Chapter 17
As soon as they stepped off the elevator, Lois looked up, grabbed Cole’s hand, pulled him gently off to the side.
“What’s wrong?” he asked in concern.
“Nothing, but Kade is here already and I thought you might want to observe him for a few minutes before you meet him.”
“Oh, yes, which one is he?”
“He’s got the sling over his left arm, and a cast on his left leg. He’s only got one crutch with him. I think the boy with him might be his brother, they look similar to one another.”
“They do, and I know you don’t know about this life, but while they’re young, they look like they’ve been rode hard and put away wet.”
“What’s that mean?”
“Someone who is rundown, tired, at the end of their rope, had all their hopes and dreams crushed. Don’t know where to turn.
” He looked at her and gave a decisive nod.
“You did good in offering them breakfast. If they don’t take us up on the offer of a job, at least I’ll feel better that they have some food in their stomachs.
” He looked at them again, and could only picture two scared boys unsure of what to expect.
With her hand in his, he gave it a gentle squeeze. “Ready?”
“Yes.”
“I’ll have you lead the way, and you can introduce me.”
“Okay.” Lois nodded and with a grin on her face, she started forward, she was still a few feet away when she called out, “Kade,” she liked that the other man held out a hand to prevent Kade from falling over as he turned to greet her.
“Lois.”
“You remembered my name.”
“I did, this is my brother, Lane.” They shook hands, and Lois told him her name, then turned to Cole.
“This is Cole, he’s the man I told you about yesterday.”
“Kade,” Cole said firmly as he offered his hand and nodded when he liked the strength of the other man’s hand. Neither of them tried to overpower him with the grip.
“Lane, nice to meet you. If you agree, we’ll go into breakfast. I heard there’s a buffet.” They started walking and he laughed. “I hope you brought your appetites.”
“We did,” Kade grinned, and looked at Lane.
“I’m buying, if that makes a difference.” Cole interjected when he saw the reserved look on Lane’s face. “If this goes as planned, or not, either way, this breakfast will be a business expense for me.”
“Only if you’re sure,” Lane said.
“I’m sure.” They were escorted to a table and before they sat down, they gave their drink orders, then all headed to the buffet.
Lois also liked that Lane held a plate for Kade as it was piled high with food.
Before getting his own plate, he made sure his brother was settled, then he went back for his.
No one said anything as they ate. Lois was done, but Cole and the others went back for seconds.
It was Lane who finally spoke, “Thank you, that hit the spot. Now, what is this about a ranch converting from racehorses to rodeo horses?”
“Sure, and I’m not putting you off, but could you tell us a little about yourselves first?
” Cole asked as he moved his plate away and refilled all of their coffee cups with the carafe he had requested.
They didn’t say anything as the waitress returned and he asked for a refill on the carafe while the younger men asked for another juice.
They were served, and Lane was the one that spoke.
“We’re twins, I’m older by five minutes.” He looked at Kade with a grin. “We grew up on a small farm, roughly two hundred acres, over in Kansas. We’re about three hours from here.”
“How old are you?” Lois asked. “Not that it matters, I’m just wondering.”
“Twenty-three.”
“Wow, I thought at least twenty-six.”
“Nope, twenty-three. Mom always said we looked older because we were out in the fields all day.”
“Are your parents still around?”
“Yes, they’re back home,” Kade said. “We have three younger siblings back there too, all girls. They’re finishing high school before heading to college.
If they can get scholarships.” He shook his head and glared at Lane when he made a disapproving sound.
“What? You know the deal we made with Dad, if this pans out, we can get a job, save some money, and help them out with college.”
Lane shook his head on a deep sigh, then looked directly at Cole.
“Our farm isn’t a horse ranch. We have milk cows, and the field work is hay, oats, corn, wheat, typical farming.
Mom has the garden and she cans to keep us in food for the winter.
We’re not dirt poor, but we’re not rolling in the dough either.
Kade and I have always wanted to be in the rodeo.
I know it strapped them, but Mom and Dad gave us each five thousand dollars and told us we had two years to get the rodeo bug out of our system.
However, once that money ran out, we were on our own, we had to live off our winnings. ”
“I can see where your parents are coming from,” Cole said. “Do you have any money left?”
“Some, but we found if we sleep in the camper shell on the back of the truck we save money that way. We have about six months left before we have to either find a real job, according to Dad, or return and milk cows for the rest of our lives.”
Cole nodded and smiled when Lois pushed a pad of paper and pen across the table to him. He reached over and gave Tim a pat when he stuck his head out to look around.
“What was that?” Lane asked in shock.
“My Yorkie puppy,” Lois said with a laugh.
“He’s only about ten weeks old, and I’m trying to get him used to being around people.
Cole said I should take him to the rodeo tonight so he can get used to being around the animals.
I know you didn’t ask, but where we live, I’ll be in charge of the community pantry, planting the gardens, and canning when they’re ready.
” She and Cole exchanged grins when they saw confusion on the boys’ faces.
“Have you ever heard of Erin’s Way?” Cole asked.
“No, what or where is that?” Lane asked.
Cole explained what the ranch was, and how Erin had the stallions, the on-line business, and how she had built Broken. As he talked, he drew the areas on the paper, with the cabins, and then explained about where Lois lived and the homes there.
“Holy shit,” Kade said, and looked at Lois in fear. “Sorry, Ma’am.”
“Don’t be. If you think this crude drawing on paper is impressive, wait until you see it in person.” She laughed. “This,” she pointed to the center of the page. “I believe is three thousand acres, while this,” she pointed to where she lived, “Is five thousand acres.”
“What’s this?” Lane asked as he pointed to the blank spot that had been drawn as a rectangle, but not mentioned yet.
“That’s what we’re going to talk to you about.
I won’t get into all the details now, but this area is a little over thirteen hundred acres.
It’s been dubbed New Double, because there was The Double A ranch over in Wyoming.
One of the women who lives and works at Broken is the owner.
Again, I won’t get into the minute details, but shit happened.
I was the manager and kept it afloat until she could make her way back.
With Erin’s help, we were able to move the entire ranch, minus the buildings from Wyoming to Colorado. ”
“Where exactly is this?” Kade asked as he pointed to the drawings.
“Roughly three hours south of here, on the other side of Fool’s Gold.”
“Never heard of it. Okay, what else?”
“Currently, New Double has twenty-seven racehorses on the ranch. Back in Wyoming, there was a track so we could exercise them. We don’t have that here.
I’m only the manager, but Naomi trusts me.
While she’s the manager at Broken, she still has me as the manager of New Double.
I feel that the horses we currently have aren’t living up to their potential. ”
“Why?”
“I have no help. There is me, my good friend, Clem, he oversees the day-to-day work, Ducky, who was the original owner of the farm. It was a chicken farm for generations, and those barns were converted into horse stables. Then there’s Ann, the only hired hand we have.
I know this doesn’t mean anything, but Ducky is in his late eighties, though he still gets around good, and is also still of sound mind.
Clem is in his mid-sixties, I just turned sixty-nine last week, and Ann is in her late twenties.
Her boyfriend is overseeing a building project at Broken.
” He sighed heavily and rubbed the back of his neck.
“I need help. When the people at Broken have time, they come over to exercise the horses, but without a race track, we can’t really work them. ”
“I totally understand,” Lane said. “What is this about converting to rodeo stock?”
“Because I feel the horses would be better off with new owners that do race them, I don’t want to stop working with horses, and we’re in an area where the rodeo is big.
I thought I could offer a place for people to board their animals for the winter, and I want to build an area so they can come and work them. Naomi is a former barrel racer.”
Cole paused when the twins looked at each other in shock, then seemed to vibrate in excitement. “Wait, what is her last name?”
“Alcott. Why?”
“Oh my god, remember we said we have three sisters at home? The middle one loves rodeo just as much as we do and she has all these videos of a barrel racer name Naomi Alcott.”
“Wait,” Kade said quickly. “I thought she died.”
“No, that was the problem we ran into. Her horse was drugged before her last run, and her father, the bastard that he is, threatened the life of the doctor.”
“How? Why?”