Chapter 14
Chapter Fourteen
Wylie
I get a text from Olivia at about 7 a.m.
“Thank you for the cold coffee. And for the hot sausage.”
I laugh as I type out a reply, feeling like a schoolboy who just secured a date to prom with the most popular girl in school.
Ennis breaks me out of my trance.
“Hey, lover boy. The fence is busted along the west side. I’m gonna go and get the gear to fix it.”
“Okay.”
“Jake’s got the steers separated from the first-time heifers already, so that’s done.”
“Hm?”
Ennis shakes his head. “Are you gonna do any work today, or are you gonna stare at your phone all morning?”
“I’m working,” I say, annoyed as I stuff my phone back into my jeans.
“Right, I’ll be back.”
“Fine.”
“Hey.”
“What?”
“How long is that girl gonna be here?”
I level my brother with a serious gaze. “I’m going to spend the rest of my life with that girl.”
“Good,” he says to my surprise. “Make sure you don’t fuck it up.”
I know what he’s getting at. He’s coming right up to the edge of saying that the ranch won’t survive another emotional roller coaster if I don’t make this relationship last.
Ennis disappears over the hill, headed to get the supplies to fix the fence. It’ll take him about twenty minutes to go to the utility barn, load up supplies, and drive back out this way with the Gator.
In the meantime, I lead Ramsay to the creek, where I use my boot to chop away at the layer of ice so he can have a drink.
While I’m standing there, something moves in the nearby stand of trees.
From the way Olivia described him, I know exactly who it is.