Chapter 5
Chapter
Five
C hance dressed in his usual winter attire of flannel shirt, jeans, and boots. He would clean up before he went into town to meet Summer. Venturing downstairs, he saw Tammy putting her coffee cup into the dishwasher.
“How did your talk with Kelby go last night?” he asked, pouring himself a cup of coffee from the pot.
“Better than I would have expected,” Tammy replied.
“Then again, Kelby is madly in love with West, so she understands why I need to leave the ranch and be with Tommy. She hopes I’ll come back once she has the baby and help out for a week or so.
I promised her that I would.” She hesitated.
“I’d like to bring Tommy with me when I do. I want you to meet him, Chance.”
He embraced her. “I’d like that, Tammy. Tommy is going to be a part of our family now since he’s with you.”
“Once I get to Waco, we’re going to go to the courthouse and get hitched. No fanfare. Just say our vows and start our life together. Finally.”
Chance took her hand and squeezed it. “I’m glad you’re getting your happily ever after, Tammy. I’m just sorry it took this long for it to happen.”
She smiled. “I’m not. Tommy and I needed to live the lives we did, him serving his country and me here at the ranch with you and Kelby. It will be nice to finally be together, though.”
“Does he have any family?” Chance asked.
“Not really. His late wife had a sister, but she’s up in Wichita Falls and is pretty ornery. He hasn’t seen her since the funeral. Tommy’s folks are gone now, same as mine. We’ll have each other.”
“I hope you’ll consider coming to the ranch for some of the holidays. Thanksgiving. Christmas.”
Tammy kissed his cheek. “We’ll work it out, honey. Don’t you fret.”
“I know you’ll probably want to stay at Kelby’s when the baby comes, but the door is always open here.”
She squeezed his arm and slipped into her coat, heading down to the bunkhouse to cook for the hands.
Chance began taking out items to make himself pancakes.
Breakfast was the only thing he knew how to cook.
Eggs. French toast. Bacon and sausage. During his years away from Texas, when he was partying a little too hard, he frequently woke up with a hangover.
He’d found a solid meal helped both his head and belly.
Once he’d returned to the ranch, he had eaten with the other hands, wanting to get to know them better and build strong relationships.
Now that he owned Blackstone Ranch, though, he made it a point to eat away from the men.
They didn’t need the boss hanging over them, listening to every word they said.
They needed the freedom to relax and enjoy one another’s company, even blow off a little steam.
As for him, Chance enjoyed starting his day making breakfast and eating in solitude.
As he ate his short stack, maple syrup poured over it, he thought about what needed to be tackled for the week. He had trouble concentrating, though.
Because his thoughts kept returning to Summer.
He feared he was pinning too many hopes on this casual coffee date.
It was hard for him to understand how he could go from not even thinking about settling down to suddenly wanting to desperately.
Chance blamed the happy couples around him for this sudden change of heart.
Seeing his friends and their happiness had spilled over to him, and he was wanting things he’d never had.
He wondered if Summer Sutherland would be the girl for him.
No, woman. He had to stop thinking of her as West’s kid sister.
She was thirty now. He knew because he’d gone to a party celebrating Autumn’s thirtieth birthday last September.
“Get your head out of the clouds, Blackstone,” he chided aloud, rinsing his dishes and putting them into the dishwasher. He would focus on the ranch, his priority, and let this afternoon’s time with Summer work itself out later.
Chance went to the stables and saddled Rebel.
The horse had become his favorite mount once he’d returned to Texas.
Rebel had a coal-black coat and was as feisty as they came.
Most of the ranch hands had given up trying to ride him by the time Chance had moved back to the ranch.
He’d always loved a challenge and made it his business to make Rebel his horse.
They understood one another, and he could count on Rebel in a pinch.
Monday mornings were reserved for riding the land.
Chance rode to the front gate and went around the entire perimeter, eyeballing the property, checking to see if any of the fencing needed to be mended.
He made note of where the different herds were and the water levels in the ponds.
It always felt good to be out on the land his family had owned for five generations.
Once he finished his ride, he headed to where the hands would be having lunch.
Since they ate at five every morning, they usually broke for lunch around eleven.
Tammy always packed thermoses of coffee and provided thick sandwiches of meat and cheese, along with fruit and homemade cookies.
He found the hands gathered near the cattle herd, sitting on the ground, eating.
He nodded to Buck Overton, who rose and came over as Chance dismounted.
“Anything new to report?”
“Still working on improving the pasture,” Buck told him. “We’ve got the brush under control, but we’re still trying to get rid of a few of those invasive plants. We need to get a better handle on them. I don’t want them to spread.”
“Got it. If you need another pair of hands, I can be in the field all day tomorrow.”
“We do,” Buck told him.
“Then I’ll join you after breakfast,” he assured Buck.
Buck was the only college graduate among the ranch hands, with a degree in farm and ranch management from A&M.
He’d previously been a hand at two other ranches, and Chance knew they were lucky to have him at Blackstone Ranch now.
With more of Chance’s time being devoted to the business end of things, he knew the time was coming when he would need to have eyes and ears in the field for him.
He wanted to mull over the offer he would give Buck, though.
Right now, he served as head hand, but it was time to give Buck a better title and more responsibility, else he could see losing him in the near future.
As he started to mount Rebel again, one of the hands stood and approached him.
“You need to talk about something, Joaquin?”
“Yes, Mr. Chance.”
He wished the ranch hands would simply address him as Chance, but he knew they were showing a sign of respect for his position as the owner of the ranch.
“Then let’s take a walk.” Chance handed his reins to Buck. “Be right back.”
They moved away from the other hands, and Joaquin said, “Miss Tammy told us at breakfast that she’s leaving the ranch.”
“She is,” he confirmed.
“You will need a new cook,” Joaquin said. “And someone to clean for you at the big house. The bunkhouse, too. I know Miss Tammy didn’t clean it. That we do it.” The ranch hand shook his head. “We could do better, Mr. Chance, but we’re tired after a long day on the land.”
He had never thought of that and would mention it to Tammy. Maybe whoever she hired to clean his house once a week could also go down to the bunkhouse a day or two a week and keep it in shape.
“I have someone to tell you about,” Joaquin continued. “My cousin Zeke and his wife Maria. They would be good for Blackstone Ranch.”
“Tell me about them,” he encouraged, always preferring a personal recommendation over cold interviews.
Joaquin briefly described the experience the couple had, Zeke as a cook and Maria as a housekeeper, and how they were now out of a job.
“Their boss sold his ranch,” Joaquin explained. “It won’t be a ranch anymore. They’re going to build on the land. The horses have been sold off. You bought one of their horses, Mr. Chance. Moonlight.”
Chance knew the ranch Joaquin referred to. He had purchased one of their studs for his own small breeding program. If this couple had worked for Bart Nelson, Moonlight’s owner, that was recommendation enough. The man was a picky perfectionist and would have expected a lot from his hired help.
“How soon do you think they could be here?” he asked, knowing Nelson’s ranch was down in the Hill Country.
“They are in Ft. Worth now, visiting relatives and looking for work.” Joaquin paused. “But they have two little ones, Mr. Chance.”
He had never hired a couple and knew a family couldn’t stay in the bunkhouse with the other hands.
He certainly wasn’t willing to have them in the big house since one day, he’d be raising his own family there.
There was a cabin on Blackstone land, but he had been thinking that Buck might move into it when Chance promoted him.
The need for an immediate cook, however, was more pressing than separate housing for Buck.
He decided this couple could move into the cabin, and he could deal with housing for Buck later.
“Give me Zeke’s contact information,” Chance said, retrieving his phone from his pocket.
Joaquin did the same, pulling up his cousin’s number. Chance entered Zeke Benevides into his cell’s contact list.
“Give your cousin a call now and tell him I’m interested in speaking to him and Maria about working for me. I’ll wait an hour before I call. That way, they can talk over anything you tell them about Blackstone Ranch.”
The ranch hand beamed at him. “Thank you, Mr. Chance. Thank you. I promise you they are hard workers, just like me.”
He clapped Joaquin on the back. “I appreciate you letting me know. Now, go make that call.”
Joaquin stepped away as Chance headed back to claim Rebel.
“He tell you about his cousin?” Buck asked.
“He did. I’m going to interview Zeke and Maria by phone, but I can tell you now, I’m going to hire them. Joaquin has vouched for them, and if they have half his work ethic, it’ll be good move.”