This Hick?

Chapter 32

CHAPTER 32

CASSIDY

I never thought I would see the day when I would be up to my elbows in shiny hearts, pink ribbons, and enough twinkle lights to cover half of Kentucky. But here I was, surrounded by a bunch of wide-eyed boys from my Sunday program, trying to figure out how to build Valentine’s Day arches out of old barn wood and Christmas lights.

It could be worse. I could be on balloon duty. I figured this was the lesser of two evils. When it was time to make the balloon arch, I was going to be able to point to these and say I did my part already.

But now, I had to figure out how to make ugly ass wood into something pretty. Something worth a hundred and fifty buck ticket.

“Alright, guys,” I called out, pushing up the brim of my cowboy hat as I surveyed the mess of wood, nails, and tools scattered across the makeshift workbench we’d set up in the barn. “Let’s make this look good. We’re going for rustic, not post-apocalyptic junkyard.”

The kids had been excited when I invited them up to the ranch for an extra day of work. A chance to get their hands dirty and be part of the event planning. It was all hands on deck for this Valentine’s Day thing, and if I was being honest, we didn’t have the funds to buy fancy decorations. What we did have was plenty of old wood from the outbuildings and a bunch of Christmas lights stashed away in storage. Why buy what we could build ourselves?

Ginny was all gung-ho about this party. Last night, she wouldn’t shut up about it. She forced me and Kenny to look at no less than a thousand pictures of Valentine’s decorations.

Her enthusiasm must have been infectious because here I was, actually getting a kick out of figuring this whole thing out. It was like a puzzle, seeing how we could transform simple materials into something grand. I wasn’t going to admit it, but I had spent some time browsing rustic decorations, which was what inspired this whole thing. But bringing my vision into reality was tricky. I had to do this well. I was the one with the bright idea to have this party. I wanted Karen to be impressed with my contribution.

I watched the boys hammer and use the handsaws. They were taking direction well. I couldn’t help but feel a sense of pride watching them all work. They were good kids. They weren’t afraid to get their hands dirty.

“Careful, Tommy,” I called out as one of the younger boys swung his hammer.

“I know,” he said.

Of course he did. He was fourteen and obviously knew everything there was to know. I remembered being that age and thinking I knew it all.

I chuckled under my breath and shook my head. I went back to the sketch I had very roughly drawn out. I wanted to surprise everyone. It was going to be the centerpiece of the entrance. It was the first thing our guests would see when they walked through the door.

I twisted some wire around a piece of wood. Another one of the kids was going through the tedious process of untangling lights that had been sitting in storage for years. Once he got them done, we were going to wrap the shit out of the wood.

“Hey, Cassidy,” one of the boys, Hunter, piped up.

“What’s up?” I asked.

“You got a date to this dance thing?” he asked.

I grinned, shaking my head. “Nah, kid, I’m too busy trying to keep all of you in line.”

Hunter raised an eyebrow, clearly not buying it. “Too busy, or too scared to ask anyone?”

I chuckled and shook my head. I was not about to talk about my love life with a bunch of teenagers. “You asked that girl to prom?” I countered.

Hunter flashed a grin and held up his hands. “Okay, okay, I’ll get back to work.”

“Obviously, he’s going to ask Karen,” Wyatt said with a smirk. He was always the one to stir the pot. He had a knack for sniffing out anyone’s soft spot, and right now, I was his target. He was a good kid that didn’t have the best home life. He got through it with humor.

“It’s not quite like that,” I said. “We’re both going to be working our butts off to make sure this thing goes off without a hitch. We’ll both be there. We don’t need to go together.”

Wyatt rolled his eyes. “Yeah, right. You totally want to take her as your date. You can’t fool us.”

The boys all started chiming in, and suddenly, I was the one getting roasted. I didn’t mind. If there was one thing I’d learned working with these kids, it was that they gave back as good as they got.

“Is Cassidy going to wear his boots, cowboy hat, and Carhartt jacket?” Jason asked, making a dramatic show of how I’d walk into the dance. He was playing up the bow-legged walk so many cowboys had.

“Probably won’t even shave!” Wyatt added.

I gave them all a mock stern look, folding my arms over my chest. “Alright, you little troublemakers, enough of that. We’re here to work, not gossip.”

Hunter wasn’t done though. “My sister went to prom last year. Her date picked her up in this sweet car. He wore this slick suit that matched her dress, and he even brought her a goofy corsage. Girls like that. Are you going to pull out any stops like that, Cassidy? Or just show up in whatever you wore to feed the chickens?”

The image of me showing up in my dusty work boots and cowboy hat next to Karen, all dressed up, flashed in my head. It wasn’t far from the truth. I’d been thinking about asking her to the dance, but every time the thought crossed my mind, I felt like a nervous kid again. I wasn’t exactly the flowers and corsage type.

“Y’all need to worry more about building this arch and less about my wardrobe,” I said, pointing to the wood.

Someone made a clucking sound.

“Ha. Ha. Slackers. Put your backs into it. Let’s get this done. The sooner we’re done, the sooner we can eat Bodie’s brownies. He’s trying out some new recipes for the party. We get to be the guinea pigs.”

The boys groaned, but they got to work, hammering and measuring the wood like we’d planned. It was a ragtag operation, but the kids were surprisingly good at it. A few of them had a knack for construction—probably from years of helping out around their own houses or their folks’ farms.

The wood we collected was a collection of scraps from old outbuildings that had been taken down or downed by a storm. It was weathered and gray, but that just added to the charm. The plan was to create something simple but romantic. If we could pull it off, it would look like one of those fancy weddings you see in magazines—minus the cost. Those venues paid a lot of money to look rustic.

What we were creating was authentically rustic. As we worked, the boys talked about school, sports, and girls. I found myself enjoying their company. They were good kids. It was nice to have them here, part of something bigger than just a Sunday program. I wanted them to see what they could create with a little hard work. There was something very satisfying getting to see something you created. It was a sense of pride that I wanted them to experience.

Jason was hammering away next to me. “You ever take a girl to a dance, Cassidy?”

“In high school?”

“Yeah. I mean, you’re always telling us how to be gentlemen and stuff, but I’ve never seen you with a girl.”

“Yeah, when’s the last time you went on a date?” Wyatt chimed in.

I smirked and shook my head. “I’ve been busy with ranch work. Don’t have time for much else.”

The boys all exchanged looks like they didn’t believe a word of it.

“Come on, Cassidy,” Jason said. “You have a story. Did you go to prom or homecoming? Don’t cowboys do stuff like that?”

“I went to prom, alright. But it wasn’t anything like what you’re imagining. Just a small dance, nothing fancy. And I definitely didn’t show up in a suit that matched my date’s dress.”

The boys all burst out laughing at that. I couldn’t help but laugh with them. They reminded me a little of myself at their age—rough around the edges but with good hearts underneath. They needed guidance, which was what I was hoping to give them. I wanted to keep them from falling into bad habits that could ruin their futures.

We continued working, my vision coming to life a little at a time. The wood was splintered in places, but with a little sanding and some extra nails, it started to take shape. The twinkle lights would be the finishing touch. Ginny had some red gauzy fabric she was going to add. I didn’t know shit about that, but I trusted them to do it right. I could already picture how it would look once it was all set up for the event.

“How come you guys are throwing this party?” Hunter asked. “The tickets are really expensive.”

“The ranch needs the money,” I said. “This Valentine’s event is our chance to turn things around, to get families coming back to the ranch.”

“Is the ranch going to close?” Jason asked with concern.

“Not if I can help it,” I said. “Karen thinks we can make enough money at this event to get us out of the red.”

They nodded, understanding the gravity of the situation.

“Plus, it’s a chance for the community to come together, have some fun,” I said.

Hunter stopped hammering for a moment. “Maybe we could do more stuff like this, not just dances but other events to help out?”

“I like that idea,” I said, impressed by his initiative. “Maybe after the dance, we can sit down and brainstorm some ideas.”

We worked for another hour before we finished the job.

I stepped back to admire the arch. It wasn’t perfect, but it had charm. “Not bad, fellas. Not bad at all.”

“Do we get brownies now?” Wyatt asked.

I laughed and wiped the sweat from my brow. “Yeah, you’ve earned it. Let’s head up to the lodge.”

I couldn’t help but feel a twinge of pride in what the boys had accomplished. They’d come together, worked hard, and created something beautiful from a pile of old wood. They had all taken pictures of their handiwork.

“You guys wash up and take a seat,” I said. “I’ll see what Bodie has for us.”

I walked into the kitchen and laughed when I saw several trays of various desserts on the counter.

“Hey, I brought in some hungry taste testers,” I said.

He muttered under his breath. “Take those and that batch of brownies. It’s missing something. The kids will like it but it’s not what I’m going for.”

“The kids will like it.” I snorted and rolled my eyes. “They’re going to devour this.”

Bodie nodded. “They better,” he said as he watched me load up the plates with brownies and cookies.

I carried the tray into the hall. The boys sat down and dug into the desserts like they hadn’t eaten in days.

As expected, they thought the desserts were just fine. They weren’t picky. I listened to them toss around ideas for future events. It was one way to keep a steady stream of revenue coming into the ranch.

I was going to run it by Don later.