Cole’s Joy (Broken Wheel Ranch #11)

Chapter 1

Cole Mercury answered the ringing phone in a gruff voice, wondering who was calling him at the ass crack of dawn. Hell, it wasn’t even dawn yet, and the phone was ringing off the hook. He waited to answer until he filled his coffee cup, then picked up the receiver.

“Double A,” he barked into the phone, then held it out from his face when there wasn’t an answer. “Hello? Is anyone there?” He was about to hang up when someone spoke.

“Cole?”

“Yeah, who’s this calling me at the ass crack of dawn.” He didn’t know whether he liked the laugh that came over the other end of the line or not.

“It’s Erin. Erin Riceman.”

“Oh, shit, sorry, Ma’am, I didn’t recognize your voice. How are you this morning?”

“Good, you?”

“Good, now enough of the pleasantries, what’s on your mind?”

Erin laughed, and he could picture her sitting in her office shaking her head at him.

“That’s why I like you, Cole, gruff and to the point.

I called this early because I’m inviting you, Clem, and Ducky to the cabins tonight.

I have two people staying with me this week, and I want them to meet everyone.

” When she paused, Cole only sipped his coffee, contemplating how to reject the offer of him attending.

He didn’t have a choice after her next words. “It’s mandatory.”

“Why? No offense, Ma’am, but there should be no reason for me to attend the dinner for one of your clients. The Double A, excuse me, New Double has nothing to do with what you do over at The Broken Wheel.”

“I know that, and please call me Erin. These guests aren’t here as clients for Broken.”

“No?” Cole didn’t know what else to say, so he remained silent.

“No, there’s a woman and her grandmother.

Lorissa is the woman I’m interviewing. I’ve showed her everything so far, and tonight is her last night here.

I thought it would be nice to have a BBQ at the cabins to introduce her to everyone.

Not that this matters, but Lorissa’s mother was here a few weeks back as a potential client for Broken.

Lorissa came with her grandmother, because well, if I offer the job to the younger woman, her grandmother will be moving here too.

I’m not one hundred percent certain yet, but I might have a job to offer Lois. ”

“Who’s Lois? I thought you said her name was Lorissa.”

“Okay, I’ll break it down for you. If I hire Lorissa, then she comes with her mother, Laurie, who will be a client for Broken, and I don’t know at this time if I’ll have a job to offer her when she completes the program.

Then there is Lois, Laurie’s mother, and Lorissa’s grandmother. I will be offering her a job.”

“Doing what?”

“Back home she apparently ran a nursery. The type that grew flowers and such, with greenhouses. If you don’t know the place yet, talk to Ducky about The Old Atherton Place, that’s where Lorissa, her mother, and her grandmother will be staying.”

Cole stood there sipping his coffee and scowling so hard his eyebrows actually hurt. “You’re not going to tell me what this Lorissa does, are you?”

“Only if you ask.” He heard Erin’s laugh on the other end of the phone and it was infectious enough to relax his facial features. Not a smile, but relaxed features.

“I’ll bite.” Cole grinned when Clem and Ducky walked into the kitchen and poured themselves a cup of coffee.

He only held out his cup, and Clem filled it.

He took a sip, then resumed his conversation.

Since he was on the phone that was attached to the wall, he couldn’t move around much, he made a mental note to see if he couldn’t get a longer cord for the phone.

Hell, he didn’t know if they even made parts for wall phones any longer, but he’d look into it the next time he went to town.

It might have to be something to order on-line.

“Cole, are you still there?”

“Yeah, sorry, what does this Lorissa do, and why do you want the three of us to come over to the cabins for a BBQ tonight.” He spoke loud enough for the other two men to hear and he actually smiled when Ducky gave a fist bump in the air as he went to the freezer and started getting out packages of meat.

Then he went to the cupboards to see what he could make as their dish to pass.

“She’s double certified.”

“Really, in what?” Cole had no clue what Erin was going to say, and when he learned he swore in excitement.

“Are you fucking kidding me?”

“Nope, see, that’s why I want you and Clem there tonight. I thought the two of you could pick her brain.”

“You run her past Manchester in the background check?”

“No, only because Duane is dating her mother, but I did contact Jake Cogburn over at Brotherhood Protectors. I trust Duane, but with him dating the mother, I want to make sure he’s not being partial toward Lorissa or Lois.”

“Ah, smart move. Okay, I’ll tell Clem and Ducky about tonight. Six?”

“Yes, and get a list of questions together for Lorissa. I haven’t offered her the position just yet. I want you, Naomi, and Clem to sort of interview her. That’s what’s this BBQ is for tonight.”

“Understood, just one question.”

“What’s that?”

“If you hire her, are you kicking Stolls to the curb?”

“No, I want Lorissa for her farrier business. However, if there’s a problem and she’s right here, then by all means reach out to her as a vet.

I understand her last job had her work for them exclusively, and I’m not going to do that here.

I want her for her AFA certification, and I’ll tell her she can work for others as long as Erin’s Way, Broken, and New Double come first.”

“Great, I can’t wait to meet her. Thanks, Erin, I’ll see you tonight.” He hung up the phone and turned to the other men with a grin. While Ducky was getting ingredients from the cupboards, Clem was cooking their breakfast.

“Ducky,” Cole said as he refilled his coffee cup and started a fresh pot.

“What?”

“What can you tell me about The Old Atherton Place?”

“What did that bastard do now?” Ducky demanded angrily, then shook his head as he sighed heavily. “Sorry, I had a feud going with him, I know he died, then he did what he did with his grandchildren, ornery bastard.”

Cole and Clem exchanged looks and while Ducky remained silent, Cole set the table and waited for the other man to speak.

“First, I had a feud going with him because he tried to ask my wife out on a date. This was decades ago. We had only been married for about three months when I had to go out of town for at least a month.”

“May I ask why?”

“When the chickens were at a certain age, and began to lay eggs, they were transferred to a different facility. I only raised them up to that point, then I would sell them. That place kept the chickens for the eggs for at least two years, then they would sell them to the soup companies.”

“Got it.”

“Well, I had just left with the mature birds, and though it was a lot of work, Sally, my wife, and our hired hands would clean out the barn and get it ready for the new chicks. I delivered the old, and went to pick up the new so that when I arrived home, they could be released in the clean and sanitized barns. That was the practice around here for years, and Sally automatically jumped in to help after we were married. I think the only time she didn’t was when she was pregnant because of the smells of the chicken shit, and I refused to allow her near the chemicals we used for sanitizing the barns. ”

“Okay,” Cole didn’t know what else to say, so he encouraged him to continue. “What happened?”

“I left for my trip, like I said, it took about a month because after I dropped the chickens off, I cleaned out their crates and sanitized them, that took roughly two weeks. Then I had to go pick up the new chicks. Sometimes they weren’t quite ready.

Anyway, one year, we had been married for three years by then, but one year the day after I left, Atherton saw her in the grocery store and asked her out on a date.

Flat out asked her and he had his own wife at home about to give birth to their second child.

Thankfully, my Sally knew who he was, and turned him down flat.

” He shook his head and joined them at the table.

“Another good thing about my Sally is that she never kept any serious secrets from me.”

“What’s that mean? Serious secrets? A secret is a secret.” Cole didn’t know how he felt about what Ducky had just said, nor why it made him angry. Before he could continue, he stopped when Ducky lifted his hand toward him.

“The only secrets Sally kept from me, that I know of, is when she and the kids would buy me a birthday or Christmas present. She told the kids it was a secret until I opened it.”

“Ah, then that’s okay to keep secrets. I was thinking of the big ones, the ones that could ruin someone’s life.

” He shook his head and looked at the other two men sadly as Clem put the food on the table.

“The one where Benson lied about our Noomie not being able to walk.” He used his and Clem’s pet name for Naomi.

“Yeah, no, that wasn’t a secret,” Ducky said as he loaded up his plate.

“That was an outright lie. Anyway, when Sally told me what Atherton had done I confronted him. I apologized to his wife, and told him to leave my wife alone. When his wife questioned me, I told her what had happened. He didn’t deny it.

Anyway, I ignored him for decades after that.

I would even leave a store if I saw him there. ”

“What about his wife?” Clem asked. “Did you ignore her?”

“No, see, she and Sally were best friends, and they continued to be so. However, there was only one thing I put my foot down on and forbade Sally to do.”

“What?”