My Beloved Cowboy's

Chapters 17. Meet dad's best friend

Rani tells herself that the storm has passed completely. Fear still loomed on his face as he saw the damage happening everywhere, along the path he passed.

Rani is accompanied by Tony, a large middle-aged man who is skilled in taming livestock, one of his grandmother's farm foremen. They both drove into the city in open-air tub cars commonly used to transport livestock.

“You're safe going with Tony, no one will dare tease you. He is good at fighting and a cattle tamer,” his grandmother said when Tony came to pick him up in front of the homepage.

Rani grimaces to hear it, “Nek, I went to see Gaby to have a nice talk with her. Not to stop the rampage,” whispered Rani as she glanced at Tony who got down from the car and walked towards her.

Grandma laughed, and Tony frowned. He was in the field taming a cow that ran amok from getting lost when grandmother contacted him. “We leave now,” he said without further ado.

The man had a glance at the clothes that Rani was wearing, the woman was wearing a long dress reaching the widened ankles at the bottom. Beautiful, but not fit to wear when in the field. That according to Tony, Rani must be the hassles of tidying up her dress if a naughty wind hits her.

Rani asks a lot, and Tony just answers as necessary. The man was so quiet, but still liked to smile when listening to Rani talk.

“It must not be easy to stay in a place like this. If the storm comes again and they all have to stay alive in their respective homes, without any meaningful lighting tools because power outages happen everywhere.” Rani expressed her opinion, staring mirically at those gathered outside the house.

“They're used to this kind of thing, miss. At most one day full of blackouts and power will be back on,” said Tony smiled in response to Rani's remarks.

“Thank God, they don't have to linger feeling the blackout. Definitely a lot of work that must be delayed if things do not improve soon.”

Rani remembers the large generator that her grandmother had, there were two such large tools to be there. If a total blackout occurred, they would all not have to worry as the tool would be able to cope with the situation there.

Rani's gaze swept around her, the car they passed had already passed the last bitumen and was now entering the dirt road. They are almost at the destination, only one more climb and the field behind the hill will be clearly visible.

The mothers were busy collecting pieces of wood and twigs from fallen trees around the house, while the little ones seemed to be running around and laughing cheerfully as one of them slipped and his face was hit by a splash of mud underneath.

I don't want Rani laughing to see it. Mud due to flooding is still clearly visible, the streets are muddy and if not careful the car tires will easily slip when passing through it. But strangely enough, the residents there look mediocre and each is busy working to repair the damage to their homes.

“We have arrived,” said Tony pulled the car over when they arrived in front of a very simple house. The atmosphere looks lonely, only two chickens are wandering in front of the house.

Tony clamped down on the edge of the hat he wore with both fingertips, then got out of the car after previously turning off his car engine. He walks around and rushes to open the car door for Rani. “Please come down, Miss.”

“Shortly!” Rani was unmoved in her place, she still could not believe what she saw. “Are you sure we're not at the wrong address?” Rani turns to Tony and turns to look at the house again.

“But why it's so different, this house looks worse than I've seen before.” Said Rani half muttering, she grabbed the picture inside her bag and tried to make sure.

The house, which Rani saw from the photos her grandmother gave her was completely different. Worse and arguably worse. As if not taken care of for years by the owner.

The sound of the sound of iron spinning violently distracts Rani, she looks up to lift her face and is stunned to stare at the figure of the old man sitting behind the worn out wheelchair.

“Mr Philips,” greet Tony friendly, walk up to the man of the house owner. He took his hat off and put it on the table, shook hands and laughed as he turned the wheelchair around and took it into the house.

Rani bengong, she doesn't know what to do. Never imagined in his mind he would see the view of an old house like this. He remained silent for a long time in the car until Tony's voice called out to him.

“Nona Rani, mister Philips would like to talk to you!”

“Ya!”

Rani is shocked and awakened, then quickly gets out of the car and carefully walks into the house following Tony's footsteps from behind. The picture of Gaby's house is still in her hands.

Mr. Philips continued to stare at him as he occasionally rubbed his long beard. The man looked older than his real age, Rani could compare with the photo he had in his hand. There Mr. Philips looked much younger despite remaining on a wheelchair.

Rani bowed unable to return her gaze, she continued to stare at the floor below. And Rani noted that there were many holes in the floor that she was treading, she was not sure the house would be strong enough to withstand the exposure of frequent wind storms that hit the area.

“Close,” sounds the man talking to him. “What's your name?” the voice sounded vibrating in Rani's ears, like holding haru back.

Rani raised her face, and she was shocked. Mr. Philips shed tears, the man cried seeing her.

“You are beautiful like your mother, and you have eyes like Simon.” Mr. Philips mentioned his father's name, as if his arrival to the house reminded him of his late father. “Can I hug you?”

And afterward, Rani only remembered she was already in the arms of the old man her late father's best friend who held her tightly.

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