Chapter 6 #2
Austin hesitated, then perched on the edge of the seat.
Despite the way he stared at the laden platters and bowls, he didn’t reach for anything, so I loaded a plate and set it in front of him.
He clutched his hands together in his lap and glanced at Colby’s and my plates.
I’d given him the same amount as me, maybe a little less than Colby had loaded up on his.
Whatever Austin was thinking, when I stuffed a whole strip of bacon into my mouth and let a sound of pleasure escape, he colored and picked up his fork.
Maybe he thought I was a heathen for not saying grace, though I doubted it.
Maybe he just needed to be sure he had the right to join in.
Davis told him, “Eat the damned sausages before they get cold. I cooked ’em and I don’t want them going to waste.”
“Yessir.” Austin bit the end off a breakfast link.
I didn’t want to analyze why I was miffed that he said sir to Davis as easy as to me and Kendrick.
Or why I was sad that the taste of the hot juicy sausage made his eyes widen, but didn’t draw any sound from him.
I looked at the slick of grease on his plush mouth and pretended I wasn’t playing with fire.
We’d wolfed most of the breakfast spread by the time Kendrick came back with a suitcase, a carry-on, and two forms he laid on the table for Austin to sign.
Once done, Kendrick tore off the back duplicates and handed them to Austin.
“I’ll be gone a week. You’re hired for one week, starting today, and we’ll discuss further when I get back.
” Kendrick gave me a hard glare. “I still don’t have the need for another fulltime hand, just to give you both warning. ”
“That’s fine, sir.” Austin folded the pages carefully and slipped them into an inner pocket of the unzipped jacket he still wore. “This is more than I expected.”
“Thank Seth for that.” Kendrick asked me, “Where will he sleep? The bunkhouse is winterized and I don’t want him here in the house.”
“I’m fine with the barn,” Austin said, but Kendrick snorted.
“He’ll stay with me,” I put in, before some other idea like him rooming with Colby got floated. “My responsibility.”
“All right.” Kendrick picked up his bags and swept his gaze around the table.
“There’s a storm coming in after midnight.
If you’re going up to Mama’s for the holiday feast, make sure you head back early.
Davis, you have the house keys and the business phone.
Seth, you’re in charge of the stock. Let me know if Ebony has her calf. ”
“Of course.” I tried not to bother him when he took his rare time off, but I wouldn’t withhold that news.
“I’ve got to hustle to make my flight. Happy Thanksgiving, everyone.” Kendrick strode out to our chorus of replies. A few thumps sounded in the entryway, the door opened and shut, then we heard his SUV rev up and rumble away.
“While the cat’s away, the mice will play.” Davis grinned.
“Right, old man.” Colby elbowed him. “Your idea of play is using his fancy cheddar in the mac-and-cheese.”
“Just for that, I won’t make you any, infant.”
I caught a little curve of Austin’s lips, a hint of a smile at their bickering. Maybe he’d fit in with us just fine.
“What’s the plan for the day, boss?” Colby asked me.
“First off, I’ll take Austin to see if we can get his truck started.
You take a four-wheeler and do the perimeter.
Davis, get the stalls.” Mucking was hard work, but it was warmer in the barn than out.
Davis didn’t tell anyone he had arthritis starting, but I saw how he moved on cold mornings.
“After that, John told me to move a couple of grazing strips.”
“We’re a day early,” Davis pointed out.
“Yeah, but like the boss said, there’s a storm coming tonight, supposed to go through the day tomorrow. We’ll put out some hay too, get the heifers and beefs safely onto fresh grazing before the worst of the snow starts.”
“Got it.” Davis began clearing the table.
Austin jumped up and grabbed the rest of the plates. “Here, let me. Dad always says—” He cut himself off short.
Davis gave him a nod. “Take ’em into the kitchen and I’ll handle it from there. Boss is particular ’bout how his dishwasher’s loaded.” He jerked his chin at Colby. “Good to see a young guy with manners, unlike that brat.”
“I have lots of manners,” Colby protested. “Oodles of manners. For the guys who deserve them.”
Austin paled and stepped back, but Davis just laughed and carried his load to the kitchen.
Twenty minutes passed before we were on the road in my truck— Austin and me and a five-gallon gas can. He broke his silence to ask, “Are Colby and Davis…”
“Are they what?”
“Anything? To each other?”
“You mean, like together? Nah. Davis was married for a lot of years, till his wife got tired of how remote we are.” He’d loved the life more than he loved her, I figured.
They’d never had kids to keep them together.
“Colby’s a player, got a new girl all the time.
Far as I know, they’re both straight.” Colby had come along after Miguel and Zachary were gone, but Davis had never reacted to any of Miguel’s flirting.
“They just like giving each other shit.”
“Ah. Okay.”
“Don’t worry. After five years, neither of them means what they say.” I steered along the unplowed road, fording the occasional deeper drift. A few inches was just an inconvenience, but a heavy fall could cut us off for days. “Where did you say you’re parked?”
“It’s harder to tell with the snow.” He squinted around. “I don’t think we missed it. There was a dirt track off into a field and around behind some trees.”
“I think I know the spot.” I drove another two hundred yards. “There’s a track coming up on the left.”
“Yes. There.” He pointed at a stand of pines.
At first, I couldn’t see anything. I steered off the road, keeping my truck moving slow and easy in case we hit unexpected ice. Fifty feet in, the track curved and I saw an old rusted pickup, canted just a little to one side.
I pulled up behind the tailgate and we both got out. I passed Austin a scraper. “Get the snow and ice off the windows and pop the filler door for me. I’ll get some gas in it.”
“Yessir.” Austin blinked hard and looked away. He scurried to the front door, unlocked it with an actual key, and tugged the handle for the fuel hatch.
I poured in a steady stream of gas and surveyed the truck as Austin swept the snow off.
The Ford was probably twenty years old and made of more rust than metal.
The paint had been touched up with primer over and over, so what body there was had been well camouflaged in mottled gray and forest green.
A tarp strapped over the load bed hid whatever Austin brought with him in the back, and large and small backpacks sat on the driver’s seat.
Austin caught me looking. “I had a few things at the ranch where I worked. Should’ve thought ahead and made it more, but a couple changes of clothes, my winter jacket, boots, my hat and saddle.
Joe threw in some gloves and this beanie, socks, stuff out of the lost and found box.
I found a paperback under the seat when I was, well, digging for coins, so I had something to read.
Joe’d kept actual old school maps in the door pocket.
” He shrugged. “Took me a bit to get the hang of those. Spoiled by GPS.”
“You young ’uns,” I intoned, trying to make him laugh, but he just shrugged.
“She’s everything I’ve got.”
I turned the gas cap till it clicked and shut the cover. “Right. She should have gas now. See if she’ll start.”
Austin shifted his stuff to the other seat and got behind the wheel.
I stepped back a foot as he cranked the ignition.
The truck whined showing the battery wasn’t totally dead, but didn’t catch.
“Come on,” he muttered, trying again. “Come on, come on, Tilly, don’t be a stone-cold bitch.
” The whirring came softer and less effectively. “Sorry, Tilly, baby, come on.”
“Tilly?” I asked.
“This mare I used to ride. She liked to torment me too. Never mind.”
“Jump her from my truck?” I asked.
“We’re facing the wrong way. I don’t see how you can drive round to reach the hood with how I’m parked.” Austin glanced at the surrounding trees. “Fuck.”
“Oh, ye of little faith. One of the rules of the range. Thirty-foot jumper cables. Sit tight and pop the hood for me.”
I uncoiled my jumpers, clipped the red clamp to his battery where the posts looked in decent shape, hooked up my workhorse Chevy, and clipped the black to his frame. Then I forged through the snow to his window. “All set. Give ’er a try.”
Austin took a deep breath and turned the key. The engine whined once, then caught with a rough idle. His antique sounded in desperate need of a tune-up but at least it was running. Austin hissed, “Yessss! Oh my God.” He turned to me and smiled, wide and happy like I’d never seen him.
Jesus, that smile. It curved his mouth and lit his eyes and punched me right in the chest. I’d do a hell of a lot to earn that again.
“Right.” I unhooked in reverse order and coiled the cables back in the toolbox. “I’ll back out of here, and you follow. Keep a close eye on my tracks. This lane’s only single wide and there’s a couple of ditches under this snow.”
It occurred to me that now Austin had gas, he could go somewhere else if he wanted. Not far, though, before he’d be back in the same hole. Plus, he’d signed Kendrick’s papers and I knew he’d want to work off the cost of the gas. I didn’t voice that option.
We made it back to the ranch just fine, and I had him park by the barn, bring his saddle inside, and lug his stuff over to my cabin.
Colby was still out on the four-wheeler, so we dug into mucking the stalls alongside Davis and got them done in record time.
Austin couldn’t resist stopping to pet the dogs and cats, but he was a good worker.
Not a powerhouse but fast and neat and stronger than I’d thought, even after seeing his muscular calves and thighs naked under that towel—
I cut off that thought fast.
I sent Austin to the cabin to change into his spare jeans, and once Colby was back, we began bringing the horses out.
“Put your saddle on Ahwan,” I told Austin, after checking it would fit her wide back.
Kid had an older ranch saddle with a sturdy horn and a double cinch, the seat scuffed and worn, but every inch of leather clean and supple.
The care a man took with his gear said something about him.
“I shouldn’t ride your horse,” Austin protested.
“She’s not my horse. They all belong to Kendrick, except the two palominos that are Tiffany’s and John’s. I haven’t seen you ride, and Ahwan’s bomb-proof. Hurry it up. And get extra leather gloves from the workroom. We’ll be pulling wire, and the ones you have are too lightweight.”
“Yessir.” Austin trotted off to the tack room for Ahwan’s headstall and saddle blanket.
“Kid takes directions well,” Davis murmured. Maybe I glared because he raised his hands. “Just saying.”
We turned the horses we weren’t using out into the paddock, and I paused before mounting up on Bumble to watch them run and play in the fresh snow.
“They look happy,” Austin said from where he held Ahwan’s reins.
“Should be,” Davis put in. “Most of those are the dude horses. They’ve got the life. Light work, winters off, a warm barn when it gets cold, and all the food they need. They can paw the snow and munch the frozen grass just for fun.”
“Except they have to put up with the dudes bouncing around on their backs and hauling on the reins.” Colby swung up on Trooper, giving the gelding’s black neck a thumping pat as the big horse danced. “Maybe they’d rather get out there and work the cattle like these guys.”
I glanced over to where the laziest of the mares got her butt nipped, squealed, and jumped a whole two feet before she went back to digging up grass. “Or maybe not. We need to keep an eye on Turbo. He’s getting nippy.”
Austin rechecked Ahwan’s front cinch, took it up a notch, then swung into the saddle. I watched him settle and control her sideways scuttle with his seat and the press of one leg. Okay, the kid could ride. One less worry.
Davis settled into the cab of the tractor hooked to the bale-mover. “Tally-ho,” he yodeled and drove off toward the lane.
Colby sent Trooper jogging after him. The dogs trotted at Trooper’s heels, smart enough not to get too close.
Austin glanced my way. He wasn’t smiling, but his expression beneath his thick-knit beanie was open and clear. He nodded to me, and I nodded back. Time to get some work done.