Page 6

I woke in a much better mood. The kid was already here, and I’d made a judgement call before he arrived that didn’t really go with any of his actions. He was getting stuck into the action, and the poor kid had been through the trenches it seemed, at least mentally speaking.

The morning routine with the chickens and goats were cut in half, which was also another large bonus to having him around. I could admit when I was wrong, and sure enough, I was wrong about the thoughts I’d had about him, but I was also a proud cowboy, and I wasn’t going to let any of that show on my face.

“I’ve never felt so many warm eggs,” he said as looked at the basket of eggs we’d collected. All the animals had quietened since our initial arrival.

“They do lay them and then sit on them for a large portion of the night,” I told him. “I’d be worried if they were cold.”

“I mean, obviously, that makes sense when you say it.” He rolled his eyes, but had the biggest smile on his face. He was difficult to read, because eye rolling was something I put down to being pissed.

We kept the eggs and bucket of milk with the lip latched by the barn door, left slightly ajar for fresh air to circulate. The horses were all awake and gave the kid some second glances as we walked into the stables. He naturally navigated himself toward Belle, while I went checked in on Scout and Thunder.

“Spring through fall, some locals come up for riding lessons,” I told him. “Most of them prefer Belle as well.”

“She’s sweet,” he said as she bowed her head to him over the fence, pushing her nose to his hand for some strokes. “Nobody is going to believe that I got to ride a horse.”

It was going to be his first time. “You’ll just need to show them how you’re walking once you’ve finished,” I snickered. “They’ll believe that.”

“Does it hurt that much?”

“First time, it’s like an ache,” I said. “But unless you fall, which you won’t, you won’t hurt that much. You’re in capable hands.” I clapped mine together.

“If the locals come up here for riding lessons, why do you have such a bad rep in town?” he asked, catching me off-guard with the question.

I fed Scout a carrot as I thought about it. “I have a reputation for being a hard ass, not an actual hard ass, but being strict.”

“I think when it comes to horses, it’s life or death sometimes, right. So many accidents and stuff, I don’t see why they’d be annoyed about you wanting to be strict on that.”

It was the easiest conclusion to make for me, I didn’t want to tell him too much, I’d only known him for a single day. “What people decide to think about me might say more about themselves than of me,” I grumbled, staring into Scout’s big brown eyes. “Isn’t that right, Scout?” He neighed in response to his name.

“Well, the first time we spoke, you shouted at me, so I can see why they’d think it,” he said. “What did you think about me before I came?”

I grit my teeth, sensing my own immediate irony of what I’d just said. “To be honest, I was annoyed, but you’re actually alright,” I said, approaching him with a carrot. “You wanna try giving her this. Be careful not to get too close to the teeth. A horse bite hurts like hell.”

He smiled, tucking his chin to his chest as if hiding it. “How much of it do I give her?”

Belle turned to me as I was the one waving the carrot for the kid to take. “You won’t figure that out unless you take it.”

“Oh.” He grabbed it and Belle craned her head to bite it. His hand was shaking as she bite chunks off it. “I don’t think I have the upper arm strength for this.”

He wasn’t in any real danger of her getting too close to his fingers. Belle hadn’t bitten anyone since she’d come to the ranch as a rescue.

“Are you ready for the next step?” I asked him. “Gotta go inside.”

“What?” He flinched, nearly jumping back.

“I’m kidding. Just putting some hay in their with them. You can do that over the fence.” I snapped my fingers at Pip who was stressing Thunder out at the other side of the stables. “Grab that pitchfork, head over to that bale of hay, stick it in, break it up, and then transfer over some. If you can handle it.”

He scoffed. “Of course, I can do it, I’m just worried about growing muscles in places where muscles haven’t been before.”

“Like it or not, staying here for the next couple of weeks is going to create muscle,” I said, watching him approach the pitchfork against the wood wall. He touched it first with a single finger before grabbing it. “And don’t worry about that, it’s not sharp.”

“It reminds me of a trident,” he said, raising it in the air, just shy of punching a hole through the roof. “Oh god. I won’t do that again.”

“Please, don’t ruin this place. I helped build it.”

He looked at me, slack jawed. “You built this?”

“Listen kid, I’ve been here longer than you’ve been out of diapers, I helped build most of this place,” I told him. That might’ve been another reason why I was overprotective of it, and why I didn’t want people in town coming up without a booking. I didn’t want tire marks wearing down the land, or their loud engines spooking the animals.

“I doubt it,” he chuckled. “I’m not that young.”

“But I am that old.” I winked. I never winked. Thankfully, I don’t think he noticed.

After the horses were given more hay and fresh water, I hand fed them a couple more carrots. They needed to be eaten before they went bed, and it was a nice treat for them, especially when they weren’t getting all their necessary outdoor enrichment. We headed back to the barn to collect the milk pail and eggs.

And for a second time, I invited the kid over. “I have oats and fresh fruit,” I told him. “Probably made too much just for me, if you want to have some breakfast. But if you’ve already eaten, you can head back and get on with your work.”

“I’m going to need a serious word with everyone in town,” he laughed. “But yes, please. I had the hardest time working out the wood fire stove thingy earlier. I’ll accept whatever you’ve got for me.”

I tried to figure out why I asked, maybe out of obligation, or maybe because there was something about him I hadn’t completely figured out yet. Figuring people out came easy to me, usually. Something to the kid stumped me.

“Your house is always so nice and warm,” he said, immediately stripping out of his coat and shoes when we crossed the threshold inside.

“It’s because the fire is linked to certain other heating systems in the house,” I told him, placing the milk down. “That’s what the owners installed, not me. And it is nice, but sometimes, it makes me want to go outside completely naked and make snow angels.” I snapped my fingers at the dogs in the doorway. They stopped andshook themselves off before coming inside. I’d taught them both well.

“Snow angels!” he said. “I’ve never made one of those before.”

“Jeez, kid, next you’ll be saying you’ve never made a snowman or had a snowball fight.” And from the blank expression looking back at me from his face, I’d hit the nail on the head. He hadn’t done either of those things. I closed the front door as the dogs came inside and Rusty laid on his bed.

He shrugged. “We had snow where I’m from, and snow days from school, but it never lasted long, and I’ve always hated the cold,” he said, shuddering. “The idea of having my entire body in snow makes me want to die inside.”

“Ok, so if you hate snow so much, why don’t you own more warm clothes?” I took my hat off and placed it by the door. In the mirror, I caught the mess of my hair in the reflection.

“Maybe that’s exactly why I stayed in my apartment for weeks on end,” he replied. “Not having winter clothes was a bonus excuse to not going out in the cold. Like, and rain, there’s nothing worse than having your nice, warm clothes be drenched by rainfall.”

“I can’t blame you for that, the rain can be cruel out here too,” I told him, leading him through the kitchen-dining area of the house. “One of the services I offer out here is expeditions, and when it’s the middle of spring and the rain is coming down heavy, I have to do a lot of soul searching when it happens.”

“What does an expedition involve?”

“A couple of nights on the land without any amenities, except for a tent, and a couple of utensils to cook with,” I said. “It’s mostly for folk who want to give their hand a go at living like cowboys on the road, traversing the open world in search of work.”

“I didn’t even think cowboys existed,” he said.

I laughed hard. “Ok, kid, you’re from the city, so that’s to be expected.”

“I’m being serious. I didn’t know people like you were actually a thing ,” he said. “I might have to create a cowboy teddy that—well, I really don’t know what else cowboys do.”

“Depends on the cowboy in question,” I told him, holding back a smile. I’d inspired something in him. It warmed me. “But for me, I’ve lived and worked on ranches for a long time, probably longer than you’ve been a thought if I’m going to be honest kid.”

“Kid,” he laughed. “I’m twenty-eight. I’m hardly a—a baby goat.”

I assumed he was in his twenties, and that lined up with the notion. “Ok,” I said, nodding my head and near squinting as I recalled his name, but it escaped me, so I turned to the stove where I was about to put the pan of milk and oats for porridge.

“Hold up,” he said. “Do you even know my name?”

“I do, yeah, obviously.”

“I’m gonna call bull on that.”

My tongue squirmed in my mouth as if searches the recesses of it to find anything out about him. His name, it had to have been right there on the tip of my tongue, and yet it was nowhere to be found.

“Tommy,” he said.

“Tommy!” I repeated immediately. “I knew that. Obviously, I knew that.”

He shook his head with a big smile. “You are awful at lying. So, then Hardin, which I know is your last name, and what you prefer to go by,” he said. “June gave me the 411 on the drive.”

“Oh, she did?” I lit the wood under the stovetop with a fire lighter. “You know, June’s a bit of a gossip. Probably wouldn’t trust everything you hear.”

“You said you were nice when you really get to know you. I’m guessing that’s not true, but offering me breakfast definitely goes against that.”

I hummed away in thought before bringing a pot of oats to the stove. It wasn’t hot enough to scorch them, so it gave me a moment to fetch fresh milk from the fridge and think on my response to him. “I don’t want to have you dying on me,” I said. “And you can’t get food deliveries up here.”

“How did you know I’d thought about that?”

No response was required for that. He was from the city, it was hardly a surprise the first thought that came to mind was his want to order food for the convenience of not having to cook, especially on these old wood stoves.

I still had a lot of questions for him, and I needed to know if he was like the others. The guys who were interested in teddies, onesies, and looking for something a little more from life. He certainly had the teddies down, whether that was just for his comic books, I was yet to discover.

“So, do you have a wife and kids out there somewhere?” he asked, as if reading my mind.

For a moment, I processed the question, trying to figure out what directions the information would spin him in. If I told him no , which was correct, he’d probably thing there was something wrong with me, and if I told him yes , then there was definitely something wrong for me to abandon my family during what is considered the most festive month of the year.

“I’ll take it as a no,” he said as I seemed paralyzed to answer, stirring the oats and milk.

“Relationships and my lifestyle don’t work,” I said. “The timing has never been there. And what about you?”

“Oh. No, I’m gay, I definitely don’t have a wife,” he snort-laughed, and suddenly, I was more intrigued by everything.