Chapter Seven
The next morning the weather had dipped and it was a little bit cooler than it had been the previous day. Only by about two degrees but Frank assured her that was rare for round here, and that they should take the opportunity while they could, to get out and do that walk they were planning – to visit the neighbors.
“Are you sure they won’t mind us just…dropping in on them like this?” Sammie asked as the two of them walked, swinging their arms slightly as they walked holding hands.
“Nah, it’ll be fine,” Frank smiled and gave her hand a small squeeze, then let go briefly so he could readjust the bag on his shoulder, packed with their supplies for the day. It was a long walk so they would need plenty of water, sun lotion so they didn’t get burnt, and some snacks so they could stop and eat if they’d wanted to. They’d set out just after midday, so had eaten some breakfast before they left and weren’t hungry just yet.
“What did you say their names were?”
“Kevin and Carol. They’re…in their mid-fifties, quiet, nice couple. I hope they’re not too…old…for you.” He blushed a bit. “I hope I’m not too old for you.”
“Course you’re not,” she smiled and leaned in to kiss him on the cheek. “I mean sure, you’re older than me but…you have a really young attitude and lifestyle. You’re basically like an overgrown teen.”
Frank snorted softly. “I’m not sure whether to take that as a compliment or an insult.”
“Definitely a compliment.” She took his hand again and swung their arms some more. “What I wanna know is…how come you haven’t got a girlfriend already? It really surprises me…like…you’re such a sweet guy.”
“Well, I told you how hard it was to find women locally.”
They’d discussed it briefly in one of their many conversations.”
“That’s why I went on the website,” he continued.
“Well yeah but…you’ve not even been in Texas that long. What about before that? When you were in New York?”
Frank pulled his Stetson down low over his eyes, looking like a real cowboy with his profile outlined by the hot sun.
“Yeah,” he murmured. “There were more girls in New York, for sure. I have had girlfriends, I’m not a total virgin.”
“I can tell that,” she teased. “You know exactly what you’re doing.”
“Just…never really worked out with anyone before. I was always too…occupied.”
“What, playing video games?” She laughed and bashed her shoulder into his lightly.
He chuckled and let go of her hand to wrap his arm around her. “Something like that.”
Again, she couldn’t help but notice how evasive he was when it came to any of his life prior to moving here. Clearly some traumatic event had occurred that he didn’t want to talk about. She hoped that someday he would trust her enough to be able to open up about it.
After a while, they stopped talking, the walk being too tiresome, arduous and hot to continue any kind of meaningful conversation. Sammie found it pretty hard going, walking in the heat, and a couple of times she had to stop to replenish her fluids and take in water from their supplies.
It didn’t seem to bother Frank as much, probably because he was more used to it than she was, but he was very patient with her and both silently and verbally encouraged her to keep going.
“You’re doing really well,” he smiled and kissed her sweaty temple. “Only about an hour left.”
“I take it you don’t do this very often?” She managed a laugh, slightly out of breath.
“Nah, not really. Too hot. And there’s not much point, I mean…we live our own separate lives.”
“You sure they won’t mind then?”
“Nah, they won’t. They’ll be happy to see a new face.”
“How do you know they’ll even be in? Shouldn’t we have called them before we set off?”
“They don’t have a phone,” Frank laughed. “They’re…pretty old fashioned when it comes to things like that.”
“Wow. How do people ever get in touch with them?” Sammie was amazed that in this day and age they didn’t even have a phone.
“Honestly, I don’t know. By letter, I guess. People still send letters a lot round here. It’s kind of like stepping back in time.”
“Don’t they have the internet like you?”
“Nope.”
“Wow…” Sammie was in awe.
And sure enough, when they finally arrived at the ranch some half an hour later, Frank was right. It really was like they’d walked into a different era.
The car parked outside was an old beat up thing that looked as though it hadn’t been refurbished or updated in at least twenty years, and the outside of the ranch itself seemed pretty rundown too.
“Are you sure anyone’s even living here?” Sammie asked in a whisper.
She felt as though she was in an episode of The Walking Dead and zombies were about to emerge at any moment.
Suddenly, there was a clattering, scraping sound just to the right, slightly behind the ranch, and Sammie nearly jumped halfway into the air.
Frank burst out laughing. “It’s the horses, come on, I’ll show you…”
“Horses?”
He grabbed her arm and pulled her round the side of the building.
Two horses were happily grazing in the field. One of them whinnied as they approached, and Frank held out his hand to stroke down its nose gently. “Hey there, buddy.”
Just behind them, the front door creaked open and footsteps came out onto the porch. “Oh hi, Frank, I thought it’d be you…” croaked a voice in a deep, Southern drawl.
Sammie turned around to see a man with greying hair and a set of overalls. He looked like a typical Southern farmer. She half expected him to have a piece of straw hanging from the corner of his mouth too.
“Kevin, this is Sammie,” Frank introduced them.
“Real nice to meet you, Sammie,” smiled Kevin and flashed her a set of surprisingly perfect teeth when he grinned, offering out his hand. “It’s not often Frank has visitors. In fact, I can’t remember him ever having any visitors.”
“Yeah, he’s pretty antisocial,” Sammie cracked a joke, shaking his hand.
He gave a guffawing laugh, then stopped as he picked up on her accent, withdrawing his hand after their shake. “And British too?”
“Yeah, I’m staying here for a couple of weeks. It’s my first time in the States.”
“And how are you enjoying it so far?” he asked.
“Very well, thanks,” she smiled and glanced at Frank, a faint blush on her cheeks.
“You’re a dark horse, Frank,” chuckled Kevin and punched Frank lightly in the shoulder. “Although I always did know that.”
Then he turned and called back into the house. “Carol! We’ve got some visitors.”
“Oh really?” They heard a muffled voice from inside. “That’s unusual. Don’t leave them standing in the heat, Kevin, bring them in, bring them in!”
“Yeah, y’all come on in,” Kevin smiled and led them to the door. “My wife just made a big jar of lemonade.”
“Sounds delicious,” Sammie smiled enthusiastically.
And it was.
Five minutes later they were sat inside on some very old – but also very comfortable armchairs, drinking Carol’s homemade lemonade.
It was much cooler inside the house – apparently air conditioning wasn’t too modern for them. She couldn’t imagine living in temperatures like this without it.
“It’s so nice to see Frank settling down with someone,” declared Carol almost as soon as they’d all sat down with their drinks.
Although the two of them hadn’t said anything about the status of their relationship, it was apparently obvious that they were more than just good friends.
They probably made it even more obvious by blushing profusely and shifting around in their seats as soon as Carol said that too.
“How long have you two known each other?” she continued, wanting to know all about it. “Was it one of those…internet relationships?”
Oh, so they did know what the internet was then. They weren’t totally living in the past.
“Uh, yeah, actually, it was,” Sammie admitted nervously, knowing how some people would judge them for that. But not Carol and Kevin, apparently.
“Aww, that’s sweet,” Carol beamed.
“That’s how our Jack met his girlfriend,” Kevin informed them cheerfully. “All the kids are doing it these days.”
“We’ve actually only known each other a couple of weeks,” Frank spoke up, then began to explain the relationship a little, leaving out the part about the marriage broker. Despite this pair seeming pretty open minded, he suspected that might be a little difficult for them to get their head around.
Sammie was relieved.
Carol brought out some cookies and offered them round, then told Sammie and Frank all about their two kids and what they were up to these days, with Kevin occasionally joining in to say a few words.
Frank had heard the stories before, but he didn’t mind hearing them again. It was obvious they were both really proud of their kids, which was nice.
This led on to them talking about careers, and eventually to the two horses that were outside grazing.
“We used to have about five or six, but we’re slowly winding down the business now we’re getting a bit older,” Carol explained. “Although Kevin’s still very fit on his feet.”
“What is it that you do?” asked Sammie.
“We run a small horse riding school. If people want to learn to ride, they can come out here and we’ll teach ‘em,” said Kevin. “We’ve been riding our whole lives, it’s nice to be able to pass on the knowledge.”
“That sounds like so much fun. I’ve never ridden a horse before.”
“I’m sure we can give you a go while you’re here,” Kevin smiled.
“That’d be exciting,” beamed Sammie, before excusing herself and asking where the bathroom was. Carol directed her through the ranch to the other side. There was no upstairs here, just one large floor with various rooms.
Sammie walked down the corridor, slightly confused by the sets of closed doors on her left and right, unable to remember which one it was.
Kevin, Carol and Frank could still be heard chatting in the background as she turned the handle on one of the doors and gently pushed it open.
A bedroom.
It obviously wasn’t the right room but her curiosity got the better of her and she couldn’t help but have a little snoop inside.
She didn’t go in too far, just poked her head in and had a glance.
It was a very humble, simple bedroom, with a couple of framed pictures of Kevin and Carol together on the mantelpiece.
She carefully closed the door behind her again and carried on, opening the next one and discovering another bedroom. This one was even plainer and simpler and didn’t look like it had been slept in for a long time. It was dusty, the décor was old fashioned and there were no personal possessions or evidence that anyone had ever stayed there.
Sammie once again closed the door behind her, then tried the one on her left, finally finding the bathroom.
After doing what she needed, she crept out again and was about to rejoin the others in the living room when once more her curiosity got the better of her. There was only one closed door that she hadn’t looked behind. Surely, it would do no harm to just…
She turned the handle slowly and pushed.
Locked.
And that was the end of her little adventure.
She walked down the corridor and back into the main living room and kitchen area.
She didn’t go straight over to sit down next to Frank again though; she had a little wander round and looked at the paintings up on the wooden walls. They mostly depicted hunting scenes, or animals out in the wild. There was a rifle above the fireplace and, on the mantel, some more framed pictures of Kevin and Carol.
Just Kevin and Carol.
She was struck by the fact that there were no pictures of their kids at all.
It was a little odd, but she reasoned that they just weren’t the sentimental type.
“It’s a really nice place you’ve got here,” she remarked, realizing that Carol was watching her.
Carol smiled. “Thank you. It’s not much, but we like it. It does for us, doesn’t it, Kevin?”
“Yeah, it sure does,” he agreed and put a cigarette in his mouth, standing up to go walk out onto the porch to smoke it.
“Well, I guess we should get back,” announced Frank, looking at the time. It was approaching five and would take them a while to walk back.
“Kevin’ll run you over,” said Carol. “Save you having to walk.”
“Oh, are you sure?” Frank stood.
Sammie looked hopeful. She really didn’t fancy that long walk home.
“Yeah, course he will. KEVIN!” She yelled to him on the porch.
“Huh? What?” He stuck his head back inside, some smoke blowing in from out of his mouth.
“You’ll run Frank and Sammie back up to their ranch, won’t you?”
“What? Yeah, sure. Throw me my keys.”
Carol picked them up off the side and tossed them over, then Sammie and Frank said their goodbyes to her and thanked her for the cookies and lemonade before following Kevin over to his pickup truck.
Even though it was approaching dusk, it was still incredibly hot outside, and Sammie put her shades back on as they climbed into the truck.
It only took them about twenty minutes to travel back to Frank’s ranch, which was a big difference from the epic walk they had undertaken earlier, and they were both very grateful for the lift, thanking Kevin profusely and shaking his hand as he insisted it was no big deal and that he’d see them soon.
“Anytime you like, come by the ranch and I’ll get you on a horse, Sammie.”
“We’ll definitely take you up on that, thank you.”
They waved goodbye to him, then Frank took her by the hand and led her down the path to their house, stopping at the mailbox to check whether anything had been delivered.
He took out a newspaper and a letter, stuffed them under his arm then kept hold of her hand as they went outside.
“Fancy a beer?” She asked straight away, kicking off her shoes and heading over to the fridge to open it up and take a couple out.
“Sounds great,” said Frank, flopping himself down on the couch and unfolding the newspaper. He glanced over the headlines then opened it up to read a few of the articles inside.
Sammie cracked open the beer bottles, took a swig of her own, then unpacked the bag from their walk. They never had eaten the sandwiches and snacks they’d taken with them, so she put everything back in the fridge to be eaten later.
When she turned around to carry the beers over to Frank on the couch, he was gone.
She frowned a little. “Frank?”
She hadn’t heard him leave and he hadn’t said anything to her.
She walked over and put the beers down on the coffee table. The newspaper he’d been reading was left discarded on the side.
She picked it up and had a glance at it. She’d expected it to be a local paper, but was surprised to see it was a New York one. He must have them sent over to him especially, she thought, to keep up with the news over there.
She tossed it down again and called out for him once more. “Frank!”
She headed upstairs, calling out for him.
“I’m in here,” came an eventual mumbled reply.
Sammie pushed open the door to his – their – bedroom, to find him curled up on the bed, facing the wall.
“Frank…are you OK?” she asked hesitantly.
He sighed and rolled over onto his back. “Yeah. Yeah, I’m fine, I’m just…thinking.”
“About what?” She slowly entered the room and walked over to the bed, getting down on it with him and draping one arm across his waist.
“Nothing you can help with, I’m afraid. It’s just…one of those things.”
“What is it?” She asked again, wishing he wouldn’t be so vague. “I want to at least try to help.”
“That’s…very sweet of you. But there’s nothing you can do. I have to figure this out for myself.” She looked up at his face. He seemed stressed, distracted, with a deep frown furrowing his normally pretty and perfect looking brow.
She frowned too when she saw how this was affecting him…whatever ‘this’ was.
She rubbed her hand gently on his stomach, trying to at least offer some comfort.
He sighed again and clasped his hand over hers. “Did you say you’d opened some beers?”
“Yeah…”
“Well come on then…what are we waiting for? Let’s go drink them.” And with that, he sat up and got off the bed, as if the whole thing had never happened.
She could tell he was putting on a show of strength and trying to act like nothing was wrong, probably for her sakes.
“We don’t have to…if you’re not feeling up for it.”
“I’m fine,” he insisted, his tone a little firmer than usual. “Please. Let’s just…go downstairs, yeah?”
She nodded and stood up, thinking better than to argue with him on this. He seemed to be pretty stubborn when he wanted to be.
The two of them went back downstairs, put the TV on, and sat on the couch together drinking their beers.
They stayed there for the rest of the night, occasionally chatting, or with Sammie resting her head on Frank’s shoulder.
Sammie could tell he was still distracted, and that he was most definitely keeping something from her, but she didn’t push it with him.
“Have you had a nice day?” He asked her when it was getting late and almost time for them to crash out.
“Yeah,” she smiled and leaned in to kiss him on the cheek. “Yeah, I have.”
“I’m sorry if I’ve…not really been myself tonight…” He mumbled, looking guilty.
“It’s okay…” She brushed back some hair off his face.
“I’ve…got something on my mind.”
“I know. And I want you to know you can share anything with me, and I won’t judge you for it.”
He chuckled softly. “Thank you. That’d be nice. I promise I will…soon.”
She felt a little bit better after that; after he’d at least acknowledged that something was wrong, and promised that he would share it with her at some point.
“I’m sorry if I upset you,” he added gently, leaning in and giving her a soft kiss on the cheek, returning the one she gave him.
“It’s fine,” she smiled and took both his hands in hers.
“I’m sleepy.”
“Me too. Shall we go up?”
“I’d like that”, he nodded and slowly got up from the couch, still keeping one of his hands intertwined with hers as he led her upstairs and through to the bedroom.