Lucy did her best to wake up early, going outside in her pyjama's, boots and Yellowstone jacket with her new camera. She walked down to the barn taking a few photos as the sun rose over the mountains.
She crept in to the lodge, knowing how early it was she didn't want to wake anyone but she also wanted to use the computer.
"What are you up to Lucy?"
"Shit!" She said turning around having gotten a fright. She saw John sitting next to Jamie in the living room.
"Uh hi." She said ignoring Jamie. "I was going to use the computer if I could? I wanted to see if I could find the camera manual."
John nodded. "Down the hall on the right."
She gave him a slight smile, following his directions. Lucy quickly turned the computer on, clicking on the internet before typing the camera in to the search bar. It didn't take her long to find and download the manual before turning on the oldest printer she had ever seen to print it.
Lucy gathered the papers and gave John a wave as she left. She walked down to a grassy spot that the sun had dried out from the morning dew. Stretching out she flicked through the papers and tried out different settings on her camera. All of a sudden she looked up to see Beth's car pulled up at the lodge. She watched as Beth ran up the porch steps before looking back down towards the car and seeing Lucy.
She watched as Beth walked quickly over to her, once she saw the look on the face she realised something was not quite right.
"Where the hell have you been?"
"I was printing this and then came out to read it because the sun was out." She told Beth almost tentatively.
"You didn't think to tell either of us?"
Lucy exhaled, looking up at Beth. "I didn't think you'd mind." She said picking up the papers and camera.
Jamie had come out of the lodge and Lucy could see him watching Beth tell her off.
"Causing you problems already Beth?" Jamie yelled out smugly.
Beth whipped around before marching up to the porch.
"You keep your mouth shut Jamie. You can't even get a fuck."
"Wow, is that how you speak around her?" He spat back ignoring the dig.
"If you haven't noticed you dipshit, she's still sitting over there. Who the hell are you anyway to tell me how to parent."
"Give it a rest. Both of you." John said coming out of the house. "You should be going Jamie."
"You give in to her all the time. I'm going." Jamie said holding his hands up.
"She was here printing off something about the camera Beth."
"I know that now. She didn't tell anyone."
"Does she normally tell you if she's coming down to the pen in the morning?" John asked gently.
"No. She's usually with Rip."
John looked at her as if it was obvious. "If she didn't know to tell you honey, then she didn't know. I don't think she would have hidden what she was up to on purpose."
Beth looked back to where Lucy was, knowing that John was probably right. Lucy looked over and saw the two talking before grabbing her things and walking back to the cabin.
"Hey! Don't you want a lift?" Beth called out to her.
"No thanks." Lucy called back waving her off, annoyed. This was the shit she was telling Beth about at the rodeo, losing her shit before asking Lucy what was going on or giving a reason.
John couldn't help but chuckle.
"What?" Beth said frustrated.
"That is exactly how you would react, Beth."
"I know Daddy. I know that." She told him, leaving him on the porch.
Lucy was passing the bunkhouse when she spotted Jimmy with his buckle bunny. He waved her over.
"Hey Lucy."
"Hey Jimmy. I'm glad you're ok." Lucy said shielding her eyes from the sun.
"Yeah. What are you doing today?"
"Avoiding Mom at the moment."
"Hi. I'm Mia." Jimmy's buckle bunny said holding her hand out.
Lucy shook her hand. "I'm Lucy."
"Mia's my girlfriend. Mia this is Lucy, she's Rip and Beth's daughter."
"Huh. Nice ranch." Mia told Lucy.
"Uh thanks." Lucy said with a nod before leaving. She past the stables before hearing her name being called as Rip walked through the stable doors.
"You see Beth?"
"Mmhm." She mumbled.
"Beth said you wanted to earn some money. I've got some work for you."
Lucy went to grimace but tried her best to hide it. "Yeah I guess."
"If you don't want to do it you can forget the money."
"No! It's not that!" Lucy answered quickly. Rip shook his head and kept walking forcing Lucy to follow him.
"What is it then?"
"I wanted to get a job in town like other people at school do."
Rip nodded slowly. "We'll see. For now there is plenty of work around here. You can fill up the troughs and then come find me and I'll show you how to mow."
Lucy nodded, filling up the wheelbarrow with buckets of water before pushing it to each of the troughs, emptying it. She had to repeat this enough times that her arms were burning at the end from carrying the heavy wheelbarrow. She noticed Mia just sitting on a bench with another woman not doing anything useful.
"I'm done Dad." She said leaning in to Rip. He raised his eyebrows at the slight bit of affection Lucy was showing.
"What's wrong?"
"Nothing." She told him, not moving from where she was leaning against him. "It's just hot."
Rip held her at an arms length, noticing her flushed cheeks. "You're fine. Why are you in your pyjamas?" He asked.
"I got up to print stuff off for the camera and take some photos and ..." she said trailing off with a shrug.
Rip nodded before he pulled her in for a hug. "Let's get going Lu." He said, letting go and showing her the mower.
"I want you to mow all around the lodge and be careful." He told her showing her how to use the ride on mower. He handed her, her own ear buds and then a pair of ear muffs. "So you can listen to your own music and not go deaf."
"That doesn't seem too bad." She said before starting the mower. Rip left her to it watching as she nodded her head to the beat of her music. Once she had finished she turned the mower off before going to find Rip.
"You all done?" He called out making her jump.
"Uh huh." She said holding her hand up to block the sun from her eyes.
"Walk with me." He told her already a few paces ahead. Lucy threw her head back before following him. Rip put his leg and arm up against the fence, half watching what was going on in the pen and half watching Lucy.
"I have no doubt Beth told you off this morning."
"You bet." Lucy said not looking at him as she hung over the top rung of the fence.
"She was scared that you were missing or hurt. I don't mind if you want to go off and do things within reason but let us know if you're going alone."
Lucy nodded. "I didn't know I should and I just don't want to be yelled at." She told him quietly. She hated being yelled at, making her feel like a small scared child. It was something that reminded her of living with Janice. "It reminds me of living with Janice." She admitted to Rip.
He only just heard what Lucy had said but he felt the anger in him rise before the pain of knowing his daughter, his girl, went through that.
"Lu. Sweetheart. Look at me." He said getting her attention. "We are not going to let you go again and certainly never be like that horrible woman."
A tear rolled down Lucy's cheek which she was quick to wipe away. "I know, Dad."
Rip held his arms out for Lucy who was quick to wrap her arms around him in a hug. "It's all right." He reassured her, he could hear her sniffles and no doubt a few more tears were soaking his jacket.
"I'm gonna go talk to her." Lucy said suddenly pulling away from Rip. It almost took him by surprise. She was already on her way to the cabin before he could say anything.
Lucy peddled on the bike as hard as she could getting whatever frustration she had left in her from the morning out. Her legs were burning by the time she got to the cabin and chest hurt. The gravel driveway was a semi circle with the edges lined with rocks. As she rode around it to the porch she caught a glimpse of a deer at the edge of the park distracting her.
She felt her front wheel hit a rock before the handle bars twisted sending her over the front.
"Oh shit!" She yelled before landing with a thud on the gravel. She moved to get up but realised it hurt more than she thought. She turned to see her bike off to one side with the back wheel still spinning. She bent her elbow and saw the skin now missing and bleeding. Lucy managed to sit up thankful she had her helmet on, realising she had hit the rock and landed near another. Looking down she saw her pyjamas were also ripped with a long gravel rash graze on it.
She waited a second to catch her breath and steady herself before she yelled out. "Mom!"
Lucy hoped that Beth would hear her and come outside, knowing that she was probably home since her car was at the cabin. Except no one came.
"Mama!" She yelled out louder this time, she rarely called Beth, Mama, not wanting to seem like a baby. Beth stopped what she was doing inside thinking she had heard Lucy yelling for her. She waited a second but after not hearing anything she went back to what she was doing.
Lucy looked at her leg again, noticing all the dirt in it with the blood that was coming out of it. 'Dammit. That's gonna hurt to clean.' She thought.
Beth couldn't help but think she was sure she had heard Lucy calling for her so she looked out the front window. It was when she saw Lucy's bike and no Lucy that she felt like her stomach was in her throat. She pulled the front door open before walking quickly to the bike.
"Mama." Lucy said relieved to see Beth. "I fell off." She said with her helmet still on. "And my leg hurts and my elbows." She said showing Beth both.
She knew Lucy wasn't a soft kid, so when Lucy said that she was hurt she knew it must have been bad enough if she was calling out for Beth.
Whatever annoyance Beth had that morning with her was gone. Right now Beth wanted to make sure her little girl was ok.
"You're going to put me in an early grave Luce." Beth told her lightly, looking at her injuries. "You'll live."
"I thought you were never going to come out!" Lucy told her as Beth helped her up.
"I didn't hear you at first." Beth said helping her sit on the porch before going for the first aid kit. She rifled through it looking for antiseptic before she found the bottle empty. The same bottle Rip had used on one of the cowboys and Lucy another time and hadn't replaced. Beth went to the next best thing she could find. Vodka.
"This is all we've got to clean them baby." Beth told her uncapping the bottle of vodka. She went to take a swig first before cleaning the wounds but Lucy stopped her.
"There's antiseptic! That will burn!" Lucy said trying to move away.
"I just checked, the bottle is empty and your Dad didn't replace it."
Lucy shook her head. "Nuh-uh. It's under the sink, Dad bought a spray one for at home."
Beth rolled her eyes putting the cap back on and going inside. She found it straight away under the sink in the cabinet. "It would help if he put it where it belongs." She muttered. "Right. Hold your elbow up." She sprayed the antiseptic making Lucy scrunch her nose up at the sting, before doing the other elbow.
"I really liked these pyjamas." Lucy said looking at her leg that was still bleeding. "Can someone sew them? Then I'll be able to still wear them."
When Lucy said something like that on the odd occasion, it reminded Beth that she didn't raise Lucy from a baby and she was instead raised to try and mend things that were beyond repair.
Not only was the leg of the pyjamas ripped but parts were now blood soaked and probably wouldn't come out.
Beth looked at her leg noticing it wasn't as clean as her elbows but there was dirt and small bits of gravel in there. "Honey, we need to wash this one out."
"Figures." Lucy said standing up. "I got it." She said when Beth went to help her. "Stings like hell."
"Language." Beth said, getting a damp face washer to clean her leg.
"It does though!" Lucy said, gritting her teeth. Before Beth managed to spray her leg as Lucy hissed.
"All done. Just let me put something over it." Beth told her pulling out some dressings. "Go get changed out of your pyjamas."
Lucy nodded standing before tentatively putting weight on her leg, realising it wasn't as bad as when she first stood. Beth cleaned up downstairs before going to her ensuite to wash her hands. She came out to find Lucy on her bed.
"You have a perfectly good bed in your own room."
"I know. But I like yours." Lucy said stretching out. "Can I watch a movie in here?"
"You know Rip hates most technology, there's no tv."
"I know.. but you have your laptop?"
"I was working but just this once you can watch a movie." Beth told her.
"In here?" Lucy asked with a cheeky smile looking up at Beth.
Beth rolled her eye. "All right." She said going down stairs to get her laptop before setting it up for Lucy to pick a movie before she went outside to have a cigarette.
"Rip." John said down where the cowboys were working. "These are Lucy's from this morning." He said passing over the papers she had printed.
"Thank you Sir. I'll make sure she gets them." Rip flicked through the small pile of papers held together with a paper clip before putting them inside his jacket. He wasn't sure how the conversation between Beth and Lucy would have gone so he had planned to stop by before lunch to make sure nothing had happened.
"Righto boys, you keep going." Rip said offering no information as to what he was doing. He got in the first truck he saw, keys already in the ignition and drove to the cabin. He stopped half way up the driveway realising Lucy's bike was discarded in the middle. He could see Beth sitting on the porch finishing a cigarette.
"What the hell is her bike doing here?" He said loudly to Beth.
"She fell off earlier." She called out to him.
Rip moved it off to the gravel on to the grass before going up to the porch. "Fell off? What was she doing?"
"I don't know. She called for me to come. She's just got some grazes and a big one on her leg."
"Where is she anyway?" He asked not hearing the basketball bouncing or seeing her in the reading chair.
"Watching a movie on my laptop on our bed."
Rip raised an eyebrow but said nothing, deciding to change the topic. "So what happened this morning?"
"What are you referring to?" Beth asked raising an eyebrow.
"I'm not having a go. Lucy was crying this morning to me."
Beth didn't say anything.
"She said when you yell it reminds her of Janice, Beth." That got her attention. "She told me she was coming to talk to you but must have come off her bike when she was."
Beth stood up, grabbing the door to go inside.
"I'm not trying to upset you." Rip said before she was gone.
Beth stopped at the top of the landing where she could hear Lucy giggling at the movie playing. Entering her bedroom, Lucy looked up hearing Beth's footsteps.
"Do you have to do work now?"
Beth shook her head, sitting in the edge of the bed. "I wanted to talk to you."
"What did I do?" Lucy asked, sitting up.
"I want to talk about this morning." Beth said looking at her. Lucy turned her head to avoid looking at Beth. "I'm sorry I reacted the way I did."
Lucy looked at Beth with a little pout saying nothing.
"Lu, I'm learning ok. I should have asked you to tell us if you're going somewhere rather than expecting you to know." Lucy nodded at Beth. "Do you want to say anything?"
Lucy took a second to process everything, "I thought you were going to ask me before you just like start yelling at me but you didn't today and you just yelled at me! I don't like it when you yell, you're just like Janice when you do that without asking me anything! Just jumping to conclusions."
Beth could feel her temper rising. "Ok. We did talk about that. I going to try from now on. And I'll always do my best to not be like Janice if I can."
Lucy shut the laptop. "Ok."
Beth didn't know what else to do other than leaving Lucy to keep watching the movie if she wanted. She found Rip outside on the porch, having not moved.
"Well, baby. She's got as much fire as me."