Chapter 3
Dick led me inside of the ranch. It was a nice house, clean and well kept. Sitting in an armchair in the living room was my uncle.
"Hello sir. Here she is, all in one piece." My uncle smiled. Dick moved away, but my uncle held up his hand.
"No need to leave Richard. Unless you would like to go round up the other boys. I would like for them to meet my niece." Dick smiled, nodded curtly, and then left. I looked at my uncle nervously. He smiled in a fatherly way.
"Please Bethany, sit." He gestured to a chair.
"Um it's Bailey." I said softly as I took a seat on the couch.
"Oh! I am SO sorry Bailey dear! Time is a fickle friend." He said with a chuckle. I smiled slightly. "How has life been my darling?" he asked.
"Um fine sir, I mean, uncle."
"That's good and what about your mother?"
"Fine" he smiled. There was a slight pause. I looked around the living room awkwardly. Fortunately, the silence didn't last. We heard footsteps and Dick came back into the living room with the other workers. The one in front who was standing with Dick had wavy blonde hair, and bright blue eyes. He was smart looking, and dressed in clean, nice, clothing. The guy standing directly behind Dick was chewing fiercely on something in his left cheek. He had dirty brown hair and dull brown eyes. Nothing that I would call too attractive. Then, behind the smart looking man, was the native that I had sat with on the bus! I must not have noticed him get off at the same stop as I did. He was smiling while looking at me. The boy behind him looked around me age, maybe a bit older. He had dirty blonde hair and bright blue eyes that were sparkling with mischief as he flicked small rolled up bits of paper at Dick's head. Dick spun his head around and slapped the boy on the back of his head. Then he turned back around towards me.
"Bailey, these are the regulators. Not all though, Charlie is in town getting food. These are the rest though." They smiled at me. All except for the young one who looked sad at not being able to annoy the foreman anymore. Dick introduced them. The smart one was Doc, chew-man was Steve, native was Chavez, and the young one was Billy. I smiled at Billy, but he just looked at me as if I were some disgusting thing he found on the bottom of his shoe. I blushed and turned back towards Dick.
"You can always call on one of us if you need anything. We know where everything is, and where everything should go." Dick said.
"Thank You." I said, smiling.
"Yes, thank you Master Richard. You and the boys can go get cleaned up for dinner now." Then my uncle turned towards me. "And you can also Bailey. There is soap in the showers upstairs. Feel free to grab a towel from my room. Doc can show you where." I smiled at him, and turned towards the regulators. The clean looking man named Doc, nodded, and waved for me to follow as he left the room.
I followed behind him as he made his way up the creaky stairway.
"You don't worry about Billy." Doc said. I looked up, confused. Then I remembered the look Billy had given me when I had smiled at him.
"Yeah?" I said stupidly.
"Yes, he will come around. He just isn't used to having other people on the ranch. You make him nervous." I really didn't know where he was going with this. So I stayed silent. He showed me my uncle's room, then my room.
"See you at dinner." He said.
"Yeah, see you!" I said brightly. I grabbed a towel from my uncle's room and went to the bathroom to take a shower and get cleaned up for dinner.
