Problems

At Angel’s words, Travis hung his head. He knew she was right. He knew he’d been reckless. He’d had his reasons, but he hadn’t thought about what would have happened if Ashlee had been the one attacked instead of him. He just stared at the floor and nodded numbly. After the brief flashback of his mom’s anger, all of his fight seemed to have fled, leaving him in a strange sort of miserable state. He finally glanced back up at her and swallowed hard before turning to his dad.

Lane sighed deeply. He didn’t know where the sudden change had happened, why Travis had been crying there for a moment, or why he wasn’t arguing right now. But the only thing he was really concerned about right now was the issue at hand. “So what do we do now, huh?”

Travis folded his arms and shrugged lamely. He had known they’d get in trouble, but he hadn’t expected all this. He got what Angel was saying, and maybe if he’d thought it through, he would have gone about things differently, but still.

Lane shook his head at his son before glancing at Angel, then back again. “Where are my truck keys?”

Travis fished them out of his pocket and tossed them to his dad.

Catching them mid-air, Lane pursed his lips grimly. “You won’t be driving for quite a while, and don’t even try looking for these again. As for spending time with Ashlee…I’m thinking it’s a pretty good idea for you to back off there for a while, too.”

Travis’ face fell. “But she didn’t–”

Lane held up his hand to stop him. “We’ll talk later about how you’re going to keep working without spending time with her, and as far as meals go, you need to be in here sitting at my table from now on until I say otherwise.”

“But–”

“I’m doing this for her sake, not yours. You put her in danger today, and that’s not going to happen again.” Lane paused, trying to hold his temper. “There’s going to be more…but for now, I suggest going to your bunk and getting ready for work, because there’s a lot of it that’s going to need done.” In reality, he wasn’t even sure what all Travis could be doing in the barn, but he would talk to Mick. If Travis had enough time to go off with Ashlee like this, then he had time to be working more.

Travis withheld the retort that was on the tip of his tongue, and simply turned to stalk back outside. He felt a few eyes watching him, but simply went to his bunkhouse where he took a little longer than necessary to get his work clothes on.

Back in the dining room, Lane cocked his head at Angel. “Thank you. I have no idea what got into him. He’s never done anything like this before. I just don’t understand.” He shook his head. “And what was with him and you anyway? He ‘bout broke down there – what was that all about?”

Eric frowned at Ashlee’s tone and got up to put the chair back. Instead of leaving right away though, he came up beside the bed and put a knee on the mattress to lean over in front of her so she was forced to see his face. “I know you’re upset…but keep up the disrespectful attitude, and you and me are gonna have problems.”

Backing off, he left her be, and exited the bunkhouse. Standing on the porch for just a moment, he took a deep breath and let it out slowly. Was he really father material? This…was harder than it looked.

Wandering across the ranch yard, he made his way to the shed on the edge of the property where he knew Stacy would be keeping an eye on the camera feeds. Not bothering to knock, he entered and eased down in the chair next to her, staying quiet for a few moments. “Well…she’s still alive. Pretty sure she hates me right about now.”