LUKE AND HANNAH
While Hannah was lost in her own
thoughts, Luke drove and tried hard to figure out what he was going to do, or
should do. Today had been the first time he’d run into Jamison since he’d
manufactured his truck breakdown so he could be on the ranch. And Jamison had
been so pissed Luke couldn’t provide any new information about Thomas and the
girl and the ranch. Luke cringed when he recalled Jamison’s tirade.
“What the goddamn fuck am I paying ya
for if ya haven’t learned a single goddamned fucking thing since ya been there?
I figured by now you’d be in that gal’s panties and her pillow talk would give
you every single fuckin’ thing I need to know. What, she’s too fuckin’ ugly for
you? I’m not payin’ you to court her. I’m payin’ ya to fuck her for
information. Did you forgit I hired ya for ya pretty face and manners, not to
mention getting your equipment out of that pawn shop?”
That’s when they became aware Hannah
had returned to the truck. Thankfully, Jamison hadn’t been shouting and Luke
hoped like hell Hannah hadn’t heard a single word of his diatribe. He wondered
if that’s why she was being so quiet. Jamison’s final words still rang in Luke’s
ears even though the man had whispered, “Now, ya get ya fuckin’ ass back over
to that twat, make nice, and find out what they’re fuckin’ plannin’ about the
fuckin’ water on their land. If’n you cant fuckin’ do it, I’ll find myself
someone who fuckin’ can.”
Luke had been desperate when Jamison
had approached him just after the first of the year. All his tack had been
pawned and he was living in his truck, barely able to feed his two horses in
the trailer. He was at the point where he’d almost decided to sell his horses
and trailer. It would hurt like hell to let them go, but it was going to be
that or they’d all starve.
It hadn’t sounded like such a big deal
when Jamison said he’d pay to get Luke’s tack out of pawn, that he’d give him
so much a month with a bonus once Luke acquired the information Jamison needed.
It had sounded like he’d get there, be there and then be gone before the month
was over. The way Jamison talked, the old man was due to die any time and then
the girl would go back to New York and he, Jamison, would be able to buy the
ranch. Sounded easy peasy, but here he was, over two months later without a
single mention of the ranch’s disposition when Thomas died. And, Luke realized
with some chagrin, he didn’t really want Thomas to die.
In fact, Luke didn’t want Thomas to
die or to have Hannah return to New York. He had come to care for them both, to
love the work he was doing at the ranch. He realized he didn’t want to play
either of them to get information, that he didn’t want to load up his horses
and leave. Luke felt like he was between a rock and a hard place. He wondered
if he should tell Thomas and Hannah about Jamison. He wondered if there was
some way he could get enough money to pay back what Jamison had already given him.
Luke didn’t want to tell Thomas and Hannah why he’d come into their lives. He
liked the way they looked at him, included him, and that would all change once
they realized he was Jamison’s snake in the grass. He heaved a big sigh.
“You okay over there Luke? You’ve been
pretty quiet since we left town, but then, I haven’t had anything to say
either.”
“I’m okay, just thinking about some
stuff. Nothing to concern your pretty head.”
“Pretty head? What, did you have
something to drink in town when I wasn’t looking?”
Luke laughed and responded, “No, didn’t
have a drop, but you should look in a mirror some time. You really are quite
pretty.”
It was Hannah’s turn to laugh, and she
adopted a southern accent to say, “Why shucks, sir, you’re gonna turn my head
if you keep talking like that. My daddy done warned me about pretty boys like
you.”
They were both laughing as they pulled
into the lane to the ranch.
Another couple of months passed and
Luke became even more engrossed in the lives of Thomas and Hannah. A couple of
times during that period, Thomas and Hannah drove into town together, but it
wasn’t their town, it was the larger little city more than an hour away. It
wasn’t reachable during winter because of all the snow in the pass. Luke tried
to find out what they were doing there, but all Hannah would say was that her gramps
had some business he needed to see to. The second trip, Luke tried to go along
or drive one or both of them, but Thomas had told him it was family business
and he needed Luke to stay behind just in case an unexpected storm hit the pass
and they couldn’t get back the same day.
Luke and Hannah continued to work
together and had become close. They could exchange a look and know exactly what
the other one was thinking. Sometimes they finished each other’s sentences.
They found some of the same topics made them both laugh. They enjoyed each
other’s company, but there had been no overt touching or seducing or anything
romantic between them.
For Luke, it was a kind of torture.
With the warmer weather Hannah had discarded some of the layers of clothes she
wore. She still didn’t show a lot of skin, but that was a good thing because
she was so pale the sun would have burned her to a crisp in no time. He couldn’t
tell for sure, but she seemed to have a nice set of boobs and her waist looked
so tiny, he thought maybe he could put his hands around her. He tried to think
of some way he could approach her, touch her, but didn’t want to ruin the great
rapport they shared and he was afraid if he tried to take the next step, she’d back
far far away.
Hannah was also experiencing some
pangs about being so close to Luke but being unable to touch him. She wanted to
trace the tattoo on his bicep that appeared when he began to wear short-sleeved
t-shirts. Actually, Hannah wanted to rip the t-shirt off him and just stand
there and gawk if his body and muscles were as defined and gorgeous as the
t-shirt tucked into his tight jeans hinted. She couldn’t bring herself to reach
out. She was too afraid Luke would back away, be insulted by her desire if she
let it show. She was seriously afraid she’d come to care for him so much that
if he pushed her away, she’d simply curl up and die.
During this time Thomas was doing less
and less around the ranch. If he wasn’t sitting inside dozing, he took himself
to the front porch where he could see his land and the valley beyond. Whenever
Luke had a minute, he’d join Thomas on the porch and listen to the old man talk
about the old days. When the evenings warmed up, the three of them would gather
on the porch and both Hannah and Luke would listen to Thomas reminisce.
When Thomas’ dad was young, and even
when Thomas was a boy, it was a hard-working ranch. There were way more cattle
than now existed. There would be a round-up every fall with lots of cowboys hired
to track the cattle down and move them from the hills to the valley. They’d all
work to get the male calves castrated, the animals held over from the previous
year, now fat and heavy from the spring and summer grass, to the railroad for
shipment east to become beef for sale in stores.
Luke came to realize he was looking at
a very faded picture of what the ranch had once been. The barnyard had bustled with
chickens clucking, crowing and pecking, pigs snorting and rooting through mud,
horses and foals out in the pasture, at least two or more milk cows to provide
the milk needed for butter and cheese and drinking. Luke wished he’d been able
to be part of that ranch, that successful ranch that no longer existed.
One evening, Luke tried to ask Thomas
about the ranch’s future, “So, Thomas, what’s going to happen to the ranch when
you join your ancestors?”
Before Thomas could form a reply,
Hannah jumped in with, “Now don’t go asking questions like that. Gramps has a
lot of time left yet. He won’t be leaving this ranch or me any time soon. Right
gramps?” Then she got up, kissed the top of Thomas’ head and left, saying, “I’m
going to take myself to bed. I’ve got a good book I’m reading.”
In the silence that followed, Thomas
cleared his throat. “If’n you’re wondering what will happen to Hannah when I
die, I’ve made sure she’ll be well taken care of. Her and any husband and kids
she may have in her life. You’re a good boy Luke and you and Hannah seem to get
along really well. Just want to say you’re welcome here for as long as you want
to stay.”
Silence returned and Luke was so
uncomfortable he wanted to put his horses in his trailer and drive straight
away from there. Thomas had more or less let him know he would approve of a
relationship between Luke and Hannah. Luke was sure he wouldn’t feel that way
if he learned or knew Luke was Jamison’s hired hand.
Luke didn’t say anything and soon
Thomas was regaling him with a tale about the largest fish he’d ever caught in
the river than ran through the ranch. “Used to be you could stand on the bank
and barely get the hook wet before a trout would be hanging on. I haven’t been
down there fishing for a few years now so I don’t know if the population has
increased or gone down. My gear is in the hall closet, so if you’d like ta throw
a line in, feel free. Trout is good eatin’ and I’d dearly love me a trout
dinner with fried onions and potatoes.”
Luke thanked him and Thomas became
quiet for a bit. “Course, the potatoes and onions would be even better if they’d
grew in ranch dirt. Did I tell you we always had us a huge vegetable garden
when my wife was alive? The summer before Gracie died was the last big garden
we had and even then, it wasn’t as big as we’d had in years past. With just me
and Han, there didn’t seem to be any point, although Gracie did teach Han every
single thing she needed to know to plant and grow and harvest from the garden.
“You know Han’s mom left here for good
when she was 19 because I know Han told you that. What you don’t know is that
Gracie and I felt like we’d been given a second chance when Han came to live
with us. And, the way she took to the ranch work and doing even more than her
share at times made us hope Han would find someone who’d want to take over from
me and continue the ranch for another generation.
“But Han’s never brought anyone home
or even tried to become part of the town’s social scene. Think it was hard for
her to fit in coming from New York. I haven’t asked her what she thinks she’ll
do when I’m gone, mainly because she don’t want to talk about it, but it’s a
conversation we’re going to have to have at some point. I hate to think of her
here on her own all alone.”
Thomas lapsed into silence again and
Luke was even more uncomfortable. The thing was he could see himself sitting on
the porch when he was as old as Thomas. He could see himself with Hannah,
helping bring the ranch back to a new glory. He could even see a bunch of kids
that looked like him and Hannah running around the barnyard. And while Luke
could see that, he knew it wasn’t in his future, that his future had already
been decided when he’d removed the fuses from the truck so he could stay here
and find out whatever it was Jamison wanted to know. He was such a low-life
snake in the grass.
Thomas seemed to be talked out and
Luke heard him begin to snore. “Thomas, Thomas, c’mon, wake up. You can’t be
sleeping out here on the porch. C’mon and we’ll head in to bed.”
Luke helped Thomas rise and steadied
him until he found his balance. They went inside, Thomas first and Luke turned
back to close and lock the door. He followed the old man down the hall. “Is
there anything I can do or get you before you hit the hay?” Luke asked.
“I’m gonna brush my teeth, but if you
could bring me a big glass of water, that would be great. I find I get pretty thirsty
during the night.”
Luke took his time to give the old man
a chance to get in bed. He turned off lights, checked doors and windows as he’d
see Hannah and/or Thomas do and then carried the water into Thomas’ bedroom. As
he’d hoped, Thomas was in bed, covers pulled up. He sat the water on the night table
where the old man could reach it.
“Thank you, Luke. You’re such a fine
young man. I hope you know just how much I appreciate all you’ve done for me
and for Han since you arrived here. It was almost like the good Lord looked
down and saw how much we needed a young man like you. I’m so glad He made your
truck stop by the end of our lane.”
“Thanks Thomas, but I’m definitely no
angel. Good night, sleep tight.” Luke responded, feeling absolutely miserable
and so sad. He went on to his own room, thinking he absolutely had to find a
way out of the mess he was in.