Chapter 2 #2
“And what does that mean?” Nita asked as she joined them.
“That we won’t need a designated driver,” Billy Joe answered with a chuckle. “We can all three get sloshed if we want to, and so can these kids.”
“We’re a little old to be called kids,” Joelle objected.
“Honey, all three of us are more than twice your age, so you are kids to us,” Sharlene told her. “Just drive straight ahead. We’re in cabin number three on the left side of the road. We’ll meet you there.”
As they drove from the office to the cabin, Joelle noticed several older folks milling about.
Some were all decked out in western gear complete with chaps, six-guns on their hips, and fancy boots with designs stitched into the uppers.
She picked up the brochure with the map on the back and giggled when she read that this week was senior citizens’ week.
“What’s so funny?” Ford asked.
“You don’t have to outrun a bunch of beautiful, young women chasing after you at the honky-tonk tonight, but you might have to worry about the cougars,” Joelle answered. “This is senior citizens’ week. Except for the folks that are assistants, you have to be at least sixty-five to be here.”
Ford eased the vehicle into the parking space beside the cabin. “Then I guess we aren’t drivers anymore, but assistants from this point on? I wonder if that job pays more.”
“I wouldn’t know,” Joelle joked. “How much are you getting paid?”
“Same as you,” Ford answered. “All the food we can eat, a place to sleep, and the promise of a huge ranch when we get home.”
“You got it,” she told him as she opened the door and headed across the small yard.
The cabin was the same as all the other buildings on the dude ranch—rustic-looking and made of split logs.
A breeze had set the rocking chairs on the front porch in motion, and a wreath made of barbed wire and bright silk flowers graced the door.
“I’ve got the keys to the trailer,” Sharlene yelled from the edge of the yard and tossed them across the distance toward Ford.
He caught them in midair and set about getting things unloaded and onto the porch while the three older folks made their way out of the bus and to the cabin.
“We’ve got about an hour to explore this place, and then it’s suppertime, and after that is a meet-and-greet dance at the honky-tonk,” Billy Joe said as he stepped up onto the porch and sat down in a rocking chair.
“You two young’uns are on your own for a little while.
But part of your job is to go eat with us and go dancing with us tonight. ”
“You don’t need to bring the tents inside,” Sharlene told them.
“Do assistants get paid more than drivers?” Ford teased.
“Nope, the pay is the same,” Sharlene answered for him. “Room and board and a lovely vacation. I’ll unlock the door, and we’ll go pick out our rooms. Y’all can just put all the luggage in the living room, and we’ll sort it out from there.”
“A real bed sounds pretty good,” Joelle said as she picked up a suitcase in each hand.
Ford stacked three suitcases up and carried them all at once. “Yep, but I might be sleeping on the porch if my grandpa keeps snoring once he’s in a bed and not out on the ground in a tent. I’ve kind of enjoyed sleeping with you. I’m surprised you haven’t asked me to make an honest woman of you.”
“Hey, now,” Joelle scolded. “We were sleeping in the same area, not together, and you haven’t asked me to make an honest man of you, either.”
“Touché,” he said with a grin.
The old folks claimed their luggage as quickly as it was brought inside. In just a few minutes, they had hauled it all into their rooms and had left the cabin to go explore.
“We’ll see y’all at supper,” Nita had said over her shoulder.
Joelle plopped down on a buttery-soft leather sofa set in front of a stone fireplace. “We might need that later, but right now, the air-conditioning feels pretty dang good. I worked up a sweat bringing all that stuff in.”
Ford opened up a cooler and took out two longneck bottles of beer, twisted the caps off both, and handed one to her. “We deserve a cold beer after these past three days.”
“They are cute, though, aren’t they?” she said and then took a long drink.
“This is so good, but I got to admit, even with all the hippie music and riding in a vehicle that looks like it sprang up in a bougainvillea forest, it’s good to see them all having such a good time.
I was afraid they’d get bored or homesick. ”
“Trip ain’t over yet.” Ford grinned.
“You’ve got a point,” she said and pointed toward an open door.
“I would guess that my room is that one over there since the other doors are closed. I see two beds in it, so if the noise levels get too loud, come on over. I won’t need them both, and we’ve slept in closer quarters than that the past two nights. ”
Ford picked up his duffel bag, crossed the room, and opened one of the doors. “This looks like Grandpa’s stuff, so I guess this is where I’m supposed to be for the next week.”
“I’m going to unpack”—Joelle stood up—“and then I’m going to sit in one of those rocking chairs out there until suppertime.”
“See you out there in a few minutes,” Ford said.
Joelle didn’t mean to fall asleep when she finished unpacking and stretched out on one of the beds, but she did. An hour later she heard excited voices in the living room, checked her phone, and groaned.
“Took a little nap, did you?” Sharlene asked. “Well, darlin’, it’s time to get up and go to supper with us. We thought you two kids might already be at the dining hall.”
“Do I need to get all dressed up?” Joelle asked.
“Nope, it’s casual tonight. The last night we’re here we can dress either in vintage clothes or semiformal,” Sharlene answered.
“If you comb the tangles out of that mane of hair, I reckon you’ll be fine in your jeans and shirt.
And right after supper, we’re going over to the honky-tonk.
It closes at ten on senior week so us old biddies can get our beauty rest.”
“And tomorrow?” Joelle asked.
“Horseback riding in the morning and a shooting contest at two o’clock. You kids can do whatever you want,” Sharlene answered and then clapped her hands. “Chop! Chop! Everyone is waiting on the porch.”
***
Ford lay perfectly still in the sand waiting to finish his mission so he could throw off the camouflage and get to his exfil coordinates.
The targets were moving toward him, and his finger was on the trigger.
Then he heard the whirring of helicopter blades coming over his head and knew in his heart that they were not the calvary coming to help him, but the enemy arriving to rain hellfire down upon him.
He began to sweat, hoping that they couldn’t spot him in the sand-colored suit he wore.
Then the bullets started coming down like a hard rain.
The only thing louder than that noise was the beating of his heart.
“Wake up, Grandson!” Billy Joe touched him on the shoulder.
Ford’s eyes popped wide open, and he sat straight up and hoped that hadn’t given away his position. For a split second, he wondered how the weather had dropped from downright scorching hot to cool enough to make him shiver, but then he remembered that it was just another bad dream.
“Nightmares again?” Billy Joe asked. “I thought the VA was supposed to have helped with all that.”
“They did their best,” Ford said as he swung his legs over the side of the bed, “but they said it will take time. Personally, I think it’s going to take a miracle. Is it suppertime already?”
“It is, and then we’re going right over to do some dancing. I hope your grandma don’t mind if I two-step around the floor with some of these women. I ain’t held a woman in my arms since she passed on, and she was one jealous lady,” Billy Joe answered.
“She would want you to be happy,” Ford assured him.
Billy Joe patted him on the shoulder. “She would want the same for you. Maybe a good supper and a few beers will help you sleep better tonight.”
“That would be great, but I don’t expect miracles,” Ford said and headed out of the bedroom.
He glanced over at Joelle’s room and wondered if she was the miracle that kept him from having the vivid dreams. He hadn’t had one in the two nights he’d slept beside her on the floor of the VW bus, and yet when he just lay down for a short nap, the dreams had returned.
“Seems to me like just looking at all those flowers and symbols would cause more nightmares than being the lone survivor of a mission that took out the rest of my team,” he muttered.
“What was that?” his grandfather asked. “You got to speak up. My hearin’ ain’t what it used to be.”
“I was talking to myself,” he answered.
“No problem. A man’s got to visit with himself at times to straighten things out,” Billy Joe said.
Ford and Joelle hung back and walked behind the three older folks on the way up the road to the dining hall. As they walked, his hand brushed against hers several times. He felt a little like a teenager, not knowing whether it was an accident or if maybe she was making the first move.
The place was buzzing with excitement when they arrived, and the smell of fried chicken and fresh-baked bread filled the room.
Supper was served buffet style, and the guests sat around tables that seated ten.
That left five places for strangers at their table, but by the time the meal was over, they were already friends and talking about what part of the country they came from.
When they had all finished, they went next door to the honky-tonk, where Billy Joe bought the first round of beers for all ten of them, then plugged five dollars’ worth of quarters into the jukebox and grabbed Nita by the hand.
“I’ll be back soon as this song is over to dance with you, Sharlene, so get ready.” Billy Joe winked at her. “One of us needs to hold down the fort at all times, which means stay at our table, so that the old people who are here don’t steal it from us.”
“Joelle and I can hold down the table,” Ford told him. “And Grandpa, you are old.”
Billy Joe and Nita both shook their fingers at Ford.
“Who are you calling old?” Nita asked.
“Ain’t a one of us going to be eighty until this summer, and old ain’t a number anyway,” Billy Joe said. “It’s a state of mind, and I ain’t never going to get old.”
“And one more thing,” Sharlene added as she shook her head. “You are not going to hold down the table. You are going to get out there and dance—like right now.”
Joelle took a long drink of her beer and stood up. “Yes, ma’am. Come on, Ford. You can step on my toes for one dance anyway.”
“Hey now, I’m a great dancer,” Ford said as he grabbed her hand and pulled her out onto the dance floor to Travis Tritt singing “Can I Trust You with My Heart.” He wrapped his arms around her waist and felt the vibes twirl all around him as she put her arms around his neck and fell into perfect step with him.
The song ended, but he held on to her while Kenny Chesney sang “You Had Me from Hello,” which was one of Ford’s favorite songs, but that night the lyrics meant more than they ever had before.
“I wonder why Billy Joe played these songs,” Joelle whispered, her breath warm on his neck.
“Because they’re slow songs, and a fast one would take too much energy for him,” Ford suggested, but he knew that subtlety wasn’t Billy Joe’s long suit.
His grandfather wanted him to listen to the lyrics and really take a look at Joelle as a woman he could put down roots with.
She was a great person, and the issue wasn’t with her, but more with the fact that Ford wondered what she would see in a veteran who was dealing with PTSD.