Caramel | Rip Wheeler

Caramel - Chapter Two

Maria walked through the maze of a house, taking a sigh of relief when she finally found John sitting at the dining table. "Good morning, Mr. Dutton."

"Good morning sweet heart, call me John." He looked up from his newspaper to greet her and as she walked into the room she noticed the three other people sitting around the table and it stopped her in her tracks. She became nervous and awkward. "Remember I told you I had kids?" He nodded to the bunch. "This is most of them."

"Wow, dad." Beth mumbled, "I didn't know you were serious when you said you were taking in the little orphaned farm girl."

John set his newspaper down and everybody looked at her. "Beth." He shook his head. "What the hell?"

She bit into her waffle before setting her fork down. "I'm always the bad guy." She stood up and glared as she walked toward Maria. "You can have my seat." She stopped for a second, her eyes traveling up and down in a rude way. "And my left overs."

She left the room and everybody exhaled a tense breath. "Well that went better than I thought it would." Jamie chuckled teasingly. "Didn't know what to expect."

Kayce quietly observed the young girl, hiding a soft smirk when she did indeed take Beth's seat. She sat across from him and as she scooted her chair under the table, he spoke. "Good morning."

"Mornin'" She nodded, "what are y'all up to today?"

"Oh wow." Jamie laughed, "I've never heard a cowgirl say 'y'all'." He bit onto his fork chewing for a second. "Thought it was a myth."

"It's a Texas thing." John said. "Jamie don't you have somewhere to be?"

Jamie sighed, setting his fork down. "Yes, dad. I just figured I could finish breakfast first."

John, without acknowledging his sentence, spoke again. "Kayce go with him."

"Where are we going?" Kayce began to stand up.

"Branding the new cattle." He took a sip from his coffee, not making any eye contact with anybody sitting at the table. "You're meeting Lee out on the pasture. He's already out there."

"Let's go." Kayce grabbed his hat off of the table and began to step away.

"I promised Beth I'd take her to town for something." Jamie nervously fumbled around for his belongings. "Rain check?" John nodded, dismissing him and did the same to Kayce.

Left alone at the table was Maria and John, they sat in a comfortable silence until John finally spoke. "You look nice, anything special planned for the day?"

"Thank you." She smiled warmly. "I wanted to take arrow out for a ride and take care of a couple other things I haven't had a chance to."

"You didn't get to ride him yesterday?"

She shook her head. "No. Rip had a couple other things..." She thought. "Going on."

He nodded, humming as he tapped his fingers on the table. "I see." She shrugged and he continued to speak. "Well, I myself have a couple of things to take care of in town, care to join me?"

"I was hoping to get unpacked, actually. Is that okay?"

"Yeah, no problem." He began to scoot his chair backwards to stand up. "If you need anything don't be afraid to ask anybody." He set his hat on his head, clearing his throat. "Anyone gives you any trouble you be sure to let me know, hon. All right?"