Chapter 9
CHAPTER 9
Several hours later, Julie looked around the table at all the couples sitting there and shook her head in wonder. “Do you do this every day?” She waved her hand around to indicate the meal they had put together and were enjoying.
“No,” several people responded.
It was Scott who explained, “We get together like this for important holidays. Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter, and the Fourth of July. Other times we get together once a month just to catch up with everyone. Today’s meal is in honor of you and Sara being here. We thought it would give you both the opportunity to get to know everyone, and we could enjoy a meal.”
“Oh, I understand.”
“Before all the men started arriving,” Erin spoke from the other end of the table. “I would have the women come up to the main house one night a week and we would take turns cooking and getting to know each other. That worked for a couple of years. Reid was the first one to arrive, and we still did that, but by the time the others arrived, it got to be too much for one or two people to cook for everyone, so we turned it into a pot luck dinner.”
“I like that idea,” Julie said as she continued to eat. When she was done, she sat back and looked around the table.
Scott smiled at her and asked with a laugh, “So, how did you like what you saw today?”
“Oh my god! I can’t believe everything you guys do.”
“You didn’t see it all,” Erin laughed at Julie and Sara’s shocked expression. “I saved New Double for tomorrow.”
“Wow, and you did all this on your own?”
“No, I came up with the idea, and I had outside help implementing the cabins and the barn for Broken. Naomi was the one that helped with the horses there, and training the women to work with them. Since Clark came home, he took control of Broken Two and has been working on getting that off the ground. As for New Double, that was all Ducky’s idea. I never would have thought about doing what he suggested. I liked the idea and went with it.”
“What’s New Double?” Sara asked.
“My ranch,” Naomi said, then shook her head. “It’s sort of confusing. I grew up on The Double A Ranch over in Wyoming. I’m only stating the truth here, but my father was only a sperm donor and didn’t do anything on the ranch. My mother left before I was even three months old, so my grandparents raised me. Anyway, when I was three, we were at the county fair and they had sheep riding competitions. As a joke Grandpa entered me. I won.” She grinned, and everyone laughed at her enthusiasm about that remembered time.
“Anyway, Grandpa took it upon himself to enter me in competitions like that, and Clem and Cole already worked for him, so Cole took over more of the manager responsibilities, while Clem trained me. I was eight when I started entering the junior rodeos as a barrel racer. Thirteen when I went professional and bought my own horse. I was good, I won.”
“So what happened?” Julie asked quietly when everyone became silent.
“My father got into some gambling debts with a very bad person. He showed up at the National Rodeo with a woman who I thought was his current piece, turned out to be way more complicated than that. When they saw me back in the staging area, they were talking to me, and I didn’t realize it until just recently, but they drugged my horse. I was on my final run and my horse stumbled, I fell, Princess rolled with me several times, I was taken away by ambulance and Princess was dead.” At this time, Naomi stared off into space and her voice had turned into a monotone, and Julie noticed that Clark reached out to put one arm around her, and took a hand in his to soothe her.
“At the hospital, the doctors told me I was paralyzed and would be in a wheelchair the rest of my life. I later found out he had lied to me because my sperm donor and the bad guy he was in debt to threatened his life if they tried to fix me. I was in a wheelchair until the first of this year. Anyway, after we dealt with some problems we had here, it was Ducky that went to Manny and Scott with a solution. They in turn came to Erin and me.”
Erin then told the sisters what she had endured years ago about the bank manager trying to steal her ranch, and how she had been able to save Ducky’s
“It was just sitting there empty, and it was the perfect solution to get Naomi’s horses here.” Ducky shrugged, but he wore a proud grin when he looked at Julie.
“Wow, just wow.” Julie didn’t know what else to say, so she gave a half laugh and asked. “So, with everything you have so far, do you have a grocery store somewhere on your ranch.” When no one laughed with her, she whipped her head over to Scott and saw he looked embarrassed.
“Well,” a woman said, and when Julie whipped her head around to her, she continued. “I’m Pru. I’m dating Ryan.” She pointed to the man with the eye patch sitting next to her. “I have chickens. They are layers and meat.”
“I know what those are. Layers produce the eggs, meat chickens are specifically bred for meat, they don’t lay eggs.”
“Correct, with Ducky’s help, I’m able to rotate my layers so that when some of them molt, or stop laying, the next batch is ready. I am currently getting at least six dozen eggs a day. I take several dozen into town once a week to the local bed and breakfast. I pass the others out to the people here on the ranch. In the next couple of weeks, I’ll be sending the meaters, that’s what I call them, to the butcher. I should have at least fifty chickens to send to him. I will distribute them to others if they want them.”
“For free?” Sara asked in shock.
“No,” Ryan spoke then and looked at Pru with a raised brow. He looked at Sara, “if anyone wants any chicken, then we can divide up the price of the processing and charge them that.”
“Just like I do,” Erin said. “However, I don’t have chickens, I have at least fifty head of cattle that I send at least six to the butcher every two years. If anyone wants to fill their freezer, I charge them a portion of the processing fee.”
“I’m Ann,” the next woman spoke, and smiled at Julie. “I’m dating Manny, and I work over at New Double. I made a suggestion to Manny when they are building the new cabins, and we went to Erin with it, she agreed, so I’m helping oversee that side project.”
“What’s that?”
“We’ve set aside five acres to put in a garden. I thought that instead of just one of us doing the entire thing, we could turn it into a community garden. People can have their own plots and plant what they like. We can easily share and exchange if we want.”
“No green beans for me,” Erin laughed and Julie saw her shudder. She smiled, then looked at Pru when she said she didn’t want any peas.
The next person that spoke was Ducky. “I have all my wife’s canning supplies. I’m sure that if I read up on things I can start canning the vegetables when they come ready. We’re talking that we won’t be planting until next Spring, so we have plenty of time. Now that we’re on the subject, I’ll get right to it. Since we have time, and it’s peak canning season now, why don’t each of you pick up a case or two of the sized jars you want every time you go to town? As I said, I have all my wife’s stuff, and plenty of jars, but not enough for everyone.”
“I like that idea,” Erin said, then turned to look down the table. “Scott, when you get with the builder on Monday, see if there’s a way to increase the size of the pantry in the new cabins.” She looked at the others. “The rest of you, look at what you have and let Scott know if you have to expand what you already have. I’m sure the engineer and builder can come up with something.”
Everyone scowled when Ryan and Pru started laughing, and it was Pru that looked at Julie with a grin. “I’m not being disrespectful, but I see you have a prosthetic leg.”
“Yes, I was in the Navy, our ship was attacked and I was pinned beneath some rubble. Thankfully, no one lost their life, but about a dozen of us lost a limb, or were injured enough not to be able to continue with our military career.”
“Thank you for tell us that. Anyway, I too was injured. I was in the Air Force, and the helicopter I was training in crashed and I ended up with TBI. I’m going to tell you right now, some days I spaz out that you can snap your fingers in front of my face and I won’t know you’re doing it. Other days, I talk so fast I don’t make any sense, and yet, others I’m normal, today is one of my normal days.”
“Is it hard?” Sara asked as she looked at Pru in concern.
“Not since coming to Broken. When I was in the outside world and would have a spaz day, I would freak out. Some days I would go to the grocery store, spaz out, and panic because I didn’t know where I was, or why I was there. Since coming to Broken, the other girls have been able to help me deal with it. Now, since I’m dating Ryan, I feel like I have more normal days than spaz days.”
“What about you excessive talking days?”
“I still get those. Maybe you can talk to your professors at school about me. My doctors told me that I have these episodes because my neurons were messed up for so long, and they either don’t fire like they should, or they are overstimulated and fire too rapidly. Those are the zippy days.” She grinned when Ryan snorted a laugh from beside her.
“It’s not something that’s really noticeable unless you’re getting to know Prudora,” Ryan said, and looked at her with love and affection which caused Julie’s heart to clench. She wished someone looked at her like that. She looked over at Scott and saw him looking at her, and her heart jumped for joy.
“Anyway, I’m not picking on Prudora, but I saw her in the grocery store once. I knew she hated peas, but there she was, stuffing pea pods in a bag. While I talked with her, I put them in my cart, filled another bag with asparagus and broccoli, and put it in her cart. I don’t think she even realized what she did.”
“Never, ever,” a woman down the table laughed, and looked at Pru with a grin. “I’m Opal, and I’m with Denver. But never, ever let Pru go to the grocery store without a list. She will tap her head and say she has it, and if you don’t have a list, she will purchase everything she already has, and nothing she needs.”
“Can you give an example?” Sara asked.
“Milk,” Pru laughed. “I went to the store and I needed milk. I love milk, I had several boxes of cereal, but no milk. When I went shopping, I had cereal on the brain, and I bought cereal, but no milk.”
“I’m not laughing at you,” Sara said with a chuckle. “But that seems like it could be frustrating at times.”
“Like I said, it was when I was on the outside, but since coming to Broken, I’ve been a lot better.”
“She has,” Marcia said after she introduced herself, and said she was dating Lloyd. “I can say this with love now, but when Pru first arrived here, she was a mess.”
“I can understand all this,” Julie said. “But what does this have to do with expanding your pantry?”
Ryan was the one that laughed. “Because of Prudora’s TBI, she hates clutter. If you visit her house, everything is in its place, and there isn’t anything on the surface of tables or bookshelves. The pantry we currently use is where she stores her books and writing supplies. We store the food in the cupboards.”
“Having clean surfaces and everything out of sight helps calm my neurons. Or that’s what I tell myself.”
“It works,” Ryan admitted. “If I leave something out, and she’s okay, but spots it, she starts to get agitated. I found once I remove it, or clean up after myself, she’s fine.”
“Wow, can I use what you told me with my professors?” Sara asked. “I’m going to be in Denver for the next six months taking extended courses on how the brain works. If Erin agrees, when I’m done, I’d like to return here and hang my shingle out over at Broken Two. Scott had told me some of what I would be dealing with. I want to be a therapist and specialize in trauma and PTSD.”
“Why those particular areas?” Clark asked.
“Julie will never admit it, but I saw a dramatic change in her when it hit her that her career was over. She had already put it on hold for three years because of me, and when she came home and was told she couldn’t return, she was devastated. I tried as best I could, but she was eventually able to get over most of it.”
“It’s not your fault, Sara,” Julie looked at her in concern.
“I know, but I still feel guilty.” She turned to the others with a heavy sigh. “Our parents were killed by a drunk driver just before the Fourth of July weekend. Julie had graduated from high school a few weeks before, she was eighteen, I was fifteen. She was to leave for Navy boot camp by the beginning of August.”
“Let’s back up a little bit,” Julie said as she sipped her water, and settled back in her chair. “We didn’t know it until later, but one of the emergency response members knew our parents. He also knew Aunt Lydia. He was in the hospital when they were pronounced, and he talked to the police. They called Aunt Lydia and told her over the phone. She rushed to our house and was there when the police arrived to notify us of their deaths.”
“Shit,” Erin said, and shook her head at Clark. “I was unconscious and still being dug out of the wreckage when Mom and Dad died. They had to come here and tell the guys.” The Riceman siblings shared a look, then turned back to Julie and Sara.
“Aunt Lydia was our rock. Thankfully, years ago, she had a conversation with our mother, they were sisters, about funeral arrangements. See, when I was ten, and Sara was seven, their mother died suddenly and they were clueless about the funeral. After they went through that, they decided to plan their own, so none of their family had to go through what they did. They even gave each other the information. Armed with that, the planning went smoothly. Since I was eighteen, I was given guardianship over Sara, but we didn’t know that until after the funeral. Aunt Lydia knew it, and was able to get temporary guardianship, which enabled her to finalize the funeral plans.” Julie paused and looked at her sister who took over the tale.
“After the funerals, and the reading of the will, Aunt Lydia sat us down and talked to us like we were normal people.”
“What do you mean by that?” Scott asked with a frown.
“I don’t think Julie knows this, I never told her, but the day of the funeral, I was sitting in the corner, you know, a fifteen-year-old girl just buried her parents. To say I was at a loss as to what to do would be an understatement. That’s all water under the bridge now, but I sat there and I overheard several conversations.” Sara turned to look at Julie with a disgusted look on her face. “Ass-Boom-Boom-hole Garrison’s mother.”
“Shit,” Julie said and reached for her sister’s hand. She looked at Scott. “He’s the guy you had a talking with at the restaurant.” At his confused look, she giggled. “Clean up on aisle four.”
Scott laughed as explained what that meant, and by everyone laughing or chuckling, it lightened the mood.
“What did Mrs. Garrison say?”
“First, she literally clutched her pearls, and would say to anyone who listened, ‘Why those poor, poor girls. Whatever will they do with such a large house? I wonder if they would sell it, there is no possible way they can afford a place such as this.’”
“Are you fucking kidding me?” Julie stared at her sister in shock.
“I kid you not, and Aunt Lydia stood right beside me when that witch said that. Aunt Lydia leaned down and told me not to worry.”
Julie looked at the others. “In our hometown, the Garrisons believe they are the richest, most affluent people in the town. All because Mr. Garrison owns a used car dealership, and his son was the captain of the football team.”
Sara giggled then. “He went by the moniker of Boom-Boom. He is three years older than Julie, making him six years older than me. He was away at college when the accident happened. A year later, the Garrisons rented the local community center and invited the entire town there to watch their son play in the big game. They had large TVs brought in, so everyone could watch in different locations of the center. It was catered. It seems the only people not invited were Julie and me.”
“Why?” almost everyone asked.
“Because after what Aunt Lydia and I overheard Mrs. Garrison say, Aunt Lydia invited her over to tea in our place a few days later and told her that if she ever heard her talk about her nieces like she did at the funeral, she would expose her affair to everyone in town. That shut her up.” Sara looked at Julie. “It pays to be sulking in a corner.”
Everyone laughed, and Scott asked next, “What happened at the community center?”
“Oh,” Sara laughed, and Julie took up the tale.
“Now, according to his parents, Boom-Boom was the best thing since sliced bread. They bragged that there would be scouts from the NFL there looking to sign him. In the third quarter, he was tackled and if you saw it, it looked bad. But if you really watched it play by play, he didn’t get tackled, he stumbled. He played up an injury so badly that he had to be carried off the field in one of those ATVs. The crowd cheered that just before they went underground, he lifted his head and gave a thumbs up.”
“Oh my god? How hurt was he?” Perry asked.
Sara and Julie giggled. “He wasn’t, he tripped over his own two feet, and ended up with a sprain so mild they didn’t even wrap it. It was like a twisted ankle you could walk off. According to the three of them, he was injured so badly that he lost his chance to sign with the NFL, and he had to come home to help with the car dealership because his father had a heart attack at seeing his baby boy injured on the field like that.” She giggled as she shook her head. “I know it’s not a laughing matter, but the way the acted you would think he lost his entire leg during that game. No offense to my sister, nor anyone sitting at this table.”
“But, it wasn’t like that, was it?” Erin asked with a smirk.
“Nope, it turned out that he didn’t want to go into the NFL because they never would have taken him. He had to maintain a certain GPA and he was only half a point above the required grade. To this day, he plays up his injury, and it makes for a great sales pitch.” Sara looked around the table with a grin.
“Never ever buy a car at Garrisons outside of Phoenix because they only sell lemons. Boom-Boom is such a smooth talker that when the customers come in to complain how bad the car is they were sold, they end up leaving with yet another bad lemon.”
“Question,” Scott asked as he leaned on his folded arms to look at the two women. “Do you think he will give you any hassle when you return from here?”
“I don’t think right away, but I do think he will when and if we decide to sell the house. See, our house is classified as the best in the neighborhood and we’ve been able to maintain it over the years. Mrs. Garrison has wanted to own that house since before Mom and Dad even bought it. She went to them several times to try to buy it, they refused. Sara and I made a pact that if or when we decided to sell, we will tell the realtor that we will not entertain any offers from any of the Garrisons or their family. We know we are probably shooting ourselves in the foot, but we really don’t want them to own it.”
“Why do you keep saying if or when you sell?” Erin asked.
“Because you haven’t offered us a job yet.” Julie grinned at her, causing the others to laugh.