Page 12 of Take a Chance (Blue Creek Ranch #1)

Malachi

I ’d woken up to a super enthusiastic little boy who was practically bouncing as we went through the morning routine.

He was excited about everything . Hanging out with Jenn, seeing Juanpablo again, reading a book to Jenn—or Juanpablo if he could—and helping Jenn in the kitchen.

Yes, there was a theme in Tony’s excitement and it made me wistful as fuck.

I had hoped this was the life we would’ve had at the farm.

That he’d be doing this stuff with his actual grandma.

Not that I wasn’t grateful as hell for Jenn, because she was clearly a great lady and I was blessed.

By the time I had dropped him off at the main house and made my way to the closest barn, I was ready to get back to work.

The Finnhorse was a surprise. I’d been fixated on different kinds of horses as a kid. I’d gotten a big book of horse breeds as a Christmas present when I was eight, and I wished I knew where it was now, because I was pretty sure I could still remember every detail.

Niko turned out to be exactly as expected. He was about sixteen hands and not really that stocky. He did have a bit of a belly from the eating Wy had warned me about. That was fine, though.

When we slowed down to walk for the last bit on our way back, I couldn’t keep my mouth shut anymore.

“Did you know these ones are bred for several different things? And that there’s a ‘pony sized’ Finnhorse?

” Without waiting for Crew’s input and my brain providing me the insight that I knew where my son got his enthusiasm for the things he liked the most, I continued, “I think Niko here is pretty average as far as they go. Maybe a bit taller than the average, but not by much. The color is spot on, though.” I patted his chestnut neck and smiled as he tossed back his lighter colored mane.

He had white markings on a couple of feet and a star in the middle of his forehead. He wasn’t anything special as far as horse colors went, but it was nice to see a horse as rare as him.

“It’s an amazingly versatile breed, though,” I murmured as I dug around in my memory.

“Like even though Niko’s the average, there are like black ones and gray dapples and even palominos.

And they’re all purebred too, so it’s interesting how those things go.

And the fact that you can do so many things with them.

Hell, some people even do their version of western riding, and that’s kind of cool.

But like harness racing is a big thing over there, and they compete in dressage or show jumping as well.

” I shook my head, not really registering that we were back at the barn before I got down on the ground and started to lead Niko back inside.

I also realized I’d been talking nonstop for who knew how long about the breed and to my horror, my cheeks turned red hot.

We clipped the horses into the crossties and started to untack them.

Then suddenly Crew’s walkie-talkie crackled on his hip.

A small, familiar voice hesitantly said, “Uh, Base to CH, over.”

Crew, grinning from ear to ear, unclipped the thing and made eye contact with me. “This is CH. What can I do for you, Tony?”

There was a delighted giggle that was cut off halfway, then continued when he remembered to press the button again. My heart did a thing at the clear fondness on Crew’s face. He didn’t know us at all yet, but somehow my kid was already making an impression.

“Is my daddy there?” Tony asked, and I instinctively walked closer.

Crew held down the button so I could reply. “I’m here, bud.”

“Mrs. Jenn wanted to say lunch is almost ready and asked if I can have a popsicle for dessert.”

Crew laughed silently.

“A dessert after lunch, huh?” I asked, holding back my own laughter. “We’re about done with the horses, so Crew will know if we’re free yet.”

He took over seamlessly. “Twenty minutes or so. We’ll be there. Make sure there’s coffee ready.”

“Uh—” Tony was cut off by Jenn who in a playfully scolding tone said, “When has there not been coffee ready for you, boy?”

I felt like this was an ongoing thing, a family joke. The line went quiet for a few seconds, then Tony piped up again. “Mrs. Jenn says just get your butts over when you can. Over.” Another cut off giggle was the last thing we heard.

Crew shook his head and clipped the thing back on his belt.

“Those things must come in handy,” I commented as I walked back to Niko, happy that I didn’t need to talk about my sudden obsessive rant about Finn horses.

“Oh yeah. Back when we were kids, there wasn’t much cell reception in the area and there was gradual building going on. Lots of room for us to play. We ran wild around the property because well, times were different and that’s how Mom and Dad wanted to raise us. To be country kids, you know.”

I nodded, understanding what he meant. “It was the same with me, but I was solo so I was always tagging along after one adult or another.”

“Yeah. So we had two-way radios for each kid. You forgot your walkie, there were consequences even if nothing went wrong. You learn quick if you get barred from doing your favorite thing for a day or two, depending on how much you worried the parentals.” He grinned as he walked past me with Shooter’s saddle and bridle.

I grabbed Niko’s and went after him to the tack room. “I can’t imagine growing up with siblings. It’s weird to even consider. I’m kind of sad that Tony doesn’t have a sibling, either, but he’s also so different from most other kids that I think he just flourishes being the only one.”

“Not all of us are as keen on having nine siblings as others. There’s personality differences and add hormones to that when there’s half a dozen teenagers in the same house….” He whistled quietly.

Chuckling, I headed back to Niko. “I can’t even imagine. Teenagers are not the best people as a whole.”

We put the horses in the closest pasture, since I would be learning the ropes in the stock barn and Crew would be doing his thing elsewhere.

There was a bathroom in the stock barn, so we freshened up a little before starting the walk across the yard to the house.

“How’s the cabin?” Crew glanced at me.

I smiled. “It’s great. Tony loves it. It’s just enough room for both of us, and we’re pretty much moved in already, because we don’t have much stuff. Not that there’s a need for more or space, so….”

“That’s good to hear. If there’s anything at all you need, just let someone know and we’ll figure it out.”

They really seemed to be this caring and nice, although I figured some of it came from me having a kid. “Yeah, will do. Thanks.”

A black cat appeared from seemingly thin air. Just as it was about to cross our path, it flopped on the ground and rolled so that it was belly up.

“That seems like a trap,” I commented, grinning.

Crew snorted. “There’s a rule we have. If it’s black, you can pet it. If it’s tabby, don’t touch unless they come to you looking for pets, and the calicos are nutty but sweet.”

I laughed as I crouched down to pet the pretty cat. “Okay, that’s good to know. Do you have a lot of cats?”

“I don’t know the current number. Probably like twenty around the property. They’re all snipped, so there are no kittens.” He leaned down enough to pet the kitty. “This one is called Coal. Inventive, but one of the hands’ kids named her.”

“Aww, you’re such a nice girl, aren’t you?” I loved on the cat for a few more seconds. “So what about other colors?”

“Hmm?”

I straightened and looked at Crew. “Black, tabby, and calico. Don’t you have others?”

He smiled. “Oh, that. No, we actually don’t.

Most of the cats we have come from a very long line of cats that were already on the property when Mom and Dad bought it.

We just started to take better care of them and I think we’ve only gotten like a handful of cats from elsewhere.

Of course the cat distribution system works on occasion, too.

We’re remote, but there’s still the occasional stray that comes in. ”

“Cat distribution system, huh?”

We left Coal in the literal dust and continued to the house.

“Yeah. Some people are chosen by the system and then a cat appears. One of my siblings is chosen more other than others, like—”

“Daddy!” Tony burst out of the house and I took a few quick steps to be able to catch him before he launched himself.

He giggled as I swung him around.

“Hey, bud! You have a good morning with Mrs. Jenn?”

“Yeah! I helped her bake….” He looked back at her.

“We made snickerdoodles.” She beamed at him. I bet she was the type of a grandma who couldn’t wait to have her grandkids grow up enough to be able to bake with her.

“Yeah, snickerdoodles!” Tony yelled.

Seeing him so damn animated was worth the temporary ringing in my ears.

I set him back down and followed Crew’s lead. He was running his boots against a boot scraper. It was cast iron and had replaceable brushes in one spot and a metal bit that you could scrape the soles on. Very handy looking thing, and probably very necessary in a household like this one.

I cleaned my own boots and smiled as I heard Tony explaining to Crew that there was, in fact, coffee and all the other things.

Russ ambled over from the broodmare barn and came to wipe his boots.

“How’s the ranch life treatin’ ya?” he asked, grin wide on his weathered face.

“So far, so good.” I winked, and he laughed, then followed me inside.

There was a spread of lunch already served. Tony bounced around explaining what everything was until I told him to sit his butt down.

He sat and then continued to explain things, including how he and Mrs. Jenn had read about where cinnamon like they’d used on the cookies came from and how fascinating it was. Yeah, I couldn’t look at Crew, because I recognized that tone.

Apparently all I’d needed was to have someone even vaguely interested in the same things and I was off to the races, too.

After lunch, Crew headed to the broodmare barn to his office, and I went to find Wy at the stock barn.