Chapter Four

Wednesday, July 3 rd .

Holiday Inn. Butte. Montana.

When it was time for breakfast with the kids, Annie and Rowdy took Tammy to the truck and secured her in the back seat.

“This is not punishment, Tammy,” said Annie. “This is a safety measure to keep you out of harm’s way while we eat breakfast.”

“You’re being mean to me, Mama. I don’t want to go back to Montana. Travis is mad at me, and he’ll be mean to me too.”

“No, he won’t, and I’m not being mean to you either, Tammy. You’re the one causing all the problems. It’s not the rest of the world like you believe it is. Until we can trust that you won’t run away again, you’ll have to wait here in the truck. I’ll bring you your breakfast when I come back.”

“I don’t want her in my truck,” whispered Rowdy. “She makes me too nervous.”

“I’ll stay with her for the rest of the trip until we turn her over to Travis. He’s responsible for her now that she’s on parole.”

Rowdy nodded. “That girl shouldn’t be out of the hospital, Annie.”

“I’m beginning to agree with you, sugar. I believe it’s a little too soon.”

“A little?”

Wild Stallion Ranch.

“How far is Butte from here?” asked Virge.

“In miles or drive time?” asked Billy.

“Time,” said Virge.

“Just over four hours,” said Billy.

“Wow. They’ll be here this afternoon.”

“That’s going to be a whack load of people here for dinner,” said Travis. “You boys will have to do grocery shopping this afternoon. Make a list.”

I opened my leather notebook and took my pen out of my pocket. “Shoot. Go, Dad.”

Travis started spewing out stuff we needed, and Billy and Virge jumped in and added more. The list was huge when I finished it.

“Y’all get that shopping done right after lunch, then drive up here and put it all away and tidy up the house before Annie and the kids get here.”

“Copy that. It’s gonna be a busy day.”

Sheriff’s Office. Coyote Creek .

All morning at the station, we worked on the case. Kody Kollard dropped in shortly after nine talking about all the deer and elk meat in Brian Groveman’s freezer.

“There’s nobody around his place,” said Kody. “I’ll have to wait until he turns up to ticket him and confiscate his rifle.”

“Molly has been phoning around trying to locate him and has had no luck so far,” said Travis. “His hunting buddies don’t seem to know where he is, and he’s currently unemployed.”

“Did you get anything useful from the sack of grain, Warden Kollard?” asked Virge.

“Nothing has come back from the lab yet, Virgil. I’ll let you know as soon as I get the report.”

“Thanks.”

Around ten, I stopped filling out reports and went into the break room to get myself a coffee. Virge followed me down the hall and whispered to me, “I’m running across to the laundromat, Harlan. Cover for me.”

“I thought you broke up with Vicki.”

“Yeah, but it was a text. I’m a better man than that.”

“Okay. Don’t be long or Dad will start missing you. I don’t like lying to Travis.”

Virgil rolled his eyes.

Duds and Suds. Main Street. Coyote Creek.

Virge ran across Main Street, passed the diner and three other stores and kept going until he got to the laundromat. Out of breath, he ran in the front door and glanced around for Vicki.

No sign of her but he did see two other girls doing their laundry who were a lot prettier than Vicki. Each one of the girls was shoving dirty clothes into a washing machine.

“Hey, girls, I’m Virgil.” He gave them a big grin. “I work at the sheriff’s office across the street. Haven’t seen you in here before.”

“Yep. We can see your uniform.” They giggled. “Do you shoot a lot of crooks in the laundromat?”

Before Virgil could think of a comeback, the door of the office opened, and Vicki strolled out with a can of Coke in her hand.

“What are you doing here so early in the day, Virgil?” Vicki turned and stared death-ray eyes at the other two girls and Virgil didn’t stick around to see how mad Vicki was or if there was going to be a cat fight.

“I was missing you and I just ran over to say hi, Vick. Got to go to work.”

He was halfway out the door and could hear Vicki hollering after him, “You drag your ass out of here, Virgil. We’ll talk about this later.”

Virgil ran across the street and almost got himself whacked by the fuckin feed truck. He figured Vicki wasn’t finished giving him a calling down. There’d be more coming his way.

Fuck.

I’m not telling Harlan that we didn’t break up. That lie might not be a lie by the end of the fuckin day.

Great Falls. Montana.

Mick pulled into a service center to gas up for the last lap of their long journey.

“How far away are we now, Mom?” asked Jackson.

“More than an hour,” said Annie. “Not too far away now.” She stood at the back of the convenience store beside her cart and texted Travis.

“Be there in about two hours. Tammy hasn’t been so great. I don’t want you to expect too much.”

“Okay. I’ll be ready.”

“Doctor Fielding is hoping she’ll improve a lot when she gets home to the ranch.”

“I hope so too.”

“See you soon.”

“Love you, Annie-girl.”

Annie put her phone in her pocket and loaded her cart with cases of Coke, water, Coors and Miller. She didn’t want to arrive empty-handed. Not her style.

Cracker Barrel. St. Louis. Missouri.

“I heard a lot of cops eat at Cracker Barrel,” Ray mumbled as he parked the truck in the side lot.

“Ray, you’re afraid to get up in the morning, man. We’re gonna be okay. Trust me.” Bobby pointed to the bulge his gun made in his waistband.”

“I’m not afraid for me, Bobby. It’s you getting caught that scares me.”

“Hell, you’ve been aiding and abetting me for months, Ray. That should get you a nice comfy cell for at least a nickel.”

“Shit, Bobby. Don’t say stuff like that.”

Bobby had a good laugh at Ray’s expense. He was getting a little tired of Ray’s constant worrying.

After they ate and bought more pie for the road, they sat in the truck and looked at the maps.

“This looks like the most direct route,” said Ray. “I’ll mark it with the highlighter I just bought.”

Bobby chuckled. “Highlight our way to Canada, Ray. Attaboy.”

Main Street Market. Coyote Creek. Montana.

“We only had to work half a day,” said Virge, “and now we get to shop and go home to wait for Annie and the kids. This is turning out to be a great fuckin day.”

“Yeah, it is. We’re getting nowhere on the case, but Dad seems to be more worried about Annie coming than he is about the Carpenters plugging poachers’ hearts full of holes.”

“Dad ain’t that good around women,” said Virge. “Ever notice that?”

“Why do they flock to him then?”

“Biker image,” said Virge. “Big drawing card.”

I shrugged. “Maybe. Don’t know the answer. Let’s get the fuckin shopping done. Hope Penny don’t ask me any hard questions when we check out.”

Virge laughed. “Hope to hell she does. I’ll be waiting for it.”

We each had a cart like Dad said and we bought everything on the list in large quantities. For the next week or so we’d be feeding ten people.

I wanted to line up at a different checkout, but the other girl was on break and Penny was the only cashier working. Virge made me go first and while I loaded all the stuff in my cart onto the belt, Penny whispered to me, “Why can’t we see each other while your company is staying at your ranch?”

“Umm…maybe we can, but I don’t think so. Dad has a bunch of shit planned for us to do together and I’ll be going to a lot of rodeos, and I can’t skip out on any of it.”

“I’d like to go to a couple of rodeos with you, Harlan. Why can’t you take me?”

“Umm…because there’s ten of us already and I just can’t invite more people.”

Penny rang stuff through wearing a pouty face and she made me feel bad. I leaned in close and said, “How about lunch on a workday? We’ll run across the road to the diner.”

“Okay, that will be fun, but not as much fun as going to a rodeo.”

“Best I can do, Pen. I’ll make it up to you.”

Penny smiled after that, and I could hear Virge chuckling right behind me. I wanted to punch him in the gut but he stayed out of reach.

Butch loaded up his carryout dolly and while he transferred the groceries into the hatch of the squad, he made a lot of jokes about how many people were coming to stay at our ranch.

The hatch was full, and we had to put the stuff from Virgil’s cart in the back seat. “Look at all this shit, Harlan. We have to carry it into the house and put it all away and it’s a hundred fuckin degrees outside.”

“Teach you for buying so much.”

“Shut up.”

“Let’s go back to the station for a minute, grab a Coke from the vending machine, and then we’ll drive to the ranch and put the food away.”

“Okay, if nothing is gonna melt. I don’t want to piss Dad off. He’s stressed enough over Annie coming to the ranch without us destroying five hundred bucks’ worth of fuckin groceries.”

“We’ll be quick,” said Virge. “Lightning fast.”

Sheriff’s Office. Coyote Creek.

“Wowzer, look at that, Molly. Two huge horse trailers parking up out front.”

“That must be Annie and the rest of her family, Harlan. Open the front door for her, dear.”

I ran to open the door and watched a guy in a cowboy hat get out of the first truck. Davey and Jackson jumped out of his truck too.

Virge and I should’ve gone straight home with the groceries like Dad told us too. Now we were all going to get to the ranch at the same time and the groceries wouldn’t be put away.

The big red truck and trailer combo was Annie’s, but she wasn’t driving, Mick was. Lucy and Tammy climbed out of the back seat. The only one I didn’t know was the guy in the cowboy hat.

Virge ran up behind me and said, “We haven’t even gone home to put the groceries away yet, bro. Let’s say hi and get going.”

“Yeah, we have to move ass, bro.”

The girls came running in first and Travis reached out his arms and hugged Tammy. She backed away from him and stared at him like he was a stranger.

I felt so fuckin bad for Dad when she did that, I wanted to give her a shake and make her see how lucky she was to have Travis for a father.

The rest of the gang came running in and Dad got a different look on his face when he saw the guy wearing the cowboy hat. He stuck out his hand, and said, “Rowdy, how’s it going?”

“Not bad, Travis.”

“You haven’t met my boys, Rowdy. Harlan and Virgil, my sons.”

“Happy to meet you boys.” Rowdy Butler had that famous grin on his face that he wore in all the ads for the cowboy gear. “Hope we have a few weeks of rodeo fun ahead of us.”

“I’m sure we will.” Annie smiled at Rowdy, and I felt the tension tighten up in the squad room.

“You boys go to the ranch and get the food put away,” said Travis. “I’ll be along in a few.”

“Copy that, Dad,” said Virge.

We got moving. Should’ve had it done by now.

Wild Stallion Ranch. Montana.

Virge drove our loaded Jeep to the ranch and never stopped talking once about Rowdy Butler, World Champion Rodeo Rider, coming to stay at our ranch with us.

“I don’t think Dad was expecting Rowdy to be with Annie, Virge. I saw the look on his face when he first laid eyes on the rodeo king.”

“Huh. Wonder why Rowdy is with Annie.”

“Because he’s the coach for Jacks and Davey and for Lucy’s barrel racing. He goes with his kids to the rodeos they compete in.”

“Yeah, I guess that makes sense.”

Virge drove fast and we had a lot of the groceries put away by the time everybody got to the ranch. We had extra time anyway while the horses were being unloaded and put into the corral.

Shoving packages of hamburger meat into the fridge, Virge asked me, “Did Tammy say hi to you? She never spoke to me, and she don’t look like herself. I don’t think she’s one bit fixed, Harlan. Dad is going to freak right out if she does anything weird.”

“She has to be fixed, Virge. They wouldn’t have let her out of the hospital unless she was good to go.”

Virge grabbed another bag of stuff for the fridge. “I’m saying, she don’t look it.”

“Hope you’re wrong. Dad will shit himself blind if she ain’t done being crazy and shooting people. She’s released into his custody for chrissakes and he’s responsible for her from here on out.”

Virge shrugged. “Just say’n I’m worried, is all. She don’t seem right to me.”

“We’ll watch her for the rest of the day.”

“Damn right we will. I’m not letting her turn Dad upside down again.”

When everyone arrived at our ranch and settled in a bit, Annie and Lucy checked the fridge and the pantry and talked about what they were going to make for dinner while Travis, Rowdy, Mick and Billy sat on the porch and knocked back a few cans of Miller.

Jackson said, “Me and Davey are going to take the horses out and give them a good run to the back of the ranch. They’ve been in the trailer for three days and they have to work the kinks out before tomorrow.”

“I want to go with you,” said Virge, “but my horse ain’t here. I could ride Outlaw, I guess.”

“We trailered your horse here for you, Virge.” Davey hooked a thumb over his shoulder. “He’s in the corral waiting for you.”

“You brought Desert Sun all the way up here?” Virge hollered as he jumped up off his chair and knocked it over. “I can’t fuckin believe it.”

“Yep. He’s out back. You should take him for a ride.”

Virge hugged Annie in the kitchen. “Thanks for bringing my horse up here, Mom. That was the best surprise I ever got.”

“My pleasure, sweetheart. You might as well enjoy him for the summer. Y’all be back in an hour for dinner, hear me?”

“We will, Mom,” said Davey. He hollered for Lucy, and she came running to go with us.

“I might as well come,” said Rowdy. “We can get a few minutes of practice in. Don’t know what kind of condition y’all are gonna be in tomorrow without a regular workout.”

We saddled our horses and headed for the back of the thousand acres where the wild horses liked to run. Virge was so fuckin happy his horse was here in Montana. He’d only ridden Desert Sun on Annie’s ranch in Texas and missed him real bad ever since.

We rode about halfway to the back boundary line and that’s where Rowdy stopped. We took a break right there and Rowdy put Jacks, Lucy and Davey through some warm-up exercises.

He set up pylons and Lucy put her horse through its paces getting it ready for her first barrel race competition.

Watching Rowdy ride and demo what he wanted the boys to do was fun for me and Virge. Rowdy rode his rodeo horse, Zeke, and barely had to tell the horse anything. Zeke knew every move to make. When to stop. When to pull back on the rope…everything. Amazing to watch.

“Jeeze, I can hardly wait until we go to that rodeo tomorrow,” said Virge. “This is way more fun than working.”

I laughed at my brother. “Sure is.”

When we got back to the house and cooled the horses out, Annie had a picnic dinner ready, and it was fun—all of us eating together. Jacks was a funny guy and told a lot of jokes. I liked him a lot.

Tammy sat at the table and stared at her plate and never said a word. I saw Dad look at her two or three times and he wasn’t wearing a happy face. He was worried.

Virge was worried for Dad and after watching Tammy closely, I got myself worried pretty good too. Like Virge said, Tammy wasn’t fixed. They let her out of the hospital too fuckin soon.

Travis barely spoke to Rowdy since he got to the ranch and when she’d had enough of the tension all of us were feeling, Annie called Dad on it.

“You’re being a shit host, Travis. Rowdy and I will take the kids and sleep at the Inn. I didn’t drive thousands of miles to bring Tammy back to you just to have you treat us like we shouldn’t be here. You can go fuck yourself, you big prick. We’ll be back in the morning to load the horses.”

Travis shook his head. “So sorry, Annie-girl. I apologize for being such an asshole. Too much for me to handle, but that’s no excuse. I want y’all to stay here on the ranch. I do. I’ll do better. I promise.”

Later on, Lucy and I went to the barn to check the horses on our own and we had ten minutes to ourselves. In those ten minutes of privacy, we crammed in a lot of talking, kissing and fooling around.

Being with Lucy was nothing like being with Penny. No comparison. I loved Lucy with my whole heart, even though I wasn’t supposed to love my foster sister. Couldn’t fuckin help it.

When we ran back to the house, I was super happy and ready for a fun vacay with my family.

A poker game was set up in the kitchen, and we played cards and drank beer, and stayed up a lot later than we should have. Fun family time and no one wanted it to end.

Except maybe Tammy. She didn’t want to play cards and sat in the front room and watched TV.

Annie called it after midnight, and we had to quit. We had an early start in the morning to get to Columbia Falls for their Fourth of July rodeo.

Kansas City. Kansas.

Ray was too tired to drive any farther, and Bobby took the wheel when they turned north in Kansas City. “Nice country up here,” said Bobby, but Ray was already asleep.

Ray was negative about everything Bobby had in mind for their future and Bobby was thinking hard on whether he should keep Ray on the new plan or let him go back to Tennessee where he was happy.

A decision had to be made.

Ray was making Bobby angry and that wasn’t a good thing. Last thing Bobby wanted to do was hurt Ray.