Me and My Wild Boy -A Yellowstone Story

I'm Telling Him to Floor it Through the Fences

Later that night, Athena decided to go and hang out with the ranch hands in the bunk house to get her mind off of the fact that her father was dying. She was also avoiding going back to the main house and seeing her father, not wanting to see him and by accident blurt out that she heard what he had said with Rip earlier, she needed to get a handle on her emotions first before she could face him again.

She sat next to Ryan as he, Lloyd, Colby, Jake, and Jimmy were playing poker. Lloyd, Ryan and Colby saw her facial expression and knew something had happened to upset her but didn't draw attention to her, Ryan silently getting up and grabbing a beer, handing it to her as he sat back down. She gave him a small smile before leaning into him slightly to look at his cards, keeping her facial expression blank as she saw his hand.

Lloyd laid out the cards and Colby glanced at Jimmy who was giving a smiling grimace face, "Is that your poker face, Jimmy? 'Cause you look like you got to take a shit."

Athena snorted as Ryan smirked and said, "I don't think your bad luck's run out yet. I'm all in."

Jake shook his head, "Ooh, I think you're bluffing but I'm too broke to take that chance."

They were still waiting on Jimmy, so Colby urged, "This ain't Go Fish, Jimmy. I'm all in too."

"Ohhh," Athena teased, a small smile coming to her face.

Lloyd shook his head and said, "Turn them over, boys."

Jimmy slowly flipped his to show to Aces. "Ohh, the newbie cowboy got you, Ryan, Colby!" Athena crowed as Jimmy flipped them all off with a gleeful grin.

"Looks like your bad luck is done with you, Jimmy." Lloyd said with a grin of his own.

The door to the bunk house swung open, Rip walking in with a woman following him. "Hey boys, this here is Avery. She's the new groomer." Rip informed before catching sight of Athena. He tilted his head at her but continued, "You treat her like a cowboy. You understand what I mean?" With those last words, Rip nodded his head toward the door to Athena before he walked out.

Athena smirked at the awkward looks the boys were throwing at each other before she stood up, taking one last drink of her beer and said, "I'm heading out, boys. Don't stay up too much longer." She looked over to Avery who had walked toward the back of the bunkhouse in the direction the beds were and told her, "Welcome to the Dutton ranch. Don't scare them too much," The two shared a smirk before Athena left the bunkhouse.

She started to walk away from the bunkhouse, pausing when a shadow moved, and Rip stepped out of the dark covering the side of the bunkhouse that he had been leaning against as he waited for her. He walked toward her, silently reaching out for her hand.

They started to walk silently around the corral before Athena said, "I keep thinking about his words from earlier. He's dying, he's expecting to die any day now and he hasn't said a word to us. One day I'll wake up and he could be..."

"Hey," He pulled her to a stop, pulling her close and reaching his other hand up to cup her face. "He's not dying yet, darlin'. I haven't seen much of a difference to him lately so it could still be far off." He rubbed her cheek with his thumb, causing her eyes to close and her other hand to reach up and grasp his hand.

He leaned his forehead against hers and the two stood in silence for a moment before Athena took a deep breath and pulled away from him slightly, "You should be getting some sleep. I'm going to walk around a bit more, try to avoid seeing my dad for a bit longer, just until I can look at him in the face without blurting out that he's dying."

He studied her for a moment before hesitantly saying, "If you want, you can sleep at the foreman's cabin. I can sleep on the couch, and you can sleep on the bed-just sleep."