BOAB CH44
Carrie and Danni arrived at the rendezvous spot only shortly before Stefanie, the three of them unloaded their horses quickly and parked to indicate where the rest of the people coming should park. They'd get everyone fed and packed up, saddled up and then head up, it would take a couple of hours before everyone arrived and at least two hours to make the ride into the lower mountains where they would stop and lunch, before heading up to the bonfire location itself. Once there, with set up and preparation for the fire and the BBQ, they would sit down to eat just as the sun started to set, and the bonfire would be lit as soon as the last bit of natural light was gone. By that time, a good portion of the group would be well on their way to lit up, but would all sober again in enough time to pull out the acoustic guitars, sing and dance around the fire. It would be long into the early morning before tired out, they'd all make their way to the various tents set up and sleep off the alcohol, good food and fun they'd all set out to have.
The girls loved it, it was a lot more work as they got older and the crowd got larger, but it was still a lot of fun and they loved the attention that hosting provided. They lowered the tailgate to Stefanie's truck and laid out the breakfast items and then moved onto packing the cold items onto the lone pack horse that was there. A crunching sound on the fallen pine cones and boughs made them turn to see Roxie's big truck pulling in; Danni pointed over to where she should park and then helped her get Wrath and Charcoal out. After a quick hug good morning, the four of them set out to redistributing some of the packed items. It wasn't long before truck after truckload of people, horses and dogs began arriving. Roxie was introduced to the people she didn't know, wives and girlfriends of the cowboys and although overwhelming at first, was soon quite comfortable with everyone. Dogs were underfoot and horses stamped, snorted and whistled as they were all tied up together. The parking area was comfortable in its chaos and the shouts and laughter from the various groups, mixed well with the occasional bark from a dog, curse from a cowboy or the sound of a truck radio playing some sad country song.
Following a couple of trucks with trailers in front of him, Booth pulled into the parking lot towards the entrance and found a relatively easy parking space. Luckily, these spaces were designed with trailers in mind whether they were snow machine or horse. He grabbed his back, and his saddle and set them down as he began to back Gunn out of the trailer. Curtis rode over, Honey loaded for bear and in fact a shiny rifle slung into a scabbard along the saddle definitely giving the bear impression. "Hey man, you made it!" He said, sliding out of the saddle. Curtis came over and shook Tony's hand and then closed the trailer for him. "The girls are already here along with about 30 other people, it's pandemonium up there!" He nodded with his head towards the end of the parking lot where the trailhead began. "Well, let's go add to the mix then," Booth said as he mounted Gunn and the two of them trotted over to the rest of the group. Tying their horses up, both Tony and Curtis slipped feed bags over their noses and then wandered over to where Carrie was trying to get everyone's attention.
Standing on a tailgate and hollering wasn't doing anything more than stirring up the dogs and making her frustrated, so Carrie was incredibly relieved when Jayson who up until then had been in the shadows whistled loud and long. Everyone turned towards the piercing noise and even the dogs stopped milling about. "Well hell, if that's all it took." Carrie muttered loudly, but smiled down to the blonde cowboy; he winked and grabbed another donut before heading over to where Jake and Doug were standing. "All right y'all," Carrie started once she was sure they were all looking at her, "We've got just about everything loaded up on the pack horses, make sure that you all bring your extra canteens, we'll be heading up to the butte first, stopping there for a quick lunch and then onto the pit itself. For those of you who have never been here before, welcome, I'm Carrie and this is Danni, Stefanie and Roxie," she pointed to each of the girls and then continued, "Everyone here is on their own, we have medical supplies, and you've all contributed to the food, we're not your babysitters, if you can't hold your liquor, don't drink and if you brought a dog keep it under control, other than that, you're on your own. Any questions?"
No one had any as most of them had been before, but before they could head out Doug whistled himself and said loudly, "If you run into any problems or something comes up, let me or Chuck know we've been doing this for years and haven't had anything more than a broken arm come up, but it's better to be safe than sorry. Now, head on out!" Everyone started towards their horses and the group began to trail out, good natured teasing and laughter ringing off of the trees. Roxie and the rest of the girls were in the rear, having stayed to make sure that the trucks were secure and all the trash was put into the bear proof bins. Curtis, Jake, Tony and Jayson also stayed behind to ride with the girls. "Well hello stranger!" Danni said, causing the girls to look back at who she was talking to.
"Good morning Danni, ladies." Malcolm nodded to the group and they all smiled back, "It's been a long time since you came on one of these rides Mal, sure you're up to it?" Jake asked jokingly. Mal flushed slightly and said, "I think I'll be able to keep up if that's what you mean Jake." Jake shrugged and turned back to his saddle. Mal rode over to the girls and said, "I'm going to catch up with the rest of the pack, you girls okay?"
Stefanie smiled up at her boss, ever the protective one, "Yeah, it's just the usual knuckleheads back here; we'll be fine, it's good you came Mal." He smiled at her and then kicked his horse's flanks, urging him to catch up with the rear of the group.
Tony cornered Roxie as she was preparing to mount Wrath and said, "Bones, listen I wanted to apologize." She cut him off and said, "Tony, I don't think this is the proper place, although I do want to talk to you, I think perhaps it would be better to wait until we were in an atmosphere that was more conducive to an actual conversation instead of socially accepted banter." Booth smiled and said, "Your voice says Roxie, but your words say Bones. Okay, we'll wait, can I ride with you?" She smiled sadly and said quietly, "Maybe later Booth, I need some time okay?" Nodding, he agreed, "You're right, we both do." He hopped up into the saddle and then turned Gunn towards the rest of the group, before leaning back on his flanks and saying, "Do you think Wrath was the best choice for this type of thing?" She could hear the concern in his voice and see it in his eyes and said, "I think he'll be fine, if not, I'll swap out and ride Charcoal, but thanks."
He nodded again and then clucked to Gunn to trot over to the rest of the gang waiting for them. The girls quickly caught up to the tail end of the other riders and left the guys to bring up the rear, "What was that about?" Carrie asked, pulling along side of Roxie.
"Oh, he wanted to know if Wrath was okay to ride that was all." She said with a grin.
Danni snorted, "I bet that was all." The three of them settled into light conversation and admired the scenery as they rode along the trail. Brennan loved the inclusion with the group as well as the beautiful setting; she'd never been invited to anything like this before and was really looking forward to it. She was also acutely aware that most of her social awkwardness was fading as she fell fully into the role she was here to play. She looked back over her shoulder and caught Booth's eye as she did and grinned when he winked at her. It might just turn out after all she thought.
"So what was that about?"Curtis asked Tony as she turned back around, "What was what?" He asked innocently. Tony flushed slightly and said, "Ah come on man, you know I don't know what you're talking about."
"The conversation back there, now a glance, is there a hook up in your future?" He laughed at the expression on Booth's face. "I just wanted to make sure that she was going to be okay on that horse, he's only green broke after all, I thought she'd leave him behind."
"Yeah right," Jake piped up, "It was a safety check, okay Tony." They all laughed and then settled into the ride themselves.
Clay, Scoot and Leo were making their way up the highway through the tree line when Clay decided he needed to stop and rest, his leg was sore from the extended ride, he hadn't ridden this far in a long time and being alone seemed to make it more difficult. Although it was a nice steady pace and the game trail was pretty easy to follow, he had to keep checking through the trees to make sure that he hadn't missed the turn off to the parking area. He was only vaguely sure which turn off Tony had been talking about anyway. Sliding off of Scoot, he loosened the saddle slightly and loosely tied the pony to a low hanging branch, Scoot began to graze on the high mountain grass and as Clay slid down the trunk of the tree to stretch his leg out Leo came over and lay beside him. Clay reached into his pocket and pulled out a granola bar and gave part of it to Leo as the two of them rested. He wondered what he would say to Jayson, should he tell him that he overheard him and his Aunt in the barn, or should he wait for Jayson to tell him he was his father himself. He wasn't sure what to do, but he was sure he wasn't going to lose him now. He was so close to having what his friends did, a real life dad. He rarely connected to the other men that he was exposed to, he felt safe with Malcolm and he liked being with Jake and Jesse was always nice to him. It wasn't until Tony came along that he actually missed having a dad though. He realized now that he liked having someone to look up to and he wouldn't give that up for anything. After about 20 minutes and feeling like his leg was sufficiently rested, he tightened the saddle up and remounted Scoot. The three of them took off down the trail and as he watched Leo lope ahead, he thought again about the conversation he'd interrupted and how things would be different if Jax and his mom were still here. The game trail continued along the edge of the tree line and Clay looked over and saw that he was almost across the highway where there appeared to be a turn off. He didn't know if he'd gone far enough and was trying to decide whether he should continue or not when he caught a glimpse of sun reflecting off a side mirror. He crossed the highway quickly and headed towards the gleam of light, sure it was from one of the trucks and he was in the right spot.
However, when he got to where the mirror was, he saw that it wasn't attached to a pick up and trailer, instead it was a tractor-trailer loaded up with barrels. He didn't think that he was in the right turn off and didn't want to disturb the trucker that was obviously resting so he began to turn around to cross back over the highway and continue on when Leo began barking at a rustling in the woods. "Stop it Leo!" he commanded, afraid that the big dog would succeed in waking the trucker. "Come here!" He hissed, Leo's hackles were raised but he came over to the young boy's side. "Clay?" The man's voice asked, as he stepped around the front of his truck, tucking the pistol into the back of jeans as he did. Spider had been restless and he'd been out taking a leak when he'd heard the horse start to spook so he'd come around thinking that the men had arrived that would be taking the truck off of his hands. He was quite surprised to see that instead of the runners he was expecting it was Stefanie's nephew and his dopey dog.
"What are you doing here son?" He asked a friendly grin on his face. Jesse was the last person that Clay expected to see come around the front of the truck and although apprehensive at first, he knew that Jesse wouldn't let anything happen to him. He was Jayson's brother after all, he had to know too right? "Hi Jesse," He said shyly, "I was hoping this was the turn off to the bonfire."
Jesse raised his brow and thought quickly, he didn't want this brat to be here when the others showed up, but he didn't have enough time to get rid of him either, "Well buddy, that's about 4 miles back down the road, does your Aunt know you are heading up there?" He listened trying to hear if there was any traffic on the road, he glanced at his watch and knew that it was only a matter of minutes before they showed up.
"She doesn't know, but I don't have to ask her if I can go," He said defiantly, "I'm not a baby I can go if I want to. She's not my mom." Clay's chin was set at a stubborn angle and he sat up straighter in the saddle. He wasn't about to let Jesse stop him from going. Not after all of his careful planning. "I'll just head back down and find it myself." He started to turn Scoot and just then Jesse heard tires slow and turn towards their location.
"Don't worry Clay, I won't stop you, listen, I've got some friends coming here soon and have to take care of some business, why don't you and Leo head on over into the trees there and wait for me quietly. When I'm done, the two of us will ride up to the bonfire together okay? Your aunt will skin me alive if I let you go up there by yourself now that I know you're here anyway, how's that? Can you keep Leo with you and stay quiet?"
Clay thought about what he said and nodded slowly, he was already lost and Jesse wouldn't let him get further lost, "Okay Jesse." He agreed, sliding off of Scoot he tapped his leg for Leo to come over, "Don't make any noise okay Clay? No matter what you hear okay?"
Clay thought it was weird but agreed and the three of them moved into the tree line out of sight of the big truck, he tied Scoot off and held onto Leo. "Now be quiet you big dope." He whispered into his dog's ear and looped his collar around his hand as he sat down holding Scoot's reins as well.
Jesse took his hat off and wiped his brow, that was close, he thought.
