Chapter 9
The sun is high in the sky by the time the pile of scrap wood actually starts to look like a pen.
Crew had been arguing with me since breakfast about the placement, the construction.
Nothing is good enough, or stable enough.
I’m two seconds from shoving him in a ditch and hoping he dies there quietly.
Ash sits beside Maggie on a stack of hay, his nose red from the cold.
He’s got one of the ducks tucked down into his jacket, and the soft sound of quacks echoes from the fabric as he watches on in awe.
Maggie sticks her gloved fingers near the duck's bill, giggling into the freezing air as it nips at her.
Crew bangs nails into the piece of wood I'm holding against the side of the small shelter we were putting up to keep the damn things warm.
The hammer grazes my hand once, and I swear at him.
Maggie looks up from the duck, and she scowls at me.
I notice that I get that reaction more often than not from her when I curse, and it should bring me joy knowing that Ms. Sunshine herself hates it so much, but it only makes me feel guilty.
The hammer comes down too close to my hand again, and I whip my head back to see him glaring at me. “Watch it, Cassidy,” I warn.
Crew chuckles. “You got that look in your eyes, Walker.”
“What look?” I lower my voice and grab the next board.
“The same one that got me into trouble when Shepard came stomping onto this ranch.” He waits for me to position it before he starts in on the nails.
“Annoyance,” I grumble, my attention diverting to the sound of Maggie's laughter.
“Distraction.” Crew laughs a little louder that time, his chest rumbling with satisfaction.
“I ain’t distracted by her,” I argue.
“I didn’t say it was Maggie. You did.” He raises an eyebrow at me, and before I can fight back, Dot comes marching down the hill with a basket in her arms.
“Ash,” she calls to him, “come help Nana Dot carry these peanut butter banana sandwiches.”
Ash hands Maggie the duck from his jacket and slips down from the hay in his boots and takes off through the snow, but when he barrels up to her, she raises the basket out of his reach.
“You better not sneak any of these, I know exactly how many there are in this basket,” she warns with a smile and lets him take it from her as she traipses through the snow. “I thought you all could use some lunch.” She smiles at us.
Crew is the first to drop his tools and join them for sandwiches, but I don’t wanna spend all day working on a pen I didn’t willingly sign up to build, so I keep working while they dig into their picnic.
Willingly is probably a loose term, but I also wasn’t willing to take Maggie to the emergency room because she hurt herself on the table saw. I wasn’t willing to see her in pain.
I shake myself loose of the thought and continue working on the pen and doing my best to ignore the laughter behind me.
Everyone seems to be enjoying the day except for me.
All I keep hearing is her melodic laughter that wraps around me like the warmth of a campfire.
It’s hard to ignore, and the comfort that comes with it slows my hammering.
“You haven’t eaten.”
I glance over my shoulder and see Maggie holding out a wrapped sandwich.
“I wasn’t hungry,” I grumble and turn back to measuring the next board. It’s partially a lie, because I am, but the stubborn part of me wants to refuse it.
“You’re lying,” she says plainly. “Bode, I’ve spent full days with you. You munch on everything you can until it’s suppertime. Just take the sandwich.”
She’s right, and I hate that she is, but I also know she’s persistent. I glance back at her again, and at the same time, my brain decides it’s a good time to hammer in another nail. Pain screams through my forefinger and thumb as I drop the hammer and nail into the muddy snow. “Fu–”
Maggie bristles and steps back with wide eyes.
“Fudge.” I finish stumbling over the word and shake out my hand with a scowl.
“I’m sorry,” she says, “I–”
“Maggie,”
“I didn’t mean to distract you.” Her eyes widen further when she gets a glimpse of the blood already climbing up under the nail of my thumb. I’m going to have to relieve it later and that’s going to hurt ten times worse than this.
“Maggie,” I say again, trying to get her attention, but she keeps rambling on about how sorry she is.
“Maggie,” I try one last time, a little louder this time, and it finally gets her to stop.
Her eyes find mine and I take a deep breath, trying to steady myself. “Did you hit my hand with the hammer?”
Her brows furrow in confusion before she shakes it. “No.”
“Then why are you apologizing to me?” I ask, and she frowns in response. “I’ll take the sandwich,” I say, holding out my other hand for her.
She places the sandwich in my hand and tilts her head in curiosity. “Did you say fudge?”
The corners of my mouth turn upwards slightly. “Did I?”
“He absolutely did,” Crew starts to laugh.
“Oh, he don’t swear around a lady,” Ford says, leaning against the barn with a sandwich in his dirty hands and a smile on his stupid face.
“Logan swears enough for the whole ranch,” I argue, just trying to cover my embarrassment. I look at Crew and scowl. “What does it matter?”
“I’m not talking about that animal…” Ford scoffs, “I’m talking about Maggie-Mae.” Logan chucks her half-eaten sandwich at Ford, and Crew doubles over in laughter, “Alright, big man, tossing insults around. When are you shaving that ferret off your face?”
She watches as he scratches his beard in confusion.
“Ash has been asking for a new pet,” she snaps.
Ford frowns and pushes off the barn. “Watch it, Shepard.”
I nudge Maggie and lean against the bed of the truck, unwrapping my sandwich. She leans next to me, a confused look on her face, and it only makes me chuckle. “Just watch,” I say just loud enough for her to hear me.
“Or what?” Logan asks, raising a brow. “You gonna threaten to throw me off this ranch? Dot, am I allowed to stay?”
“Of course, sweetie,” Dot chimes in as she bounces one of Ash’s ducks in her hand.
Logan flashes Ford a shit-eating grin. He growls and takes a step forward just in time for Crew to step between them. “I’ll lay you flat in this mud, Lawson.”
I can tell Maggie is watching with worry. She’s shifted towards me slightly, and her shoulders are tense but I catch the smirk on Lawson’s face, and I know we’re fine. I would have stopped them already if this were an actual fight.
“I’ve always wanted to wrestle a bear, Cassidy.” Ford steps forward and within seconds, they have each other in headlocks, trying to wrestle the other to the ground. It’s a ball of limbs as the two of them roughhouse in the mud and snow.
“Are they going to hurt each other?” Maggie watches on in horror.
“No,” I laugh until I see her brows are still creased with concern. “They do this a lot,” I said to her, a twinge of sympathy for her worry fills me.
Ford gains the upper hand on Crew when his boot slips in the icy gravel, and he ends up in a headlock that he can’t escape despite the weight difference.
At least not without Crew seriously injuring Ford in the process.
Ford wraps his leg around Crew’s hips and pulls back, tightening the headlock as Crew fights to get the upper hand.
I can see Crew starting to lose his fight and eventually he taps out, but not before tossing Ford over and into the snowbank next to the barn.
“See,” I say and turn back to my sandwich.
Maggie watches with caution as the two get up and dust the snow off their jackets and pants.
“Enough messing around, everyone back to work!” Ford barks with a smile on his face.
Logan kisses Crew on the cheek in passing as she scoops Ash up and heads into the barn to get her chores done. Dot cleans up what’s left and looks over at Maggie.
“Do you mind helping me up at the house?” she asks her.
There’s a spot of hesitation in Maggie before she looks at me for permission. It’s perplexing, considering Maggie hadn’t asked permission to do anything since arriving at Whiskey River. Still, I nod and she gives me a grateful smile before collecting the basket from Dot and linking arms with her.
They disappear up to the house and when I turn around, Crew has gone M.I.A.
, leaving me with the mostly built pen. There’s not a lot left to do on it, closing in the fencing and laying down some hay, but the fact that I’m here alone for the first time today helps.
No Maggie laughter to distract me, and no pointed looks from Crew every time I steal a glance at her.
I grab the next few planks of wood from the back of the truck and head back over to finish it up. If I can get the calf in there tonight, maybe Maggie will actually do some work tomorrow, though I know I’m going to have to pry her away from Wanda.
“Need some help?”
I glance over my shoulder and see Logan walking towards me with a smirk plastered on her face. “Oh, so now you want to help?” I tease. “After getting me into this shit earlier?”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.” She shrugs and hands me a few nails and the hammer. We switch spots so she can hold the board up while I secure it into place.
I mutter a curse and shake my head. “Shepard, I’ve known you long enough to know when you’re playing both sides.”
“First of all, I’m offended you think that and secondly, if you would give the girl a break, then there would have been no reason for me to step in,” she argues. I hammer in two nails on one side and shift around her to do the other.
“She doesn’t need a break. Hell, she doesn’t even need to be on the ranch.”
“What makes you say that?” Logan asks, glancing up at me.
I shrug and hammer in the next two nails. “I know a city plant when I see one.”
Logan lets out a laugh that feels sarcastic and belittling at the same time. She stands and shakes her head. “You really are thick-headed, aren’t you?”
“She’s learning, Logan, but not fast enough and the worst of the winter storms hasn’t even hit us yet.
She’ll be gone before the end of the month and it won’t be because I fire her.
” Even as the words leave me, a part of me hates the idea of Maggie leaving.
She’s distracting, but a little tiny part of me would hate to miss out on the sound of her laughter.
“Walker, you built her a pen for a cow that probably won’t make it and barely put up a fight.
” Her brow raises as she leans against the wooden fence, clearly not wanting to help but instead just badgering me about Maggie.
“Besides, she’s not a city plant or whatever you keep muttering, you stubborn mule. ”
“Like hell she isn’t.” I huff.
Logan narrows her eyes at me. “You really don’t know who she is?”
I shake my head. “I know she’s friends with Ford and clearly close with Dot.”
“Because her mom is Dot’s sister,” Logan interrupts me. “She’s not just friends with Ford, they’re practically siblings. She grew up on this ranch long before your ass showed up.”
The realization has me glancing up at the main house and a frown etching my features. She’s not like that. Bright, sunshine in human form, Magnolia Mae, is not a city girl. Logan shoves at my arm, pulling my attention back. “What the fuck?”
“We went to high school with her, she ended up being homecoming queen and all that bullshit.”
“And you two get along?” I chide and earn another shove that forces my feet to shift in the slush. Logan frowns when her effort to shove me in the mud is thwarted.
“We get each other,” she says before waving her hand. “That’s not the point. The point is, quit being so damn hard on her. She’s got enough bullshit to deal with without a stubborn jackass giving her hell while she’s here.”
“What bullshit?” I ask before I can stop myself from digging further into the conundrum that is Maggie. I instantly regret it the moment Logan’s face falls. “What bullshit, Shepard?”
“Her mom is sick. Like, really sick.” Her voice lowers as if she’s telling a secret, and truthfully, she probably is.
With as much time as I spend up at the main house, I’ve never heard Dot or Ford talk about Maggie’s mom, at least not while I’ve been around.
Something in my stomach sinks, and I glance between Logan and the main house again.
“How bad is she?”
“Maggie came home from her fancy job to take care of her, something about a nurse living in the house.” She shrugs again. “I don’t know the details, and I didn’t ask because I’m not nosy.”
I swallow back the ball of guilt building in my throat and nod.
I know why Logan didn’t ask for anything Maggie wasn’t willing to give up.
She knows how volatile the rumor mill is in this town, and I know she doesn’t want to be a part of it even if she’s getting the information from the source.
I lean against the fence and bow my head, muttering a soft curse as Logan watches me.
“Just… go easy on her. Yeah?” she asks. “I have a feeling she’s not entirely truthful about being okay, so don’t give her a reason to hate this place.”
I nod again and replay every time I’ve been a complete ass to her for no reason other than just to be one. I look over at Logan, and I know she can see the guilt on my face. She doesn’t push any further other than to pat my shoulder.
“You’ll figure it out but stop staring at her when she’s not looking. We tend to still notice shit like that,” she says before leaving me to my thoughts and the pen.