Chapter 13
At nine the next morning, Yvonne couldn’t stand being idle any longer, so she packed a lunch, gathered some snacks, and walked out to her truck with everything and a full travel mug of coffee.
She had unpacked and organized everything the night before, and this morning she’d walked around to double-check that everything was in its place.
For the last hour, she’d been practically pulling her hair out waiting to go to work.
She walked into the office, and immediately went to put the things she brought for her lunch in the refrigerator, and made a fresh pot of coffee. She had just poured herself a cup when she looked up and smiled at Kevin.
“Not that I’m not happy to see you, but what are you doing here?” He looked at his watch, then at her. “You have a couple of hours before you have to be here.”
“I know, but I was able to get everything unpacked yesterday, and I organized everything this morning. I was bored so I thought I’d come to work early. Is there anything you’re working on that you would need help with?”
“Not yet,” he sighed and shook his head.
“I’m not being evasive, I truly don’t have anything to work on.
At least not yet. I’m waiting for Cole to get back to me.
He said he might have some potential people coming to look at the horses in the next couple of months.
When he has someone locked down, he will get us their information. ”
“Do these potential people know they are having background checks run on them?”
“Yes, Cole tells them that if they want to come here, because they won’t be taking the horses anywhere to be viewed, then they have to be subjected to a background check.
The potential owner, any trainer they bring or recommend, and any jockey the new owner and trainer want to use.
Cole tells them that if they don’t give the information, and they don’t pass, they won’t be allowed to come to New Double. ”
“I probably know the answer to this, but why Cole and not Naomi?” She settled into her office, putting things on her desk that she’d had for years from when she was with the FBI.
“Because Cole is a very hands-on manager. Naomi is still the owner, but she’s also the manager of Broken Wheel.
I do know that the two of them have put out feelers to potential buyers, and when someone calls them, Cole takes the call, but then discusses it all with Naomi.
He doesn’t make a major move without her input. ”
“Oh, okay,” Yvonne said as she leaned back in her chair and looked around. “So, what do you do while you’re waiting for people to research?”
“I help Duane if he needs any.”
“What does he work on?”
Kevin grinned, then held up his hand and his coffee cup at the same time. He walked out of her office, and returned within minutes with a fresh cup. He settled in the one chair before her desk and grinned harder.
“What’s with the grin?”
“How much do you know about Erin’s businesses?”
Yvonne shrugged while furrowing her brow.
“There’s Erin’s Way, Broken Wheel, Broken Two, New Double, though she only owns the land and buildings, not the horses or equipment.
Then there is the community pantry, and everything that makes that up.
There will eventually be RRR or rather, Riceman Rodeo Ranch. ”
“Correct, but do you know about Riceman Stallions?”
“Isn’t that what Erin’s Way is?”
“Yes and no.” He sipped his coffee and settled back in his chair with it cradled to his chest. “Riceman Stallions is an online business.” He pointed to the computer on the desk before Yvonne, and chuckled.
“Type in Riceman Stallions dot com.” He watched as she did, then stood and walked behind her, then at the last minute, he dragged the chair he had been sitting on over to sit beside her.
After about three or four minutes, she turned shocked eyes toward him.
“What the hell am I looking at?”
“It’s basically IVF for horses. The owner of a mare can look on here, pick out the stallion he wants to stud his mare out to, and depending on where they live, the mare is brought here, or the specimen is shipped to them.
However,” he said as he sipped his coffee and held up his hand to hold her off.
“The specimen can’t be shipped directly to the owner of the mare. ”
“Why not?”
“It has to go to the vet who will impregnant the mare. What Duane does is run the background checks on the owners that sign up for the stud’s services, and their vet.”
“Why the vet?”
“It was explained to me like this,” he paused as he sipped his coffee again and settled back in his chair to look at her as he talked.
“The owner of the mare fills out the form on that website.” He watched as she clicked on the form and read it as he talked.
“See, there’s no way the horse’s owner can implant the sperm. It needs to be done professionally.”
“By the vet.” It was said as a statement, not a question.
“Correct. The specimen is sent to the veterinarian so he can use it. However, to answer your earlier question, we check out the vet because what if the vet gets the specimen, but instead of injecting that into the mare it was intended for, he has a different one, and then sells the one from Erin’s Way at a higher price? ”
“Ah, and eventually, if the owner of the mare realized he didn’t get what he paid for, he might come after Erin for selling him inferior product.”
“Exactly.”
“Okay, I understand that now, but I have another question.”
“What’s that?”
“What if an owner has several mares, and he’s used Erin’s Way specimens before. Say he liked how one mare was able to carry the foal, deliver it, and the results. What if he wants to use them again, is there another background check given?”
“Yes, but not as deep as the first one. The second one is also done on the mare’s owner, and the vet. It’s basically a surface check to see if anything hasn’t happened to warrant trouble down the road.”
Yvonne nodded, understanding dawning on her face. “I totally understand now. How often do owners use Riceman Stallions?”
“I can’t give you those numbers. I do know that Duane gave me some files to go over because he became swamped. From my understanding, it comes in waves. Again, I don’t know anything about a horse’s cycle, but when it’s time to breed mares, there’s a huge influx of requests.”
“Okay, I can understand that. Next question, what happens after the background checks are done on the owners and their vets?”
“It’s my understanding that the papers are then turned over to Tom Stolls, one of the vets on Erin’s payroll, and he goes to the special room he had instructed Erin to install.
I saw the way they collected the semen, but I wasn’t allowed in that room.
It’s like a medical lab, and the specimens are kept on ice. ”
“Like they do for human IVF.”
“Correct, Erin’s not even allowed in that room. It’s just Tom and Lorissa. She’s the farrier, and also a vet.”
“Got it.” Yvonne nodded as she turned back to look at the website again, shaking her head.
“I think I want to be Erin when I grow up.” She looked at Kevin with a grin when he sputtered on his sip of coffee.
“Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know, I’m about twenty years older than she is, but still, that woman has a business mind out of this world. ”
“Yeah, I totally understand. I do have a couple of files for you to read if you want something to do.”
“What are they about?”
“Months ago, Cole and Lois went to a rodeo and were able to talk to two young men, twins. They were supposed to be here by now, but according to Erin, something happened back home and they stayed to help. They’ll be here soon.
They will be working here at New Double to know about horses while RRR is being built. ”
“I’m confused.”
“With?”
“If Cole and Lois found them at a rodeo, don’t they already know about horses?”
“Yes and no, more no than yes.” He smiled at her confused look.
“Again, I’m retelling what I was told. Kade and Lane Montgomery grew up on a dairy farm in Kansas.
They hate cows, and always wanted to work with horses.
I don’t know the particulars, but they were allowed to follow their dream with the rodeo.
When Lois met Kade he had a broken leg, and an arm in a cast with a dislocated shoulder. ”
“From riding a horse or bull?”
“Yes, long story short, Cole talked to them, offered them a job here at New Double before they transfer over to RRR. They accepted, Duane and Jake from Brotherhood Protectors did the checks on them. They passed and are just making sure everything at home is okay before they come. I have their files in my office if you would like to read them.”
“Please,” she said with a nod, then stood with her coffee cup in her hand and while she went to the kitchen for a refill, Kevin went across the hall to his office.
They met back in her office, and he had set two files on the center of her desk.
As she settled behind it to read the reports, Kevin laid his hand gently on hers and didn’t let go until she looked up.
“I’m going to take the golf cart and ride around to check on things. Not that there will be anything wrong, but I want to just get out and about.”
“Okay.” She nodded and picked up her cup to salute him.
As soon as he left her office, she picked up the first folder, flipped it open, and began to read what was discovered about the Montgomery brothers.
As she read, she used her own computer to do some of her own research, and though she didn’t find anything bad or different from what was already there, what she did find, she printed a copy and added it to the file.
In her mind, you could never be too careful.
That was how the rest of her first week went, if she wasn’t in the office helping Kevin and Duane look up information for people coming to Erin’s Way, or needing the services of Riceman Stallions, then she was out patrolling the area.
By the end of her first week, she had settled into a routine, one that was laid back, and she finally felt herself relax after working behind a desk in an office for a couple of decades.
She even liked the fact that she had started getting a tan on her arms, something working fourteen hours a day, locked inside a building hadn’t been good for the tan.
Let alone sucking up the natural vitamin D from the sun.
On Friday, before they left for the evening, Kevin stood in her doorway and waited until she looked up to acknowledge him.
“Yes?”
“Not to be too forward or anything, but how would you like to have dinner together tonight?”
She stared at him, and it took less than five seconds for her to nod and agree.
“Your place or mine?” she asked with a chuckle, and relaxed when his smile lit up his entire face. “Better yet, what do you plan on cooking?”
“I like how you worded that,” he laughed. “Since I invited you, and I went to the community freezer and got a couple of steaks out this morning, how about my place? I have the ingredients for steak, baked potatoes, and I think I have some fresh vegetables, I’m not sure what though.”
“I have asparagus that needs to be used up.”
“Perfect. I’m going to head out to go home, shower, then start supper.”
“I’ve got about twenty minutes left to work here, then I’ll head out.”
“My place in an hour?”
“Sounds perfect,” she said, and watched him leave, not releasing the breath she’d held until she heard the front door close.
She twirled in her chair, feeling giddy like a teenager because the popular boy asked her out.
She knew it was a stupid analogy, but she couldn’t otherwise describe how being asked to dinner by Kevin made her feel.
She hunkered down to work, but her mind went in different directions, so she didn’t finish the work before she left.
She saved it in order to do it the next day.
Even though she was excited to get to Kevin’s cabin as quickly as she could, she decided to go home to get cleaned up and change into something other than her work clothes.
Another thing she enjoyed about working at New Double was the fact that she could wear jeans every day, something that her old job wouldn’t allow.
As soon as she walked into her cabin, she grinned when she spotted the cake she had made that morning still sitting on the counter.
She had been bored and craving something chocolate.
She had baked a two-layer chocolate cake, but left it to cool when she went to work, anticipating frosting it when she got home.
She would deny it with her dying breath that the cake alone would have been her dinner, because she hadn’t wanted to cook anything.
Cooking for one sucked, and she was glad that Kevin had asked her to join him.
She quickly frosted the cake with chocolate frosting, then went to her bedroom and took a quick shower.
However, she didn’t wash her hair, because she had done that when she’d showered that morning, so she pinned it up, took a quick shower, and redressed in a pair of jeans she liked to call dressy, a nice blouse, and she dug her cowboy boots out of the back of the closet.
It had been years since she’d worn them, and as soon as she slipped her feet inside, it was like coming home.
After she touched up her makeup, she put the cover over the cake, snapped it in place, picked it up, and walked out the door, then she had to turn back around to grab the asparagus from the refrigerator, but she make sure she left the light on above the stove so she didn’t walk into a completely dark home later.
She did a quick happy dance then walked down the steps and across the road to Kevin’s cabin, wearing a big smile.