“On my way,” I said as I left the ladies.
“So are you a fan?” Sid asked as he pointed his beer toward the screen.
I tried to think of my fake profile and what I was supposed to say, but I just couldn’t remember if I liked NASCAR or not. Instead, I decided to go with the truth.
“I don’t really know very much about it, but it seems like a fun event to go to.”
“Oh, yeah man. I went a few years ago and it was insane. Now it would be really nice to go in one of those RVs and stay nice and close. I’d love to climb up on the top and watch the race from there.”
“Now that sounds like a good time.”
“Sarah never got into racing. If she had been a boy, I would have forced her to love it like I do. But I suppose it’s not really a woman’s thing.”
I had to laugh as Sid went on and on about his NASCAR while we waited for dinner. It was obviously something he was passionate about and I liked seeing that side of him.
Chapter Twelve
Sarah
“Dinner wasn’t so ba
d, was it?” I asked Garrett as he stood next to me and helped me clean up the kitchen.
“It was nice.”
“I thought my father was going to totally convert you into a NASCAR fan.”
It had been wonderful to watch how excited my father got while talking to Garrett. I knew he had wanted a son and over the years I had tried to make him proud. He certainly didn’t make me feel like he didn’t want me, I just knew he always longed to have another man around the house that he could bond with.
As Garrett and I had gotten closer, Garrett was afraid my father would find out, but I actually thought my father wouldn’t mind at all. Garrett was a good man; he was one of the nicest men I had known. My father and he got along great and I saw how my father looked at him; he respected Garrett.
Sure, my father teased Garrett about staying away from me, but that was just what he did. If I told him I was head over heels falling for Garrett; he would be happy for me. I just didn’t fall head over heels for anyone so it would shock my parents if I actually admitted to them the feelings I was having.
When Garrett told me my parents had invited him to dinner, I couldn’t help but think it would be the perfect moment to tell them about the two of us. Just get it all out there on the table and not worry about it. They were my parents, they loved me and trusted me, and I just didn’t think they would have a problem with the two of us being together.
But I wasn’t going to force the announcement and it made Garrett very anxious to think about my father knowing what we were doing, so I didn’t tell them. I did enjoy our evening together though. It was so much fun to watch my father and Garrett talked about NASCAR and to hang out with my mother in the kitchen and make dinner. It felt like how I had always wished my significant other would get along with my parents.
Garrett wasn’t exactly my boyfriend; I wasn’t sure what label we should attach to our relationship. We worked together and hung out together during the day and in the nighttime, we made love and slept together. Outside of the ranch I would have considered him my boyfriend, but on the ranch, it seemed like something less than that. There was no future-planning going on between the two of us. We never mentioned living together or traveling the world; we just enjoyed the time we had with each other. No expectations and no plans.
“It was pretty exciting there in the end. I can see why he likes it so much. I hope your mom is all right with me kicking her out of the kitchen so I could help you with the dishes. I just wanted to talk to you. It was so weird sitting in there and not talking to you.”
“Yeah, I think she will survive.”
“You have a pretty cool family here.”
“Yeah, I love ‘em; I think I’ll keep them,” I laughed.
I didn’t know much about Garrett’s family except that his parents had died. He also mentions one time that his sister lived in Florida, but he didn’t really talk to her much. It was sad that his family was so small and he didn’t have the support I did. I could tell he longed for more close connections in his life and I hoped he would find it someday.
We continued to do the dishes and watched a storm off in the distance. It looked like it was building up some power and the closer it got to the ranch, I could see the trees blowing harder and harder in the wind. We didn’t get many storms in Montana, but when they did blow through, it was normally just some thunder and lightning. Luckily, we were far enough north that we didn’t get tornados or anything like that.
The animals always had a bit of a rough time when a thunderstorm rolled through. The lightning and noise from the thunder scared them and often had them so worked up they wouldn’t eat or drink for a day after the storm had passed.
“Hey, when you two are finished up in here will you go check on the horses. They might need some loving care to get through the storm,” my father said as he grabbed another beer from the fridge.
“Sure, Dad.”
I hated to watch how the scared the animals got in the storms. It was difficult to know they were afraid and not be able to calm them down in anyway. When I was away from the ranch I didn’t think anyone took as good of care of the horses as I did when I was home. Sure, my father and mother probably went out to the barn and checked on them; but there was so much more that went into making sure they felt safe. I didn’t mind even sleeping in the barn if I had to, just to make sure they all made it through the night all right and weren’t too scared.