Chapter 8 Magnolia
“Dang-it,” I mumble to myself and quickly try to grab the scattering buckets before Bode comes back to find me digging in places I probably shouldn’t be. Though, Ford did hire me as a ranch hand, and hands should know where everything is in the barn.
Yep. That’ll be my excuse as to why I’ve spilled three buckets of feed onto the ground.
I thought I saw feed bottles back in this corner of the barn, but now I’m not so sure.
I’m also not sure how the heck they manage to get anything out of here.
There are buckets, well now knocked over buckets, old saddles, a tangled mess of reins, and a bunch of other things I can’t name shoved in this corner.
“What in the world are you doing?” Bode’s voice sounds behind me. I glance back and give him my best smile. I probably look insane, half-climbed over this stack, and arms full of buckets.
“I was looking for bottles, but this is a mess.” I sigh. He takes a few steps towards me and grabs the back of my coat, steadying me as I climb down from the pile.
“You could have asked,” he grumbles and lets me go the instant both my feet are on the ground. “You’re gonna hurt yourself or one of the animals doing stuff like this. You don’t have–”
“It was an accident, Bode.”
He leans in and narrows those blue eyes at me that, truthfully, if I weren’t trying to make a point, would have buckled my knees. “Accidents are how you get hurt.”
The rumble in his chest with his words warms my chest. He’s given me so much flak these last few days, but right now he sounds different.
Almost like he cares, but just as the thought crosses my mind, he straightens and walks over to the small storage closet.
“The bottles are in here. The colostrum hasn’t been touched in months, so stir it up before you use it and check for weevils. ”
He turns back to me with stoic features. “Feed the calf and clean this up.” His hand waves to the mess of feed on the ground. “Then go home.”
I want to protest and offer to stay the night with Wanda but he’s given me what I need to take care of her for at least an hour. It’s not much, but I’ll still call it progress in breaking through whatever gruff, hard shell he’s hiding behind. I decide not to push my luck and nod.
“Thank you.”
Our eyes meet and for a brief moment, I think he’s going to change his mind, but his shoulders relax just barely, and instead of forcing me to leave, he turns and heads out of the barn, leaving me to do what I need to before I go home.
I’m not looking forward to it. Mama was having a rough morning when I left, which usually set the tone for her day. Joleen is good with her, but I still worry.
Wanda moos from Gus’ stall, reminding me that I now have two things to take care of.
I’m sure I can fix Wanda, I can love her and help her grow.
That’s what I have to focus on right now, instead of the ever-growing dread whenever I think about Mama.
“I hear you, little one.” I coo tightly and set the buckets down.
Thankfully, the colostrum bag has instructions on how much to make for a calf of Wanda’s size.
I work quickly to get a bottle ready after following Bode’s advice and settle against the corner of the stall out of Gus’ way.
Wanda settles beside me as soon as I offer her the bottle, and pretty soon she’s suckling away at it.
I jolt awake as a boot kicks against mine.
“If Walker finds you sleeping in here with that calf, he’s going to lose his mind.
” Logan looks down at me. She has a coffee in her hand that she’s sipping, and it’s only then that I feel the warm sun pouring through the cracks in the barn roof and realize it’s morning.
“Dang it.” I look around at myself, covered in hay and tucked into Gus’s side. Wanda is asleep over my lap, and my legs are numb. “I didn’t even mean to fall asleep, I was feeding Wanda one second and…”
“Is this Wanda?” Logan asks, setting her coffee down and kneeling next to the sleepy calf. “She’s awfully cold, we might need to get her one of the horse blankets.”
I could hear Bode complaining now: We don’t tuck cows into bed, Maggie-Mae!
I scowl at the thought, and Logan laughs.
“You aren’t very good at hiding your thoughts,” she says.
“You should probably work on that if you’re gonna stay on here.
They say a lot of stupid stuff and you gotta pretend like you didn’t hear it. ”
“I’ll take that blanket,” I say, sliding out from under the sleeping calf.
Logan offers me help up from the ground and helps me pick out some hay from my hair before I straighten out my hat.
“Hey Logan,” I say to her, following her out of the stall.
She turns to look at me. “What do you know about building calf pens?”
“About as much as I know about graduating high school,” she laughs, tugging a blanket down from the shelf. She’s so much taller than me and makes it look easy, not having to climb or risk her safety to do it.
“Touché,” I smile back at her. “How about convincing men to do something they absolutely do not wanna do?”
“Oh, now you’re asking the right questions, Maggie.” Logan walks by me and lays the blanket over Wanda, tucking her in all sweet before patting Gus on the side and saying good morning to him.
“Bode says he’s a terrible horse, and I can’t see why. He’s been nothing but sweet to me,” I say, locking the stall as she exits.
“Bode could pick a fight with a patch of grass for blowing in the wrong direction if you catch him on a bad day, just give him some time to warm up to you,” Logan says.
“You know who keeps Gus fat?” she asks, and I shake my head.
“Bode feeds him extra apples when no one is looking, so Gus is always trying to dig in his pockets and when Bode ain't got nothing for him. Gus gets upset.”
“Rightfully so,” I hum.
“Bode likes to stay out of trouble, but it always seems to find him anyway. Grumpy horses, angry tornadoes…” Logan says, and I have a feeling she’s talking about herself, “overly chatty ranch hands with blonde hair.”
“Hey now, I ain't trying to be trouble,” I throw up my hands and follow her from the barn.
“Yeah, Bode says the same thing when he gets caught red-handed.” Logan nods in the direction of the men filing out of the bunkhouse.
“Maggie,” Bode’s voice travels against the driveway towards us, and I just know he’s about to boss me around or get on my nerves with his next sentence.
“I’m borrowing Maggie today,” Logan cuts him off.
Bode stops in his tracks, staring her down.
“You got a problem, Walker?” Logan puts her hands on her hips, and Crew tries to hold himself together as they engage in a silent standoff.
“Why are you borrowing my ranch hand?” Bode asks her. “You do know you don’t even have any authority-”
Crew tuts, interrupting Bode’s next sentence. “Probably shouldn’t play that card,” he mumbles under his breath just loud enough for everyone to hear.
“Wanda needs a pen, and since you two,” Logan points at them and her tone drops an octave, “keep putting off building one for the ducks that you,” she points at Crew, “encouraged our son to bring home. We’re gonna kill two birds with one stone and build a pen ourselves.”
“You’re gonna kill the ducks?” Peter pipes up, confused as ever as he appears from behind Bode and Crew.
“That’s not what that means, dumbass,” Bode says, and I scowl at the sound.
“You’re not building a pen, there isn’t even room for one,” Crew argues with Logan, not skipping a beat.
Logan steps forward, and every man in her vicinity tenses. “You mean there’s no space on this massive ranch? Not even ten square feet where we can build that sick little calf and your son’s pet ducks a pen?”
“Oh, now he’s my son?” Crew smirks at her, and it’s starting to feel like the argument is won. “I hate to break your heart, pretty girl, but none of us have time to build that pen and you sure as hell ain’t doing it on a whim with Maggie.”
“Do it,” Bode shrugs, fixing his hat over his eyebrows, and everyone turns to look at him. “They wanna build that pen so bad, let them do it. We got shit to do.” He starts moving, and everyone but Crew follows in step around Logan and me.
I chew on my lip just trying to figure out where it all went wrong, but then I realize that Bode is testing me again. He’s daring me to screw up so he has a reason to play I told you so with Ford.
“Peter,” I call to the young ranch hand, and he turns, pulling his hat off his mop of messy brown hair with a smile.
“Ma’am,” he says, pressing his hat to his chest.
“Where do you boys keep the table saw?” I smile brightly at him and bat my eyelashes at him.
“There’s a shed-” Peter starts, pointing his hat up toward the bunkhouse, and Bode stiffens, dead in his tracks.
“Bode…” Crew warns before he turns around and stomps back to us.
“Peter, go get the damn table saw,” he sighs, “and bring up the drill, with some of those wood screws.”
“This is a terrible idea, Lawson’s gonna flip his lid,” Crew says, his back still turned away from Logan and me.
“Something tells me Lawson won’t give a damn the second he finds out it’s for Maggie-Mae here,” Bode sighs, his endless blue eyes burning a hole in me.
“Well, where the hell are we gonna build this damn thing?” Crew asks, and a massive smile curls onto my face.
“Looks like you just won your first bullfight,” Logan nudges me as the two men start looking around at the ranch.
“I feel accomplished,” I coo, “While you two pick out the best spot for Wanda and the ducks, I’m going to go get some breakfast.”
Bode turns, no doubt to start a fight, but I’m already climbing the snow-gravel drive up to the main house.