Should’ve been a cowboy

Kacee by morning

Stetson woke up to the baby crying. He groaned and rolled over in his bed. The baby screamed louder. Finally,Stetson got up and made a pot of coffee.Leanne was rocking her baby,who she had named Devin Lee Roberts. She hadn’t given him his father’s last name to spite him for abandoning them. She wasn’t married and Devin’s father was uninvolved with him. Lee was Stetson’s middle name. She had given him that name to show her gratitude for Stetson’s support. She had been able to continue working with Stetson’s help. He worked nights at a gas station,so he was able to baby sit while Leanne was at work.

“Good morning,” Leanne said.

“Morning,” Stetson replied.

He touched the baby’s arm. “Hey, why’s my favorite nephew crying?” The baby looked at him and stopped crying. Leanne started to feed him his bottle. She sighed.

“You are a life saver,” she said.

“It’s nothing,” Stetson replied. He sat down with his coffee. An add in the paper caught his eye.

“Hey sis,” he said.

“Yeah?” Leanne replied.

“The Conway ranch is hiring.”

“You thinking about moving back home?”

“I dunno,maybe someday.”

Oakland and Michael were at a barrel race. Michael had offered to help drive,since it was a long drive from Kacee. They had been dating for two years. Michael wanted to purpose to her and while they were there. He had planned to convince the announcer to let him ask her over the loud speaker after her name was called to run. Then,he was going to come down into the arena to receive her answer. He racked up her horse for her.

“Michael,you don’t have to do that,” she said.

“I want to,” he replied.

“You’re sweet,” she said and gave him a kiss. Oakland sat in the tack room doorway of the trailer and pulled a coke can out of the cooler. An hour later,Oakland had warmed her horse up and was kicking back in the saddle when two riders names were called and hers was called to ride after them. Michael got up and started to walk away.

“Where you going?” Oakland asked.

“To the bathroom,” he replied.

“Okay,don’t miss my run.”

“I wont.”

Michael reached the announcer’s stand where there was a long line of people waiting to sign up for races. He started walking passed them to the announcer’s stand.

“Hey,back of the line!” A woman yelled.

“I’m just gonna be a minute, I’m going to propose to my girlfriend!” He yelled. He continued to walk up to the announcer.

“Can I use this?” He asked and pointed to the mic.

“What for?” The announcer asked.

“I’m going to propose to my girlfriend,” Michael replied.

“Knock yourself out,” the man gestured to the mic.

“Thank you.” Michael picked it up just as Oakland was going to run.

“Oakland wait, I want this day to be special for you. I love you and seeing you doing what you love makes you even more beautiful to me, Oakland Grace,will you marry me?” He asked and ran down to the arena. She nodded with a big smile and leaned down to kiss him. The crowd cheered.

“Now go kick some ass,” Michael said. Oakland laughed. He ran out the arena gait and she ran her horse. Stetson was feeding his nephew lunch when Leanne called him.

“Stets,I got a call from mom...” she began. He knew something was wrong, their mother never called them.

“What is it? What’s wrong?” He asked.

“Dad’s gone,” Leanne replied.

Stetson lost his breath.

“I wanna leave for Kacee tonight.”

“Okay.” Stetson started getting some things together for the trip. He felt a deepening feeling of guilt. He wasn’t sad of his father’s passing. He tried to remember any good memories about his father,but couldn’t. All he could remember was abuse and alcohol. What his father had done had had affected him throughout the rest of high school. He had gotten into a lot of fights. He was angry at his father,but he placed his anger on others in the moment. He often went out drinking. Leanne had caught him a few times with alcohol. She had forced him to quit drinking. She told him he was only masking the hurt and he was going to have to let himself feel it or he would never get passed it. He only felt halfway passed it and wondered if he would always feel hurt.

“Stets,Stets you there?” Leanne asked.

“Yeah,” he answered.

“The funeral’s Thursday and the will reading’s Monday. I’m gonna take my two weeks vacation. You should probably call the station and tell them you won’t be there.”

“Okay.”

“I’ll see you later.”

“Bye.”

A tear rolled down Leanne’s cheek. Stetson called his work and told them he would be missing two weeks of work. The manager told him he couldn’t afford to keep him on if he was going to be missing work since it was winter and that was the busy time of year. Stetson knew during the winter a significant amount of people came in simply for coffee and hot meals. He told the man he understand and to find someone else. He took a cigarette out of a pack on the kitchen table, stuck it in his mouth and stepped in the doorway to the balcony so he could smoke and keep an eye on his nephew. He smoked half a cigarette,put it out and set it back on the table. The add for the Conway ranch caught his eye again. He decided to call them. Mr. Conway was a nice man. Stetson explained his situation with his father passing away and losing his job for having to go back to Kacee for two weeks. Mr. Conway said he was sorry about Stetson’s father and he would be glad to talk with Stetson more when he gets to Kacee and is settled in. Stetson was relieved to have a job opportunity but didn’t tell Leanne.