Chapter 12

Of all the people in the world, it had to be Lucy and Ruby, the sisters from a couple of weeks before. When the girls saw it was him, they both smirked. They’d obviously put it together before coming.

“Hello, Austin,” Ruby, the older sister, said. “What happened to your eye?”

Lucy gave him a measured look that told him her sister didn’t know they’d given up their virginity to each other. After his dad’s reaction to nothing happening with the Christian girls, Austin didn’t want to press his luck. He didn’t need to find out what his dad would do if he discovered more happened with his new lady friend’s daughter.

As for his eye ... Austin didn’t want to talk about it.

“Ruby,” he said.

“You know each other?” their mom asked.

“Austin, this is Iris,” Clay said as an introduction, then turned to Iris. “The girls were at the ranch for Ms. Robinson’s daughter’s birthday party.”

“What happened to his eye?” Iris asked.

“He walked into a door,” Clay said as he nervously glanced at his son.

“How’s Kim?” Austin asked, attempting to change the subject before his dad had to admit he’d hit his son, causing the black eye.

“Sore. She claimed it felt like the horse rode her,” Ruby said.

“If you’re not used to riding, it can seem that way,” Clay said.

Austin had to bite his tongue to keep from laughing. He grabbed his water glass to take a drink to cover up.

“Lucy was a bit tender after her ride,” Ruby said.

Austin choked on his water, resulting in an enormous grin sprouting on Ruby’s face. He figured she’d been digging for dirt, and he’d given her confirmation that more had happened than her little sister would admit. Austin would have to be careful of Ruby in the future. If she continued like this, she was going to get him killed.

“The more you ride, the easier it gets,” Clay said.

Austin seriously considered getting up, going outside, and walking into traffic. The only thing that stopped him was Lucy had dug her fingernails into his thigh. She was as uncomfortable with this line of discussion as he was and clearly didn’t want to face it alone. At the very least, Austin should sit there with her. But he had a better idea.

“How did you two meet?” Austin asked, changing the subject to the adults at the table.

On the ride home, Clay asked, “So, what do you think?”

His dad and Iris had announced they planned to get married. It would happen once school let out for the summer, and Iris and the girls would move into the apartment over the barn. In the meantime, Iris would start working at the ranch next weekend as their cook. When there were no guests, she would work for the Houstons as their personal chef.

That meant Ruby and Lucy would come to stay on weekends until the marriage became official.

As they were leaving, Lucy pulled Austin aside and put a smile on her face in case anyone paid them any attention.

“You say anything and you die,” Lucy threatened before Austin and his dad left for home.

He saw his dad glance over as he drove. Clearly, Clay eagerly awaited hearing his son’s reaction to his marriage news.

“I’m happy for you.”

“That’s it?” Clay asked.

“I didn’t realize it would happen so fast, is all. But if Iris makes you happy ... I’m all for it.”

He didn’t say that if it kept his dad out of the house on weeknights, that worked. He had a good thing going with Nora and wanted to see how that developed.

“I want you to make a real effort to make Iris and the girls feel at home. They’ve mostly lived in bigger cities, and moving to a ranch will be an adjustment. Maybe you can introduce them to your friends,” Clay said.

Austin wasn’t sure who that would be, but, sure ... why not?

“I’ll do what I can.”

That feeble promise had his dad smiling. Austin expected something would go horribly wrong but didn’t want to ruin his father’s big moment. Austin wanted to get home so he could call his mom for advice about what happened Friday night and that day. He also wanted to ask her about coming to live with her for the summer. It would make everything easier if Austin weren’t around when Iris and the girls moved in.

His discussion with his mom didn’t go quite as expected.

“I’ll have to ask Don before I can say ‘yes.’”

“I assumed you’d be happy I agreed to come for the summer. You’ve been asking me for the past few years,” Austin said.

“It’s just that Don and I have gotten serious, and I want to run it by him before I commit. I don’t expect he’ll have a problem with it, though. If he does, I’ll ask your grandmother if you can stay with her,” Marie said.

His mom figured he wanted to visit because of his dad’s coming marriage. He decided to tell her the real reason.

“Dad hit me,” Austin said in a quiet voice.

He couldn’t believe how difficult it was to say that. He would never have imagined it possible until it happened.

“I’m sorry. Did you say your father hit you?”

’Oh, shit.’ His mom had that tone you never wanted to hear.

“Uhm...”

“Put your father on the phone.”

“I’m not sure that’s such a good idea,” Austin said.

“Austin Fredrick Carson!”

“Dad! Mom wants to talk to you,” Austin said and set the phone on the counter.

Austin headed for the front door as his dad came to get it.

“I’ll check on the horses.”

“Shit,” Clay mumbled as he picked up the phone. “Slow down ... I ... Marie ... I...”

Austin made good his escape and trotted down the stairs to see Red. At least his horse would be happy to see him.

When he returned to the apartment, his dad was waiting for him in the living room.

“Austin!” Clay said.

He flinched, which made his dad avert his eyes and rub his forehead.