Chapter 8 Nash
nash
My phone had been silent other than the two calls from my brother and another from Jo.
It had been four days since I’d seen Iris at The Boozy Bandit.
I had texted her twice each day trying to sound as pleasant as possible, offering to take her to lunch or bring her dinner, anything to get a moment alone with her.
Everything had gone unanswered.
I sat at the bed-and-breakfast dining room table staring at my phone, drinking a cup of coffee, willing a message to come from her, even if it was to tell me to fuck off. The silence was killing me, but it didn’t surprise me. I had given her the same treatment and this was payback.
I sighed as Colleen, the woman who owned the B study, be good in school and practice horse riding if you want to succeed.
If you put the work in, I have no doubt you can be the best.”
“Are you the best?” Her big brown eyes looked at me with so much hope.
“Almost, kid. I’ve had lots of ups and downs, but I think this might be my year,” I said confidently.
“I believe in you and I think it is going to be your year,” she said, giving me a hug before running back to her mom who eyed me with suspicion.
I swallowed back the rush of emotions that came from nowhere. She was just a kid, but the vote of confidence from her was nice, not something I was used to.
“Thanks,” I said, getting up.
“I don’t have much work; it’s calf season and—”
“I’ll take it,” I said, knowing it was dumb of me not to let him finish explaining the job. “I’m no stranger to the hard labor of a ranch, kind of prefer it to that of a farm and I’m good with horses.”
Another man came and stood next to Theo.
“Farm work is awful,” he said, holding out his hand. “Colt, nice to meet you.”
“Nice to meet you,” I said, shaking his hand, noticing he put his arm around Theo’s waist.
“How long are you thinking of working?" Theo asked.
“A month or two?” I asked cautiously. “I know it’s only a little time, but the ranch I usually work at can't take me on this spring. I usually work there for a few months, but I've just been driving around trying to find work.”
“A lot of ranches and farms out here haven’t been doing well, especially with the fires we had last year,” Colt said. “We’ve been lucky.”
“We start at five-thirty tomorrow,” Theo said, studying me. “We can do a working interview tomorrow and if you survive, you can come to family dinner.”
“Great,” I smiled, thinking this might be better than I could imagine. “I’ve missed a good home-cooked meal. Those are scarce when you’re on the road.”
“Well, I guess you better hope you survive tomorrow,” Colt chuckled.
“We gotta move the herd so be prepared for a long day,” Theo said, holding out his hand.
“I’ll be ready,” I said, shaking his hand.
This was my way in, and I wasn’t about to fuck it up.