Chapter 5
Chapter Five
Raylan
Most days I loved what I did for a living.
I got to spend my hours riding horses or ATVs, hiking trails, fishing, and all other manner of outdoor activities.
My office consisted of some of the most beautiful vistas this country had to offer.
It was a dream job. But even dream jobs came with shitty days.
Days when you felt like your head was going to explode. And today was one of those days.
If anything could go wrong, it did. Starting with the group I took out on a sunrise hike up to Horizon Ridge.
I knew I was in for it when at least half the group of Wall Street bros showed up hungover, having partied the night before like they were still in college and the lodge was a goddamn frat house throwing a kegger.
I didn’t understand what had possessed them to spend the entire night drinking when they knew they had be up before dawn.
They’d booked the hike themselves, for Christ’s sake. It wasn’t as if it was a surprise.
What should have been an hour long, peaceful hike for beginners took more than double the time as each of them had to stop at least once to puke in the bushes along the way.
And that was before we even reached the summit.
Horizon Ridge held one of the most stunning views of the valley, but they’d all been too strung out to appreciate the beauty, gasping for air like they’d barfed up their lungs on the way up.
Given how the day started, I should have predicted it was only going to get worse. As they say, when it rains, it pours.
Part of my job was dealing with all kinds of different personalities, but some of those personalities would make even the most relaxed, centered person contemplate causing bodily harm.
Like the miserable asshole and his know-it-all wife on the midday trail ride.
The middle-aged, balding accountant type had bitched about everything.
From the smell of the horses, to the temperature, to the dust in his eyes irritating his contacts.
For the life of me, I couldn’t understand why someone who hated nature as much as that prick did would pay to be out in it.
Then there was his wife. A six minute YouTube video on horseback riding and the woman had convinced herself she was a fucking equestrian, arguing with every single instruction I gave her.
Everything from how to cinch the girth to the proper stirrup placement was a fight that put us behind schedule and annoyed the rest of the guests who were all waiting to get on with their ride.
She accused me of mansplaining and then of being condescending when I offered to help her into the saddle.
Then she blamed me when she fell on her ass because she hadn’t tightened the strap properly—like I tried to tell her.
I’d breathed a sigh of relief when we finally got on the trail, but that relief had been short-lived.
When I pointed out poison oak halfway through the ride, and warned everyone to keep away, she’d insisted I was wrong, that it was box elder, not poison oak, going so far as to pick it and rub the goddamn leaves across her arms in an effort to prove me wrong.
Something she regretted as soon as the rash started forming.
Unfortunately, it hadn’t stopped there, and the rash turned into hives, then blisters, and within minutes, she started struggling to breathe.
Fortunately, I kept an epi-pen in the first aid kit stashed in my saddle bag, because not only was she wrong about what the plant was, she also didn’t know she was severely allergic to it.
Heaving out a heavy sigh, I closed my eyes and reached up to pinch the bridge of my nose, hoping it would give me some relief.
Thankfully, the ambulance doors shut, closing off the string of very loud complaints from the woman and her husband, and a few seconds later, it drove away, carting the two of them off to the emergency room.
I heard the sound of boots crunching on the gravel just before Zach’s palm came to rest on my shoulder. “Heard you’ve been havin’ a hell of a day.”
At the humor lacing through his voice, I slowly turned my head to glare at him. “What gave it away? The ambulance or the ten guests demanding refunds for today’s shitshow?”
The asshole didn’t bother to hold back his laughter. I stood there, silently shooting daggers in his direction with my eyes as I waited for him to get ahold of himself. “You finished?” I asked once he was able to stand upright again.
He clapped me on the back with one last chuckle. “I’m good, brother. Thanks for that. I needed a good laugh.”
“Glad I could be of service,” I deadpanned as I untied Zephyr’s reins from the fence post and began guiding him toward the barn.
Zach followed after, helping me unload the gear I always brought with me for reasons such as the disaster that was today.
“Hey, we all have shitty days, man. Just gotta brush this one off,” he said as we worked side by side, unsaddling the horses we used on trail rides.
As I unsaddled Buttercup, a mild-mannered mare that had never given me any problems, I silently reminded myself to give her an extra peppermint later for having to put up with that miserable old bat today. “That guest gonna be okay?”
“Yeah,” I answered on a sigh as I passed Buttercup off to one of the grooms on staff and moved to the tack room, heading for the minifridge I kept stocked with sodas.
What I really needed was a beer—or something a hell of a lot stronger—but for now a Coke would have to do.
“She’ll be fine. Ambulance was precautionary.
Just in case she got any ideas about suin’ the lodge.
” I held up a can in a silent offer and tossed it his way when he nodded.
Then I cracked mine open and sucked it back, letting the caffeine and sugar do their job.
Zach waved my comment off. “I’m not worried about that. We have trail cams all over for that very reason. And at least half a dozen people all too happy to say she grabbed that plant of her own free will, despite your warnin’. You did everything right, man. So don’t sweat it.”
I let out a grunt. “Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad she’s okay. But does it make me an asshole if I hope the rash takes forever to clear up and itches like a fucker the entire time?”
Zach grinned. “Yeah. But you are an asshole, so I wouldn’t expect any less.”
I finished off my Coke and crumpled the can in my hand before tossing it into the trash.
“I don’t know about you, but I could use a stiff drink.
Feel like headin’ for The Tap Room?” We could have had a drink anywhere, even headed up to the lodge to knock back a couple at the bar there.
But I would have been lying if I said I didn’t suggest The Tap Room because I wanted to see Lennix.
“No can do, buddy. Tonight is family dinner at my folk’s place. Rae and I have some news to share with everyone.”
I raised my brows at the way he ended that sentence and at the shit-eating grin spread across his face. “I take it by the creepy Joker smile you’re sportin’ that it’s good news?”
Zach looked around to make sure there was no one within ear shot, then lowered his voice. “You can’t tell anyone I told you this first, but . . . Rae’s pregnant.” I didn’t think it was possible, but his smile got even wider as he breathed, “She’s havin’ my baby, man.”
“Damn, that’s great news!” I moved to him, yanking him in for a back-slapping hug. “Happy for you, brother,” I said as I pulled back, giving his shoulder a shake.
If I had to describe the face a man might make when he realized he officially had everything he could ever want in the whole wide world, it would have been the look on Zach’s. Contentment, happiness, and complete and utter peace.
“Thanks. Means a lot. It’s still early, so we’re only tellin’ our family and closest friends right now. But we’re both thrilled.”
I clapped him on the shoulder again and gave it a squeeze. “Of course you are. Let’s just hope the little guy or girl looks like its mama. Be a shame if that kid came out with your ugly mug.”
He laughed again, giving me a good-natured punch to the arm. “I’m letting that slide since I’m in such a damn good mood.”
His news explained why he’d been happier than normal lately.
The man had gone from a grumpy bastard to a grinning fool since he’d met his wife.
For years I thought Zach, our other friend, Connor, and I would grow old and gray as single men, but something must have been in the water recently, because they were both all too eager to settle down.
Zach was already living in wedded bliss and now there was a kid on the way. And Connor’s woman, Ivy, was due to pop soon with their first baby.
Just because that kind of commitment wasn’t for me didn’t mean I was opposed to it for anyone else, and I was glad to see both of my friends happy and building their families.
“Why don’t you come over tonight too?” Zach offered, pulling me back into the present. “You know you’re always welcome.”
“Nah. I don’t want to impose on your big night.”
“Please. It’s not an imposition at all. You know you’re always welcome. Besides, it would be good for you to eat something that isn’t made in a microwave. You have to be sick of those frozen dinners you live on by now.”
He wasn’t wrong. The variety was sorely lacking, but I didn’t have a lot of choices.
I lived in the apartment over the barn, and the kitchen was so small there was barely enough room for the fridge, sink, microwave, and hot plate that were in it.
It didn’t really work for cooking, so I’d gotten good at microwaving my dinners.
I’d rented the place more for convenience than anything else, and had never been a big fan of cooking, so what did I care?
Besides, there was no beating a commute that consisted of crawling out of bed and walking downstairs each morning.
When I first moved in, I was mainly looking for anything that would get me out of my sister’s house.
I loved Gypsy like crazy, don’t get me wrong.
There wasn’t anything I wouldn’t do for my oldest sister.
She and Marco had been more like parents to me than the people who created us, but like any eighteen-year-old kid, I’d wanted to get out and spread my wings.
I had grand designs of saving up and building a place of my own, but as the years passed, I realized settling down and having a slew of kids wasn’t in the cards, so I decided there wasn’t much need for all that space when I would be the only one taking it up.
The apartment had everything I needed. And when I got sick of microwave meals like Zach pointed out, I would head into town for something better or mooch a free meal off Gypsy or our other sister, Sunny.
Just as I was about to turn his invitation down again, Lennix’s face popped into my head.
As soon as it did, I could have sworn my heart rate kicked up.
She’d been working even harder to avoid me since our run-in the other morning.
Not that I could blame her. I’d acted like a prick, and I still needed to apologize.
This would be the perfect opportunity to do that.
“What’s your mom making?”
The corner of Zach’s mouth curled upward. “Does it really matter?” he asked. “Given your eternal bachelorhood, I figured you’d be happy for a home-cooked meal wherever you could get it.”
It was the weirdest thing, but for some reason, that statement about my bachelor status left a sour taste on my tongue.
That had never happened before. I wasn’t embarrassed of my reputation. Usually I did what I could to live up to it. But this wasn’t the time to try and figure out why something had shifted. Or who might have been the cause of it.
Like my feelings for my best friend’s little sister, that would be pushed into the deepest, darkest recesses of my mind until I managed to forget all about it.
God willing.