The House That Built Me

The Remembering

After accidentally sleeping in late, I threw on some jeans and a t-shirt and headed downstairs to the kitchen for a cup of coffee only to be met with Dad and Tate lining up donuts on the kitchen island.

"You can do that?" Tate asks Dad

"Yeah. Grandson, you can... you can do whatever you want." Dad glances over the donuts and hands Tate one before leaning on the counter to watch the boy eat.

"Morning Daddy, Tate," I say from the doorway

"Hey sweetheart," Dad says before taking a drink from his coffee.

"Grandpa let me have the biggest donut," Tate says from the island.

"Grandpa usually lets me have the biggest donut but I'll let it slide this time" I joke as I walk over to the boy and tear off a small piece of a donut from the plate in front of him.

"What are your plans for today?" Dad asks as he hands me a cup of coffee.

I take a sip of the plain black coffee "Nothing really. You need me to do something?"

"No. I'm giving Kayce a ride back to Broken Rock later if you want to come"

"Sure," I answer before I eat the small piece of donut still in my hand. I take one last drink from my cup before setting it in the sink and washing the leftover donut residue off of my hands. "I think I'm gonna ride out and meet up with Kayce. It'd be nice to see that stallion tame for once" I kiss my father on the cheek and tussle Tate's hair on my way out the door.

/

After an hour of riding Sundance, I came upon Kayce and the seemingly tamed stallion. I whistled at my brother to get his attention before riding closer to him. As I stopped Sundance next to my brother, I noticed he was now sporting a split lip and a fresh bruise on the left side of his face. "What the hell happened to you?" I ask as I reach out to turn the left side of his face closer to me.

Kayce swats my hand away "A bear spooked my horse and I fell off"

"A bear spooked your horse? Did you land on your eye and split your lip on the way down?" I sarcastically question.

"Something like that. I was headed back to the ranch if you'd like to join me" He says, changing the subject.

"I'd like that," I say as I turn Sundance back in the direction of the ranch.

After a few quiet minutes into our ride, Kayce decides to break the silence "Dad told me he was pricing stallions yesterday morning, so I'm assuming that means Travis was here yesterday. Are y'all still..."

I interrupt Kayce "Why has everyone been asking me this"

"It's cause we care," Kayce says "or we're all just a little nosey about the whole thing"

"I saw him and we talked. We're just gonna be friends from now on." I explained.

"Really?" Kayce says in a surprised tone "You've had a thing for Travis since you were 16."

"It was just time to move on," I state as I fiddle with Sundance's wayward mane.

Kayce looks over at me "Man, you've really grown up"

"Of course, I've grown. You just weren't there to see it. I think I was fourteen the last time we went on a ride together." I say bluntly.

"It hasn't been that long" Kayce mumbles.

"Yes, it has," I argued "The last time we went on a ride together, you told me you got some girl that you barely knew pregnant. Two days later you moved out and joined the Navy."