Chapter 9
When they arrived at New Double, they didn’t see anyone, so Faith drove directly to Shay’s cabin. She frowned when she saw three unfamiliar vehicles there, and looked at Shay. She had to gently shake him awake, and he looked at her with a confused look.
“Someone’s at your house.”
He sat up to look, and frowned. “Those vehicles belong to Cole, Naomi, and Erin.”
“Shit, you don’t think you’re going to be fired, do you?”
“I hope not.”
She parked, and he got out of the truck. They made their way slowly to the front door, and he looked at her and took a bracing breath before opening the door and letting her enter first. By the time he made it inside, the three people stood looking at him.
“Let’s hear it,” Erin said, and he nodded, liking her no-nonsense demeanor.
He told the trio everything, and even showed them the notes from the doctor, and opened the bag from the pharmacy to prove he had medications to take. Not that he didn’t think they wouldn’t believe him, but he wanted them to see.
“Okay,” Erin said, and looked between Naomi and Cole. “Coffee?” she asked as she helped herself to his pot, but then he realized it was ultimately hers. He settled down and nodded. Once everyone had a full cup, he looked at Erin directly.
“Are you firing me?”
“No.” Her answer was quick, and he sighed in relief. “I’m going to get right to the point here, Shay.”
“Maybe I should leave,” Faith said.
“No, this involves you too,” Erin said, and nodded when Faith settled back in her chair. She looked between the two of them. “Shay, you’ve only been here two weeks, you haven’t really established a work pattern yet.”
“Are you sure you’re not firing me?”
“I’m sure. I have a suggestion for you, it’s only a suggestion. According to what I read, you basically can’t do anything around here for three weeks, correct?”
“Correct, and I have to wear the brace for six.”
“Okay, you know that I don’t let the grass grow under my feet, even if there’s six feet of snow on the ground.”
They all shared a chuckle, and Shay began to relax. “As I mentioned a few moments ago, the three of us have been talking. I might own the land New Double sits on, and the buildings housing the horses and equipment, but I don’t own them. Naomi does, and Cole is her ranch manager.”
“I know this.”
“Okay, then we have a proposition for you.”
“Which is?” Shay asked as he sipped his coffee, then froze when she spoke next.
“What if you went back to Kentucky with Faith, help with what you can of getting her packed up, and back here.” She shook her head and lifted a hand when they went to speak. “If someone set a pile of dishes in front of you, handed you newspapers, and an empty box, could you wrap and pack them?”
“Of course, my hands aren’t broken, I just can’t put a lot of extra weight on my leg.”
“Can you drive?”
“No.”
Erin turned to Faith. “Do you have a lot of packing to do?”
“Not a whole lot. If I had help, it would go faster. The faster I clean up my life in Kentucky, the faster I can return here.”
“Exactly our thoughts. Would you be opposed to Shay going back to Kentucky with you to help him?”
Faith looked at Shay, really looked at him, and then back at Naomi, Cole, and Erin, then back at Shay. She finally shrugged and sipped her coffee. “I would have no problem with that. However, there would be one stipulation.”
“What?” Erin demanded.
“We take my truck. That’s why I have the smaller truck.
I can operate it, and I have a trailer at home that I can load up.
I know how to drive my truck with the trailer attached.
I know he might be more comfortable in his larger truck, but I feel like I wouldn’t be able to handle it as well as my own. ”
“I didn’t have a problem in your truck,” Shay admitted. “Even with the brace on, I was still able to stretch my legs out.” He looked at Erin. “I would have no problem riding with her.”
“Good, then you can leave tomorrow.” Erin nodded, finished her coffee and started to stand, but Shay asked her to sit down.
“I have a weird question for you.”
“What?”
“Dr. Johnson asked me if you were hiring medical doctors. She said she wants to branch out on her own. I gave her your business card, and told her she would have to go through an extensive background check.”
“That’s correct.” Erin agreed, but didn’t say anything else, but she did cock her head to the side and frowned. “Do you know exactly what type of doctor she is?”
Faith had gotten up to grab his papers from his appointment and brought them back to the table. She pointed to the top. “It says here that she’s an orthopedic doctor.” When Erin began to smile, Naomi hung her head.
“Shit.”
“What?” Shay asked in confusion.
“Orthopedic doctor, bones, stuff like your knee. You do realize what Clark is going to do once this snow melts and the ground warms up?”
Shay frowned, then threw his head back in laughter.
“Holy shit, yeah.” While still laughing, he turned to Faith to explain.
“Across the street from Erin’s Way, The Broken Wheel, and Broken Two, sit five thousand acres.
The land is great, but it’s worthless to grow any crops, other than a garden on.
Not because the soil is bad, but because there are so many hills and valleys, that it’s not tillable, meaning workable.
However, according to Clark, there is a spot that is about twenty acres that would be perfect to put in another ranch. ”
“The rodeo ranch Naomi told me about?”
“Yes,” Erin said. “Clem will be leaving soon to go out to the rodeos to see if he can recruit people to come work it. It’s going to take a good two years before it’s operational, but if these down and out cowboys want a job, they can work at New Double.
Then move over to the triple R once it’s ready.
I’m thinking once that ranch is operational, I’m going to need a medical doctor on staff.
If Dr. Johnson is looking now, it might be a perfect fit for her.
She can get established, and still have her own private practice, and work on my employees when needed.
” She grinned as she sat back in her chair with a satisfied look.
“It will save the hour and a half trip in one direction to go see her. You left here at what?”
“Eight?”
“And it’s four now, just going to see her, get tests done, it was eight hours. Give me her contact information, and I’ll reach out to her. In the meantime, I’ll talk to Caleb about maybe getting some equipment in.”
“What type of equipment?”
“Can I get an MRI machine?”
The others shook their heads as Faith wrote down the doctor’s phone and fax number from the forms Shay had been given. When they were left alone, they looked at one another.
“Is she always that intense?”
“From what I’ve seen of her, yes, but you have to understand everything she has. Erin’s Way, Riceman Stallions, Broken Wheel, Broken Two, New Double, now RRR. In the end, they all work cohesively together.”
“Oh.” They sat there in silence, then Shay sighed heavily.
“What? Do you need your pain pills?”
“No, I can hold off until I go to bed. First, I’m not telling you what to do, well, actually, I am. Do you think you should go over to your cabin and grab your suitcase? If the doctor wants someone with me, I think you better sleep here.”
“Yeah, give me a few minutes. I’m going to drive my truck over.”
Shay nodded and continued to sit as she left, and looked up fifteen minutes later when she walked back in, carrying a bag, and pulling her suitcase behind her. “I’m going to go to your spare room.”
“That’s fine, what’s in the bag?” he asked as she set it on the counter before she went down the hall. She paused to look back at him.
“The food I got from the pantry yesterday. If we’re going to be leaving in the morning, I don’t want to leave it there.” She took care of her case, and came back, opening cupboards and the refrigerator.
“I see you don’t have any meat out to thaw, just what I had.”
“Is that a bad thing?”
“No, it’s a good thing, it means that we won’t be wasting food. How do you feel about spaghetti, meat sauce, a salad, and the left-over biscuits from breakfast.”
“Perfect. Is there any gravy left?”
“No, we finished it this morning. Only four biscuits left.”
“Good, what can I do to help?”
“Set the table?”
“I can handle that.” He waited until she was done with the sink, and stood at the stove to get the dishes they needed.
Instead of getting them from the cupboard, he used the ones they’d left in the dishwasher before leaving for the doctor earlier.
He had found that he alone only needed to use it every three or four days, but with last night’s meal, and breakfast, he had turned it on before they’d left.
Once it was set, he settled in his chair and watched her.
As much as he wanted a beer, he declined because he knew he would be taking those pain pills before bed.
“Do you know what time you want to get on the road tomorrow?”
“What about between six and seven. I can drive twelve hours with no problem, but what if we break it up into nine hours the first day, and nine the second?”
“It’s exactly eighteen hours?”
She shrugged, “Give or take half an hour either way. It depends on how long I stop for gas and bathroom breaks. I drove out here twelve hours the first day, six the second, then had to hole up for two days because of the storm. I was about an hour on the other side of Fool’s Gold.
So close, but so far. I got a fresh start here yesterday, I was about two to three hours, slow going because of the blowing snow and wind.
Don’t quote me on this, but do you think the storm blew out and we’ll be following it? Or are we in a lull?”