Chapter 3
CHAPTER 3
Scott looked up with a grin when someone called his name, and he made his way over to the truck Clem had just exited from. They were in the back parking lot of the hotel he had a room at, and when they met, they shook hands.
Clem got right to the point. “I’m done with my stuff. What’s on the agenda?”
“There’s a woman I met a couple days ago, I think she would be perfect for what The Broken Wheel has to offer, and I’m here to give her some information. I’m going to stick around for a couple of days to see if she has any questions.”
“What is The Broken Wheel?”
“It’s a ranch in Colorado that has former military personnel, and rescue horses. The humans have worked with the horses to get them back into shape, and are planning on working with clients, mostly children, to get them rehabilitated.”
“Wow, that sounds like a wonderful job.”
“I suppose it is. I won’t lie to you, Clem. I was only there for a couple of weeks before they sent me here to look for you. I have a feeling Julie, the woman I met, will want to come to Colorado. If not with us, then definitely in the near future. I can’t expect her to drop everything and run off with me once I tell her what’s what.”
“That’s perfectly understandable. I take it we’re going to meet this woman now?”
“We are, she’s a waitress here and is working the dinner shift. Don’t quote me on this, but I get the feeling that she’s former military and has a prosthetic leg.”
“Got it. Before we go in, can I ask you a question?”
“Sure, what’s up?” Scott paused as he turned to look at the other man with a raised brow.
“Would you mind if I head to Colorado tomorrow? Now that I know it’s safe to go home, then I’m itching to get there.”
“Not at all. Are you staying at the hotel for the night?”
“I am. I was able to get everything done, and now I’m itching to get going.”
“Here,” Scott said as he pulled a piece of paper from the pocket of his jeans. As he handed it over, he smiled. “I had a feeling you’d want to head out as soon as possible, so I wrote the address down for you. Like everyone that comes to work for Erin, you’re going to have to stop by and talk with her first. Don’t worry, her bark is worse than her bite, and as long as you’re honest with her, she’ll have your back.”
“Okay, but when can I see Noomi and Cole?”
“When you’re done talking with Erin. See, she runs the entire operation, and it’s hard to explain, but she has four businesses that she’s running, and needs to make sure she only has good people on her property.”
“Ah, I understand.” Clem nodded as he looked at the piece of paper, then pulled out his wallet and stuck it inside. When he looked back at Scott with a nod, they went forward and opened the door. As soon as Clem walked in ahead of Scott, the younger man looked to the heavens and only cocked a brow at the big man up there, but didn’t say a word.
Scott liked the fact that it wasn’t extremely busy and as soon as he saw Julie, his heart started to beat faster. She must have been watching for him, because she immediately hurried forward. He again thought she walked with a slight limp, but didn’t think now was the time nor the place to say anything about it.
“I have the same table you used a few days ago.”
“Thanks,” Scott said as he followed her, and when he sat in the same chair, he looked up when she still held onto the menu he tried to take. “Is there a problem?”
“I hope not, but I told my sister about you, and about your offer. She’s going to be joining you to ask you some questions while I continue working.”
“That’s fine. This is Clem, the gentleman I told you I was looking for. Clem, this is Julie.” They exchanged nods, and a slightly younger version of Julie joined them.
“This is my sister, Sara.” Greetings were exchanged, and after she took their drink order, Julie left the three of them alone to go back to work. The three people at the table sat awkwardly for a few seconds before Sara spoke.
“So, what’s this job offer you have for Julie?”
“I don’t.” Scott scowled at her, then sat back with a smirk when she spoke again.
“What? Julie told me you had a job for her in Colorado.”
“No, I told her that my boss might have a job offer for her.”
“Oh,” Sara said as she deflated and slumped back in her chair. She shook her head sadly. “Can you tell me what it’s all about?”
“I can, but may I ask if you would be coming with Julie?”
“Not right away,” Sara said sadly as she shook her head. She remained silent as Julie came with their drinks and took their order, then disappeared. “A couple of days ago, I took my last test for my PhD program. While I work on finishing my dissertation, I have an opportunity to take three more intense, hands-on classes up in Denver. They anticipate lasting for a total of six months.”
“What is your field of study?” Clem asked as he sipped his coffee.
“Psychology, with my main focus being on PTSD trauma and the treatment of the condition.”
“Wow,” Scott said with interest. “Do you know where you’re going to study once you’ve completed your schooling?”
“No clue. I’d like to find something that will be close to Julie, but that’s probably a pipe dream.”
“Maybe not,” Scott said as he leaned back to allow Julie to set their plates of food down before them. They thanked her, and she quickly left. The three of them dug into their meal, and Scott only shook his head and said he’d talk after he ate. Thirty minutes later, he pushed his plate away, wiped his mouth, and sighed in contentment. “That hit the spot.” He refilled his coffee cup, and smiled at Julie when she came back to pick up his plate. He knew she was working, and figured Sara would tell her everything when they were home, and he didn’t want to bother her at her job, so as he had eaten, he decided to tell Sara everything he knew about Erin and her plans. This would also give Clem the chance to learn where he would be going to. Before he spoke, he pulled a napkin from the holder in the center of the table, and removed a pen from his shirt pocket. As soon as he was ready, he began to draw. It wasn’t until both Clem and Sara finished their meals, and the plates were taken away by someone else, that he talked.
“This large, outside square represents Erin’s Way. That is a three-thousand-acre horse ranch outside of Fool’s Gold, Colorado.” He looked between the two people sitting with him. “I’ll give you a little background. What I know at least. I served as a Navy SEAL for over a decade. The last team I was on, my commanding officer was Clark Riceman. Erin is his sister. Something happened in the past, I don’t know all the details because I wasn’t serving on that team at the time.”
“Do you know what happened?” Sara asked quietly.
“All I know is that there was an accident and Erin’s and Clark’s parents didn’t make it. Erin lost her hand.” He reached up and gripped the wrist on his right hand. “The accident severed her hand here, and it was some time before they realized it was missing. Again, I don’t know all the details, but I got the impression that because of the accident, her hand was pinned, and it stopped the blood from gushing.” He shook his head sadly. “Sorry for being gross at the dinner table.”
“Don’t worry about it,” Sara waved it off, as did Clem.
“Okay, anyway, all I know was that Clark and his team were on a mission and they were dark.”
“What’s that?” Clem asked.
“No one can reach them,” Sara said, and looked at Scott with a smirk as well as a shrug. “Julie is Navy and there were a couple missions where she went dark.”
“Got it.”
“Anyway,” Scott said to get the conversation back on track. “When Erin came home from the hospital, she got to thinking and started doing things. Because of Clark’s military career, she had inherited everything. Because their farm was for stud horses, she walked the barns and found some of the horses rejected her.”
“That’s bad,” Clem said and looked at the two of them. “If a horse rejects its owner, then there is nothing that can be done to bring that horse back around. The safest thing to do is to sell the horse. Safe for both the animal and the owner.”
“She did that.” Scott admitted. “From my understanding, she did it in stages. The horses that rejected her, she had moved to a different part of the ranch. The ones that didn’t have an adverse reaction to her stump, she kept. Erin’s Way had both studs and brood mares.”
“What are they?”
Clem smirked and chuckled as he sipped his coffee. “I’m not talking down to you, but it’s really simple. Studs are the unfixed male horses, while mares are the females. Brood mares are specially bred with certain studs to carry on a blood line. It’s more complicated than that, but that’s it in a nut shell.”
“Got it. Studs are boys, mares are girls.”
“Correct.” He looked at Scott with a nod. “Please continue.”
“Okay, once the horses that rejected Erin were culled from the original herd, she went through them again, and separated them again into the studs and mares. The mares she contacted some of her former clients first and asked if they wanted to purchase them.”
“That was a smart move,” Clem said with a nod.
“Why?” Julie asked as she stood beside her sister. She grinned when they looked up at her and she pulled out a chair. “I’m on my dinner break. You don’t mind if I eat while you talk?”
“Not at all,” Scott said as he jumped and held out the chair for her. Once she was settled, he did a quick recap of what they had been talking about to catch her up to speed.
“Why would she ask other people if they wanted to purchase her horses?”
“Because she hates having any animal suffer. Erin thought by reaching out to other ranchers, her horses would have a better chance than if they were sold at an auction.”
“Again, why?”
“Nine times out of ten,” Clem said sadly. “When a horse goes to auction, they end up in a kill shelter.”
“Oh.” Both women exchanged sad looks, but nodded to Scott. “What happened to the studs that rejected her?”
Scott grinned, then threw his head back to laugh. When he looked at Julie, his cheeks and even his ears turned bright red. Julie saw it and giggled.
“Erin’s Way was the first and only operation on the ranch. But because of the horses rejecting her, Erin had a thought and turned that thought into another lucrative operation for the ranch.”
“What’s that?”
“She talked it over with her vet, that’s the animal doctor, not a military veteran.”
“I figured that, but what did they do?”
“They were able to collect sperm from the studs and store it. It took some time, but once she was happy with the collections, she put the studs up for sale. In the contract there was a clause that she had exclusive rights to the sperm she’d gathered.”
“Holy crap,” Julie said in shock. “She was able to keep it?”
“Yes, I don’t have all the details, but from what I overheard, for each stud she sold, she’d been able to collect ten samples from each one.”
“Please tell me they were stored properly,” Clem said.
“I haven’t seen it, but I was told that in what the guys refer to as the sex barn, there is a separate room that Tom, the vet, stores the samples in. He and Erin are the only ones that has access to it, and it is on Riceman property.”
“Good.” Clem looked at the two ladies. “I have forty plus years of experience working with horses. I know of some of the horses from Erin’s Way. One shot of sperm can be extremely expensive. The better lineage of the horse, the higher the price. I’ve seen some sperm go for roughly the price of a house.”
“Holy shit,” Julie said in stunned shock. “What happened to the horses that didn’t reject her?”
“They’re still there, she still has the stud business, and other ranchers either bring their mares there to breed, or she continues to collect the sperm from the existing horses.”
“Wow,” Julie said as she shook her head and took a couple bites of her sandwich. She wiped her mouth and looked at him. “If I take you up on your offer, what would I be doing?”
“First, it’s not my offer. I will give you Erin’s number and you can call her. She’s going to want to talk with you first. I’ll call her later tonight and give her your name.”
“Okay.”
Scott looked down at the napkin he’d drawn on and made a long rectangle, and another two squares. He pointed to it as he spoke. “As I said, this large square represents all of Erin’s Way. This square is what is referred to as The Broken Wheel. It’s a horse ranch within a horse ranch. This ranch is run by former military people. The men were former teammates of Clark’s. The women, except for Naomi Alcott, are all former military. Because Erin lost her hand in the accident that took her parents, she doesn’t consider herself disabled. She considers herself challenged. You don’t have to have a challenge to work there, but she prefers it if you do. She told me once that in her mind, a person with a challenge will better understand what she wants to do with the horses on Broken. The horses are all rescues either from the SPCA, a kill shelter, or the slaughter house. Last I heard, there were twenty-seven horses there. The employees of Broken are working with them, and they are getting them ready for clients.”
“What type of clients?” Sara asked.
“People with disabilities, or challenges, and I’m talking both children and adults. Broken Wheel will be a rehabilitation center for them.”
“Horse therapy?’
“Yes.”
“Cool.”
They sat in silence for a few more seconds, before Julie asked. “What’s this rectangle represent? And these circles?” She pointed to the napkin.
“Oh, this rectangle borders Erin’s Way, and this is what we now refer to as The New Double.” With a grin he turned to Clem. “This is where everything from The Double A is. The horses, equipment, tack, hay, feed, everything that came from Wyoming is here. It’s my understanding that it’s a little over thirteen hundred acres, and there were some chicken barns that have been converted to stalls. It’s still a work in progress, but all the horses are safe. This is also where Cole lives.”
“Okay,” Clem said as he turned the napkin to look at it. “It’s almost three times the size of the spread in Wyoming.”
“Correct. That’s all I can tell you about that, since I had only been at Broken for three weeks before I was sent to look for you.” Scott nodded, then turned to Julie. “Please don’t be offended by what I’m about to say, but I ran into you, and thought you could benefit from Broken also. I can’t tell you why I made assumptions, but it was a thought and I went with it.”
“I’m not offended.” Julie reached out and put her hand on her sister’s and he saw her give it a gentle squeeze. “It’s not something I want to get into now, but as long as I know Sara is set, I can get on with my life. With her having this opportunity to take classes in Denver, it will make me closer.” She looked at her sister. “I know you’re a big girl now, but I still want to look out for you.”
“I know, but I think you should get this Erin’s number and call and talk with her.” She looked at Scott with a sad smile. “It’s a long story.”
“No pressure. I only ask that you tell Erin your story, and she’ll take it from there. I have no control over who she hires.” He turned to look at Clem. “You’re going to want to see her before you go over to The New Double.” He pulled out his phone and accessed his contacts. The other three entered Erin’s phone number and said they would reach out to her.
Scott grinned, then looked directly at Sara. “You’re probably going to want to talk to Erin too.”
“Me, why?”
“See these circles?” He pointed to the map he’d drawn. At her scowl, he continued. “I don’t know what all it entails, but it’s my understanding that Clark is in charge of the construction workers and this is Broken part two. She wants to set up office buildings for therapists to come in and not only work with us employees if we need something, but also with the clients and their families.”
“What type of therapy?” Sara sat up straighter.
“Physical, psycho, she wants Broken to be like a one stop shop. It is also my understanding that the people she hires will have an office there, but they can also have their own patients, as long as they work with the clients of Broken, they can also have their own private practice.”
“Huh,” Sara said as she flopped back into her chair. “Maybe I will give her a call. I can’t do anything for six months to a year, but it’s an option I can keep on the back burner.”
“It is my understanding that it won’t be ready for about a year.”
“Perfect.” Sara nodded and they all frowned when Julie sighed heavily.
“I need to get back to work.” Julie stood, bent down and kissed Sara’s cheek, then nodded toward Scott. “Will you be around for much longer?”
“I can stay until Monday.”
Julie nodded, then told her sister, “Give him our address, we can talk then.” She left, and after Scott got the information, they started to leave, but the men paused when Sara swore.