Page 13 of Take a Chance (Blue Creek Ranch #1)

I could hear her talking to one of the hands when I entered, so I made enough noise to announce my arrival and rounded the corner.

“Oh, Mal. This is Tommy, he’s our part-timer.” She smiled at me, and the young man standing next to her looked a bit shy but then pulled his shoulders back.

“Hey, nice to meet you.” I held out my hand to shake.

His grip was firm. “You as well.” He glanced at Wy as if to see if she would talk, then continued, “My dad worked here for like nearly ten years, but he passed last spring. I’m still in school, but I do some of the shit jobs around here to pay for my own expenses.

I have two younger siblings and mom has three jobs already, so…

.” He flushed a little, as if embarrassed at the life story.

“And no, he wasn’t being rude calling it ‘shit jobs,’” Wy said, laughing. “He gets roped into cleaning the pastures and managing the tack and all the other stuff nobody else wants to do.”

“It’s not so bad,” Tommy said quickly. “It’s actually kinda nice. And I still get to be around horses.”

I nodded. “That’s true. We lost my family farm last year, and it’s been rough being away from horses for sure.”

I could see Wy file away the information while Tommy just looked relieved.

“Yeah, so I don’t mind. And if I sometimes clean the paddocks a bit longer because I’m petting the horses, who needs to know!” His grin was pure youthful mischief.

“Exactly,” I agreed sagely, grinning back.

“Okay, you two troublemakers,” Wy said, attempting a stern tone which was belied by her twinkling eyes. She pointed at Tommy. “You, go ask Hawk if he has any kit that needs cleanin’.”

The boy blushed lightly, he nodded politely, and then left the stock barn to go to Hawk’s.

“He has the biggest crush on Hawk, poor boy,” Wy murmured, sighing.

“Oh?”

“Yeah. Puppy love. Boy’s only sixteen. Hawk is trying to be nice to him but not too nice, you know.”

“Ah, makes sense.” I chuckled quietly. “Mine was my mom’s best friend, Alice, or one of our hands, this tall and handsome forty-something cowboy.” I realized I had never told anyone that before, and Wy must’ve seen the brief panic in my expression.

She looked at me, acceptance clear in her gaze.

“Welcome to the club.” She smiled. “I have a wife and we have a boyfriend. It’s all good.

” Then she got serious and added, “And if anyone gives anyone else trouble for who they are into as long as it’s legal and whatnot, you tell someone.

We don’t tolerate bigots here. We’ll just have to hold back Jenn so she doesn’t try to kick ass. ”

I laughed. “Somehow, I can see that.” Looking over at the stalls, I mused, “They seem like good people.”

Wy read my tone correctly and hummed. “Too good to be true?” I made the seesaw motion with my hand, and she laughed. “They’re not. They’re all exactly like they appear. I haven’t met a more wholesome group of people. It’s sickening, really.”

Chuckling, I rubbed my hands together. “Okay. Put me to work, boss.”

“I started on the stalls, but then I had to go check on a horse and someone called and….” She harrumphed.

We both knew how that was. “So, if you’ll continue that, I’m gonna go to my so-called office”—she gestured at a stall that had been converted at some point and had a beat-up desk and an armchair for visitors—“and call the farrier.”

“Sounds good. Consider it done.”

“Good man. Oh, and if you want to listen to music, the rule is just one earbud. Not both.”

“Understood. I’ll keep that in mind.” I gave her a two-finger salute and walked down the aisle to the wheelbarrow.

I rolled up the sleeves of my flannel shirt and got to work.

I cleaned all the remaining stalls, and then swept the aisle while there were no horses inside. My dad had always said not to do it when horses were in, just because the dust rose and could irritate their breathing.

There were dozens of little things like that I had in my memory bank, and all of them held bitterness. Not because they were bad advice—although probably there were very outdated ones too—but because of what my dad had done. How we’d ended up after his death.

I sighed as I finished the aisle. Then a couple of hands walked in with horses in tow, and we got to chatting about them for a bit. It was nice to meet them, or meet them again as it might’ve been, because I realized the older one had been at the cookout.

At the end of my workday, I found Wy in her office and sat in the chair.

“Everything good?” she asked, looking at me over some reading glasses.

“Yeah. Perfect. I’m going to go collect my kid and then get home to make dinner and… yeah.” I couldn’t help but smile widely.

Her expression echoed mine. “I’m glad. Seems like you needed a good fresh start.”

It was a statement, so at first I said nothing, but then I sighed. “Yeah. Definitely. Living in a town wasn’t too bad, but I’m just happier on a ranch.”

“And your kiddo?”

I snorted. “I love him more than life itself, but that boy isn’t a ranch kid and I doubt he’ll ever be. He loves Juanpablo though.”

A sharp bark of laughter burst out of her. “Well, he’s one of the few who do. That thing is demonic.”

“Nah, I think he’s just loud and misunderstood.” I winked.

Once she stopped laughing, she asked, “So you don’t have a horse of your own to bring here? I know we have room.”

The joy was sucked out of that tiny office faster than I thought possible.

“Nah. Well, I do. But she’s at…an equine rescue. It was the best place for her when we lost the property.”

Wy’s gaze filled with questions, but she held them back. “That’s shitty. I’m sorry.”

I gave her a small smile and nodded. There were no words for how shitty exactly.

“Hey, did I show you where these go?” she asked, lifting her walkie-talkie off the desk.

“No, you didn’t. Crew said there are some in his office, though.”

“Okay, let me show you ours. We have the most, so we have a station for them here….” She led the way out of the stall office and past the tack room.

There was a feed room behind it, and there was a built-in shelving unit on one wall. There were chargers lined up and some were empty, some had walkies on them.

“The rules is, if you go outside of yelling distance, you take one with you. No matter how short time or safe seeming task. It’s non-negotiable.

If you don’t have one, you go pick one up from whichever barn and return it where you took it.

If you can’t remember at the end of the day—trust me that happens more often than you’d think—you can bring it here.

Tommy will check the distribution every week at least once so no barn is left without extras.

All the barn managers have one, as do the Harringtons and Russ. That’s another rule.”

I nodded and took in the organization of everything. It seemed like a very handy system. “Copy that. Seems real smart.”

“I’m sure Crew told you how this came to be. They just expanded on that over the years as the operation grew.”

“And then grew some more.” I grinned.

“Oh yes.” She clapped my arm with her calloused hand. “Go get your kid. Then in the morning, check with Crew if he needs you. If he doesn’t, see you tomorrow!”

I tipped my ball cap at her and went off to find my son. I had a feeling I’d have to remind him to chew his dinner and then after a bath, he’d fall asleep pretty fast.

Then again, I wouldn’t be far behind. Everything ached in that pleasant way of getting back to manual labor. I was built for this shit, meant to do it. It was my purpose.

Well, that, and being the best dad I could be for Tony. Everything else was secondary.