25. Lettie
Lettie
A fter pouring a cup of coffee that I desperately needed to fight off the exhaustion from our trip, I pulled the wad of cash from my back pocket and set it in front of my dad.
“What’s this?” He eyed the cash, laying down the morning paper before looking up at me.
“For the gray. I want him to stay here at the ranch.”
He took a sip of coffee. “Is this your way of saying he’s yours?”
Cradling the steaming mug in my hands, I tossed my head side to side. “Yeah, basically. But I’m going to ask Brandy to help break him and everything. I’m in no rush, just couldn’t stand to see him shipped off.”
“Bailey told me you outbid a kill buyer. Sounds like it was pretty intense. ”
I rolled my eyes. “Far from it.”
He chuckled. “Well, all I can ask is that you be careful.”
“Since when have I ever not been careful?”
He frowned at me and I laughed in response, laying a hand on his shoulder before walking past him to make my way down the hall to my mom’s office.
At dinner last night, Bailey had pressed his knee up against mine as we ate and talked, but after that, he’d simply said goodnight and headed home. I couldn’t help but wonder if he regretted what happened at the hotel. As much as I felt awkward about it, I didn’t wish it never happened.
Peeking my head in the door, I knocked lightly. My mom's head popped up from behind her laptop and she smiled. “Good morning, sweetie.”
“Good morning.” I crossed the room, taking a seat opposite of her. The walls were lined with mahogany bookshelves that were passed down from my grandparents. Not an inch of space was to be found with books crammed into every nook and cranny.
“What’s on your mind?” She eyed me, closing the laptop in front of her.
“I just wanted to thank you for last night. I’ve always loved rescue work, you know that. If I had known that was your plan, I never would have left.”
“Oh, honey. I wanted to give you the chance to pave your own path in life. I didn’t want to offer it to you and make you feel like you had to say yes.
Plus, you were so young. Now, you’re twenty three, you’ve held your own through college, and proved you have what it takes to learn this side of things. ”
“Why didn’t you offer it to any of the guys?”
She folded her hands together on the desk.
“I know my boys’ limits. They’re good at keeping their hands busy and diving into labor-intensive work, but managing a rescue?
Besides Lennon, I couldn’t see any of them taking that on.
They’d rather be out there,” she lifted her hand to gesture behind me, “checking fence, shoeing horses, and stacking hay. Just everyday ranch chores. That’s what they’re good at, and I wouldn’t want them to change to appease me.
But you’ve always had a big heart, Lettie.
You’ve worn it on your sleeve since you were little, and while that can be a dangerous thing, it can also be a really good thing.
Just don’t be like me and drive your father crazy with wanting to take in every neglect case under the sun. ”
A smile pulled at my lips. “It’s a good thing I don’t have anyone to make insane.”
She dipped her chin, raising an eyebrow in a knowing look.
“What?” I asked.
“Lettie Bronson, I didn’t raise you to be clueless.”
I put a hand over my heart, feigning innocence like I didn’t know what she was talking about. “Clueless?” I shook my head. “Me? Never.”
She opened her laptop, shaking the mouse on the pad beside it to wake it up. “You be nice to that boy. He didn’t mope around this ranch for five years for nothing.”
I froze. “He did what? ”
She smirked, bringing her attention to the computer screen. “Oh, yeah. Kept his hands dirty, but man, was he lost without you around.”
She had to be messing with me. Bailey wouldn’t have waited around for me. He had to have forgotten about me sometime in those five years, at least with mindless hookups.
“I can’t tell if you’re being serious,” I said hesitantly.
Her eyes met mine over the computer. “Why do you think he took your dog home with him every day? Kept your horse in shape? He sure didn’t do it for his own health.”
I shook my head, standing from the chair with my mug in hand. “Because he’s polite.”
She snorted. “Your brothers are polite. Bailey? He’s lovestruck. He’s got that same look in his eye your father had all throughout high school.”
“Please don’t compare Bailey to Dad,” I groaned.
She grinned, turning her attention back to the screen in front of her.
I turned to head out of the room, wishing I could unhear what she said that made me realize what his actions really meant.
That he did those things because of the way he felt about me, not just because he was being nice while I was gone.
We shared a moment in the hotel, but I didn’t expect it to happen again, even though my body begged for it to. I’d felt bad for not returning the favor, and although we joked about it on the drive back, I wasn’t actually anticipating it would happen.
This was too much to think about at seven in the morning.
** *
I found Brandy in the white barn, jotting down notes on a clipboard in the room we kept our medical supplies in.
“Did Bailey bring any girls around while I was gone?”
She paused her writing and turned to me. “Well, good morning to you, too.”
I closed the door behind me, closing us in the small space. “I’m serious, Brandy.”
“My finger’s fine, by the way. Got a splint.” She held up her hand.
I was a shitty friend. “Fuck, I’m sorry. I’m glad it’s okay. Did they say how long it’ll take to heal?”
She set the clipboard on the counter. “Six to eight weeks, but I ain’t waiting that long. And to answer your question, no. He didn’t.”
Not wanting to get into a battle about her broken finger, I asked, “Why not? I mean, five years, and no girls?”
She opened a cabinet above the small sink, reaching in to grab a tube of dewormer. “Maybe you should ask him. You know the ranch isn’t the only place he can bring a girl, right? Maybe he was getting his dick sucked on the reg at the Watering Hole.”
I cringed at the mention of our favorite bar, Outlaw’s Watering Hole, and the picture her statement put in my mind.
Being locals, they allowed us in when we were underage, but we never drank.
We’d go to dance and hang out to get away from the ranch after a long day’s work, but I hadn’t been back since the night of my eighteenth birthday, and I wasn’t making any plans to change that, especially after the image Brandy just put in my mind.
“Thanks for that lovely image, Brandy.”
She wrote something down on her clipboard and shot me a wink. “What’s a best friend for?”
“Anyway, aside from Bailey’s personal life, I have another question to ask.”
She set the pen and dewormer down, facing me. “What’s up?”
“I’m keeping that gray we brought back, and I was wondering, after your finger is healed, would you be up for breaking him?”
She grinned, looking borderline evil. “I’d never say no to a challenge.”
Unable to hide my smile, I pulled her in for a hug, squeezing her. “Thank you.” I pulled back. “But only after your hand is healed.”
She waved the hand with the splint in the air. “Yeah, yeah. Give it a couple weeks and I’ll get to work.”
I frowned, but let it go, knowing I wouldn’t be able to convince her otherwise. She was as stubborn as I was, which is why we got along so well. We were unstoppable when we put our minds to something.
I followed her out of the small room, the dewormer in her hand. Reed was in the aisle bent over with a file, shaving away at a horse's hoof. The sound echoed through the barn as we walked by him.
“Good morning, Reed,” I said to him.
He grunted in response, but must have seen I wasn’t alone, because he gently dropped the horse’s leg and straightened.
Brandy opened Nova’s stall door and walked in, talking to the gelding.
“You better not be about to stick dewormer down that horse's throat,” Reed warned.
She peeked her head out of the stall. “Why’s that?”
He tossed the file in the bag that sat open on the floor and set his hands on his hips. “Do I need to remind you that your finger is broken?”
She rolled her eyes at him, disappearing inside the stall again. “It’s a broken finger. I can still work.”
He stomped over, his boots echoing on the mat. “Brandy if you so much as-” He stopped as he saw her with her hands already opening Nova’s lips, emptying the tube in his mouth. His tongue darted out as he worked the green substance around in his mouth before swallowing it.
I tried to hide my smile as Reed scowled at Brandy. She wiped her hand on her jeans, the saliva leaving a wet mark on them. “See? All done.” She walked past him, her hip brushing his hand. “Don’t forget to close the door,” she yelled back over her shoulder .
She disappeared back into the room we had come out of. Reed pulled the door to Nova’s stall shut and turned to me. “What?” he snapped.
I blew air out of my nose, shaking my head. “So grumpy,” I said before continuing down the aisle to head outside.
It was time to get to work on the barn despite my desire to go back to bed and crawl under the covers and never come out.