Chapter Two
THE RANCH AWAKES hours before the sun comes up.
All the ranch hands are out the door at half past four, but Jeremy is fully dressed and sipping coffee from a thermos by six.
He drives a Gator around the ranch as he starts his daily duties of cattle maintenance.
The sunrise is gorgeous, sky clear except for the receding storm on the horizon cascading colorful light beams through the air.
The morning is too pretty for such an inauspicious day.
Feeling a harsh chill in the late February air, Jeremy shivers and readjusts the wild rag around his neck.
There is a distinct bad feeling that lingers around every corner, spiking his nerves and exhausting him.
Eager to get off the homestead, he races to the stables.
He figures he’ll find Barry on his way out, maybe he can just catch up to Jeremy.
Heading inside the stable, he’s immediately greeted by Marie shoveling manure. She smiles wide, “Munday! Morning.”
He nods to her, “Marie. How are you?”
“Excited,” she giggles, “I can’t believe Clark Radison is coming today! Do you think we’ll get to meet him?”
Jeremy responds with a big heap of hope, “Doubtful.”
Starting to head to the tack room to get his saddle and necessities, Marie stops scooping and asks, “You already headed out? Don’t you want to wait until he gets here?”
“And when’s that supposed to be?” He scoffs, “Is the whole ranch supposed to come to a standstill for King Radison?”
“Well maybe he’ll-”
“And here is the stable with all your horses!” Sheila’s excited voice approaches and has Marie shutting up to rush out of the pin of poop.
Jeremy is turning to escape into the tack room when Sheila clearly calls out from behind him, “Oh, hello you two! This is Mr. Radison. Sir, this is your stablehand, Marie Espinoza.”
“Hi,” she responds quietly.
“And that’s your cowboy, Jeremy Munday.”
Painfully, Jeremy turns back to his fate and faces Clark.
He’s a dimmed silhouette in the large entry, but goddammit he’s still so plainly handsome.
His deep green eyes twinkle as he gives Jeremy an obvious once over from across the stable.
Grinning when he meets his eyes once more, Clark greets him casually, “Hey, Jeremy.”
He tips his cowboy hat in silent greeting, teeth grinding.
“You two stay close now, y’hear?” Sheila warns them, “Ranch wide meeting at the riding ring in fifteen. Spread the word.”
Jeremy is kicking himself for not getting to the stable five minutes earlier. Feeling trapped now, he decides to go find Barry. Passing Marie, he mutters to her, “The king has arrived.”
She pouts, “C’mon, don’t yuck my yum.”
Shrugging, he exits the stable after checking that Sheila and King Clark are out of sight. Riding around in the Gator, he spots Barry walking with Jackie towards the riding arena. He brakes, calling out to them, “Need a lift?”
Barry hops in the shotgun, Jackie in the back. She takes off her hat to tousle her short curls, asking, “Did you hear the news?”
“Oh yeah,” Jeremy steps on the gas, glancing over to Barry, “Came face to face with it.”
Jackie leans forward, gripping his shoulder, “No way! You saw him?”
“Sheila introduced him to Marie and me while I was trying to tack up.”
Barry puts his arm on the seat between them, leaning in and asking genuinely, “You okay?”
Jeremy rolls his eyes as an answer. Jackie doesn’t catch their interaction, leaning in more and asking, “What was he like?”
“Oh, y’know, just the absolute best,” Jeremy bites out, “But he wasn’t wearing any clothes.”
She smacks him on the arm and slouches back in her seat as they come around to the riding arena that everyone is filtering into. Jeremy cuts the engine and shakes his head, grumbling, “I can’t believe we gotta do another one of these things two days in a row.”
“I kinda like it,” Jackie chews on a toothpick and climbs out of the Gator, “It’s like a company sanctioned break.”
“In the mud,” Barry adds.
That gets a smirk from Jeremy, finally climbing out from behind the wheel and heading through the gate to join his fellow ranch workers.
Everyone’s already sitting down on the wooden bleachers on the far side of the ring.
Barry and Jackie go to sit with the other ranch hands, Jeremy making his way up to the middle section where Yana and Clarice, the on-site veterinarian, sit.
“God, will you fix your face?” Clarice grimaces, “You look like you got shit for boogers.”
“Oh, is that smell you?” Jeremy jabs back, sitting beside Yana.
“What’s the matter?” She asks next to him.
Jeremy readjusts his brown worn-leather jacket, sniffing harshly and answering by thinking aloud, “Do you think anybody’d mind if I lit up?”
“Ahem, I would,” Clarice eyes him, “What is up with you today?”
He doesn’t have time to make up an excuse as Sheila leads Clark into the ring and the crowd quiets down.
Clark waves dumbly to his new employees, Sheila being the one to pipe up first, “Hello, everyone. For those of you who haven’t had the pleasure of meeting him yet, I would like to introduce the new owner of Willmaker Ranch - Mr. Clark Radison! ”
Some clap, others cross their arms. Jeremy is peaking up from under the safety of the rim of his hat, chewing on the inside of his cheek.
“Hi, y’all!” Clark’s theatrically loud voice calls out to his new employees, “I am so excited for me and my family to be joining this ranch! Please, don’t think of me as your boss or owner- No, no, no. You’re all a part of my family now too.”
People look around at each other, Yana mumbling under her breath, “The fuck?”
Clark claps once, getting everyone’s attention as he says, “I want you to know that everything will continue as usual. In fact, I’m the one that’s got plenty to learn from you all!
So don’t hesitate to come to me with any fresh ideas or bits of advice, I am all ears.
Now, I would love a tour of the whole property! ”
Sheila steps forward, “Clay is our wrangler. He gives the best riding tours for all ages-”
“No,” Clark interrupts, stepping forward and eyeing the bleachers until his eyes land on his target, “I think I want to ride along with the cowboy today.”
Feeling many eyes land on him, Jeremy masticates his bleeding cheek as he stares down Clark. Sheila is staring at him too, urging him, “Munday?”
Jeremy puckers his lips and sends out a fair warning, “It’s dangerous.”
“Perfect! I want something real,” Clark smirks, “So it’s settled! Thank you all for taking the time out of your day to meet me! And really, I mean it, feel free to come talk to me any time.”
The workers rush off their seats to go and shake Clark’s hand, take a picture with him, and generally cheese over the actor. Yana hangs back to mutter to Jeremy, “Lucky him.”
“Lucky me,” Jeremy groans. He looks to the other side of the bleachers and catches Barry giving him a pitying look. He shrugs at the cute ranch hand, nothing to be done about their missed rendezvous. Glancing back down to the muddy field, Sheila gestures for him to come talk to her.
Walking down the bleachers, Jeremy thinks about pretending not to see her but that’s impossible as she all but tackles him as he makes it to the ground. Cornering him, she hisses through a smile, “Don’t fuck this up, Munday. I don’t want to call medevac on Clark Radison, understood?”
“Copy that,” Jeremy responds shortly, digging his fists into his jacket pockets. Sheila looks like she’s about to say something else but Jeremy catches Clark drift toward him from his peripheral and he’s already gone. Racing to the Gator, speeding to the stable, he’s out of his mind.
After tacking up two horses instead of one, Jeremy’s dressing his own saddle with a calf rope, a canteen of water, and his guns when Clark decides to make his appearance.
Jeremy keeps his back to his new boss, hearing the fresh cowboy boots crisply clicking against the hay littered ground and that uppity tone greets him with, “Oh, you already got one ready for me.”
“Yep,” Jeremy replies shortly, stepping into his chaps, “Day’s gettin’ long. Need to get a move on.”
“Hm.”
Jeremy is buckling the chap belt when he hears some rustling behind him. Looking over his shoulder he spots Clark undoing the horse’s bridle. He asks abrasively, “What are you doing?”
Clark glances over and throws him a half grin, “I want that horse instead.”
Looking over to where Clark threw his head, Jeremy gets nervous, “Bunny? She’s never done a roundup before. I don’t think-”
“These are my horses,” Clark cuts him off, hauling the blanket and saddle over to Bunny’s stall, “And I want the pretty white appaloosa. Got it?”
Jeremy eyes Clark for a moment as he starts tacking up.
He seems sufficient and knowledgeable enough, so Jeremy doesn’t offer any help.
Besides, Clark tumbling down the side of a mountain wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world.
Jeremy lets it go and puts on his spurs.
Soon, they’re guiding the horses out of the stable and mounting them out in the brisk late morning air.
Clark puts on an expensive looking pair of sunglasses, saddled up and grinning over at Jeremy as he asks, “Like the view?”
Jeremy spits on the ground and cocks a brow, “You sure you’re ready for this? Ain’t gonna be a walk in the park. It’s not too late to hit up Clay.”
“Please,” Clark gets the horse moving and puts his nose up at Jeremy as he passes, continuing, “Don’t underestimate me.”
Rolling his eyes, Jeremy gently presses his heels into Asher’s belly to get her going, trotting along and getting ahead of Clark. He says over his shoulder without turning around, “Stick close, my liege.”
He veers them out of the homestead, some workers they pass wave to Clark.
Jeremy doesn’t spot Barry, glad he’s not witnessing this embarrassing feat.
They go by the main house where a pretty woman and two children are sitting on the large front porch.
Clark waves to them - the children run inside and the woman looks away.