Chapter 5
Chapter Five
W est kicked around his new foreman’s house for a bit, making lists. He ate a frozen pizza for supper, because there was one in the freezer and it was still within the freshness date, and it wasn’t that god-awful cauliflower crust shit.
That was nasty. This one had been Totino’s or whatever.
Then he went to his lonely bed and thought about Trey. Hell, he dreamed about the man.
The morning dawned clear, so he was up with the sun, and he went hunting for the bunkhouse. It was time to meet his team of drovers. Specifically, he was searching for that Ben feller, who he hoped would be a good source of information.
Sure enough, an older guy was sitting in one of a row of old rocking chairs on the front porch of the long, low adobe, drinking his coffee, peering at his phone. Damn near bald, face craggy, with a map life had drawn on with a firm hand, the cowboy was like a faded picture that had been on a shop wall for decades in the sunshine. His long, lean body was covered in denim—from jeans to the light jacket he wore. Mornings, even late summer mornings, were chilly up here, yes, sir.
As soon as he turned the corner, he got a grin, the dark eyes giving him a once-over. “You’re the new guy.”
He dipped his chin in acknowledgement. “I am.”
“Good deal. Good to meet you. My name’s Ben. Ben Graham.” The guy stood, put his phone away, and held out one hand. “You need a cup of coffee? I got a pot made.”
“That would be a kindness. I appreciate it.”
Ben led him in to a big open space. It was decorated, if he could call it that, with wooden furniture, sturdy and masculine, but the cushions and blankets were bright and welcoming. There was a huge fireplace, a stuffed twelve-pointer hanging above the mantle. The kitchen was the same—simple, but spotless and well-kept.
West approved. He’d seen some truly skanky damn bunkhouses.
“So, things are pretty simple as far as knowing where stuff is, but if you ever need coffee, there’s almost always a pot going here. Mr. Trey bought me this neat coffee maker that makes automatically so I don’t have to wait or nothing. I really like it a lot. I’ll show you.” Ben filled his own mug with the dregs of the coffee, then started making a new pot. Those hands shook pretty bad, but they knew what they were doing. “We got seven bedrooms here, six over there in the back. I got the front of the house on account of I’ve been here for so long and this is my place. I don’t allow for big parties, and I don’t want no drunk and disorderly shit in my house. I hope you don’t mind. A man can have a drink, but I don’t allow drunkards. I don’t allow smoking. And I don’t allow fighting.”
West liked him already. “You sound like you got this under control.”
“Yep, I’m like a cowboy den mother. It’s your job to make them do stuff that’s working. It’s my job to make sure that they all eat. And that they grow up to be decent cowboys.”
West’s laugh earned him a wink.
“Well now, Mr. Graham, Are you sure there can be decent cowboys?”
“I have no doubt. I’ve known Mr. Trey since he was a little boy, and I will tell you this straight up before we even get started with anything else. That young man is my family, and he has been good to me. I will not hear a thing against him. He is a cowboy through and through, and I don’t care what he does for a living or in the bedroom. Clear?”
“As crystal.” West loved it. That was what Trey needed. Somebody here who had his back completely.
And West could tell from the way that old man talked, Ben Graham was fully aware that one of the qualifications of him having the foreman job was that West could not fire him. It made him respect Trey more.
“So there’s six bedrooms. How many are full?”
Ben handed him a cup but let him pour his own coffee. “One. There were only five drovers to begin with, and he took four, that son of a bitch, pardon my French. Ethan, or whatever his name was. Who the hell knows? He was worthless as tits on a boar hog. So we got to get to hiring cause there’s lots to be done for wintering. I have little Nate out there right now doing the feeding in the far barns. I do the close one. Thank God we’ve have a good rainy season because we can just pretty much leave everybody out where they are, but we’re going to have to start moving cattle down from the high pastures. Some of these horses need way more training than one cowboy can give them, too. There’s another bunkhouse as well, that’s standing empty. It’s smaller, it only holds four.”
West needed a piece of paper for notes. Ben was pouring out information faster than he could take it in. “You think this ranch can handle ten cowboys?”
“I think that this ranch can have six full-time, and then four on the busy seasons or for special stuff, yessir. From moving cattle to training to ranch rodeos. You got yourself into a bunch of work, so I hope that you’re interested. Miss Mal says that you’re a good man, and that I should give you all the chances.”
“Well, that’s good to hear. You got a paper and a pencil. Mr. Ben?” He might as well start out like he could hold out. He’d get one of them padfolio things to start carrying with him when he met with Ben, maybe once a week.
More to start, so he could get up to scratch.
“Yessir.” Ben got him a legal pad and a sharpened pencil.
“Thanks. So six full, and then day laborers. Where do you usually go to hire drovers, or am I meant to be the one who pulls that?” Some foremen only hired guys they knew, some advertised, and some got raw, green kids from the bus station.
Ben leaned back against the countertop. “So the last guy, he got guys from the bus station. Me, I wouldn’t do it that way.”
“No?” Oh, he couldn’t wait to hear about this, and he wasn’t going to argue either. This man had been at this ranch for a long time, damn near as long as he’d been alive. He was going to listen to the wisdom of experience.
And, to be honest, he loved to hear a little gossip. It was a sin, but he reckoned it was a small one.
“No, we’re not some low-class operation. That Ethan feller, he didn’t understand how fine our stock is. We don’t got a bunch of shit critters that just any asshole can deal with, pardon my French.”
“Don’t worry about it, sir. I think that we both know how the cow ate the cabbage.”
That made Mr. Ben grin, and he nodded. “Good deal. So we got beef cattle we’re running. Some really, really good cutting horses. We’ve got broncs, we’ve got wild mustangs, and I don’t think that these animals were meant to be worked by people who don’t know what they’re doing. Not even the dogs.”
He lifted one eyebrow. “I didn’t see any dogs at the house.”
Trey loved dogs. Loved them.
“No, although that’s coming, I guarantee it.” Ben shook his head, eyes tearing up. “Mr. Trey lost his dog about the time that that little gal up to the house got the cancer. And with all of the germs and stuff, he just didn’t get a new one. We have an entire pack of Aussies that are trained to a treat. They even do competitions. That’s why little Nate came here, and that’s why he stays. Those dogs are amazing, and Nate would lay down his life for any one of them. We got a few sheep, even, just so that he can use them in his shows. If you want to do more sheep, I think Nate would be over the moon.”
“What about up the house?”
“I’m hunting something big enough, I think, for Mr. Trey, that he won’t trip over it. I’m thinking it’s not going to be long before he has to get one of them dogs to help him around the house. So something that can get along with other dogs, maybe like a golden. Something good with kids, but kids need dogs. No question.”
Lord have mercy. West could work with this. He could get people, and he was going to get those babies a dog. “Do you have a suggestion on how to get people in?”
Ben’s grin turned into a full-blown smile. “I’ve got a list of guys that I would work with again if you want it. It’s a pretty decent-sized list. You could probably hire from that pretty easy.”
“And you don’t want to be foreman?” West didn’t get it.
Ben shook his head, rolling his shoulders as if he were shrugging off a weight. “Not even for a second. I never want to have to be the man who goes and tells somebody’s mama that their young man’s been killed. Or fire somebody because of money. I like my job. I like my place here. I’m happy. I have what I want, and at my age when you know you have what you want? You’re a lucky man.”
“I like you, Mr. Ben. I surely do. You get me that list. I got a couple of guys I know who can always use work, but we’ll need more.”
“Yessir.” Ben sipped his coffee. “Come on and see the dogs?”
“God, yes.”
Ben took his mug and washed them both out and set them in the drying rack. Then they headed out into the sunshine and started wandering out back toward the pastures.
“So the ranch is set up like this weird-assed T.” Ben started pointing. “All right, so you got the big house on the one side, the yard, the stuff for the kids. Then you got your house on the other side of Trey’s driveway. The bunkhouses are over here on the other side of the road, and behind those are garages. That’s where your four-by-fours are. Snowmobiles. That sort of thing.”
He was going to need a map. Was this real? Was he running this ranch?
“Behind the garages is the tack building and the workshop. Workshop’s not in real good shape. It needs some help. And then you come on back here and it’s going to open up.” They made it to a fence that was worth more than some folks made in a lifetime, a huge gate. “You know, they funneled everything pretty tight until it comes to here, that’s where we things open up. On the left, you got your horse barns. Got your hay barns, feed barns. Over here you got your kennels, then your sheep and your goats. Used to be chickens. Ain’t chickens no more, but I can see where it would be handy.”
“Where do you load up cattle?”
“You can do it from this road, or you can go around the side behind the bunkhouses, and there’s another big gate where you can load. I suggest using that one, if you’re loading a bunch of cattle. Horses are fine, they’ll go here, they’re all trained. But the cattle, sheep you want to go to behind the bunkhouse and work from there.”
Ben kept rattling, and West kept making notes until they ended up at the kennel. It was a beautiful building, and it was clear as crystal whoever worked with these dogs loved them to death because these were the sweetest setups he’d ever seen on a ranch.
As soon as they stepped in, the dogs started to wail and bark and have a conniption.
“Little Nate hasn’t taken them out yet to start working. He likes to have the horses fed and all first.”
As if he’d been summoned, a young man who had to wear boots to clear five feet came running up, eyes wide. “What the fuck do you think you’re—” Then he stopped, blinked, and turned bright red. “Oh, Ben! I’m sorry. I saw somebody I didn’t know coming in to get my dogs.”
“I’m not gonna let anyone get at your dogs, kid.” Ben rolled his eyes. “That’s the new foreman, Mr. West.”
The kid’s eyes went wide as dinner plates, and he stepped back. “Oh. Pleased to meet you, Mr. West. These here are my dogs. I’m telling you, they’re great.”
“Oh, so I’ve heard,” West told the hand. “I’m looking forward to getting to know them all. I’m a big fan of dogs in general, but hunting dogs in particular.”
Nate offered him a big grin. “That’s good to know. This is my lead girl, Quinn. She’s amazing. She keeps all the others in line.”
“If you get him started talking about them, he’s never going to shut up,” Ben warned West, who just cackled.
“That’s good. It’s good to have something that you’re passionate about.”
West could so get to work with that. Even without having Trey here, this ranch was something he could work with.
The fact was, having Trey here was gonna be a bigger problem than anything else, because he was going to find it damn hard to remember to ignore the man.
West had a job, and it wasn’t to make Trey love him again, that ship might well have sailed.
Still, he was here to make things on this ranch better. So that was what he intended to do.