Chapter 6
JAKE
“Now don’t get used to me coming every morning and doing half of your work,” Layne Marten said as he moved past me to set down another bale in the manger.
When Layne pulled up this morning to drop off a load of hay, he found me feeding cows and decided to lend a hand.
We had logged countless hours feeding cattle, fixing fences, and milking cows together, and having him here reminded me of days I missed.
“It’s just the first day of the season. I came to make sure those muscles aren’t just for show,” he went on, cutting the strings off his bale before kicking it to the cows, grunting in happiness.
“Half my work? You wish, old man.”
“You’ve gone soft since you last worked for me.”
“I’ve done at least four bales already. Is that just your first?” I goaded, hefting another bale to the manger.
“I did four before you’d had your breakfast this morning.”
I laughed as we delivered a back-and-forth reminiscent of my time working for him for all those years. When I noticed him picking up his pace, I did as well, hefting another bale of hay into the manger.
“Go faster, Daddy!” came Sophie’s voice from where she clung to my back, her legs around my waist and her arms wrapped around my neck like a vise.
“And wearing that cute kid doesn’t count against you. You’re not even thirty yet. When I was your age, I was practically hauling one-ton bales by brute strength.”
I laughed, leaning forward to scoot Sophie farther up my back.
“We’ll feed the cows a little lighter this morning, so around noon, you can show whatever guests have arrived by then how to feed them and let them try their hand at it. Give them a pitchfork. They’ll love it.”
“Is this why you bought the dude ranch? So you can have people pay you to do your chores?”
He grinned. “I’ve gotten a lot smarter in my older years.”
Layne was the hardest worker I’d ever known. I’d never tell him that to his face, but I had no doubt that at sixty years old, he could outwork me any day of the week.
When we finished feeding, Layne enticed Sophie off my back for a minute, promising to show her the new horse in the barn. I followed behind them, appreciating my daughter’s comfortable chatter with Layne.
For a moment, I felt at peace. Happy, even. It was a strange feeling after the year I’d had, which would explain why, for a split second, my guard was down. My phone buzzed in my pocket, and without thinking or even checking the ID, I answered it.
There was silence. I was about to hang up when a deep and familiar voice came through the other end.
“Uh…Jake?”
Immediately, my finger disconnected the call. It was almost second nature. He’d been calling more frequently the past couple of years, but I didn’t care. I kept meaning to block his number but hadn’t gotten around to it yet.
We entered the red barn located directly across the sprawling lawn from the lodge.
The smell of fresh hay and manure greeted us, along with two rows of stalls, each filled with horses.
On either end of the dual, sliding barn doors were stacks of hay, grain, and a tack room for saddles.
In the summertime, most of the cattle grazed in the mountains surrounding the ranch.
But we kept about twenty-five head of cattle in the corrals and kept hay stocked for the guests to try their hand at feeding.
“Who’s coming this week?” I asked Layne.
“It’s a family reunion. There should be around twenty people or so, including kids.”
I nodded, tossing a handful of hay into my horse, Jimmy’s, stall before reaching in to give him a pat.
“What’s your plan with the guests for today?” Layne asked.
“I just figured I’d teach them some roping this afternoon. I’ve got a few calf dummies they can practice with. Tomorrow, we’ll go fly fishing.”
“Is Shelby going with you?”
My jaw tightened at the mention of her name.
We hadn’t talked since last night. I had been about to step out of the cabin with Sophie when I saw Shelby leave to go on a run this morning—if the skimpy shorts and tank top meant anything.
I couldn’t be sure, though, because I stayed inside until I knew she was gone.
I knew she’d been disappointed when I turned her down last night.
But dating was so far off my radar that it was laughable.
She’d be fine. She just needed to relax.
“Yeah, she’ll be there.”
“I’m glad. She’ll be good for you.”
I bit my bottom lip as I ignored his pointed stare, instantly uncomfortable.
“Yeah, it will be nice to have somebody to boss around and make do all the dirty work.”
Layne’s eyebrows raised. “I’d like to see you try and boss that girl around. Just to see what happens.”
I laughed, waiting for him to leave, and was surprised when he still stood there, rubbing at his neck.
“Listen, for what it’s worth, I’m sorry about Miranda.”
My body tensed at her name, but I kept focused on feeding the horses.
“Thanks.”
Again, I expected him to leave and was surprised when he didn’t. Though Layne and I had had many heart-to-hearts in our time together, he was usually quick and not one to prolong both of our awkward pain.
“Did you know I was married before Peggy?”
That made me stop and turn to face him, leaning on my pitchfork. “You were?”
He breathed out a laugh. “Yeah. Not many people know. We were only married four months when I realized it wasn’t going to work.
But when it was done, I had sworn off women.
And then one day, a cute girl named Peggy walked into the DMV to get her license renewed at the same time as me.
And all my determination to stay away flew out the window.
I chose wrong the first time. The second time, it saved my life. ”
He was looking at me a little too earnestly for my taste.
“That’s kind of heavy talk for the stables.”
He smiled and tugged on his cowboy hat. “I know. It might not be today. Or even in ten years. But sometimes, in life, there will be moments that have the power to change your life’s trajectory in one glance. It can happen anytime and anywhere. So when it happens to you, don’t be an idiot.”
He left a few minutes later, taking Sophie with him.
He was going to drop her off at his daughter, Kelsey’s, house on his way out.
I told him thanks and gave Soph a hug, but then I busied myself with grooming the horses.
The ranch currently housed ten horses used for guests on trail rides as well as for me, Cade, and Logan to become cowboys, checking the cattle in the mountains every so often.
I was grateful to be here. But as I watched Layne give my daughter a piggyback ride to his truck, I appreciated the support I had here, at the same time, resenting the fact that I was so dependent on others.
In a few years, Sophie would be old enough that she’d be able to hang out with me, but at four years old, she was too young.
I finished in the barn and stepped out into the sunshine only to see Shelby in short shorts and a top that showed off her curves and her hair running the length of her back.
She had a camera in her hand, pointed toward the barn.
Toward me. Instantly, I stepped back inside the barn to get out of her shot when she called out.
“No! Stay there. That was perfect. Wait. Where’s your hat?”
I grabbed it off a hay bale I’d tossed it onto earlier when I’d gotten too warm and plopped it back on my head. Tentatively, I poked my head around the open barn doors.
“What do you want, Creep?” I called.
“Come out and lean against the barn door.”
“You’re not paying me enough for this!” I called out, talking a big game before doing what she asked.
She squinted at the back of the camera before looking up at me. “Are you married to the idea of your shirt staying buttoned?”
I glanced down at my gray button-down, already sweat-laden and dusty from my morning chores.
If it were just me, I would love nothing more than to take it off—most of the time, shirts were little more than torture devices, but I pushed down the warmth spreading inside at her words.
Had it been that long since a woman flirted with me?
Except, she wasn’t a woman. She was Shelby.
She didn’t even know she was doing it, which made my bodily reaction even worse.
“What kind of photoshoot are you running, Tuck?” I asked. “This is a family-friendly dude ranch.”
“They said I needed pictures good enough to sell.” She threw me a smile, a tiny dimple forming in her cheek as she did so. I decided I’d had enough pictures.
“I’ll take mine off when you do,” I said, bumping into her as I passed, enjoying the embarrassed flush filling her cheeks. Served her right.
We spent the rest of the morning not talking about last night, mingling, and greeting guests as they arrived.
It was indeed a family reunion. There were one or two toddlers, but mostly the family was filled with teens and young adults.
Later that afternoon, I could sense some restlessness in the teens and got out my ropes to teach them some tricks and tried to pretend this was just a job and not the best day I’d had of “work” in a long time.
“Daddy, is this a weed?”
I wiped the sweat off my forehead before glancing down to where Sophie was patting the dirt in my mom’s flower bed.
“Yeah, you can pull it. Then put this little guy in its place.”