Chapter 1: From Subway to Horseback
As he stood in the middle of JFK International Airport, watching the hundreds of travelers push past each other as they hurried to find their gates, Lucas Friar wondered about the millions of goodbyes that had happened in the exact spot where he was standing. He thought about the elegant words and phrases that were used to express how much someone cared for the other, and how they might have fussed over the uncertainty of living without one another for so long. He wondered if there were tearful goodbyes, or excited goodbyes, or if there were people saying goodbye to their loved ones for the final time. But as he stood there, thinking of strangers' goodbyes and clutching his army green duffel bag and guitar case, he realized that he couldn't think of one meaningful word to say to either of his parents as he prepared to leave them for an entire year.
"We're doing this for your own good, Champ," his father reminded him for the third time since they stepped out of the car and made their way into the lobby of the airport. He had that look on his face; the one that Lucas knew as the, 'I'm pretending to be sorry, but I'm actually relieved that I don't have to deal with you anymore' look. He had seen it the time his parents sent him to summer camp in third grade. And again when he went to that three week basketball training program in middle school. And once more when he visited his Aunt Jenny in Wisconsin for fall break last year.
"We didn't know what else to do, Lucas." His mother placed a delicate hand on one of his shoulders, looking more tired and conflicted at sending her only son away from home, than Lucas had ever seen her. "You went too far this time. We just - we didn't know what else we could do for you here."
"It'll be better for everyone, son. You'll see," his father offered, doing his best to sound upbeat and positive, just like Lucas was sure that his mother had told him to be. "Your grandfather really has a knack for whipping troubled young men like you into shape. Heck, I should know. I was one of them! You'll come out of this a better man, I promise."
"Just know that we love you, honey." Saying this made his mother's voice break just the slightest bit, and Lucas knew that she would cry into his father's arms all the way back to the car. "We're doing this because we love you. And remember that we're just a phone call away if you need us."
"You'll understand one day." Lucas' father handed him his boarding pass, and as Lucas took the piece of paper from him, he swore that he saw the faintest trace of sadness in his eyes that Lucas had never seen from him before. "Maybe not now - but you'll understand."
It wasn't until Lucas had gathered all of his bags and turned to watch his parents head for the exit, his mother resting her head on his father's shoulder using a tissue to dab her tears with her free hand, that he finally found the words the had been trying to say since they arrived.
"Not that you asked," Lucas muttered under his breath as he watched his father open the passenger side door for his mother and gently lower her inside. "But it wasn't my fault."
Lucas turned away from the window, away from his parents, and away from New York, as he prepared to check his bags.
"Texas." He said the word to himself, thinking that it sounded foreign and out of place coming out of his own mouth. He knew it was wrong, but his mind was suddenly flooded with every stereotype associated with Texas that he could think of from 10-gallon hats, to cowboys riding horseback through an open field.
"From subway to horseback." Lucas laughed to himself, but there was no humor in it. "My life is officially over."
–
Lucas made his way through the narrow aisles of the cramped plane until he found his seat in the back row. He lifted his head to see that there was already a woman sitting in the window seat, her neon pink handbag and fur coat taking up most of the area in front that was meant for their legs. Lucas silently groaned to himself wondering if this day, and his life from that point on. could get any worse.
"Oh, good you're here," the woman greeted him excitedly as Lucas popped open the overhead compartment and swung his guitar case above his head, careful not to whack any of the other passengers maneuvering their way around him. "I had this feeling that whoever was sitting next to me was going to be a singer, that's so weird. I'm a little bit psychic you know. Do you have a band or are you one of those indie solo artists who want to rise to the top on your own accord-"
"I'm not a singer," Lucas cut her off quickly. He had known this woman for barely a minute and he already knew that she would talk the entire plane ride if he didn't force his way into the conversation. "I just play the guitar."
"Oh, I'd bet you'd be a good singer, you should give it a shot. You'd be surprised with yourself, I'm sure of it!" The woman smiled up at him and Lucas could tell that she was much older than her clothes and accessories let on. The lines that formed at the edge of her eyes and the crease on her forehead made Lucas believe that she had to be at least his mother's age, if not a little older. "Like I said, I'm a little bit-"
"Psychic," Lucas finished for her as he suppressed an exasperated eye roll. "Yeah, you mentioned that."
Lucas settled into his seat, sinking deeply into the uncomfortable leather chair in an effort to make himself disappear from everything happening around him. The flight attendant at the front of the plane began her airline safety presentation, and then a few minutes later they were ascending, making Lucas' new life in Texas seem that much more real. To Lucas' dismay, the woman, who Lucas now knew as Poppy McNab, went on and on about topics as random as what she had for breakfast that morning, to how her dog was spending the next ten days in the spa while she was visiting her aunt in Dallas, through every second of it.
Lucas' anger, already at a low simmer the moment he stepped onto the plane, was bubbling over to an aggravated boil with every word that came out of this woman's mouth. Just as he gathered the nerve to tell Poppy to shut her oversharing pie hole, Lucas felt the plane shake ever so slightly, causing the person making their way to the tiny bathroom located directly behind him, to lose their balance and fall onto his lap with a clumsy 'plop.'
"Whoa," the girl muttered under her breath, turning her head slightly to meet his gaze with her dark brown eyes. "They weren't kidding about that turbulence."
"Are you alright?" Lucas asked in a low voice, clutching the armrest on either side of his seat tightly. As she shifted on his lap, Lucas noticed that the girl looked to be about his age, however she had an innocence about her that made her seem much younger.
"Yeah, just clumsy," she admitted, tossing her dark hair that was thrown into two messy braids, over her shoulders. "Nice catch, by the way."
"Yeah, I was thinking the same thing," Lucas said smoothly, never taking his eyes off her. Back in New York, Lucas had found that talking to girls had always come naturally to him. He couldn't explain it, seeing that he really wasn't much of a talker to begin with, but whenever he found a girl he wanted to spend time with, he always knew exactly what to say to her.
"Well, I should get back to my seat," she mumbled, pushing off of Lucas' lap and quickly turning around to face him. Her cheeks blushed a faint pink and her plaid shirt had come unbuttoned on the bottom, causing her to look even younger than she had looked before. She gave an awkward wave before rushing off to her seat at the front of the plane, completely forgetting that she was headed to the bathroom before the turbulence had caused her to fall into Lucas' lap.
"Well, well aren't you the chivalrous type," Poppy mused, leaning on the armrest and shaking her head playfully. "Looks like she's going back home. Is that rude of me just to assume? She was wearing overalls, and that slight twang to her voice was kind of a giveaway. Or it might have just been that I'm a little bit…"
Lucas stuck his earbuds in his ears, blasting whatever could drown out the woman's pointless chatter for the rest of the plane ride. The hours ticked by excruciatingly slow as Lucas thought about what his life was going to be like once he landed in Texas. On top of starting at a new school his senior year of high school, his grandfather suggested that he work as a ranch hand at a local farm on the weekends and a few days after school once he had finished his homework. His father had called it "character building," but Lucas knew it was just a punishment for what he did at his school back in New York. In fact, he knew that being sent to live in the smallest town in Texas was a punishment in itself. And Lucas was going to hate every second of it.
Once the plane finally skidded to a stop at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport, Lucas saw the girl from earlier swing her backpack over her shoulder and head through the open door, without so much of a glance back in his direction. Next to him, Poppy was still chattering on about how she hoped that the airline had not lost her designer luggage that she had imported from Milan last fall as they waited for the passengers in front of them to make their way off the plane.
"Well, it was nice… listening to you Poppy," Lucas muttered under his breath, glancing up quickly to give her a halfhearted smile. "Have a nice life."
"Dear, can I give you a little piece of advice?" Poppy clutched her designer bag with one hand and narrowed her eyes at Lucas. "Going through life stoic and miserable like this will get you nowhere, and honestly it's just not that fun to be around. You'll never truly find happiness if you think the world is against you in everything you do. There are people on your side, you just have to let them be there for you from time to time."
With one last pat on the shoulder, Poppy pushed past Lucas to fall in step behind the people pushing their way off the plane, leaving Lucas to stare open mouthed at her from the aisle. Lucas knew that she had a point, but he hadn't heard anyone say it out loud before. He silently kicked himself for being so rude to her, and hoped that she had a good time visiting her aunt in Dallas.
Once Lucas had gathered his guitar and duffel from the overhead compartment, Lucas finally made his way out of his gate to collect the rest of his baggage. As he was lifting his giant black suitcase off of the luggage carousel, he heard a familiar voice coming towards him. Lucas dropped his bags and slowly turned to see his grandfather hobbling over to him with open arms. He faintly remembered his mother telling him that he had injured his knee working in the field, but he hadn't been listening, so he couldn't be sure.
"There he is!" Lucas' grandfather, Joe, greeted him warmly, his voice booming over the loud chatter coming from the clusters of travelers surrounding them. "You've grown a few inches since the last time I saw you."
"That's what happens when you haven't seen a person since they were ten," Lucas snapped, unsure of why his grandfather irked him this way.
"Well, we'll see how many inches you grow by the end of the year." His eyes lit up in a meaningful way, and Lucas wondered what he really meant by that. "If I do my job correctly, you should be growing in more ways than one."
Lucas didn't say anything. He simply shifted uncomfortably from one foot to the other, wondering how he was going to get through an entire year with his grandfather, who felt like a stranger to him.
"Well, we better get going if we want to get home before it starts getting dark," Joe reached for the black suitcase and began rolling it to the rickety old truck parked out front. "Everyone is really excited to see you again, Lucas. Your aunt Linda and I have a big barbecue planned for you tomorrow. I think you're really going to enjoy yourself. You'll get to meet your new boss, and some of the kids from school. Maybe even some of the horses you'll be working with."
"Super," Lucas muttered, unsure of whether or not his grandfather had even heard him. As if to answer this question, Joe stopped suddenly in front of the truck and turned to give Lucas a serious expression.
"Listen son," Joe began, lifting the luggage into the bed of the truck and stepping forward to place a firm hand on Lucas' shoulder. "I know this is hard on you, but I want this to be a good experience for the both of us. I know that I haven't been around the past few years but-"
"Seven," Lucas finished for him quickly. "You haven't been around for seven years."
"Right." Joe cleared his throat, choosing to ignore the hateful tone to his voice. "Well, I want to make up for that. And I want us to have a good time living together. But that means we both have to do our part, do you understand?"
Lucas stared at his grandfather for a moment, wondering if he had the energy to argue at the moment. Deciding that he was too tired to pick a fight, he nodded slightly and reached for the handle on the passenger side door.
"Good!" Joe clapped his hands together excitedly and hurried around the truck to hop into the driver's seat. "Oak Creek, here we come!"
As his grandfather stepped on the gas and the beat-up pickup truck headed away from the airport, Lucas glanced back just in time to see the girl from the plane reaching up to hug a man and a woman, who he could only assume were her parents. Her face lit up when she saw them, as if she was genuinely excited to be back after being away for so long.
His grandfather took the exit that would lead them towards the interstate and Lucas' mind drifted back to his thoughts from earlier about heartfelt goodbyes. He wondered now, if it was normal to feel happy to be traveling home after being gone for however many days or months or even years, like the girl hugging her parents. Texas would be his home for the next year, but all he could feel was hate and resentment when he thought about it that way. But on the other hand, New York didn't feel like home anymore either. Lucas wondered if anyone had landed at the airport and felt like they had no idea where they were going to go from there.
Sitting next to his grandfather who he hadn't spoken to in seven years, traveling to a town that felt more foreign to him than another country would have, Lucas knew that he didn't have a home anymore. And we wasn't sure if he would ever be able to find it again.
