Cowboy Kind of Love

2 Months

I walked with Beth to visit dad and when we rounded the corner I gasped dropping my cup.

"Daddy!" He looked at us. Beard, confusion.

"What month is it."

"August." Beth said They took daddy back to his room, they had told us he wouldn't wake up. They slid his IV in and I heard them tell him to count backward.

"What are you doing! Daddy!" I yelled as they grabbed Beth and I. Dad looked at me gently.

"You said he'd never wake up and now that he did your putting him to sleep." Beth yelled.

"He has a blood clot, it could move to his heart and then he woke up for nothing." Beth let me cry on her shoulder. We walked outside so she could smoke and saw a kid sitting on a bench. Beth being Beth ripped him one but as she tried to give him a cigarette I tossed it away

"He's a kid, no way."

"Shit, he'll be in jail in a few years what's a cigarette gonna hurt."

"Why do you say that" He asked.

"Because your life is shit and you're content with it." She replied. "Man I used to love guys like you in high school, dry hump a hole in their jeans."

"What's dry-hump?"

"How old are you?" I asked looking at him.

"14."

"Jesus Christ." A nurse walked up looking at him.

"You need to come inside."

"Am I in trouble?"

"No, are you two friends of the family?" She asked looking at Beth and I. I looked over at the kid nodding.

"Guess we are now." Beth said. We got up walking in and to a room. The doctor looked at us before speaking.

"These lines move vertically, um when they move like they are-"

"Dude just tell him, no bullshit." I said as the doctor looked at me.

"There's no brain activity. The only thing keeping him alive is the machine."

"What's that mean?" He asked.

"Well, the lack of brain activity would suggest."

"It means he's gone, honey." Beth said softly. "Can he have some time to say goodbye?"

"There is a protocol."

"Not today there isn't. Get the fuck out."

"I-"

"Get the fuck out so he can say goodbye." I replied as the doctor left.

"I don't know what to say."

"Say what you feel." I said as he looked at me

"Fuck you, fuck you for leaving me in this place with nothing and nobody."

"Goos speech, I like your style." Beth said as he walked back to us. I put an arm around him as he cried, his dark curly hair honestly reminded me of Rip. I looked at Beth

"I gotta go, have to be home in an hour." She smiled.

"Go, I got this." I got in the truck heading back, I had to meet Rip. Getting to the ranch I saw him holding onto my horse. He got down helping me up.

"So what do we gotta do that you need me for."

"Lloyd, I'll be back." Lloyd looked at us and smiled nodding. We rode off through the property. Things had been weird, we had heightened security. Rip and I had moved into the foreman's house considering the cabin got burned down. When I had first got home I made him take me to it and I cried so bad and he sat there in the grass holding me until the tears had died. We finally stopped and Rip got off his horse before helping me off mine. We walked a bit and I looked at the beauty of my home, the beauty I looked to be losing.