Page 10 of Take a Chance (Blue Creek Ranch #1)

Crew

M y internal alarm clock was always spot on.

I liked the quiet of the early morning, nothing but me, my coffee, and the occasional moo when our eclectic herd of rescued cattle was close enough.

I was in my office by six, and there was plenty to do because there always was, but I found myself putzing around on the computer, going over breeding records instead of doing anything useful. I was waiting for Mal.

My office was at the back of the broodmare barn, which was the closest to the house.

It was also the nicest, since we renovated it a few years back, with big foaling stalls.

The broodmares were spoiled in that they stayed in them even when they didn’t have a foal on their side.

Not that the stalls in the stock and training barns weren’t pretty big as well, just not as big as these.

Julie Andrews was calling for her breakfast, even though it was early.

Ennis didn’t arrive until seven, and he always fed the mares first. She was just dramatic.

But the sound was comforting in a way. She was a pretty palomino with great confirmation and a good mind, and her babies, no matter who we crossed with, ended up scoring well in shows.

Her filly this year, who we were calling Liesl, was a buckskin who already showed a lot of promise.

Even at three months old Liesl already had a natural slow-legged lope.

We’d liked the cross so much, we bred Julie Andrews back to the same stallion.

The next baby probably wouldn’t be a buckskin, but color didn’t matter as much as temperament.

The barn door opened and someone started kicking at their stall. Ennis had arrived then. Pretty soon, everyone would be happy with their breakfast and then he’d turn them out for the day—mares with foals in one pasture, those without in another—while he cleaned stalls.

The familiar sounds of activity made me forget that I was waiting for Mal. Once I focused on the inventory, I got lost in clicking buttons and comparing spreadsheets. Ennis was standing in the doorway for at least a minute before I noticed him.

“Sorry, E. Hey, can you run down to Landry’s this afternoon and pick up the feed order?”

Normally I picked up the order myself, since I liked chatting with Trip Landry.

We’d gone to school together and when he came out, I did too.

Trip admitted he liked boys, I came clean about liking everybody, and we’d had each other’s backs through high school.

We didn’t spend as much time together these days since both of our lives were very busy, but we caught up a couple of times a month when I picked up our order.

“Yeah, sure.” Ennis said in that affable way he had.

“Great. Thanks. Did you need something?”

Ennis nodded. “Imelda is a little stocked up. Just wanted you to take a look before I cold hose and wrap.”

I immediately stood. “Let’s take a look.”

Imelda Staunton hung her head over her stall door as we approached.

She was a liver chestnut with a huge blaze that took up almost her entire face.

She was out of Maggie Smith and only seven years old.

When I saw her face as she was being born, I thought we might have a paint on our hands, because she was practically bald faced.

But she ended up not having any other white, except for one sock on her right front leg.

I nudged her head back so I could open the door. She immediately put her ears back. I chuckled. “Put the mare ears away.”

She didn’t listen. She never did. She was a dragon at least half the time, sweet as pie the other.

Ennis was one of her favorite people, second only to Bodhi, but she was also at the top of the hierarchy and she knew it.

She could be mean as hell, especially to the other mares, and had taken a chunk out of a foal’s hide last year when he dared to get too close.

She was due to foal in the next couple of weeks—she’d just hit three hundred and twenty days gestation—and her attitude got worse when she was this pregnant. I really couldn’t blame her.

I didn’t get too close. Imelda Staunton wouldn’t hesitate to kick. But it was easy enough to see. Both hind legs were a little swollen. I nodded.

“Yeah, it’s not too bad,” I said, more to myself than to Ennis. He knew what he was doing. “Cold hose and wrap. Turn her out in the dry lot today and we’ll see how she does.”

The dry lot was graded so it would be easier on her, but she’d still have enough room to move around. That was important.

Ennis grunted agreement and grabbed her halter off the hook. “I bet she foals by the end of the week. She did this last year.”

“Yep.” I exited the stall so that I wasn’t in Ennis’s way.

Imelda Staunton would behave better for him that way.

She let him slip on the halter and clip it.

He didn’t bother with a lead rope since he was only taking her to the wash bay, and she was only fifteen two, so Ennis could hold on to her halter.

As they passed by my attention was drawn by a figure standing just inside the barn doors. Mal had arrived.

“Morning,” I called and he lifted a hand as he quickly crossed the floor. We shook hands and I jerked my head toward the back. “Office is this way.”

Mal followed me and I watched out of my peripheral as he looked around.

To be fair, there was a lot to see, but I’d give him a proper tour in a few minutes.

First we had paperwork to do. I gestured to the chair next to my desk and he sat.

I followed suit and grabbed the folder I had already prepared.

“Standard stuff,” I began, handing him the folder and then a pen.

“I-9 and emergency contact forms. Insurance is there, too. We only have the one plan, with the only difference being single or family coverage. I can go over it with you if you want, but the brochure is in there. The last form is for Colorado SecureSavings, for retirement. Take your time. I’m going to finish our feed order. ”

“Thanks,” Mal murmured and set to work.

It only took him about twenty minutes to finish filling everything out. Then I took a copy of his driver’s license and social security card and tucked everything back into the folder. Mom would get everything processed later today.

When he was done, I gestured for him to follow me back into the barn.

I pointed out the tack room and then explained the set up with the stalls.

“We have eight broodmares right now, though Audrey Hepburn and Joan Collins are recips and don’t carry their own foals.

They’re good mamas but both have traits we don’t wanna pass on. ”

Mal’s eyes went wide and I had to laugh.

I guessed what had him confused. “Yes, all the broodmares are named after British actresses. At least their barn names. And yes, they get two named by everyone, at Dad’s insistence.

Except Ennis. He’s the manager of this barn and he gets away with just calling them by their first names. ”

“All right then.” Mal shook his head. He, like so many others, probably thought it was silly or crazy, but hey, it made Dad happy.

We walked out the doors into the bright sunlight. It was still a little cool but really beautiful. Which was helpful since I planned to take him out on horseback. I stopped and started pointing things out.

“Everybody gets turned out most days, unless it’s really gross weather.

If it’s been raining for days or the snow gets really thick, we’ll take ‘em up to the training barn where there’s the covered arena.

But mostly they’re hearty enough to handle it.

You stopped in there yesterday?” I waited for Mal’s nod and continued.

“So it has an indoor and outdoor arena, and that’s Hawk’s domain, though Gemma is his right hand.

We try not to intrude too much, which is why that barn is farther away.

Hawk often has a few rescue and rehab cases along with his regular clients up there. ”

“Right. Okay.”

I glanced at Mal and saw his scrunched up expression, as though he was trying to cram all this knowledge into his brain. I clapped him on the shoulder. “You’ll get used to it in no time. And you can always ask questions. We like questions around here.”

He nodded and looked a little relieved that I didn’t expect him to have everything memorized on day one.

I pointed to the next barn, smaller than the one we were standing outside of.

“That’s where we keep the weanlings and the yearlings we haven’t sold yet, or any we’re planning on keeping until they join one of the herds.

Sometimes we hang on to ‘em for a while to see how they mature. Demi gets first pick since she shows. Which is great advertisement for our program.”

“Makes sense.”

I kept going. “We breed mostly for Western pleasure, though we’ve had a few who do well in hunter under saddle. And of course, we always end up with one or two who are just pleasure riders or working horses. Which is the third barn.”

I headed in that direction and Mal instantly followed.

It was the furthest out of the three barns and the biggest. I pointed that out and then explained.

“We keep our stock there, the horses we ride to work. It’s also where our boarders reside and where the staff keep their own horses if they want to, which is part of employment. ”

Mal made a wounded noise, and his steps faltered, but when I glanced at him, his face was impassive. I studied him, trying to figure out what that was all about. I wanted to ask but thought better of it. If he was a friend, I would have pushed. But he was an employee and it wasn’t my business.

The door was rolled open and several stalls were standing open. A few of them were empty anyway, but it meant that hands were hard at work, so I liked seeing it. I let out a whistle and was answered immediately by a whinny. A second later, Shooter stuck his head over his stall door.