Gatekeeper's Secret
Copyright© 2026 by Fick Suck
Chapter 27
Bri was not hungry when they finally stopped to eat. Grady plowed through a couple of cheese sandwiches while she nibbled on a carrot stick. The Swiss cheese was tasteless, reminding him that he should stop at the deli counter next time he went to the grocery. He was considering the merits of ordering some head cheese when Bri interrupted his thoughts.
“I met Linh,” she said.
“Huh?”
“The girl you like, Linh; I met her,” Bri said. “She’s sort of the opposite of Christina.”
“Ah, she doesn’t want to gouge out my eyeballs with her fingernails?” Grady said only half in jest.
Bri rebuked him with her index finger. “Not quite that way, Grady. Christina wants the city and suburbia, having compared it with Clinton while Linh wants to stay here after living in San Francisco.”
“Wow, she was in San Francisco,” Grady said, trying to wrap his head around that new fact. “Linh disappeared one day about two years ago, and no one would say where she had gone or why. San Francisco?”
“She lived with her aunt for the last two years of High School,” Bri said. “I’m used to people coming to the coast and never looking back, unless they were dreading a holiday visit to their hometown. She’s the opposite. To the point I was trying to make, she asked questions about you.”
Grady leaned forward. “What kind of questions?”
“The personal kinds of questions,” Bri said, “‘Do you have a girlfriend?’ kind of questions.” When Grady did not ask further, she prodded him to ask for more.
“Why tempt myself?” Grady said. “Her mother wouldn’t let her come to the ranch and I’m not allowed to speak with her at the restaurant. She’s on virtual lock down, at least when it comes to me. Two years ago, I didn’t do anything. I was shy and tongue-tied, blushing at the least provocation. I was still working up the courage to ask her out, when I heard she had a boyfriend. Then, poof, she was gone. Do you know why she disappeared?”
Bri shook her head in denial. “Her mother brought her along when she visited Jessica at the apartment. Linh hung out with Christina and me, but we were aware that Mrs. Trang was talking to Jessica with one ear tuned on us. Whatever happened, it’s a deep, dark secret.”
Grady carefully peeled away the shiny wrapper on his Hershey’s Kiss. He had found it in the back of one of the cabinets when he was searching for anything sweet he might have forgotten. The candy was probably old, but he was desperate enough to claim that beggars can’t be choosers. He chewed it and swallowed, wondering if he had made a good choice.
“Is Jessica going to buy more horses?” Grady said. “She rented the whole stable.”
“She’s been doing a lot of research and making calls,” Bri said. “She likes the ranch and the costs per horse for room and board are far lower than what she could find back on the West Coast. The last sale proved that buyers will travel and her reputation is still excellent, despite what ‘that bastard’ has spread around her old place. I don’t know what she will purchase next, but she seems committed.”
“That’s good news,” Grady said, standing up and stretching his legs. “Let me note in the journal our coordinates. We’ll get back before dark if we return now. I can always drive the truck down the road to these coordinates and continue on by foot.”
“This is a nice day,” Brianna said, “but I get the feeling this sort of day trip is more than your business for you.”
“I’m responsible for this land, and I accept that obligation wholeheartedly,” Grady said. “I’m the fifth generation to walk this land of the Twin Sisters Peak, and that means a lot to me. Now, sharing a ride with a beautiful woman makes any day even better out here.”
“If you had brought an ugly one?”
“Vanity doesn’t suit you, Bri,” Grady replied. “What makes a person ugly? Buck teeth? Glasses? Extra pounds around the waist and butt? Stupid people are the second ugliest people I know. I can’t stand to look at them or be near their person. The ugliest of ugly people are the malicious ones: the cowards, the bullies, and the sadists. Egotists are a close third.”
“A little touchy on the subject, Grady,” Bri said as she hoisted herself into her saddle.
“You can’t hide much in a small town. The good people shine and there are a few of them. Most people are not much or little; they’re floating through life with little thought or investment. I’ve no issue with these people because they let people be. The ugly ones though, they ruin the day or the place for everyone. Even if they’re smart enough to hide behind a façade, like “Call-Me-Van” Jeffries, the disguise never holds for long.”
“Deep thoughts there,” Bri said. “Do you think your calculus holds everywhere?”
“As my pre-calc teacher posed when she offered a critique of some statistic in the newspaper, if we double, triple or extrapolate out further to a significant number, is the rise of this one trait or behavior going to be geometric or exponential? If one out of a hundred is a jerk, does it follow that two out of two hundred are jerks? Jerk-dom, not to be confused with jerkiness, could be contagious and spread exponentially like a virus. Could be four out of two hundred. Is ugly contagious? You would know better than me, having been out there where the masses gather.”
“Cowboy, we’ve got to take you on a trip to the big city,” Bri said.
Grady cleared his throat. “Been there, done that, and brought home souvenirs. I like it more when women come down from the big city to check out the cowboys.”
“Uh huh, how many women have come down to check you out, Grady?”
“Well, you know two of them and you’re one of them,” he said. “Beyond that, I’m a gentleman and do not condescend to gossip.”
“Two,” Bri said. “Between the brief moments of reflection, you are shoveling the horse apples today like it’s going out of style.” They continued in gentle silence until they came to the decaying boot where Bri kicked her horse into a canter. Nothing more of substance passed between them until they reached the barn. They brushed down their mounts and let the horses free in the first corral.
“Jessica texted me,” Bri said without any preamble. “She’s on her way here.”
Grady took off his hat and scratched his head, wondering if this was a good, bad, or indifferent development. After downing a couple of glasses of water because the lemonade pitcher was empty, he went to the office to read his email in peace. Only there was not any peace, but an update from the accountant about discrepancies in the financials at the cable company. Grady noted that the cable manager had rubbed him wrong the last time they met, which was the first time they met with Grady as the owner. He mulled over the possibility that Mr. Call Me Van Jeffries was involved, causing him to grimace. He called the accountant, and they had a conversation about next steps. The conversation ended with a warning to Grady that it was illegal to shoot two-legged varmints, no matter how rabid they were.
By the time he had hung up the phone, the chime had gone off and the SUV had swung past the house and headed to the bunkhouse. Grady was searching through the medicine cabinet for some ibuprofen when he heard the back door open and close. “Grady!”
“Coming!” he yelled back. Rubbing his temples, he tromped through the house to the kitchen. “Hi, Jessica, good to see you. Do you have any pain meds on you for a headache?”
She patted her bag. “I carry a medicine chest in my purse. I need to ask you a favor.”
“Shoot.”
She shook her head. “Christina and I need to lay low for a little bit. Would you mind if we stayed here at the ranch for a few days, maybe a week?”
“You’re welcome to stay, but why?” Grady felt his headache getting worse.