Worry rose in his eyes. “Will you be there?”
“Yes.”
He looked at the grass, kicking at it with the toe of his boot, his mouth pinching.
“What are you worried about, buddy?”
He looked at Dare, eyes serious. “Well, I got help, but they didn’t. I learned to tell them what I’m thinking without getting mad, but they’re going to treat me the same as they always have.”
“Actually, they have been talking with a family counselor in town. They love you, Kenny. They’ve been working just as hard as you have to make things better, and hopefully you can go home soon and be with your family.”
He took a step back, wariness shadowing his eyes. “What if I don’t want to go home?”
“Why wouldn’t you want to go home?”
“Because there’s nothing to do there, and I have no friends. Here I have all of you, and everyone talks to me, and we eat together. At home there’s only silence, unless I’m getting yelled at.”
“I’m sure you’ll make friends. We talked about ways to do that, remember?”
“Yeah,” he said sullenly.
“And your parents are working on not yelling and taking a more active part in your life. With your help, it can all get better. You can bring up all the things you’re worried about when we meet with your parents, and I’ll be right there with you.”
“But I love working with the horses with Cowboy and Sasha, and I really want to keep training with Billie. She’s awesome, and she doesn’t get mad if I mess up or don’t understand. She shows me what I did wrong, like you guys do, and then shows me how to do it better. She said I’m a natural on the bike, and if I stick with it, I can probably compete one day. Maybe not as a pro, because they start training really young, but who knows.”
“We’ll talk with your parents about that, too. I know they’d like for you to get a job. Maybe they’ll let you work here a few hours each week, and when you’re done working, you can train with Billie.”
“They’d have to drive me here. I don’t have a car.”
“I’ll tell you what, why don’t you sit down later or tomorrow and write down all your worries, and I promise you, we’ll address them with your parents.”
“Okay,” he said sullenly. When he lifted his face, his jaw tightened, as if he were steeling himself against something. “Are you kicking me out when they come? Because you can tell me. I’d rather know now.”
“No. Absolutely not,” Dare said emphatically. “But it’s important to start working on getting you home, so you can finish school and figure out your next steps.” He put a hand on Kenny’s shoulder. “You’re part of the Redemption Ranch family now, and that means you will always have a place here. Understand?”
Kenny’s face brightened, and he gave a curt nod. “Yes.”
“So what’s our game plan?”
“I’ll write down the things I’m worried about, and we’ll talk with my parents about them.”
“Are you cool with that?”
“I kind of have to be. It’s not like your parents will adopt me.”
Dare grinned, because he’d heard similar statements from several other people who had come through the ranch. “You don’t want to be adopted, Kenny. You have great parents, just like they have a great son. The thing is, parents don’t get handbooks on how to parent, the same way teenagers don’t get handbooks on how to make the shift from kid to teen. That’s why it helps to talk to people who have been through it and get new ideas. You and your parents are lucky that everyone cares enough to try to better themselves. Come on, let’s get you back to Cowboy to take a trail ride.”
“Can I ask you something first?”
“Sure.”
“The other day Billie told me the friend she lost when she quit motocross was one of your best friends, too.”
He was surprised to hear that she’d confided in him. “Yes, that’s right.”
“I just wanted to say I’m sorry. I’m sure that sucked, and I’m glad you and Billie have each other.”
“Thanks, Kenny. That means a lot to me.”
“Don’t do anything stupid to hurt her. She’s the coolest girl I’ve ever met.”
“I’ll try not to, but I’m good at stupid.”
Kenny shook his head. “I’m serious. I’ve never seen couples like you. You act like best friends. Tiny and Wynnie do, too, but I’ve gotta tell you, your father is a mean-looking dude.”
“I know. Has he been mean to you?”
“No. He’s been stern a few times, but to be fair, I probably deserved it. He’s nice to me. He just looks like he’d be mean.”
“He looks tough, but he’s got a big heart.”
“He doesn’t just look tough. He is tough. He told me how he met your mom, that he and his brother were on a motorcycle trip, and he took one look at her and said he was going to marry her. He said he started working on this ranch, which her father had owned, and never went back to Maryland. That takes courage.”
“Yeah, it does.” Dare wasn’t surprised that his father had shared that story. He was proud of it, and it showed everyone he shared it with that love at first sight was possible.
“Know what else he told me?” Kenny asked.
“What?”
“That he’d take a bullet for your mom, and the way she’s always touching him when she walks by and saying nice things about him, I bet she’d take one for him, too.”
“She would. We all would. That’s how it should be when you love someone. That’s called loyalty, Kenny, and I think your parents would take a bullet for you, too.”
“Probably. That’s what parents do.”
“Unfortunately, not all of them. We should consider ourselves lucky.”
Kenny looked down at his phone, and he handed it to Dare. “Here, I don’t need this.”
“You don’t want to call your old girlfriend?”
He shook his head. “We never had what you guys have. We were just really good at making out.”
“That’s awfully mature of you to say.”
“Well, it’s true. Billie said I’ll know I’ve met the right girl when I smile like a fool every time I think about her. She said that’s how it was for her with you. She said she fell in love with you when you were kids.”
“What did you do? Give my girl truth serum?”
Kenny grinned. “No, we just talk sometimes while we’re walking the track or checking the bike over. It was never like that with Katie. It was never that easy.”
He had mentioned that before, and they’d talked about it. “Sounds like Billie gave you good advice. Why don’t you hang on to the phone in case you want to call someone else.”
They headed back to Cowboy, who was now talking with Doc, and Kenny said, “You know you could talk to someone about being good at stupid. I hear they’ve got pretty good therapists here.”
Cowboy smirked. “The kid’s got a point, but I’m not sure anyone can get through that thick head you’re hiding under that hat. Probably hit it too many times doing all those crazy stunts.”