Chapter 3 Lane
“Sorry,” Taylor mouthed as she stepped into the dining room where Lane was giving out assignments.
Annoyance flared inside of him and he growled before he continued to explain the daily duties.
“I guess you think that you’re the golden girl after two days of work and that you don’t need to bother showing up to the meeting on time.”
Her back stiffened and her eyes narrowed. Through tight lips, she said, “I got sidetracked looking at the calves. It seems to me that your calf expert, Anthony, missed something important. Three of the calves are developing hoof and mouth disease.”
Animals with hoof and mouth disease will often have blisters on their tongues, lips, in their mouth, on their teats, and between their hooves. It isn’t deadly, but it can make the cattle a lot weaker. It was a highly contagious virus.
“I understand that I need to be on time and I’m sorry that I was late. But if that is how you are going to talk to me, you can find someone else. I won’t be disrespected,” Taylor growled.
Although Lane rarely apologized, he did now. “You’re right. I shouldn’t have addressed the situation like that.”
She nodded, her lips pressed tightly together. He could tell that she was still a bit miffed and he couldn’t blame her.
“Show me the calves.”
They walked out to the pen together and she pointed out the three calves in question.
“Great catch. Thanks,” Lane said.
Taylor nodded.
“Robert. Taylor noticed these calves have hoof and mouth disease starting. Help Taylor get these other calves to a clean pen. Hopefully, none of the others are infected. I’m going to call Isaac.”
Isaac Johnson was one of Lane’s younger brothers, who had become a veterinarian. There were nine siblings in all. Willow, or Willow as everyone called her, was the youngest and only girl.
They quickly separated the calves and Lane watched Taylor set up the bottle hangers for the calves and put the bottles out for them. He watched as they flocked around her. She talked to them and petted them.
“I hope she doesn’t start thinking of them as pets,” Lane said.
Some of the calves would end up as breeders. Others would end up as food.
“Who is thinking of what as pets?” Isaac asked when he answered the phone.
“My new ranch hand, Taylor Williams, is putting out bottles for calves. She is petting them and talking to them.”
“You hired a woman as a ranch hand?” Isaac asked.
“I did.”
“Welcome to the twenty-first century,” Isaac laughed. “What’s up?”
Lane told him and Isaac said, “There is no cure for the disease, but there are some treatments. I’ll be out there in an hour or so.”
He went out to double-check the calves in the clean pen to make sure that they didn’t miss any of them that might be sick. Lane kept one eye on Sam and Taylor who were loading hay bales in the back of the work pick-up to take out to the range cattle. Then, they stopped by the other barn and loaded several protein and salt blocks on the truck. Taylor was keeping up.
“She is such a tiny thing. She has to be working twice as hard to keep up,” Lane noticed admiringly.
He took in her long red braid that almost reached her butt and wondered what she would look like if her hair was free. He could almost feel the silky locks between his fingers.
Stop Lane. What in the world has gotten into you?He asked himself.
When they got back that evening, Lane pulled Sam aside. “How did she do?”
“I would take her with me as my partner any time. She threw as many bales and put out as many blocks as I did. I was impressed,” Sam said. “She’s just as good as Robert.”
“As good as Anthony?”
“Better,” Sam said.
After dinner, Lane joined the crowd of people at the corral. Taylor climbed over the fence, with a halter sticking out of her back pocket, and walked to the center of the pen. Diablo met her half-way and nudged her.
“Is that for the loves or for the snack?” she laughed pulling an apple out of her pocket.
Taylor petted the horse and gave him half the apple in chunks. Then, she slowly pulled the halter out of her back pocket and slipped it over the horse’s head.
Diablo whinnied and shook his head, but he never got aggressive with Taylor. She ran her hands down his sides and petted him on his back. The beast was nervous about it at first but soon accepted her attention.
“You’re such a good boy, aren’t you?” she asked.
She pulled the rest of the apple out and fed it to the horse in bite-sized chunks. Diablo took the snacks daintily.
“Alright boy, you have a good night. I’ll see you in the morning,” she said.
Diablo walked with her a bit but shied away at the men lined up along the fence.
“Do you mind if I walk with you?” Lane asked.
“Sure.”
“I must say that I am very impressed with how you work with Diablo. I was sure that I was just going to have to turn him loose in some pasture and let him live out his years.
“Anthony suggested dog food.”
“Yes, well, Anthony is a butt sometimes,” Lane said.
“Where did you learn how to work with horses like that?” he asked.
“I’ve been around horses my whole life. My grandfather raised horses on a ranch south of Pueblo. I spent every summer with him. He taught me how to work with all different kinds of horses, from the very skittish and untrained to those who have been trained to do different jobs. Carl and I had horses on our ranch, too.”
He grinned and said, “That explains a lot.”
“Would you like to come in for some tea?” she asked.
Lane hesitated for a brief second and then said, “Sure,” even though he isn’t a tea drinker.
“Would you prefer coffee,” she asked.
“Tea is fine.”
He watches her as she puts the cups in the microwave.
She has a really nice butt,he thinks. Stop, Lane. You are not here to assess butts.
“Your mother is Alice McCray who owns the Tasty Nibbles Diner in town.”
“Yep.”
“She is an amazing cook. Can you cook like her?”
Taylor laughed loudly. “I set off fire alarms if I try to boil an egg. I can work with cattle, run almost any kind of machinery, and build fences, but I can’t go near a stove. The appliance actually hisses at me and throws things to keep me away from it.”
Lane laughed at the imagery. “That bad, huh?”
“Worse. I can follow a recipe to the letter, and it will still end up tasting like something you might find on the bottom of your shoe,” Taylor said. “I usually do okay with microwaved stuff though, like the frozen microwave dinners and heating up water for tea. I can also turn on the coffee pot.”
“Those are important skills,” Lane said.
He was surprised at how relaxed he felt sitting at the kitchen table drinking orange-flavored tea sweetened with honey. It almost made him feel domestic – almost, but not quite. Lane also enjoyed hanging out with Taylor and loved her sense of humor.
“What about you? Can you cook?” she asked.
“I can put weenies on a stick and put them in a campfire. I can rustle up some decent hamburgers, scrambled eggs, and bacon in a pan over a fire. That’s about it. I think that Franny would beat me up if I stepped foot into her kitchen with the idea of cooking something.”
“She’s a sweetheart,” Taylor said. “She wouldn’t hurt you.”
“You just don’t know. More than once when I was a kid, she took after me with a wooden spoon or a spatula. Once she even took off her shoe and paddled my behind.”
“Did you deserve it?” Taylor laughed.
“Yep, and probably worse,” Lane admitted. “I was wondering whether you would like to go to church with me tomorrow.”
“What church do you go to?” she asked.
“Meadow Springs Community Church. The pastor is an amazing man and leads the congregation in a lot of community activities.”
“That sounds nice,” she said.
“We’ll go to the nine am service. Breakfast is at six, like normal. That gives us enough time to feed the horses and cattle and get ready.”
“Sounds good.”
“I’ll see you in the morning.”
He walked back to the house and thought about Taylor. He really liked her. She was sweet, smart, and hard-working. She was also incredibly beautiful. He loved her red hair and the way her eyes shone when she snapped a sassy comeback at someone’s comment.
“I would like to get to know her better,” he muttered to himself. “I might be her boss, but things were different in the ranching world than they are in the corporate world – aren’t they?”
He grabbed a beer from his fridge and stepped back onto the porch with `Colton.
“What’s the deal with you and Taylor?” he asked.
“What do you mean?” Lane asked.
“Don’t play dumb with me. I’m your brother, remember?”
“I like Taylor,” Lane admitted.
“Good. It’s about time you got over Catherine and moved on with your life. No one expects you to quit loving her, but you have to find room in your heart for another woman,” Colton said.
“I know,” Lane replied. “Mom tells me every chance she gets.”
Catherine was Lane’s fiancé. She died five years ago from breast cancer.
“Are you going to ask her out on a date?”
“I don’t know yet. I did ask her to go to church with me tomorrow,” Lane said. “She said yes.”
Colton nodded. “That’s a good start.”