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T wo days later Timber had another visitor. This time he smiled when a big military jeep drove in.

Badger stepped out, looked around, and whistled. “Jesus, when you mentioned rough, you meant rough.”

Timber walked over and went to shake his hand, but instead Badger punched him hard in the shoulder. Glaring at him, Timber asked, “What the hell was that for?”

“Just had to knock the chip off your shoulder,” he snapped. “What the hell are you doing all this shit for without looking for anybody else to give you a hand? You know we’ve got a ton of manpower over there.”

“Yeah, it’s typical you would send it over here when you know damn well you need it for other projects,” Timber stated, glaring at him as he rubbed his shoulder.

“Yeah, it might be typical of me,” he snapped, “but this shit is also typical of you.”

“So, we are who we are,” Timber announced, as he glared at him.

“You’re about to get some help, whether you like it or not. My question is whether or not we can set up a plan, so we can make the best use of the manpower, or will we waste time arguing about it?”

“What kind of help am I getting?” Timber asked warily. “And when?”

“Not today. I wanted to confirm I caught up with you first, so we could get some idea as to what you need,” he shared, as he looked around, his gaze landing on the house. “You working on a new roof?”

“New roof, new supports,” he replied. “The barn needs work. The house needs inside work too, but that’s the last to be done.

I need dog runs, paddocks. I need electricity in the barn and running water.

Another well would be nice. Kinda want a clinic set up here too, for some emergency ranch medical attention.

There’s just no end to it,” he muttered.

Badger stared at him. “And you planned to just do it one piece at a time?”

“Yeah, I would do it one piece at a time. You got a problem with that?”

Badger snorted. “No, you’re just as knot-headed as everybody else.”

“Apparently you know an awful lot of knot-headed people,” Timber declared, glaring at him.

“I do, and, at the moment, you’re taking the cake on that one.”

He shrugged. “At least I’m on top of something.”

At that, Badger burst out howling with laughter, slapped him a whole lot lighter this time, and added, “Now, show me what you’ve got for plans, and let’s figure out how we can help you get something done, moving this thing forward.”

“Yeah, it’ll take a lot, which is why I didn’t want to involve anybody.”

“Right, not involving anybody, that makes sense. If you’ve got twelve weeks’ worth of work here with you doing it all alone, it’s about what, one week with twelve guys?”

He stared at him and said, “You don’t have twelve guys to spare. And it’s more like nine months of work, so far.”

“I have as many guys to spare as I say I have to spare,” he snapped, glaring at him. “So don’t piss me off again. Don’t you dare piss me off.”

Timber laughed. “I wouldn’t dare because you might punch me again.”

“Damn right I will.”

Timber glared at him. “I need that arm to swing a hammer.”

Badger nodded. “Glad to see you’re back to normal. So let’s have some coffee and see what you’ve got going.”

They went inside, and Timber showed him what he had partially worked out in terms of work on the buildings. He pointed out, “The thing is, something new has come up, and I’ll need the property fenced and to get a security system in place.”

“Why security?”

With that, Timber told him about the unlawful hunting, trespassing, now the latest shooting. At that, Badger paled and asked, “Are you serious?”

“Yeah, I’m serious, and, worse yet, Tiffany was here at the time.”

“Tiffany, as in the vet, Dr. Tiffany?”

“Yes, Dr. Tiffany,” Timber confirmed, “and she went and told the deputy about it.”

“And what did they do?”

“Richard—”

“Oh yeah, I know Richard,” Badger interjected, “good man.”

“He came out with a partner the first time,” Timber shared, as he stared at him, glaring at the interruptions, “and he stopped by the second time alone, but I haven’t heard anything since.”

“Let’s sure as hell hope he doesn’t need to come out a third time,” Badger muttered. “What about Andy?”

“I talked to him after the first incident, but I haven’t bothered after the second.”

Badger nodded. “We’ll take that one step at a time. You ended up with quite a few acres.”

“I did, but he’s still got another piece that I want. It’s 120 acres, and it lines up between his place and mine.”

Badger didn’t say anything at first, just nodded. “If it’s nothing but land, it might go for something reasonable.”

“It’s nothing but land,” Timber stated, “but I’m running into trouble since too many people are related or have those influential types of relationships in town.

And now that I’m causing all kinds of trouble in town, according to some , I don’t know whether I’ve got a shot at getting the rest of the land or not.

” Then he stopped and shrugged. “And that’s not even fair to the people in town since I haven’t spoken to anybody else.

I’m just pissed and assuming the worst because somebody is a bad seed in that one family, and I figure they’ve probably turned everybody against me. ”

“I know small towns,” Badger noted. “Some of them are good, but, like all families, some aren’t so good. Generally we have no trouble with anyone, and Andy is a good guy.”

“He is, and I probably just need to talk to him about maybe not selling off that piece, so I can buy it at some point in time.”

“You do that, but, in the meantime, let’s go over where you’re planning on putting those fences and pastures, plus getting some paddocks set up. Let’s take a walk through that barn,” Badger added, “and, as far as the house goes, man, there’s a lot to do.”

“I know. I could have dropped it, and, at some point in time, I probably will,” he admitted, with a smile, “but that’s not today’s issue.”

“No, it sure isn’t,” Badger agreed. “That’s a bigger job than we can help with right now, but, in a couple years, that’s a different story.

” And, with that, the two men took a partial tour of the property, with Badger sorting out the scope of the jobs and what they could do and when.

He nodded. “Okay, we need to get the materials, since you can’t fence in anything without fencing materials, and we’ll need a post-hole digger.

” Badger started rummaging through his mind, listing all the things they would need.

And when he finally ran down, he looked over at Timber, who was staring at him.

Timber shook his head. “I don’t know what the hell you were even thinking about to get involved in this,” he admitted. “Kat will have a conniption fit and will be pissed at the both of us.”

“Are you kidding? She’s the one who sent me out here,” he shared, “and, if I don’t come back having helped you and helped you a lot , believe me that my marital life won’t ever be the same.”

Timber looked at him and started to laugh. “I always knew I loved Kat.”

“Yeah,… well, you can’t have her. She’s mine,” Badger snapped.

“Oh yeah, I know, and a dozen guys would line up as soon as your body is cold in the grave.”

“Honest to God, they’re already lining up, just in case,” Badger muttered. “The good news is, she loves me, and she’s not like a lot of other women. She’s loyal to the core,” he stated, “so I don’t have to worry about that.”

“Nope, and you’ve got the kids too. You are a very lucky man.”

Badger looked at him and nodded. “And don’t I know it,” he stated. “I really do, and I want the same for you, but first we’ve got to get you a place to actually sleep.”

“I’m sleeping here just fine.”

Badger rolled his eyes. “Yeah, and that’s why you put the roof on first, so your bedding doesn’t get wet, and so you don’t wake up soaking wet too, right?”

Timber shrugged. “I figured that it didn’t make any sense to put too much money into the house, if I need to drop it in the end.”

“Maybe not,” Badger conceded, “but you do need to have some kind of a decent shelter for yourself, and, when you start bringing in more animals, you’ll need a place to nurse them and to bring them inside where it’s warm.

You can’t do that without some facilities.

And, yes,… you can do it on your own, piece by piece over time,” he admitted, waving his hands.

“However, if we can give you a step up, a step up is what we will do.”

“What do you have in mind?” Timber asked, frowning.

“I’ll go back and figure out some stuff,” Badger replied, “and then I’ll be in touch.” And, with that, he tossed back the last of his second or maybe his third cup of coffee, and walked out.

“Drive carefully,” Timber said. “I don’t know if those idiots are still out there on the roads.”

Badger turned and frowned at him. “Point taken. I think I need to talk with Andy.”

“Yeah, you do that,” Timber muttered, “but I think he’s pretty tired and fed up over this.”

“Of course he is. Nobody wants to hear about that kind of thing going wrong. But when you feel responsible, it’s way worse,” he muttered. “Are you thinking they are related to Andy or just somebody he helped out once upon a time?”

“I’m not even sure at this point,” Timber shared, “but that one deputy, Foster , he sure as hell is related to that punk kid.”

And, with a wave and a nod, Badger was on the road and heading out.