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Oct 14 2022

Magpie Shiny, Chapter 7

Author: Jamie DeBree

Chapter 7

“You told her already?” Colter frowned at Lauren, his forehead smoothing as he looked back to his daughter.

Lauren nodded. “I didn’t want her to find out from anyone else. Besides, a girl should know who her father is. She wanted to know, and we don’t keep secrets.”

“Mom said you might not want to be my dad,” Maddie said. “And I don’t need one if you don’t want. But it’s nice to meet you.” She stepped forward and held out her hand to shake, just as Lauren had taught her to do.

Colter grinned. He reached out and engulfed her dainty fingers in a large, calloused hand. From the look on his face, he was obviously charmed, as most people were when they met Maddie. The girl had a way of wrapping people around her little finger – a skill she’d obviously inherited from him.

“It’s nice to meet you too, Maddie. And I am your dad, so you can call me that, if you want to.”

Lauren stifled a laugh at the uncomfortable look on Colter’s face. Taking pity on him, she shook her head.

“That’s not necessary,” she said. “Maddie can call you Colter for now. You don’t have to be Dad on day one.”

“But mom,” Maddie grinned, her tone light. “He already said it was okay!” Lauren shook her head as Colter held a hand up.

“It’s fine.” He winked at Maddie. “Two against one,” he pretended to whisper. “I think we can overrule your mom. You can call me whatever you want. How’s that?”

Maddie giggled, and Lauren saw that mischievous twinkle in the girl’s eyes.

“I think you’re gonna regret that,” she told Colter. “First lesson as a parent. Be specific.”

“Mom, can I go try to win a goldfish?”

Lauren nodded. “Go ahead, but remember to stay where I can see you, and you can see me.”

“Okay! See you mom!” She turned to Colter and waved. “Bye Cow-daddy!” She ran off giggling, and Lauren laughed.

“I warned you.”

Colter stood, nodding as he watched the girl go. “I guess I have a lot to catch up on.” His expression grew serious as he turned back to her. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

Loren looked at her feet, and then back up at him. “I didn’t want you to feel obligated. I knew you weren’t looking to become a father just out of high school.”

Colter shook his head with a wry smile. “I think you know that if you’d told me, I would have manned-up. Try again, Lauren.”

“I—” she looked off into the distance and shook her head, tucking a strand of hair back behind her ear. “I just—”

“Oh my God – is that Lauren Tate? Where have you been? And when did you get back?”

She turned just in time to be tackle-hugged by one of her best friends from high school, Vinnie Jacobs. Vinnie owned the Magpie Saloon, which had been in her family since the town was founded. She, Lauren, and Beth had been inseparable in school, and that was the one thing Lauren regretted – leaving the two girls who were more like her sisters than her best friends.

“We got here late yesterday afternoon,” Lauren said. “It was a long drive, and I figured I’d see everyone here today, so I just went straight to the homestead and checked in with Grandma.”

Vinnie raised one deliberately shaped eyebrow and cocked her head.

“We? As in….”

Lauren smiled and nodded toward the carnival booths. “As in, my daughter and I. She’s the one with the long curls over there trying to win a goldfish.”

“Well, isn’t she just adorable?” Vinnie’s expression turned wistful as she watched Maddie throw rings at bottles. “I always wanted to win a goldfish. Remember?” She turned back to Lauren, who smiled.

“I remember you promising Robbie Daniels you’d make out with him if he won you one, just to get him to stop following us around at the fair sophomore year. Poor guy was distraught when he didn’t win one for you. Do you know where he ended up?”

Colter snorted behind them, and Vinnie reached around Lauren to smack him in the arm.

“Rob’s still in town, actually. He’ll be along shortly. He’s just bringing a few more kegs down to the beer garden for the rodeo this afternoon.”

“You gonna make him catch you a fish before you go home tonight, Vinnie?” Colter asked, earning another punch in the arm.

Lauren raised her eyebrows at Vinnie. “Seriously? You and Robbie? I did not see that coming! How long?”

Vinnie shrugged and grinned. “A few years now. We’re not exclusive, mind you, just… friends with benefits, I guess.” She raised a fist in Colter’s direction. “And you can just shut up. Don’t you have something to do? A horse to feed or tack to check before your ride? Get out of here – us girls have some serious catching up to do.”

Colter shrugged. “Fine – I’ll leave you be for now.” He looked at Lauren, those green eyes intense when they met hers. “Dinner tonight at the ranch? I know the parents would be glad to see you, and they’re definitely gonna want to meet Maddie sooner rather than later.”

Lauren shook her head. “We’ll have to do some other night. I promised Grandma we’d be back home by six, and Maddie will be ready to pass out by then. We’ll come watch you ride before we leave, though. Broncs, right?”

“That’s right.” He put a finger to his hat and tipped it, though he actually looked disappointed. “Fair enough. I’ll catch you two later.” He grinned at Vinnie. “Tell Rob I said hi.”

“Fuck off, Colter.”

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Oct 07 2022

Magpie Shiny, Ch. 6

Author: Jamie DeBree

This story is posted weekly in draft form. Need to catch up? Here are links to the previous chapters:
Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5

“Last time I saw you, you were wearing that same faded-flag tank top. Only tied up to show your belly, if I remember right.”

The last time Lauren Tate had heard that voice purring in her ear was the night before she’d left Magpie for good, or so she’d thought. It still made her palms sweaty and her heart beat faster. Probably always would, dammit.

“It was one of the few things still in my closet at the homestead. I’m just glad it still fits.” She turned around to look at her high school crush. “Sorry, the daisy dukes don’t fit anymore. So you’ll have to ogle someone else’s ass… not that you weren’t doing that back then, anyway. How’s Christy, by the way?”

Colter put his hands on his hips and stepped back, shaking his head with a sardonic smile and looking off over her shoulder. He’d always made her five-foot-four-inches feel short, and his wavy black hair still curled at the nape of his neck under the black baseball cap on his head. She wasn’t sure, but that Godsmack t-shirt might be nearly as old as her tank top.

“If you’d stuck around long enough,” he said, “I could have told you Christy wasn’t a thing. She was setting me up, and you fell for it like she knew you would. As soon as you left town, she never looked my way again. I’m surprised Beth or Vinnie didn’t pass that along. Unless you ghosted them, too.”

Her best friends had passed the message along, but she hadn’t believed it. Hadn’t wanted to, really, because she’d needed to get out, and believing Colter didn’t want her was the only thing that made it easier to stay away.

Things had changed, though, and Maddie needed to know her dad. Hopefully Colter was interested in that roll, no matter how he felt after she came clean.

“There’s something you need to know,” she said, waiting for him to look her in the eyes. “Something I should have told you a while back.”

He nodded and stepped forward, lowering his voice as he moved into her personal space. “I heard you came back with a kid. I used a condom, Lauren – or did you forget that too?”

“Thing is, they don’t always work.” He stepped back at that, and she shook her head and rolled her eyes. “I don’t expect anything from you. I never did, or you’d have heard from me long before now. But it’s not something we can hide, so yeah. She’s yours. I just wanted to tell you before someone else did.”

“You’re gonna have to get a paternity test to prove that.”

Lauren grinned. “I don’t think so. See for yourself.” She looked over her shoulder and called out, “Maddie! Come over here, sweetheart!”

Maddie turned away from the clown making balloon animals, and Lauren swore she heard Colter’s breath hitch as their daughter ran up, the same dark waves spilling down her back that dusted his neck, those same pointed cheekbones, and the same sapphire eyes sparkling under long black lashes.”

Even if Lauren had wanted to erase him from memory, she couldn’t. Every time she looked at Madeline Magpie Tate, she saw her daughter’s father.

She was small, and always had been, but what she lacked in stature, she made up for in personality. She stopped in front of Colter and gave him a big smile.

“Is this him?” She looked at Lauren, who nodded, and then back at Colter. “Mom’s right – we do look alike.”

Lauren put her hands on Maddie’s shoulders. “Colter Brennigan, meet Madeleine Magpie Tate. She prefers Maddie, or if she really likes you, Magpie.” She smiled down at their beautiful girl, amazed that they’d made something so special.

“Magpie, this is your daddy. You can call him Colter.”

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Aug 23 2022

The County Fair

Author: Jamie DeBree

The beginning of the end of summer in my hometown (and maybe yours too) is marked by the annual County Fair. Ours is a bit hoity-toity in that it’s called “MontanaFair”, rather than “Yellowstone County Fair”, which means people often are confused when they learn it’s not the actual state fair. I suspect the initial organizers probably had high aspirations for it, considering we are the largest county in Montana, though not home to the state capitol (which is Helena).

I also suspect they were trying to find something shorter than “Yellowstone County” to print on banners and tickets, which is understandable.

In any case, a great many of my childhood summers were partially spent not just attending the fair, but also preparing exhibits and occasionally animals to show. I was a 4H kid, so everything from my first dog to model rockets to baked goods to rabbits to sewing was “fair” game for contest entries. I spent many long nights before the entry deadlines finishing projects, sometimes not finishing until an hour or so before they had to be dropped off for judging.

It was challenging and fun, but also very…stressful a lot of the time, and while I’ve toyed with the idea of entering items in the fair as an adult, I’ve so far resisted the idea due to the inevitable late nights and stressful days required to finish projects in time to meet the deadline.

I mean, if I were organized and disciplined about it, it wouldn’t have to be a rush-rush thing. Alas, in all my years of fair entries, not once did I manage to learn that particular lesson.

But 4H entries weren’t the only reason to go to the fair. There was the carnival, and the games we knew we couldn’t win (but seriously, how could I resist throwing money away trying to win a Spuds McKenzie plush (I never did win)?! The rodeo and so many tight-jean-cowboys strutting in fancy boots & hats. And when I got older, the concerts and just walking the midway with my buddies to check out the boys.

I loved the lights and the action and the August night air, the smell of corn dogs and cotton candy, and the feeling that something different and magical and crazy might happen as we strolled under the midway lights and waved our hands in the air on rides.

Once, when I was in college, I even left a friend’s wedding in the state just south of us to come back to a night at the fair, and I brought a very handsome fellow-guest back with me. It was just after the reception, I was the maid of honor (though I had no idea what that was actually supposed to mean until years later – I never was much of a “wedding” girl), and she never spoke to me again, understandably so.

I was an old soul even then, and not normally prone to spontaneous acts, but the stupidity of youth and the intoxicating scent of certain men still caught me in their charms occasionally.

Needless to say, the fair was always the culmination of hard work and anticipation, as well as the promise that the heat of summer was on its way out and crinkly leaves would be floating on the breeze again soon. I loved it, and while we’ve skipped the last few years for practical reasons (okay, this year we’re skipping because we’re just so tired of the heat), I hope to make it back again eventually.

I think the ending and beginning nature of the annual fair is partially why I chose that scene as a starting point for Lauren in the draft I’m working on (I really need to figure out a working title for that). She’s ending one portion of her life and starting another, and the county fair is her marker for the intersection.

Is there a local fair where you live? Do you go? What’s your favorite part?

Jamie DeBree

Writer | DBA | Dog Wrangler

Magpie Shiny, Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Magpie Shiny, Ch. 6

The County Fair