Duane’s Determination (Broken Wheel Ranch #9)

Chapter 8

CHAPTER 8

It was several minutes before either of them spoke, and it was Scott that broke the silence. “Do you think she’ll come after you?”

“Not in the sense you’re implying.” Duane looked at him and nodded. “Not to do harm. Maybe to see if she could stay in the apartment until she can get on her feet, or financially, but not to hurt me. As much of a temper she had before, I don’t think or feel that it would come to violence.”

“I can see that. Tell me, what do you want to see happen?”

“I want to avoid her at all costs. I divorced her for a reason. I hadn’t realized it at the time, but I had lost all love and respect for her several years before she even came to me with those ridiculous papers to have me pay her to stay home from work.” He smirked as he looked at Scott.

“What?”

“What if we send her to your parents?”

“What’s this ‘we’ shit?”

“She is your sister, you have more in common than I do.”

“Ha, ha, not. Who and why did they contact you?”

“One, because apparently she listed me as her next of kin. Two, I’m with the FBI, and get this shit, three, according to Cara, I’m not only her next of kin, but also her emergency contact.”

“So, you’re saying that if something happened while she was on the inside, then they would have contacted you?”

“Yeah.”

“Shit, sorry man. Now, let me ask this, what do you want to do? Who is going to pick her up?”

“No clue on that, I’m not going to be there, and I told the prison when they called me to let me know. There isn’t an exact date for her release, and she has to be on perfect behavior between now and then, and if she is, then she’ll be getting out. I told them to contact her parents.” Duane looked at Scott with a smirk. “They asked if I knew where her brother was, and I said last I heard he was overseas on a mission for the military.”

“Thank fuck, thanks man,” Scott shook his hand, then his head. “I suppose I should reach out to Mom and Dad and let them know.”

“I agree, but I have one question.”

“What’s that?”

“Do they even have cell phones?”

“Shit, I don’t know. I know I tried to call them when I settled here, and the numbers I have for them didn’t work. Since they went off grid in the middle of Kansas I think they got rid of all modern technology.”

“I suppose when I return to LA I could swing by and let them know.” Duane scowled when Scott started howling beside him. “What the hell came over you?”

“Can you see Cara living on a farm with no modern conveniences or electricity.”

That was how Julie found them when she came out to speak with Scott. “Are you guys okay?” she asked when they couldn’t stop laughing, and had to wipe their eyes.

“Yeah,” Scott said as he reached out and pulled Julie onto his lap. He looked at Duane with a raised brow. “Do you mind?”

“Not at all.” Duane waved his hand at him and grinned.

“Duane is here because he has to make a decision about his job. He’s thinking of talking with Erin about starting a security business here.” He paused when Julie looked at Duane.

“It wouldn’t hurt. I know that Ryan and Pru are getting married in a couple of months. I don’t know how many outside people will be coming, but I know that Erin’s a little concerned about all the traffic going by Erin’s Way. I’m Erin’s assistant in case you didn’t know.”

“I didn’t, and thanks for telling me what you did. I can work with that. There’s no other way onto The Broken Wheel?”

“Not yet, the only other way will be when Clark is finished with the construction, then it will be only certain people that have access to Broken. Have Scott or Erin take you around tomorrow.”

“I will. I also told Scott that I got the call that Cara will be released from prison soon. If she doesn’t get into trouble, it should be within the next month.”

“Cara?” Julie looked at Scott then her eyes flared. “Your sister?”

“Yeah, you caught us laughing because I made the suggestion that she could go live with our parents.”

“What’s so wrong with that?”

“Okay, picture this,” Scott chuckled as he looked at Duane, then back at her. “A younger version of Mrs. Garrison.”

“Okay, high society, entitled, bitch, thinks their shit smells like roses?”

“Yeah, that about sums up my ex-wife,” Duane laughed.

“Okay,” Scott said. “As I said, a younger version of Mrs. Garrison living like the Amish.”

“No, no, I can’t picture that. Unless you see the screeching, bitching, swearing, complaining, and her being run over by farm animals.” Her description put the two men into squeals of laughter again and Julie just shook her head as they did. She waited for them to calm down, then leaned in and kissed the side of Scott’s head. “I just came out to tell you I’m going to turn in. It’s almost midnight.”

“Holy shit,” Duane said as he looked at his watch. “It’s that late?”

“Yeah.”

“Shit, I’m sorry, man,” he said as he stood and started to bank the fire. “I caught a nap when I arrived because I couldn’t go any further. I slept for six hours this afternoon.”

“Don’t worry about it, you can join us tomorrow, or go talk to Erin. I’ll see you in the morning.” They parted and when Duane went back into his cabin, he grabbed a bottle of water, then fired up his computer. Three hours later, he shut it down and went to bed. He was glad he had found his former in-laws online and sent them a message about their daughter. Time would tell whether they would act on it or not.

Duane jerked awake at the knock on his door and after making sure he had his boxers on, because he preferred to sleep naked, he hurried to the door and whipped it open. “Can I help you?”

“Hi, I’m Pru, I don’t know who you are, but since your truck was here all night I was wondering if you needed any eggs. I know this cabin is stocked with only minimal food.”

Before Duane could answer, Scott called out from next door. “Pru, that’s Duane Manchester.”

“Oh, the FBI guy. Do you have a case?”

“No, I’m here on a mini vacay.”

“Oh, then come over to Scott’s for breakfast,” she said, and turned on her heel. As Duane went back into the cabin, he smiled and shook his head as his brain kicked in and he remembered that Pru had TBI. He was going to like staying here. He jumped in the shower and walked out the door twenty minutes later. He didn’t have to knock on the door of the cabin since it was already open. He walked in and smiled when Julie handed him a cup of coffee. As he sipped, he saw the three couples working in unison getting a meal on the table. For the first time in a long time he felt jealous that he didn’t have what they had in his life. With a shake of his head, he stood there and continued to watch.

“Do you guys do this every morning?”

“Nope,” Pru said as she looked up from whipping eggs in a bowl. “I was being nosy and wanted to know whose truck that was next door.”

He shrugged and sipped his coffee to hide his grin when Ryan jerked his head up as Duane had spoken. With a grin, the other man came toward him with his hand extended.

“Manchester,” Ryan nodded as he shook hands, then leaned in. “I told her not to interrupt.”

“It’s okay, I needed to get up anyway.” The two men stood side by side as they watched the others cook bacon, sausage, pancakes, and French toast.

“Isn’t that a lot of food?”

“Yeah, but we’ll load up on the carbs because we don’t know when or if we’ll get lunch. Then we’ll have a large meal for dinner.”

“Hey,” Pru said as she looked up and looked around wildly. She didn’t stop until her eyes landed on Ryan and she smiled sweetly at him. “I just had a thought.”

“And that was?” Ryan smiled back at his fiancée.

Instead of answering she looked at Duane. “How long are you here for?”

“I have to leave here by noon tomorrow, why?”

Pru looked back at Ryan. “Please, correct me if I’m wrong, but didn’t we have a discussion about cleaning out some meat in our freezer in order to make room for the chickens? Or did I dream it?”

“No, you didn’t dream it, it was three days ago that we discussed it.” He looked at Duane. “Pru has chickens that she has for eggs, which provides all of us with them, and then she has chickens that she raised for meat. They don’t lay eggs. We got the call last night that we can pick up the chickens today. I’ll be running over to the processor later to pick them up.”

“I thought it was a real conversation,” Pru laughed as she laid the bread in the hot pan. When she looked back at Ryan she laughed, “Oh, sorry, my thought, what if we have a community BBQ tonight for Duane? You know, like we did when Julie and Sara were here the first time.”

“You don’t have to do anything special for me,” Duane tried to protest, but he stared in shock as everyone pulled their phones and started sending text messages.

Scott was the one to answer. “It’s no trouble, and Pru is right, if we want chicken in our freezers, then we need to remove some of the beef.” He opened the top of the refrigerator and pulled out two packages, then reached in and took out another one.

“Steaks,” he said with a grin. “We told everyone you’re here and about the BBQ, this will give them time to remove something from the freezer to thaw for tonight, and they can put something in the crockpot, or come back during the day to make something as the dish to pass.” As he talked, he’d gotten out two large pots, filled them with water, and when one of the frying pans was removed from the stove, he put the pot of water on it. “I’ll boil water for macaroni salad.”

“Why two pans?”

“Because there could be about thirty people here tonight and whatever we don’t eat, we can pack in our lunches for the next couple of days.”

“Okay, but still, you don’t have to go to all this trouble.”

“No trouble, we do it a lot in the summer. When we’re all together we can talk about what’s going on.”

“And what is going on?”

“I’m not being mean, but as far as you’re concerned, nothing. I mean there’s no threats against us nor anything on Riceman property, at least I don’t think so. However, we are extremely busy with new construction.”

Duane took the seat offered and waited until the women had put food on their plates first, before taking any for himself. He noted the other men had done the same thing. They didn’t discuss anything deep as they ate, and Duane just sat there and listened to them. For the first time in his life, he felt like he belonged. He knew right then and there that he would be retiring in three months instead of taking a desk job with the FBI. He not only liked the people he would be around every day, but he also liked the area. He couldn’t wait to talk with Erin and get his ducks in a row before he had to leave to finish his life in Los Angeles.