26. Ma
If We Make It Through December


“Thanks for calling me Zack, John had called us earlier but didn’t know what to say.” I sighed. I was sitting on the porch steps looking at the horses grazing. Spirit, the horse I know I shouldn’t like due to what had happened, had become my favorite horse to watch. He was beautiful and had calmed down enough but you could still see the wild in him.

“No, thank you so much.” I said again, wiping the tears from my eyes. “Thank you for taking care of her.”

“It’s been no problem, we’re going to dinner tomorrow for my birthday at my mom’s house then I think the next day we’re gonna go ahead and start the drive home.”

“Will you be staying? I know Johnny had..”

“For a few days, I’ll tell you plan later.”

“Okay, I love you. You’re one of us now.” I smiled.

“Thanks Ma, it means a lot.” Zack chuckled.

“That was Zack?” Levi asked walking up from the barn.

“Yeah. Just wanting us to know that Bailey had been attacked, he apologized and said that he’s not going to jail for assault.” I said letting him with me on the steps. “We shouldn’t’ve let her to go LA.”

“That’s not an LA problem, that’s an - our daughter is a beautiful but naïve adult problem. We raised her here, shielded from real problems of the world…”

“Anyways, because I don’t want to talk about it… what do you think about Zack?”

“I told you the first day I saw them stand next to each other they were gonna fall in love. He loves her. He takes amazing care of her, this just proves that. John called me earlier and told me what he wanted to do for Zack’s birthday as well as his christmas present, then Zack called and asked if it was okay… I told him yes.”

“Good. I think it’ll be nice.”

“Hopefully it’ll be a good Christmas.” Levi smiled. “With all this snow and that storm coming in, I’d better get the other generators ready.. better put a plow on Bailey’s truck, get things all clear for the Californians.”

I smiled as he gave me a peck on the temple, I wrapped my shawl a little tighter and went back inside. I had a tea pot on the wood stove and it started to whistle just as I got inside. I sat in Levi’s rocking chair as I watched the snow fall again, wondering what the next week would be like. I texted Bailey a few pictures with the horses in them, making sure she knew Spirit was still here.

Levi and I spoke about getting rid of the horse, but he was right about it not really being the horse’s fault. He’d be working with the horse since Bailey was gone and was completely confident in that horse now. I smiled thinking about it, all we ever wanted when we first moved here – into the first house on the other side of the property- was a happy family and to be comfortable. As soon as the kids were both walking we had finished restoring this old farm house and decided since it was quite a bit bigger to move here. It was also easier to access, it didn’t really have a driveway – that’s why we always had the jeep. But once you have two kids and shit to do, you can’t screw around with making things work anymore.
When I first realized my daughter and Zack were falling in love, though I am still not sure they’re even realized it for themselves yet, I was afraid. Zack was not what I pictured Bailey would find to be her type. But to my surprise Zack was not all he made himself seem, sure he was covered in tattoos and had a few piercings, but he’s the nicest young man I’ve met in a long time. He works very hard and he wasn’t afraid to get his hands dirty, he’s been nothing but a complete gentleman – someone I wouldn’t mind being a part of our family. I am a little nervous still, because he’s in some rock band… but it’s not any rock band he’s in the same band as my son.

Maybe it’ll bring my son around a bit more than he has been, bring the family back together.
I cleaned up Johnny’s room, sure that’s where Zack would feel the most comfortable. If not, I got the guest room red up too. Just walking into Bailey’s room made me said, she wasn’t my little girl anymore she was a young woman. She would be moving out soon, making her own path…

“I wonder if he’ll even have the correct clothes.” I said to myself. “I’ll just have to go into town and get him what he needs.”

I saw Levi as I was leaving, he asked where I was going and laughed that I thought it was important enough to go into town for clothes for this young man.

“He’s from California, you saw what he wore last month he had that thin hoodie!” I said waiting for the jeep to warm up.

“You’re probably right.” He nodded. “Go ahead and get some extra hay while you go in, a bale should do just fine.”

“Okay. You want anything else?”

“Some chew.” He smiled. “I don’t plan on going to town for a while after this.”

“Sure there isn’t anything we need?” I said trying to remember the stock. We had enough meat in the freezer for a year – by us I meant us and the kids. We had enough toiletries for a year… it was easy to say we were prepared.

“Just need ya to come on home safe, now go Mama – I’ll get some food started, you’ve got an hour in town – I’ll set your tea up… if you’re late and your tea is cold.” He scolded jokingly.
“I love you.”

“I love you too, Levi.” I kissed him quickly before getting into the warmed jeep, it took a bit to get into town but I loved driving in the snow. It was beautiful to look at; I sung a tune to myself since the radio in this jeep has been broken since the 80s. When I got into town there was significantly a lot less snow than what we had at the ranch, I parked the jeep outside our small shopping center and went in.

“Looking for a Christmas present?” The salesman said with a warm smile.

“Yeah, my son.” I lied. “I just don’t know what size he is… he’s about your build, maybe a bit taller.”

“Well, this is my size.” He said showing me a jacket, it was a dark burgundy flannel but had black fluff on the inside.

“Oh it’s perfect, it has a skull on it.” I laughed touching the small skull button on it. I noticed then that all the small buttons had skulls and the stitching at the bottom had a skull on it. “It’s perfect.”

I searched for about another 20 minutes picking up another lighter jacket and a pair of boots I was sure would fit him, I also bought him a few black hats I think they’re called beanies?

“Your son getting ready for the winter?” the cashier smiled.

“He’s from California, it’s my daughter’s boyfriend.” I admitted. “He thinks 70 degrees is cold.”

“Oh he will appreciate all this. You heard there’s another storm blowing in?” She said taking the tags off.

“Yeah, just hoping it doesn’t knock our power out for 2 weeks like last time.”

“Yeah, good luck! Hope he likes the stuff!”

I packed up the jeep and went down to the feed store, got two bales of hay which barely fit into this old jeep and found myself a new book as I was in the line to cash out. I had made it halfway home before I realized I forgot to get Levi’s chew, but he needed to stop that bad habit anyways.

When Zack and Bailey get here I’ll just pick some up then, he will have enough to get him by until then.

Notes

Coming to an end soon... to sequel or not to sequel ... that is the question..