Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain | Ryan || Yellowstone

Chapter 1

It was a twenty-hour drive to Bozeman. I listened to the Willie Nelson DVDs I found in the back of my truck, trying to fill the silence where my mind would wander into pointless thoughts.

Thoughts of what I would say when I got back home. But I would figure it out, I always did.

But it was too soon, way too soon, when I pulled up to the gates to Yellowstone Ranch.

I missed this place, I really did, but... 

"Dammit, Cassandra," I said to myself and pressed on the gas hard before I could have any second thoughts.

A cloud of dust lay behind me as I tore through the dirt roads of the ranch all the way to the lodge. 

I eased off the gas as the stables and the bunkhouse came into view. The ranch was dark except for a few lights in the lodge a while off. I came up the dirt driveway to where I had always parked. It was empty. It could have been a fluke, but I smiled slightly.

I grabbed my only bag from the back seat and stomped towards the bunkhouse, not caring if I made any noise. In fact, I tried to make as much noise as possible.

The bunkhouse porch light was still on.

I didn't wait at the door but slammed it open. I kept my head down, the brim of my hat covering my eyes. The boys' stares bore through the back of my head as I dropped my bag and walked to the end of the room. I looked up, still facing away from them, studying the wall with its posters and shelves full of random things that had been collected. 

I heard a cough behind me and I smiled. 

"Oh come on boys, you all forgot me already?" I turned around and faced the wranglers, all sitting at the table playing cards, just where I had left them. "I should be hurt." I smiled slightly as they registered who had walked into the bunkhouse.

In a rush of noise and stomping of boots, the wranglers threw down their cards and hollered their greetings. 

I smiled as I came over to them, greeting them all and introducing myself to the new wranglers who weren't here when I had left. 

"Cassandra!" Colby raised his arms in greeting.

"Hey, Colby," I said and smiled as I hugged him.

He pulled away and gripped me by the shoulders. "It's been a while."

I nodded and shrugged. "Went pretty fast for me."

I looked behind him and saw two men on the other side of the table. I ignored one of them, but I ran for the other. 

"Lloyd!" I smiled as I tackled him in a hug, and he chuckled as he hugged me back.

"How was it, honey?"

I smiled. "It was fucking awful."

Lloyd chuckled and pulled away to get a good look at me. "Good," He said, then his lips turned into a smile, and then he laughed. 

He kept an arm around my shoulder as I faced the rest of the wranglers and took a beer from Colby. "It is very good to be back," I said and raised my beer.

The rest of them raised their beers back, and we drank.

_____

I hadn't slept much last night. It was three in the morning when the beers had run out and when Lloyd finally sent everyone to bed, threatening to kick all our asses. 

The wranglers had gotten in their bunks, but I had a five-minute walk to my separate house. Not so much as a walk and more like a stumble, though.

But the morning coffee on the bunkhouse porch always helped.

I had a porch attached to my house, but the view from the bunkhouse was more beautiful, somehow.

I filled one of the rocking chairs, staring over the mountains as the early morning light began to creep over the tree line. It was a while before anyone had to wake up, but this was my favorite time of the day... when it was quiet. When even nature was asleep. 

I heard the door open and looked to see Lloyd coming out of the bunkhouse, a cup of coffee in his hand.

He sighed as he sat next to me, and we both clinked our coffee mugs together.

"Beautiful, isn't it?" He said.

"You say that every morning, Lloyd."

"Yeah, but I haven't had the chance the last five years."

I looked over at him, his eyes tired yet smiling.

"You know I didn't leave because of you, right?" I asked him as I leaned forward in the rocking chair.

He nodded. "Of course I know that. I know why you left, Cass."

I looked at him with a raised brow. "You do?"

"You know I think of you like a daughter, Cassandra, so I'd like to think I know you." He slapped a hand on my shoulder. "Of course I know why you left."

I looked at the cup in my hands and sighed. It was empty. 

Lloyd had always been like a father to me. For twenty years he had taken up that position when it had been left open. 

So I wasn't surprised that Lloyd knew why I left for five years. I didn't tell him why five years ago, but I guess I didn't need to. 

"Would you like to do the honors this morning?" Lloyd asked me.

I nodded. "Then I need to go take care of some business."

He nodded as we both stood. "Yes ma'am."

I walked into the bunkhouse and reached for the cowbell that stood on the shelf next to the doorway. It had a layer of dust worth five years on it. I wiped it clean, then looked around the dark room.

I flicked on the light switch and started shaking the cowbell hard. "Come on, wake up!" The wranglers groaned, and most of them pulled the blankets over their heads or slammed their faces into their pillows. "I know you missed my wake-up call-" I shook the cowbell harder, the noise blasting through the room, "Wake up, wake up!"

When all the wranglers had at least sat up in their beds, I put the cowbell back on its shelf and smiled at Lloyd.