“Amy. I……I’d really like to see you. To talk again.”
He knows I’m here; hiding. I open my mouth and my foot moves just the slightest bit, but I can’t bring myself to do it.
Then, he’s gone. Suddenly, I feel this deep ache in my chest, like a part of me was just ripped away. What is wrong with me?
I let out the long breath I had been holding and stand against the tree until my body stops shivering, then I head towards the house trying to hold back my tears. During the entire walk back to the house, I debate with myself about turning around and going back. I wish I would have talked to him. I kick the stones on the ground in frustration. I feel so foolish. I almost turn around to go back when I hear a car rolling to a stop on the gravel in front of the house. The door opens and closes and I hear one set of footsteps walking up to the front of the house. I stand stiffly with my back against the side of the house, hidden. I hear pounding on the door.
“Allison! Open up, sweetheart!”
It’s the skinny man in the suit. I recognize his voice.
“Please leave us alone!” I hear my mother cry from inside the house.
“Come on Allison. You know the deal. Open up. I’m coming in either way.”
There is a long moment of silence as I hear his steel boot tap on the wooden porch, and then I hear the door open and close. There’s a shuffle and I hear my mother scream. She told me to never, under any circumstances, make myself seen when he comes. I haven’t ever seen his face, but I will never forget his voice. I drop to my knees and hold my hands over my ears and squeeze my eyes closed for so long, the pebbles under my knees start lodging themselves into my skin. I can’t stand to hear the noises; my mother’s cries, the slaps, his grunts. I stay completely still on my knees until I hear his car spit the gravel from his tires as he drives away.
I run as fast as my legs will take me inside the house. My mother is leaning against the counter, popping a pill into her mouth. Her body is shaking and tears are flowing down her red cheeks. A purple color is starting to spread across her cheek bone.
“Mother?”
“Amy! Where the hell were you?!” She screams as she wipes the tears from her face. “Were you fucking that boy? You were, weren’t you?”
“No mother!” I cry.
“You’re a whore! You think I don’t know what you do out in those woods?” She pulls my hair into her fist and drags me to the bathroom and turns the hot water on. Steam fills the bathroom. “Wash him off of you Amy! You’re dirty!” she screams at me.
“Mother! Stop! Why do you do this to me? He didn’t touch me. I didn’t do anything wrong!”
My mother pulls me into the scalding water with her, yelling at me, repeating over and over that I’m a whore and that I’m dirty like her and we need to clean ourselves. I scream as the hot water hits my face and try to push my way out of the shower. I finally shove past her and run to my room, locking the door behind me. I curl up on my bed, pull the covers over my head, and cry myself to sleep as I always do. He’s coming more often and she’s getting worse. I’m so alone and so scared.
CHAPTER 4
Dillon
I can’t stop thinking about her. Her deep blue eyes haunt me. They were full of expression. I saw fear, desperation, sadness, pain, loneliness and possibly a plea for help. She looked like a ghost right out of a horror flick. Her face was pale, her hair stringy and unkempt. Her clothes were too small. She had cowered from me at first, but yet she returns to the fence every day. I came up with the game in hopes she would start to trust me and talk to me. I think it was working until Candice showed up.
I walk into the kitchen with my steaming cup of coffee and sit at the table with my dad. He’s typing away on his laptop. He’s a full-time rancher and a part-time writer. He likes to write about ranching. Go figure. It’s his passion and mine as well. My mother left when I was little; ranching wasn’t the life for her. She now resides in a high rise in New York with her new husband. My sister Laney is married and lives in Denver with her husband and their daughter, Daisy. We’re close and always have each other’s backs. She comes to the ranch often. She likes the best of both worlds and Daisy loves the horses.
I earned my degree in ranching from a Christian college in Texas. The plan is for me to take over the ranch since my dad isn’t getting any younger and prefers to spend his time writing now. I have a lot of respect for him. He ran this ranch while raising two kids on his own and has been very successful. I’m honored to take over and follow in his footsteps.
We own over five thousand acres of land, which has been in the family for three generations. Our classic two-story farmhouse with a wrap-around porch has been recently remodeled, and sits nearest to the entrance of the property with one of those big wooden arches that has our family name strewn across the top, ANDREWS RANCH. There is a guest house that we currently use for storage. There are three barns, a large lake and tons of trails on the property. Right now, we mostly breed, buy, and sell horses. We also board and allow our clients to ride the trails on the property. I have plans to expand the business in the future. I’d like to offer riding lessons and guided tours to the public. My dad started training me on the contract and financial side of the business when I returned from school a few months ago. That’s when I found out the fenced property used to be ours eighteen years ago. My dad had sold it.