New Fic: Keepin Up Appearances
Title: Keepin Up Appearances: Chapter 1
Author: Isabelle (sophieernie)
Rating: R now, but will be NC-17 eventually
Disclaimer: Not mine, no profit, all hail AP, LM, DO, etc.
Genre: AU -- Circa 1980.
AN: I am not sure if this premise has been written, but I have been around since the dawn of this pairing and I don’t remember this exact one. I am not sure why I chose Cassie instead of Alma in this fic, but I find Cassie and Lureen (as true to their original characterizations) to be a more realistic friendship than Alma and Lureen. I got this idea from my honey who is always complaining about my friends’ husbands (his stories are soooo boring, he never shuts up, he is full of sh**, etc.)
This is part 1 of what I hope will be a TBC. Let me know what you think. Feel free to be honest, just respectful. I am not promising anything; my muse is a cruel, fickle, unpredictable bitch most of the time!
He hated this shit and she knew it. “Keepin’ up appearances,” she called it, but all the same, he dreaded the show they put on. His job was to sit there and look handsome in front of all her friends. There were never any men there he had anything in common with, they were all cowboy wannabes. They dressed and talked the part, but their boots were always shined and their smooth, soft hands were a dead give away. Fuckin’ city boys. He slaved away on a ranch he had ended up with almost accidentally when his in-laws passed on. He could afford to hire help, but he liked to do a lot of the work himself and most of the help he could find was those city boys. A few illegals worked hard and the business was good, which never failed to shock him. This life of middle-class excess and leisure time baffled him; sometimes he felt success was as much a burden as a gift. Such a waste he would grumble to Cassie’s fancy clothes or the new furniture she insisted on, why do we need all that shit?
Tonight was no different. Cassie was dragging him to dinner out at one a her girlfriend’s houses. He had to drive 20 minutes into Amarillo to sit and listen to this woman’s husband go on and on about his fancy new rifle or the new rod and reel he bought. Once, against his better judgment, Cassie had convinced him to go hunting with this man. Couldn’t a shot nothin’ no matter how fancy his gun was. Man made too much noise, slept too late to even see the white tails. Wasn’t nothing like growing up with his dad and brother in Wyoming. Hunting because you had to, missin wasn’t an option with his dad. Hunger and a whuppin didn’t go well together.
As soon as he turned onto the Larsen’s road, he knew she hadn’t told him the entire truth: cars were parked all the way down the block.
“Why didn’t you tell me this was a fuckin’ party?”
“Oh, honey, relax. Good for you to get off that ranch, mingle.”
“Ain’t got nuthin’ to say to these people. Fancy, putting on airs.”
“Well, then don’t say nuthin. Just stand there with that scowl on your face. Drives me crazy to no end the way you don’t like no one, don’t never wanna leave the house. Gotta trick you to get my handsome cowboy to take me out.” Cassie pouted better than any woman. He begrudgingly shifted the truck in to park and turned off the ignition.
“Thank you, honey,” Cassie purred when he opened her door and she hopped down from the truck, “I owe you a special favor later.”
* * *
Ennis had finally found a quiet spot out on the back porch, smoking and nursing a beer with some of the other more taciturn of the husbands. No one really was saying much, just enjoying the peace and quiet and escaping the women-folk. As Ennis pried the top off his third bud, one of the older men started in on some story he was only half listening to. He was making a list of all the chores needed doing on the ranch, then reorganizing it by necessity. Man kept ramblin on about some fancy retired bull-rider and his wife just moving in to town. The Oldtimer grumbling about how his wife changed 3 times, the new addition to their little community making her a nervous wreck; apparently the bull-rider and his wife were at this party. Just when Ennis was getting irritated with the sound of this man’s voice, the back door was flung open and Cassie’s blond hair bounced out. She had in tow two people he hadn’t never met and he inwardly groaned.
The woman was a pretty little gal: big ole dark eyes, dark hair and a figure that got noticed. The man was a straight outta that movie Cassie made him see a few weeks back. Some fancy city boy, dressed in his tight-fittin jeans and red pearl-snap shirt; fancy boots and clothes showing all the ladies that bull-rider’s physique. Looks like some god damn movie star. What was the name a that movie?
“Honey, this is Jack and Lureen Twist. They just moved in at the old Hawthorn place.”
“Jack Twist,” the man stated, extending his hand towards Ennis. His eyes were blue like the sky, bluer ‘an anything he had ever seen. He immediately took notice of the rough, iron-grip and had to give him a little respect for those calluses. This man wasn’t no soft, doughy city boy at least.
“Ennis,” he grunted out, never one for many words.
“Your parents just stop at Ennis?” the strange man teased, looking strait into Ennis’ face.
“Ennis don’t talk to no one but those damn horses. Last name is Del Mar, Ennis and Cassie Del Mar,” Cassie’s irritation showing through in her voice, “Honey, Jack here’s from Wyoming, too. Maybe we finally found someone you might have something in common with.
Fuckin great! Cassie had found a new best friend and now Ennis was obliged to hang out with her husband.
“Where in Wyoming you from?” the bull-rider asked.
“Sage,” another one word answer.
“I grew up way north a there, Lightning Flat. Got the hell outta there as fast as I could. Been in Texas bout 10 years now. What brought yall here?”
“My Daddy and Mama inherited the place from my daddy’s uncle, then when they passed on, we got it. Came down from Wyoming 6 years ago. Ranch more profitable than it has ever been, Ennis here is a real cowboy when it comes to that stock.” Cassie rambled on, looking at Ennis with pride when she talked about the ranch.
“Grew up on a ranch myself. My old man pretty much ran that into the ground.” Jack added, and Ennis listened with less and less disdain. He grew up on a ranch, maybe he ain’t so sissified as these others.
“Ennis’ whole life is that ranch. Wish he paid me half the attention he pays those animals. Maybe you gotta be a horse get his attention.” Cassie filled in, Ennis hating the way she let the entire town know their private business.
“Hey Ennis,” Jack asked, making his head pop up, “I got some whiskey in the truck, you wanna go take a swig or two, let these ladies chat?”
The conspirator’s tone of Jack’s voice and the desire to escape the party and all these people dragged Ennis through the house and out the front door to the fancy new pick up that must belong to the Twists. Jack reached under his seat and pulled out a bottle, rot-gut Ennis noticed. Another thing that made this new fella not all bad, he didn’t drink that fancy whiskey, paying an arm and a leg just to get drunk.
“Damn, women, they sure can talk.” Jack mused, taking a pull off the bottle. He passed the bottle to Ennis, who took a big swig to ease his nerves. Ennis was never comfortable around a lot of people, but this flashy guy made Ennis’ skin feel too tight. He felt awkward and on display like he hadn’t felt since he was in school.
“Yeah, Cassie ain’t never happy with nothing I do…”
“She seemed mighty proud a you and that ranch. Seems like a good woman, y’all got kids?”
“Nah, Cassie has-she can’t-- No, no kids,” why was he telling this stranger this shit, he was turning into his wife. “You?”
“One, named Bobby. Lureen says one is enough, and I gotta agree with her there.”
“Always wanted a son.” Jesus, there he went again, he ain’t even ever told Cassie that.
“You can have mine,” and that man was laughing, hard, at his own joke. Ennis joined in despite himself.
“I hate these damn parties. Thought I had escaped them for a while when we left Childress, but Lureen finds new girlfriends faster than anyone. I shoulda known.” Jack rambled on, his easy words putting Ennis a bit at ease.
“Yeah, know what you mean. Just cause she likes the gals, I gotta go huntin and shit with their husbands. Bunch of city boys, you ask me.”
“Yeah… I met a few, bankers and the like. You the only rancher really involved in their own ranch. Your operation as nice as your wife makes it out to be?”
Ennis blushed, dropping his chin, “it ain’t nuthin, I just work and somehow that brings in money. I ain’t out to get rich or anything, but Cassie’ll spend it as fast as I can make it, anyway.”
“Well, I would love to see your spread, I ain’t been on a real ranch in years.”
Ennis was shocked by his openness, practically inviting himself out to the ranch. Most people stopped trying to talk to Ennis after a few grunts, but he guessed this is what happened when you blurted out shit no one wanted to hear. Maybe if Cassie forced him to be friends with this one, it wouldn’t be so bad.
“I heard you used to ride bulls. What you doing now?” Damn, ain’t never this talkative.
“Yeah, rode bulls for 4 or 5 years, how I met Lureen. She barrel raced, came at me like a bobcat, but most girls did back then,” Jack chuckled, letting Ennis know he didn’t really miss those days, “Now I work for Lureen’s daddy. Real son of a bitch, finally told Lureen I couldn’t stand him no more. Some how she convinced him to open up a branch in Amarillo, so here I am… You are lookin at the manager of Newsome Farming Equipment - Amarillo.”
“You like it?”
“Some days, but Lureen’s got the head for business, I’d just as soon work on the equipment as sell them,” Jack’s eyes got a far away look, and just as quickly it was gone. Those eyes kept no secrets, that was for damn sure.
“You ever interested in a baler for your ranch out there, you let me know. I could give a friend a real sweet deal.” At that, Jack capped the whiskey and stomped out his cigarette, “guess we better go find our wives before they plan a trip for four or something.
Ennis laughed, “probably too late already.”
* * *
Jack did not expect this to happen. Of all the people his wife had to make friends with, she picked Cassie. Cassie’s husband was something else. Tall and mean-lookin, like he’d just as soon hit you as look at you. A real cowboy with dusty boots and weathered skin. He told himself to stop it, but as soon as that man’s scarred, rough hand had closed around his, he had known. Couldn’t even stop himself from asking him out to the truck for a drink. What the hell did he think was gonna happen? Good Ole boy like that, running his own ranch, thinking all those men at that party were soft; was no way nuthin was ever gonna happen, but he still couldn’t stop thinking about him. Thinking, or more like wishing, there had been something there between them. Cassie herself said he don’t talk, but he seemed to talk to Jack. Probably just because the both grew up in Wyoming, from ranchin background. Jack was usually able to spot another man like him, and he was damn sure Ennis Del Mar was not one of those men. Probably the sort a man that would kill him Jack ever made a move. So now, where did that leave him? Lureen and Cassie setting up their husbands for a play date, like they are some damn children. Their wives was gonna make them be friends, which wasn’t the worst part. Worst part was Jack was already yearnin, wantin the friendship, wantin that cowboy and now there was no way he could stay away. Already couldn’t derail his own thoughts as Lureen yammered on and on as he drove home.
Lureen loved a party and apparently they were the hit of Amarillo now, so she would be over the moon. This usually meant he would get some action, which wasn’t always a good thing. Tonight though, he needed it, needed to take the edge off this unreasonable attraction he had for some stranger. He knew damn well how dangerous his little itches could be, LaShawn had caught Randall and him in the thick of it. She threw a holy-hellfire fit, threatening to call her cousins and have “boys like them dealt with”. Randall had finally calmed her down, then he had moved her out of Childress, out of Texas as soon as possible. She hadn’t let him out of her sight long enough so he could explain where he was going, Jack heard it all third person through Lureen …LaShawn caught Randall cattin around... didn’t seem to wanna talk about it, poor girl… That had been a close call, but now, no more Randall so the itch was getting bad again. Lookin was always more dangerous than having a steady on the side. Wasn’t the first time Jack cursed his own bad luck, nothing made the urges go away. Guess like his mama always used to tell him about his Daddy ya can’t change some men, just gotta deal with them they way they are...