over to him. "How many are we bringing with us to the Collins' place?"

"Uh, three… well, with you, four if you're gonna ride Chester. Where's Josh? Is he okay?" Hank asked as his son, Ethan, walked out of a stall.

Ethan was a good-looking kid of about sixteen. Tim remembered Aunt Katie complaining about Uncle Josh wanting to have Ethan ride the jenny to see if she was gentle, and as far as he knew, the Jenny was a sweet burrow with no problems at all. Ethan appeared to enjoy the animal, and Tim was glad. If they kept the jenny, Tim would need to add her to the list of assets at the farm for tax purposes.

Turning to Hank, Tim felt a little squeamish about the answer. "He, uh, he's a little slow moving this morning. We had a cookout last night, and Uncle Josh and I had a long conversation over a few beers." Tim figured that was all Hank needed to know.

Hank started laughing and pounded the younger man on the back. "Kiddo, I'm happy to hear it. He and Katie needed ya. Nothin' like a few beers to loosen the tongue. Everything okay?"

Tim swallowed. "Yeah. Fine. Tell me which horses I should catch, will you?" he asked as he headed to the tack room to start pulling out saddles, blankets, bridles, and lead ropes.

"Let's see. Um, get Chester, Lady, Pally, and Caesar. Oh, can you bring that Jenny up from the pen out back? Ethan's gonna work with her today to see if she's worth anything since Josh put shoes on her. Heaven help us if we start raisin' mule stock around here," Hank mumbled as he shook his head.

Tim laughed and nodded, making a mental note of the list of horses. After he had all the tack lined up the barn hallway and checked to be certain Ryan was okay, he grabbed the leads and walked out to the pasture where Uncle Josh's horses were lazily grazing. Tim whistled, as he'd seen Uncle Josh do several times, and when they started coming up the hill, he tried to remember which horse was which.

Thankfully, they were easy to catch, and after a few miscues, Tim had the cadre of mounts tied to the hooks in the hallway. Ryan was sitting on a stack of hay bales, looking a little wounded so Tim stopped to ask about him as he tied Chester to the ring next to where Ryan was sitting. "What's wrong?"

"I was in the way, so Mr. Hank put me here. It's too tall to jump down to go to the house, and they all left me." Ryan motioned around the empty barn as his face wrinkled in anger.

It was easy to see the boy was upset, and Tim would make it a point to sic Aunt Katie on Hank for leaving Ryan in the barn alone. "Well, I'm glad you're still here. I could use someone to help me saddle all these horses. You know how to be careful around horses, right?"

The little cowboy nodded, so Tim helped him down from the hay and led him to the first horse, Lady. She was a four-year-old mare Uncle Josh used as breeding stock. She'd slipped a colt in the spring, so she wouldn't be bred back until she was completely recovered.

"Currycomb and brush," Tim ordered. Ryan went to the box on the outside of one of the stalls and grabbed the comb and a brush so they could groom the horses before they were tacked up.

The two worked together, Ryan handing Tim the tools necessary to make the horses comfortable for their day of work, and once they finished the grooming, Tim saddled the horses so they could be loaded onto the trailer when the crew was ready to head out to the ranch.

Just as they finished saddling Chester, Tim's favorite mount, the intercom squawked. "Timothy, bring Ryan up for breakfast." It was Aunt Katie's voice, and she meant business.

"Uh-oh! Ryan, we were too busy and forgot about food," Tim told the boy as they finished up with the last horse before they tied it to the side of the trailer.

"She won't be mad, right? Gramma Jeri gets mad if her food gets cold before we sit down at the table, and she swears she won't cook for us again," Ryan said as the two walked toward the house.

Tim reached down and swung Ryan up on his shoulders before he ran to the house, the boy squealing the whole way as Tim balanced him on his right shoulder and Ryan held out his hands like an airplane. It was a joyous sound that Tim was thrilled to hear. Ryan was an amazing little boy. He hoped Matt appreciated the kid as much as Tim did.

The large Dodge Ram flatbed pulling an eight-horse, stainless trailer drove up the gravel driveway beyond the white, clapboard farmhouse. Tim followed behind it in a small, rusty-red pickup with Ryan riding shotgun in a booster seat. Unfortunately, no one could miss the cop car parked in front of the house.

Matt was sitting on the front steps in handcuffs, while another man was sitting on the grass ten feet away, also in handcuffs. The short, sandy blond-haired man had a black eye and a busted lip, and to Tim, he looked really pissed off.

As the truck continued up the driveway, Ryan looked out the window. "That's Mr. Lanny. Why's he… Why's Daddy in handcuffs? Lemme out." The boy frantically tried to unbuckle the seatbelt to get out.

Tim put his hand on the boy to keep him inside the truck as he continued driving down the gravel drive toward the barn. When the truck stopped, Josh walked up to the driver's side and opened Tim's door. "Let's get to work. We can get Danny to tell us where he needs our help. We'll worry about what happened later."

Tim turned to Ryan and smiled, certain the worry on his face wasn't hidden from the astute little boy. "Let's help get the horses settled. The grown-ups can figure out that other business. We have cattle to tend." Tim hoped to get Ryan's mind settled on anything other than the scene of his father sitting on their front porch seemingly under arrest.

"Yeah, but my daddy's up there," Ryan complained loudly as he opened his door, hopping onto the running board and heading toward the house at full throttle. Tim started after him, but Hank whistled, so he turned around and walked back.

"No use gettin' in the way. They'll sort it out. We got a job to do, so let's do it," Hank reminded as he herded Tim toward the barn.

All Tim could do was nod. He had no idea how to handle the situation, never mind that Ryan wasn't his responsibility really, so he refocused energy on the job at hand, moving cattle. It was why they were at the ranch, after all.

"We appreciate what you boys are doin'. As soon as Marty gets back from town, he'll help move those cow-and-calf pairs to that pasture behind our place for the winter, I promise," Jerilyn Collins instructed as she set up a table for drinks near the barn.

Josh and Tim cut out calves that were being weaned from their mothers so they could be tagged and accounted for in Matt's inventory. The rest of the hands on the ranch were rotating the leftover stock in the fields while separating the bull calves to be castrated.

Matt's breeding stock was amazing, from what Tim had learned by doing research. The ranch had Angus, Longhorn, Shorthorn, and American Brahman breeds. Marty explained how Matt bought semen to breed his Angus and Hereford cows for the best quality stock. He'd been making a name for himself in ranching circles with the excellence of the stock he had for sale, and Marty was clearly proud of him.

"It's okay, ma'am. Where's Ryan?" Tim hopped off Chester.

As they'd been working to cut out certain cows or calves from the herd, Tim concluded his horsemanship skills were sorely lacking as he watched the others. Thankfully, the horse made him look good in front of the real cowboys.

Tim knew he needed to practice with the horse so he could be of more help in the future. Hell, he had the best horseman in the county living under the same roof, but it was his pesky pride that kept him from asking Uncle Josh. At the moment, however, all he wanted to see was Matt Collins not in handcuffs.

Glancing at Matt's mother, Tim decided Jerilyn Collins was a very attractive woman. She was a bit taller than Tim, but her features reminded him of her handsome son. She was thin, no doubt, unlike Aunt Katie, who had lots of curves.

Much like Aunt Katie, the woman had an outgoing, easy-to-like personality. Her husband, Marty, was tall like Matt, and he had a little bald spot. He had that dark-brown-hair, blue-eyed look about him which could make Tim's head spin if he let it, just like it did when he saw Matt.

Looking at the older man gave Tim a clear understanding of how gracefully the bull rider might age, and he was heartbroken he'd never get to see it. It would be amazing to witness the changes over time, but the chances of it were slim to zip.

Jeri looked at Tim with a warm smile before she made a sad face. "Ryan's mad at me. He wanted me to take him out on Lucy so he could watch you boys, but I needed to get the food settled for when y'all broke for lunch. He went inside and I'm pretty sure he's in his room. Maybe you can get him outta his funk?" she asked Tim, her happy smile returning.

Nodding, Tim climbed back on Chester and guided the horse to the trailer to secure the gelding with the other horses. There was a guy with a bucket of water and a big smile.

"Agua?" The young man pointed to the horse. Tim knew about three Spanish words, but agua was one of them. He hopped off Chester and tied him to the hook on the side of the trailer with a nod to the cute guy with the bucket.

Tim walked into Matt Collins' house, seeing some of the same things he'd briefly noticed the last time he was inside to fix the laptop. It was a decent house, but it needed some personal touches to make it homier.

The house looked as if Matt and Ryan had just moved in, but Tim knew for a fact Matt had bought the house when he married Ryan's mother. It was missing the lived-in feeling and family history that Tim experienced at Uncle Josh and Aunt Katie's home.

Tim strolled down the hallway to find Ryan on his twin bed with his little cowboy hat over his face. Tim almost laughed but was sure it was a bad idea because Ryan's little-boy feelings were hurt and being teased wouldn't help.

"Hey. You're not getting out of the work." Tim sat on the side of the bed.

The boy pushed back his hat and looked up at Tim. "Why's my daddy in jail?"

Yeah, Tim was kind of hoping Ryan wouldn't focus on that part, but only honest answers would appease the boy, he was sure. "Buddy, I don't know, but that doesn't mean we don't have cattle to move. Come on. You work here, remember?"

"Can you get my daddy out of jail?"

Tim took a deep breath before he spoke, hoping he wasn't lying to the boy. "I'm pretty sure your gramma and grandpa have a lawyer doing all they can to get your dad home to you. In the meantime, you live on a ranch where the work never stops, and you know it as well as me. Let's go show the other guys you're here in your daddy's place, and you're dedicated to looking out for the stock."

Tim hoped the boy would take the bait. When Ryan rose from the bed and dried his eyes, Tim touched his shoulder, grateful to get the boy out of his funk, if only for the moment.

After a quick stop in the bathroom for Ryan to wash away the tear tracks from his cheeks, Ryan and Tim walked out of the house and down to where Chester was tied at the trailer.

"You think you can hold onto the saddle horn? Chester's a great horse, and I think he'll let us ride double to help with the work. I suspect your daddy will be home sooner rather than later," Tim said, hoping he wasn't lying.

Ryan nodded so Tim hauled the two of them up on Chester's back, and they proceeded to help with working the cattle. The group stopped for a quick lunch provided by Jeri, and after they were finished, they quickly got back to work. There was only so much daylight of which they needed to take advantage.

When everyone was prepared to leave that evening, Tim hugged Ryan and kissed the top of the boy's head with a promise he'd be back the next morning. He had no idea where Matt was, but he'd be there for Ryan until his dad was home, safe and sound.