Chapter Text
“Remind me again why we are going to spend the entire summer in nowhere-town, in the middle of the buffalo state?” Carter asked from the passenger seat, barely glancing up as they sped past a road sign informing them they had just entered Wyoming.
“I need to lay low from work, Carter, I told you that three times already,” Cat replied from behind the wheel of her brand new Maserati.
“I get that part, mom. The part I still don’t understand is the choice of location. You could have decided to go lay low in, I don’t know, Bora-Bora, Paris, Moscow, Shanghai even, for all I know. So why, why on Earth are we going to a goddamn ranch in the middle of the least populated state in the country? Besides, it’s a republican state and you hate them,” Carter insisted, his teenager side showing in the clear annoyance lining his tone and the honest-to-god pout etched all over his face.
“Language, Carter.” Cat scowled before overtaking a tractor without even slowing down. Carter sighed and looked in the rearview mirror to see the man driving the tractor brandish his fist at them.
“He’s wearing a cowboy hat. Oh my gosh,” he grumbled, before focusing back on the road ahead of them.
The landscape was beautiful, to say the very least, the mountains drawing closer with every mile swallowed by the expensive car, with fields of dry grass and cow paddocks on every side of the desolated, damaged road. He had been expecting corn fields or any kind of cereal but he had since learned that Wyoming was a very arid and hostile land for those kinds of crops.
After having sped past another few tractors, Cat finally answered her son. “Lucy offered us the opportunity to stay at her family ranch, a place no one knows of and it’s exactly what I need right now. I would have been traced easily in any of the cities you suggested while no one will ever think of looking for me in the middle of …”
“... Fucking nowhere,” Carter finished with a sigh.
“Carter! Language!” Cat scowled again but he only shrugged and focused back on his smartphone.
Cat didn’t try to engage him in conversation again, knowing her son was resenting her for taking him away from his friends for two whole months. She wasn’t exactly thrilled with the situation either but it was for their own good.
At least, that’s what she was trying to convince herself of as she pushed her car another twenty miles per hour way above the speed limit.
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She gently woke him up as she slowed down near a huge ranch gateway, made of stones, wood and rusted metal. The words ‘The Midvale Ranch’ were carved, in that typical cowboy font the people here were so fond of, directly into the massive wooden beam above the road and Carter snorted but stayed silent as they drove through.
The road progressively became a dusty path and Cat had to considerably slow down to avoid breaking the suspension of her supercar. Cows were everywhere on each side of the worn-out dirt road, peacefully grazing behind a white wooden fence that could use a few repairs and another layer of paint here and there.
“Oh joy, cows everywhere. What a surprise,” Carter muttered under his breath and Cat chose to ignore the snarky comment, not wanting to get into yet another argument with her sixteen year old son.
As they drove further away, they entered a pine forest that had been nicely groomed to fit around the fences, the paddocks and the road, thick but not enough to be dark.
“Is that … snow? It’s not even July, why is there snow here?” Carter protested at the sight of a few white patches at the bottom of some pine trees and around the feet of the fence.
“Because we are practically at the bottom of the Rocky Mountains, Carter. The ranch is nested in the middle of a forest that climbs all the way up across the flank of a mountain,” Cat absentmindedly replied before using the brake to smoothly pass a big hole in the road.
“Great. That’s just, great,” Carter grumbled before turning his smartphone on. “Oh, that’s even better, no reception at all. Well, I hope they have a TV at least because this is already turning into the worst summer of my life …”
Cat took a deep breath and gritted her teeth, mentally counting to ten to avoid losing her temper. She knew this was hard on her son but his attitude was truly getting on her nerves as well.
Swerving between the trees and some massive rocks that seemed to come out of the ground itself, the road started to climb up and snow became more visible, atop some of the branches in the pine trees and bordering the dirty path.After one last curve, the ranch finally appeared.
“Oh,” Carter whispered, sounding impressed, and Cat couldn’t agree more, her eyes widening slightly at the sight unfolding before their eyes.
The ranch was a beautiful two-floors edifice, made of dark wooden planks and beams with a black roof, showing underneath some patches of pure white snow here and there. It was located in the back of what looked like a clearing, covered in dust and snow, surrounded by the forest and the falling sunlight was bathing the whole ranch in golden and orange natural nuances, despite the already growing shadows of the pine tree.
The main building was built on a wooden deck supported by stone foundations that allowed the house to be a few feet above the ground and a few steps were leading to the entrance, in several spots around the porch. It looked both rustic and fancy, with beautiful and old pine trees overlooking parts of the edifice and Cat even saw a rather big swing chair hanging from one of the branches of the tree, close to the main entrance, under the porch’s roof.
On the left side of the main building, totally independant from it, another long edifice was made of a lighter wood, with a red corrugated iron roof and judging by the three horses attached to a wooden beam at the front, it was the stables. It was different from the ranch itself and Cat assumed it was either brand new or had been renovated recently.
She slowly drove across the place to park right in front of the main few steps leading to the front door and as she turned the engine off, she saw Lucy come their way from the stables with a big smile on her face.
Cat wondered again if this whole summer evasion was truly a good idea but it was too late to go back now, so she got out of the car and shuddered under the biting cold air, already regretting the actual summer weather of National City.
“Hiiii, you’re here! How was the journey? I hope you didn’t struggle too much to find the place, it’s kind of isolated I know …” Lucy said as she greeted her with a hug and another huge smile, sounding as excited as she looked.
“No kidding,” Carter chimed in, looking around with a bored expression and Cat sighed. Lucy only arched a surprised brow but made no comment as she walked around the car to hug Carter.
“It doesn’t look like it but it’s actually an amazing place, Carter. Give it a chance, it might surprise you. And before you ask, there is a TV yes. It doesn’t work all the time but it’s decent enough.” Lucy winked at him and for the first time since they got into the car a few days ago, Carter smiled.
“Thanks Luce!” he said before returning her hug. “Tell me though, are the temperature going to stay that low for the whole summer?”
“Eh, kiddo, this is as hot as it’s gonna get yes.” Lucy smirked and Carter let out an annoyed groan. He then sighed and moved to retrieve his bag in the booth of the expensive car. The Maserati was totally out of place in this rustic, country setting and he glanced to the sturdy but dusty and worn-out pick-ups parked at the other end of the clearing.
“I’m pretty sure the car won’t survive the summer either,” he muttered before coming back to stand next to Lucy, who rolled her eyes but stayed silent. Carter’s attitude wasn’t affecting her good mood and Cat was secretly grateful for her friend’s indestructible optimism.
“Come on guys, I’m going to show you your rooms. Also, Lois won’t be here before another three weeks so you’re clear, Cat.” Lucy smirked again and Cat let out a relieved sigh, one that made her son chuckle.
“Oh well, that’s gonna be a welcome distraction at least,” he snorted before following Lucy. Cat mumbled something under her breath and went to retrieve her bags as well before joining her son and her friend on the porch.
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Her bedroom was spacious and cozy, four white walls and a clear wooden floor and furnished with a huge bed and some handmade pine furniture, a dresser, two nightstands and a beautiful desk facing a big window that overlooked the forest at the back of the ranch, with a partial view of the mountains.
She had her own bathroom and by the look of the rather spacious Italian shower and the elegant bathtub, it had been renovated pretty recently to fit the expectations of modern comfort. Again, a pinewood piece of furniture was supporting the two sinks, encased in a white marble table and the frame around the huge mirror was made of the same material.
Carter was two rooms away, in a room that looked a lot like hers but with two windows and a few bookshelves full of novels, comics and reading material pushed against the wall facing his bed.
“He’s going to come around, don’t worry,” Lucy gently said as she entered the room with a few towels and a fuzzy blanket.
“I don’t know,” Cat sighed. “He’s been pretty insufferable on the way here and I understand why, I really do, but I thought he would make peace with the situation, eventually.”
“He will but you have to allow more time, Cat. He’s a teenager and you’re taking him away from a summer city, where it’s hot and sunny, where his friends and habits are … Did you tell him the real reason you’re here?” Lucy inquired, putting the blanket on the bed before going into the bathroom to place the towels in between the sinks.
“No, he thinks I need to lay low from work. Which is the truth, or part of it. He doesn’t know about the death threats,” Cat whispered with a sigh and Lucy only nodded.
“You’re welcome here Cat, for as long as you need. Lois understands and she’s glad you agreed to come here instead of going in some of your usual hotels around the world,” Lucy explained and Cat smiled, a little bitterly.
“Yes well, that’s easy for her to say, she was the one who gave me the story in the first place,” she muttered with a slight frown.
“I know. She feels terrible about it, even if hell would freeze over before she would admit it out loud to you,” Lucy chuckled and made her way towards the exit. “Dinner will be ready in about two hours, you should relax, take a bath or something.”
Cat nodded and thanked her friend before sitting on the bed, a loud sigh escaping her lips.
“Here’s to my summer in the middle of the fucking buffalo state,” she swore under her breath before letting herself fall backward onto the mattress.