Chapter 48
He was on customer duty on the pick-up dock that afternoon with Tim. He jumped up on the raised platform.
Tim came out of the store room. “What the hell is going on?”
Ward shrugged.
“Don’t give me that. First Tyler peels out of here like a bat out of Hell, with Hank right after him, and then you. All three of you taking off like there was some accident or something. Then poof, you’re all back. Ty goes into the office, Hank tells me to ‘fuck off’ and stomps off into the mill when I ask him what happened. And you, you just shrug your shoulders like nothing’s wrong.”
Ward didn’t want to get into it, not any of it. But he knew he needed to say something. So he said, “Tyler’s son and Hank’s boy got into a fight at school.”
“Is that all?” Tim asked, looking skeptical. “Kids fight all the time. My kid beat up Hank’s lotsa times. The kid’s got a big mouth just like his daddy. Tommy probably deserved it. Hank never got mad at me for it. He agreed his kid most likely started it. But what did it have to do with you? Why were you involved in it?”
Tim’s questions clearly indicated he was unaware of what was going on with Ward and Tyler. So Ward wasn’t going to go into the fact that the altercation was based on Hank’s homophobic bigotry, or on Tyler’s fear of being outed. Things were bad enough as they were without spreading that around. Besides, he was pretty sure Hank would take care of it.
Since Ward didn’t seem to offer anything further, Tim dropped it, and they went back to work stacking bags of grain while waiting for customers coming to the dock for pick-up.
* * * *
Ward ran into Hank twice during the afternoon. The two men just looked at each other and went about their business.
Avery approached Ward just as he was getting ready to leave for the day. “How’d it go?”
Ward shook his head. “Not good,” he said, then proceeded to tell Avery the whole story.
“Wow. Sounds like Tyler’s really gonna need some time to work through this. I worked with Hank for a bit this afternoon. He looked agitated but didn’t say anything. Probably hoping to save his sorry ass. If I were Tyler I’d fire the bastard. Fuckin’ homophobe.”
Privately Ward agreed with Avery. But he knew Tyler didn’t want to make things worse by pissing Hank off more. Ward wondered how much Tyler had shared with his father.
As Ward made his way to his truck, he saw Tyler come out of the office and head for the parking lot. Ward quickened his step in an effort to catch Tyler before the man drove off.
Ward had to find out what was going on in Tyler’s head. “Ty!”
Tyler looked at Ward, hesitated briefly, then got into his pickup and drove off, leaving Ward standing in the parking lot watching him go.
* * * *
The drive to the farm was a long one. Ward tried not to think about what had happened in the past two days. Just when things seemed to be going well and Tyler was coming around, the bottom fell out of it all.
When Ward pulled up into the drive and got out of his truck, he was greeted by Teller, Zeta, and the pups. All five dogs came running out to meet him. He dropped to his knees and was covered with dog kisses and puppy nips. He picked up little Addy. She licked his nose. Ward lost it and his eyes filled with tears.
He heard the door of the farmhouse open. He wiped his eyes on his shirt sleeve and tried to get his emotions under control. Ward stood up, still holding Addy. His dad was walking toward him.
“Go get ‘em!” the elder Cartwright commanded Teller and Zeta.
The dogs jumped up and were off immediately to bring in the herd for milking. Panda and Pedro, as the two other pups had been named, scampered off to follow their parents. Addy wiggled and squirmed in Ward’s arms.
“Whoa there, you young’uns,” Ward’s dad said, laughing as he chased the puppies. “You ain’t quite ready to be herding cows just yet. They’d squash you flat.”
This was just what Ward needed to break the dark mood that had settled over him. He had worried about what to tell his parents. He was sure they would see something was bothering him. He needed time to sort things out, time to find out just how bad things were between him and Tyler before the questions started.
He helped his dad round up the puppies, put them in their box in the cob shed, and shut the doors. Then he walked along with his dad to the barn to help with the milking. Just act normal,he kept telling himself.