THE RANCH - CHAPTER 6

Luke opened his eyes and sat on the edge of the bed, holding his head. It was throbbing and his throat was as dry as a bone. He pondered over what happened last night. He couldn’t remember drinking that much to warrant such a painful hangover. He looked down and saw he was completely nude, he didn’t remember getting undressed or getting into bed. He went to grab his pants and that’s when he saw Dorothy’s clothes lying next to his. He turned his head, causing a flash of pain to shoot through it. Seeing her lying there he jumped out of bed, grabbed his pants and put them on. He looked at her, it was obvious she was naked, the sheet was pulled up just enough to cover her breasts.

Dorothy opened her eyes and seeing Luke standing there she stretched, giving him a devilish smile. ‘Morning Lover,’ she purred, Sitting up, holding the sheet over she pats the bed. ‘Come back to bed.’

Running his hands over his dry mouth shook his head. ‘What are you doing in my bed?’

‘Well come back in and I’ll show you.’

‘No. Nothing happened between us,’ he said, his voice straining.

‘Luke, you made love to me, twice. You were a wild beast, all over me, you were amazing. You gave my vagina quite a pounding. It’s still sore but in a good way.’

‘You’re lying. I would have remembered having sex with you and I don’t.’

‘Do you remember kissing me at the party?’

He sat back down on the bed as his head was spinning. Yes, he remembered the kiss and how her lips tasted but not having sex. He needed coffee so getting up and not saying another word to her left the room. Once he reached the kitchen he put on a pot of coffee and running the cold water poured himself a large glass of water.

Refilling his glass drank it too. He was pouring a cup of coffee when Dorothy came in wearing his shirt, nothing else and thanking him took the cup from his hand and started drinking. He reached for another cup and poured more coffee. ‘If we had sex I don’t recall it. Another thing, if we did I assure you it will never happen again.’

‘We Didn’t do anything wrong. After all, we are married.’

‘What I don’t get is passing out. First of all, I didn’t drink that much. Second I never pass out and how could I make love to you if I was out cold?’

‘When I put you to bed you woke up and threw me down on the bed and pulled off my clothes. I could have stopped you but I didn’t want to. I wanted you to make love to me.’ Tears appeared in her eyes.

‘Now you’re saying you can’t remember what we did, that’s so hurtful.’

He stood sipping on his coffee, watching as she wiped her tears with a napkin. Most men would probably fall for it but not him. He could tell her tears were fake by her body language and facial expressions. ‘I’m going out.’

‘I’ll get dressed and go with you.’

‘No, you won’t. Damn it, lady, don’t you get it? I want to get away from you.’

‘You’re a fucken jerk, Luke Rogers.’ She got up abruptly, knocking her chair over and stormed out of the room. He never saw her fresh tears, real ones this time.

Luke jumped in his Isuzu and headed into town. He needed time away from Dorothy and decided to have breakfast at the ‘Pancake Shack.’

Keenan was there already seated eating a plate full of pancakes. ‘Mind if I join you?’ Luke asked.

‘Not at all, sit before you fall down. Man, you look like shit.’

‘I feel like shit. Hell, what happened to me last night? I can’t remember much and I woke up this morning in bed with Dorothy.’

Keenan almost choked on his drink and stared at Luke. ‘You slept with her?’

‘Luke rolled his eyes. ‘Not so loud damn it. I can’t even remember going to bed. She said we had sex and if that’s true then I screwed everything up with Jerry. Once I tell her she may never take me back.’

‘Then don’t tell her. ‘Look, Luke, it was a mistake and I’m sure you won’t let it happen again. To be honest, I don’t know how you managed to do anything you were dead to the world when Rubin and I carried you up to bed.’

Just then Kimberly walked over to take Luke’s order, bringing him some coffee. She and Keenan exchanged glances before walking away.

‘What was that all about?’ Luke asked as he drank the drink that she placed before him.

Keenan blushed. ‘I gave her a ride home last night and we got to talking. I’m taking her out tonight to dinner and a movie.’

‘Well it’s about time,’ Luke said. ‘You two have been checking each other out for months now. So why all of a sudden did you ask her out?’

Keenan smiled. ‘It’s all down to Dorothy.’

‘Why her?’ Luke asked, curious as to what she had to do with them getting together.

‘She and Kimberly got to talking and Dorothy saw that there was something between us. It was her that suggested I give her a ride home. She also told me that Kimberly liked me. It was just the push I needed to get the courage up to ask her out.’

Luke sat back, thinking. He had only known her for a few days and in that time she proved to be spoiled and selfish. But this was a sweet thing for her to do, not like her at all. Maybe she wasn’t as bad as he thought she was.

‘I have to ask you something and I don’t want you to get mad at me. Is there something going on between you and Dorothy? I mean it’s just that I saw you kissing her and it looked kind of serious.’

Luke looked down at his plate of food, his stomach rolling he pushed it away. ‘That was just for show.’

‘Are you sure that’s all it was?’ Keenan asked, his eyebrows raised.

Luke thought about it before answering Keenan. ‘Between you and I, when I kissed her I felt something. It could have been the booze or the fact that I saw her naked.’

Keenan held up his hands stopping Luke from going on. ‘Whoa!, hold on one second. You saw her naked, when?’

‘A couple of days ago she was taking a bath and I walked in. I was pissed that she was there so she got out and she walked passed me. Dorothy has been coming on to me and teasing me. The first night when I came home from work she was sitting at the kitchen table wearing this cute little black see - through lingerie set. It’s like she’s doing everything she can to get me into bed.’

‘Looks like she finally did,’ Keenan said as he took a sip of his coffee.

‘I feel like I betrayed Jerry.’

‘If you felt something when you kissed her then maybe Jerry’s not the one for you. Besides, you both agreed it was ok to see other people till she returns.’

‘Right, but not get married. I ought to call her and tell her about Dorothy and why I married her. With any luck, she’ll understand and forgive me.’

‘I’d wait for a while, till you sort out your feelings for Dorothy.’

Luke leaned back. ‘Maybe you’re right.’ It was late when he returned home. After eating he threw himself into his work. There was no sign of Dorothy, just a note saying she had gone to bed and his dinner was warming in the oven. After he ate he did the dishes and headed upstairs, he hoped she wasn’t asleep in his bed. He was relieved to see she wasn’t in his room, maybe she had finally gotten the message.

The next two weeks flew by and she hadn’t made a move on him which got him curious as to why. She cooked and cleaned for him and they were civil to one another, he even had a tub installed in the bathroom she used. This way she would have no excuse for being in his room. She and Kimberly would come over to his place where Keenan would pick her up. Luke actually thought it was strange that the two women hit it off, Dorothy was from a wealthy family and was spoiled whereas Kimberly was dirt poor and as sweet as pie. But he wasn’t complaining since it gave her something to do to pass the time.

Coming down for breakfast he was surprised to find her cooking up bacon and eggs. Lately, she waited till he made his own breakfast before coming down. ‘You really don’t have to get up this early,’ he said as he poured himself some coffee.

‘I was up so I thought what the hell. Sit, it’s ready.’ She dished out his food and sat across from him, nibbling on a piece of toast.

‘Have you got something on your mind?’ he asked when he noticed her fidgeting in her seat and she was avoiding making eye contact. He wolfed down the food, not having eaten much of his dinner last night he was starving.

‘I do have something to tell you but I’m afraid you’ll get mad and start yelling at me again,’ she said, her voice shaky.

‘I think I know what it is,’ he replied.

‘You do?’ she asked, looking at him quizzing.

‘Yup. You used my credit card to buy some more clothes, I found the receipt lying on the floor. Next time ask my permission before you take my card.’

‘Oh, I didn’t think you’d find out.’

‘I’m not rich like your daddy, I have to watch my spending and that means you do too. Unless you get a job then you can buy whatever you want.’

She swallowed the lump in her throat. It was time to tell him before she lost the courage to do it. ‘It’s not that.’

‘Then what is it?’ he asked, pushing his empty plate away grabbed his cup and stared at her while he drank his coffee.

Taking a deep breath, her hands shook and blurted it out. ‘I’m pregnant.’

The cup fell from his hand, the hot liquid spilling all over the table as the cup broke in half. He felt as though he was suffocating, the room was spinning. ‘You’re what?’

‘I’m pregnant.’

He jumped up, grabbed her arm he pinned her up against the counter as he stared angrily into her eyes. ‘You can’t be,’ he hissed, his teeth grinding together.

‘We did sleep together the night of the party and you didn’t wear a condom, so yes I can be.’

‘You’re lying. I don’t believe we had sex.’

Pulling her arm from the tight grip he had on her reached into her back pocket and pulled out the home pregnancy test, handing it to him. ‘Here’s your proof.’

Taking the stick from her, stared at it. It was one of those new ones that showed how many weeks a woman was pregnant. It read two weeks. In his state of anger, he broke it in half and threw it across the room.

‘Fucken shit. You have just destroyed any chance I had of getting......’ He didn’t finish what he was going to say.

‘Getting what?’ she asked.

‘Never mind, it’s none of your business.’

‘So now what do we do?’ she asked, afraid that he would suggest aborting it.

He ran his hand through his hair and paced back and forth before stopping to face her.

‘I don’t know. I need time to think. I’m going to work, we’ll talk later but in the meantime, you better make a doctor’s appointment. I want to make sure you’re pregnant before I decide what we’re going to do.’

‘I already made one for this afternoon.’

He tossed the keys to his van down onto the table. ‘Take my van.’ Placing his hat on the top of his head walked out without looking back and slammed the door behind him.