Chapter 3
Sterling woke up the next morning, headed out of the bunkhouse, and stretched, realizing that the fresh early morning air was something he could get accustomed to very quickly.
Men already sat outside the main cabin with coffee.
He headed back inside, prepped for the day, and walked over to join them, seeing several people he’d met the previous day.
Smiles were exchanged all around, as everybody laughed and joked, “Look at that. You’re still here.”
Sterling smiled back and quipped, “Haven’t seen anything to scare me away yet.”
“Ooh, the day is young,” one of them joked, “but seriously it’s a great place to land for however long you need it.”
“I need it,” Sterling shared.
“Yeah, we did too. Don’t worry. You’re among friends here.”
“That’s the real gold here. It’s been a long time.” He smiled. “It sucks when you think you’re doing great, and then an accident happens, or something turns over in your world, and suddenly you’re lost. I wouldn’t even call it lost so much as maybe not found.”
One of the men looked at him and nodded. “A lot of people wouldn’t get that, but I do.”
His buddy smiled and nodded. “That’s exactly the problem.”
“This seems to be the place where you would be understood,” Sterling murmured, “and it sucks that it’s so hard to find elsewhere.”
“It really sucks, no two ways about it,” one of the guys said, with a wry smile, “but that’s okay.
I myself have been here for what? A couple weeks already.
Yet I already feel at home. The food is good and plentiful, with lots of things to keep my hands busy, and enough going on here to keep my mind occupied, while I sort through what to do with my life now. ”
“Are you finding any answers when you do that?” Sterling asked.
“Not so far,” he admitted, “but I’m not on a deadline. So, for the moment, I’m happy enough with that.”
Another man joined them and piped up, “The coffee’s in there. Go grab yourself a cup.” And, with that, he and another man headed over to sit with the rest of the crew gathered.
As Sterling walked inside, he found Toby at work in the kitchen. “Hey,” he greeted him, as he poured himself a coffee. “Do you need a hand in here?”
“If you’ve got any energy for it, sure,” Toby replied, with a nod from Dwight too. “Running a little bit behind today.”
“I’m in, so just tell me what you need,” Sterling said, as he looked at the massive grill Toby was working at. “Holy cow, that’s a nice grill.”
“It was necessary,” he noted, as he dumped a whole pile of potatoes on it. “If you can handle frying these up, I’ll get the bacon set out. Dwight’s loading biscuits into the ovens.”
With a nod from Sterling, he and Toby both set to work, and soon Toby asked him how his first day had gone.
“It was great,” Sterling murmured. “I mean, between all those new dogs, the horses, all these buildings, I didn’t have a whole lot of time to even think.”
“Sometimes,” Toby noted, facing him directly, “that’s a good thing.”
“It sure was yesterday. It was good to be busy. I met Tiffany, although I guess she’s not here all the time.”
“No, that’s Timber’s girlfriend. She has a vet clinic in town, which is confusing because we have another local vet who comes out as well, and that’s Keisha, but she deals mostly with the exotic animals.”
Sterling nodded, as he took in the information. “I met another woman who volunteered to stay to help with the dogs.”
“Anybody who’s willing to stay and volunteer counts as good people in our books,” Toby declared.
“She’s the one who drove the dogs out here.”
“Right, I heard about that. So we got fifty more dogs yesterday?”
“Fifty-one,” he corrected.
Toby shook his head. “It’s a hell of a thing when we end up with over fifty dogs at a shot.”
“At that rate, you won’t keep up.”
“Yeah, we won’t go there just now,” he said. “That’s also one of the reasons we need to look at what’s next.”
“I was talking to Lindsey a little bit about things. She didn’t think anybody was in town doing K9 training, for drug-sniffing dogs for airport security and things.”
“Don’t know whether there is or not,” Toby replied, looking over at him. “The training centers will ship the dogs all over the country We’re not that far from Sante Fe, but I don’t know if they train their own, and I’m guessing those places are probably there.”
“She did mention that a big horse-boarding facility is somewhere around here but may be shutting down. Seems they lost the person who’s kept it going for some time, and now they’re trying to figure out next steps.”
Toby stared at him and nodded. “Now that would be interesting. Somebody should go talk with them and see if they would be interested in recommending the Haven, if they are truly closing. We don’t want to be seen as competition for a legit business, but, if they are shutting down their business, then some people may need options for boarding space. Maybe we can help.”
“It might be mostly senior horses that need more attention and care, which is why people are willing to pay a premium.”
“If the dog lady is connected with the animal shelter from town, she would probably know the details on that horse-boarding business. We should find out more about it.”
“I can do that if you’re interested,” Sterling pointed out. “I could make a couple calls.”
“Do it,” Toby said, “and anything we can come up with along those lines that generates income will help Timber decide priorities around here, and that will be a help for all of us.”
“So, how much land does he have here?” Sterling asked.
“I think around four hundred acres now. I’m not quite sure at this point.
He’s been dealing directly with the former owner, and the boundaries continuously expand.
As I mentioned before, some lots on the other side of the main road are in the works for us to build private homes on, if we want.
I think Timber has asked that twelve be set aside so far and potentially more, if he can make a deal with the owner.
It’s all about making the right deal.” Toby smiled.
“And is that because the owner wants and needs the money?”
“No, I think it’s because the owner is a lonely old man, and it gives him a chance to keep talking to Timber.”
Sterling snorted at that.
“Did I just hear my name?” Timber asked, as he stepped into the kitchen. He sniffed at the hash browns and nodded. “Anybody who can help out in the kitchen is always welcome here.”
“I don’t know how much help I am in the kitchen,” Sterling admitted. “All I’m doing is trying not to burn the potatoes.”
Toby shrugged. “That’s a help because I can’t just stand here and do nothing else,” he muttered, which was obvious as he now whisked something in a big bowl, while the bacon he’d laid out started to sizzle.
“What is that?” Sterling asked, looking inside the bowl.
“Flapjacks.”
He just nodded and didn’t say anything. Flapjacks were a reasonable addition, given the number of men out here to be fed. He looked over at Timber. “You know the woman I was talking to yesterday, the one who brought all the dogs?”
Timber lifted his chin in acknowledgment. “Lindsey, yeah. What about her?”
“While we were washing dogs, she mentioned that a big horse-boarding operation is likely closing down soon. It sounds as if they specialized in older horses and quality care,” he shared.
“I was thinking their boarders have probably been paying a premium and mentioned it to Toby. He suggested maybe somebody should run in and see how their system works, see if they would be interested in recommending your place.”
Timber studied him, slowly nodding.
“You know it’s a good idea,” Toby stated.
“Yes, but they don’t even know us.”
“No, they don’t, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t willing to suggest us as another location.”
“But these people, the boarders, I wonder how often they come see their horses.”
“Doesn’t matter how often they come,” Toby pointed out. “You and I both know that it would be a good answer for bringing in more money, especially if they’re paying a premium.”
“But if they’re paying a premium, they’re expecting a premium service.”
“I know, and you probably need to talk to Tiffany about that.”
“Right.” Timber scrubbed his face with both hands. “Do you ever get the feeling,” Timber asked, as he turned to Toby, “that maybe this whole thing is growing a little too quickly?”
“No,” Toby declared. “I just think that it’s growing, and there’s no too quickly about it. It’s what you always wanted, isn’t it?”
“Yeah, but I thought I was doing this slowly, step by step, in my own time.”
“You’re doing it not-so-slowly and step-by-step in the world’s timing,” Toby clarified, with a big jovial laugh.
Sterling listened to them talk, and he saw how, for Timber, this had grown so big and so fast that he wasn’t even sure what the next step was.
Most people probably had the opposite problem, not enough growth.
Yet, as far as Toby was concerned, if they were looking for a way to bring in money, this was a prime opportunity that they could and should pursue.
They could fill the potential gap in availability caused by the closure of this other boarding operation.
Sterling had to agree with that. “I offered to go into town and talk to Lindsey about whoever is running the boarding barn,” Sterling shared with Timber. “I don’t know anybody else in town, but maybe you do.”
“I know a bunch of people,” Timber said, “but I don’t know who all they might know or what their capacity is. I don’t know if anybody would even be interested in keeping their animals here. We are a little farther out of town.”
“I think the other boarders are a bit out of town as well,” Sterling pointed out. “I was looking at the place on my phone this morning, just trying to get some idea what their deal was.”
“So, if it makes them money, why are they shutting down?” Timber asked.
“Lindsey, the gal who brought the dogs yesterday, mentioned that the two senior family members who had run it all these years have been in the hospital a lot and aren’t in a position to keep it going.
Their family members don’t seem to want to take it over, but the current owners don’t want to leave these horses high and dry. ”
“Right, that would make sense.” Timber sighed.
“I’ll tell you what. If you want to at least collect some information, go ahead, but don’t approach them about our being an alternative,” he said.
“Get the time frame of when they’re looking at closing, and figure out why for sure, not just rumors.
For all we know, it could really be a lack of interest or it’s not paying for itself.
… Then we can at least make a more informed decision. ”
“Will do,” Sterling agreed. Then he looked over at Toby. “Do you and Dwight need anything if I go into town?”
“Somebody has to go in every day for something,” Toby explained. “So, if you’re going, you could be the pickup guy for today.”
“Absolutely, though I might be a little bit slower because I don’t really know where I’m going. And I don’t have wheels.”
“Doesn’t matter. We got wheels for you.” Toby gave him a smile. “I’ll get a list together for you after breakfast.” At that point, he turned and looked at the hash browns and suggested, “I think those need flipping.”