Taking On The Cowboy

Part 3 - Chapter Two

Damn. Tara's reaction was exactly why Gage didn't tell people about his head injury. They'd go all weird and start treating him differently. Gage wished he hadn't said anything. If the head injury freaked her out, how would she react if she found out he'd been to prison? She was bound to find out at some stage. Bandera was a small town. The kind of town where everybody knew everybody else's business. Most folks were kind at heart but sometimes their preaching turned to meddling.

The injury didn't need to be a big deal. Sure, he got headaches worse than blue northers sometimes, and he still had holes in his memory. He could remember all the important bits now though, which was more than he'd had after the accident.

Remembering was over rated. The accident had been bad enough when he'd only had other people's versions of what had happened to rely on. The ambulance crew's observations, the police officer's version, and the Judge's sentencing remarks. It was all so horrible he'd been grateful to have a process to follow. Reliable people to rely upon. Ambulance and police officers, judges and lawyers, they don't get it wrong, right?

Not everybody got it right though - the Shrinks were wrong - talking about things might help other people, but it wouldn't help him, that was for sure. Talking hadn't helped in prison, and now he'd barely said anything to Tara and look at her reaction. Keeping his mouth shut was the best option.

Gage made for the barn. It would be no use going back up to the ranch right now. He'd never been good at hiding his feelings. Whatever Gage thought was usually written all over his face. Even if he had been a prize poker player, he suspected that he still wouldn't have been able to hide his mood from his mother. Better to spend some quality time with Thunder. Not that Thunder was anybody's dummy, but at least Thunder couldn't give him the third degree.

Tara got the feeling that dawn on Burrowing Owl Ranch would have been pretty special on any given morning, but dawn on Burrowing Owl Ranch with a cooked breakfast of crispy fried bacon, ranch fresh eggs and buttered toast, brought to her door, along with a glass of freshly squeezed orange juice was out of this world good.

"It's not as generous as it looks, Tara. I come with an ulterior motive." Liz warned, looking guilty.

I know what that feels like, Tara wanted to say.

"Last night I promised today was yours. I've just had a call from The Saddlery. It's a tack shop in Bandera. Thunder's new halter has arrived. I wondered whether you'd mind terribly picking it up if you're going in to town?"

She certainly would be going into Bandera. Her one change of underwear and travel sized shampoo and toothpaste weren't going to get her far. Overnight she'd decided she'd stay for a few more days. Give herself time to figure out what she needed. Burrowing Owl Ranch hadn't been what she expected. She wasn't sure how she'd managed to go from using the job ad as an opportunity to check out the ranch without revealing who she was, to taking on a six week unpaid stint working for the mother of the man who had killed her brother. Even in her head it sounded messed up. There was one thing she was sure of though, she felt close to Dan out here in the Hill Country, and that felt good. Besides, Gage Mason still needed to be held to account for what he had done, and she hadn't figured out quite how she was going to do that yet. She wasn't going anywhere until she had that one figured out.

She had the time. She had the whole rest of her working life seeking justice as a District Attorney, and nowhere she needed to be right now. Nobody doubted she could do it, and if her bar exam result met the benchmark she'd set with her Grad School exams, the DA's office would be throwing the doors wide open in welcome to her. She'd know soon enough, when the results arrived via email, which she could access just as easily at Burrowing Owl as she could at home in Austin.