Tethered

Five || Jolt

{Broken Halos ~ Chris Stapleton}

...Don't go looking for the reasons, don't go asking Jesus why, we're not meant to know the answers, they belong to the by and by...

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    It takes all of about thirty seconds for my brain to process the last minute of my life. Uncle Deacon is already a few steps up on to the front porch while I stand stiff near the truck, confused and shocked at the sight of this stranger in my Uncle's home. I hear my Uncle's words flying around my brain as the name is repeated with every step I take, cautiously, towards the house like a timid field mouse. Beau.

     The smell of home cooking wafts into my senses, and I am intrigued further as I tentatively follow my Uncle's casual stroll into the kitchen, where I see him clear and bright under the hanging kitchen light.

     He stands in a checked shirt and some worn-in jeans, young and burly, his brow slightly sweaty as he wipes it with the back of his forearm. His callused hands stir a pot of soup on the stove. We appraise one another slowly, his eyes not lingering too long at me before smiling warmly at Uncle Deacon as he leaves the boiling pot to take the bags of groceries from us.

  "This is Beau Carroway," Uncle Deacon holds his arm out to Beau, gesturing him to come nearer to us, wrangling us both, like two stallions in a paddock, unsure of each other. "He's my farmhand, been helping me out around the ranch these last couple' years."

  "Nice to meet ya, Miss," he nods politely, his lips remaining stuck in a thin straight line, forbidden from turning into even a glimmer of a smile.

  "This is my Niece, Ruby," Uncle Deacon tells Beau, a fact I suddenly realise I hadn't spoken aloud myself. "You remember me telling you about her coming to live with us here on the ranch, don't ya?"

  "Us?" The words spill out of my mouth quietly, barely making an echo.

  "I live in the guest-house out at the edge of the field," Beau responds curtly to my question as he goes back to the pot of soup, the smell of which fills the room. "Mr Taylor very kindly lets me stay there and work for him."

  "Oh, I see," I nod, smiling awkwardly.

  "I should have probably told you about Beau earlier Ruby, darlin', my mind's just been distracted," Uncle Deacon says.

     I take to helping to put the groceries away, listening to Beau and Uncle Deacon discuss the horses and the work on a broken gate at the edge of Uncle Deacon's land that Beau's spent the majority of the day fixing. I listen, silently, like a fly on the wall. They banter back and forth, all while Beau continues to call Uncle Deacon 'sir' every two minutes.

  "I wasn't sure I was gonna be able to make anything for dinner what with all these empty cabinets," Beau laughs to Uncle Deacon. "Still, thank God you got some groceries, I was having nightmares about trying to make butterbeans into a whole meal."

  "I sent Ruby to do the shopping," Uncle Deacon explains. "Harley Rucker was up at the house last night, creeping along trying to put a FOR SALE sign up."

  "You have got to be kiddin' me," Beau turns, his face like stone. He's a handsome guy, but I'd hate to be on his bad side.