On the Outskirts

Seventeen

~Ryder~

The farm was too quiet today. Knowing the storm was coming in had put the fear into a few of the newer guys from out of town. Kids that didn't know these things blow over in no time. I remember being terrified of them as a kid. There's always so much talk about hurricanes this time of year. Every storm has the potential and it's not like we never get a storm. They're about as common as mud around here. 

It'd been raining for most of the day but you just learn to get on with the job in all weather. Everything was sorted just incase. Everything tied down, every animal tagged and free if they need to be, any dangerous looking branches and everything had been removed weeks ago. The season would be over before we knew it and we'd be fine. Just like always. 

Still, I'd spent the past few days working on Sadie's roof because I could see it wouldn't hold with any of this years rainfall. Cleaned her guttering whilst I was up there and had to fight Hallie who really really wanted to be on the roof with me. I don't think the kid has a sense of danger sometimes. Either that or she's more willing to take risks than her mother. 

"Ryder!" Hallie jumped off the school bus and I turned from the fence with a bright smile. She ran down to me, instantly wrapping me in one of her signature hugs that warm my soul. 

"Hey Petal, how was school?" 

"Scary. The storm was loud." 

"Yeah it was heavy." I held a hand out for her, starting our usual walk up to the ranch. I knew from the moment Sadie told me Hallie was doing this walk alone that she was nervous about it and after 2 days of watching her try to stay out of the way, chewing her nails to the quick, I started heading down before the bus pulled up, saying I was down there anyway, might as well walk her back. Truth was I enjoyed the walk with Hal. Listening to her tell me about all her classes and her new friends and whatever she got up to. On top of stealing secret moments with her mom, it was a highlight of my day. 

Her mom had pulled her loose curls back into a ponytail this morning and when it suddenly changed direction in the wind, I knew things were gonna go south. The siren blaring out from the house told me exactly what I was suspecting and my heart sunk at the knowledge Sadie was in town with her dad running errands and I was the only one here right now. I bent down, grabbing Hallie and pulling her onto my waist, running the distance back to the house. Hallie didn't say anything whilst I ran us back in the pissing down rain, hail stones battering the roof of the porch as we got under cover but didn't stop moving around the back of the house. I set her down, directing her down into the storm cellar. Only when we were down there with the lights on did Hallie speak.

"Ryder?" 

"Mhm?"  I know Jack has this room kitted with everything we'd possibly need for this kind thing and right now I need to get Hallie warm and dry. I scour the shelves on the wall, knowing Hallie is practically glued to my side. 

"What's the siren for?" 

"Did your mom not tell you?" 

"Just that if I heard it I had to come back to the house quick." I nodded, pulling a few blankets from the box and pulling Hallie's hand into the far corner, pulling the plastic cover off the sofa and sitting her down, wrapped up warm to dry off. 

"You've heard of hurricanes right?" She nods. "It's just one of those. They can be very dangerous so you have to keep yourself safe. Away from windows. If you have a cellar like this one, that's best or at your place, you have the downstairs bathroom.  They can be really scary but we'll be okay down here." 

"Where's mom?" I swallow. 

"She's with your Pops. She'll be waiting it out too somewhere safe." 

"Why can't she just come here? If we're safe?" I sigh and pull Hallie into my lap, seeing the tears already forming in her eyes, panic forming with every howl of the wind. I keep a tight hold on her, tugging the blanket over our heads. I don't know why. It just seemed like it might help. 

"So a hurricane is just wind in a spiral. Happens when hot and cold air meet and the storm just gets a little crazy. It sucks things up into it and they get thrown for miles around. They normally don't get too close and the siren is just because of things flying around and to make sure no one gets hurt. But, if it did get close and your mom was driving home, she'd get caught in it and-" 

"She could get hurt?" 

"Yeah. It's better to find somewhere safe where you are, rather than moving. It'll pass soon and she'll be back though. In the meantime. Wanna hear a story?" Hallie nods in my lap. "When we were kids, your mom used to have chores to do around the farm to help out Pops. It wasn't as big then. We didn't have as many cows, it was just the one shed. One summer day it was like this. Stormy and dark and there was a hurricane warning out." 

"Was it scary?"

"A little bit, yeah." I nodded, stretching my legs out across the sofa. "I'd just got here to see your mom so Pops brought me down here. He didn't like me much then so I just sat in the corner on a bucket and he stared at me for the whole storm. I'm pretty sure he was scarier than the hurricane." Hallie giggled. "When it all passed 15 minutes later, we came out, made sure it was safe and went looking for your mom, only to find her in one of the stables with a baby foal." 

"A baby?!" 

"Yeah. Turns out your mom was mucking out when the siren went off and saw River struggling and she knew no one else was gonna help so she helped herself." 

"In the storm?!" 

"In the storm. Hurricane wasn't that far away either. You know the field at the bottom of the drive, on the left?" 

"With the pond?" 

"Yeah, it was at the bottom of that field. That was the one that broke that tree that we sat on for our picnic before you went to school." Hallie nodded. "Anyway. Pops was so mad at your mom for not getting somewhere safe but if she didn't help River, neither of them would have made it. So your mom saved River and the foal." 

"Wow." I nodded at Hallie. "What happened then?" I chuckled, not daring to tell her that was the first time I kissed her mom in front of her dad and that he went more chaotic than the damn hurricane, chasing me off the ranch with a shot gun in hand.

"She named the foal Storm." 

"Storm?!" 

"Yep." 

"Mom helped him get born?!" I chuckled at her, nodding my head. "Wow." 

We passed some more time, her asking questions about what her mom was like when we were young and what we did for fun and I had to reword the truth a little so I wasn't telling her all the places on this farm I'd laid Sadie down and had loved every inch of her with everything I could give. By the time the storms had passed, we'd covered summer bonfires, sleeping in fields and being woken up to cows eating Sadie's hair, hikes and swims in the lakes dotted around the farm. 

I left Hallie in the corner and checked to make sure everything was safe, only bringing her out when I was certain it was over and when we got around to the front of the house, Jack was pulling Sadie's truck up by the house. It hadn't even come to a total stop when Sadie jumped out, running to Hallie and swallowing her in a suffocating hug. Sadie held Hallie's face in her hands, quickly checking her over for any sign of a single scratch. 

"God, Hal I'm so sorry I wasn't here." 

"It's okay." 

"Are you okay? What did- where-" 

"Mom. I'm fine. Ryder looked after me. We had fun." Sadie looked at me with wet eyes, it so blatantly obvious she'd been crying and it took everything in me to not pull her into a hug to settle both of our nerves right here. 

"Hal, can you grab these and help me put them away?" Jack bent slightly so she could take one of the paper bags in his arms. "They've been out long enough as it is." The second the door was closed, Jack and Hallie out of sight I dragged Sadie into a tight hug, kissing the top of her head. I know too damn well how terrified she gets of these things and I bet not being with Hallie didn't make it any easier. 

"We're all okay, Sunflower." Sadie nuzzled her head into my chest and I could feel her shaking. 

"I was so scared Ry." 

"I know baby. I know you were. But I had her. I wasn't going to let anything hurt her. I love you both too much to let that happen."