Chapter 16
KAT
After a number of weeks with only Tony to help her, Kat had gotten used to getting up two hours earlier than she used to.
She had to do physical labor around the ranch as well as budgeting and creating social media posts.
Her habit of editing extra posts before she got started and scheduling posts so she had a little leeway for times like these was definitely coming in handy. But her leeway wouldn’t last forever.
At some point, she would have to make the actual ad posts—those that made it clear this was a hospitality ranch.
For now, she was busy gaining a following for her cute baby animal videos and rescue videos.
She incorporated some renovations in them but was saving the guest cabin renovations for later.
Either way, it was time for her to start interviewing potential new hands.
Poor Tony had taken on too much, and if she was honest with herself, so had she.
Today was her fourth interview. The others had all been a bit disastrous.
One was too old, and one was far too young.
One had no experience whatsoever, and the other one’s background check had come back with a couple red flags.
No one could ever claim she didn’t learn from her past mistakes.
Hiring a ranch hand was easy. Hiring a good ranch hand was a lot harder than she had expected.
Today’s interview was with someone named Charlie.
She got her kitchen table ready with drinks, cookies and a notepad with the appropriate questions to ask.
Like always, she was organized, detailed, meticulous.
She found Tony tending to the two old goats.
“My next interview is in an hour,” she told him.
“Do you need help with anything before then?”
“I’ve got things handled here,” he said, pulling the plug on the first trough. The greenish water drained away and formed a little river in the dirt.
“Do you need me to scrub that when it’s drained? I do have a free hour.” Just imagining him bent over the trough, scrubbing the bottom of it, had her back twinging in sympathetic pain.
“Well, I’m not gonna stop ya,” he said. So, Kat went and collected the hose and scrub brush while Tony moved on to the next trough. “You got another interview today, huh?” he asked. “Any hope for this one?”
Kat lifted her head out of the trough for one second to answer. “There’s always hope for all of them.”
“That’s the spirit,” Tony said with a grin. “Never give up.”
“You know me. I don’t know the meaning of the words.”
Tony chuckled and pulled the plug on the next trough. “What will you do if this candidate’s a dud? You gonna ask your brothers for help?”
“Only if you need me to,” she said.
Tony shook his head. “If you’re good, I’m good. You know, toward the end there, your Uncle Roy wasn’t doing much in the way of physical labor. He took it a little easier because of his heart, and it was just him and me. With you around, it’s like a vacation.”
“That’s a straight lie, and you know it,” Kat said, still deep in the trough. “But I appreciate it. And I appreciate your guidance, too. Seriously, Tony. Thank you for sticking around.”
“It’s been my pleasure,” he said. “And in case you’re worried about that interview today, don’t be. That Cole character taught you quite a bit, and you learned fast. You’re a good rancher.” He nodded to emphasize his conclusion. “You can afford to be picky this time. Trust me.”
Kat finished scrubbing and rinsing the trough with a lighter heart.
In all the time that she’d gotten to know Tony recently, she could tell one thing about him in particular.
He was a terrible liar. Right now, she could tell he was being honest, and the fact that a person with as much experience as he had believed in her meant the world to her.
If he believed in her, maybe she could believe in herself again.
On the way to the interview, she talked herself up.
“That’s right. I’m not the type to let one sour relationship ruin an entire business venture.
I’ll show all of them what I’m capable of, Cole included, and then he’ll regret running out on me.
He’ll regret doubting that I could handle a situation like his.
Because I can handle anything.” She straightened her spine, adjusted her posture, and marched faster. “I can handle anything.”
The person she was supposed to interview was already standing on her front porch.
Much to Kat’s surprise, Charlie was a young woman, exceptionally tall, physically intimidating.
Kat made a mental note that she didn’t even need to ask whether the girl could lift full bags of feed.
That, and she’d clearly shown up early. Points in her favor straight off the bat.
“Hello.” Kat offered her hand. “I’m Katherine Naylor. You can call me Kat.”
Charlie took her hand and gave her a firm shake. “Charlie works for me.”
The interview went better than Kat could have predicted.
Charlie had loads of experience. Her own family owned a ranch two towns over, and Charlie had been working it for as long as she could remember.
She was unusually comfortable around horses, in particular, her family’s ranch being a horse ranch.
She was perfect in almost every way, and Kat had already decided that if her background check came out clean, she was as good as hired.
Then she got to availability. “I can start in about six weeks,” Charlie said. “When school’s out.”
Kat’s inner optimism crumbled at her feet.
She needed someone before that. Didn’t she?
But this girl was perfect, and it felt like Kat had already interviewed every other eligible candidate in town.
This was going to be scary, but Tony’s words had given her the courage she needed.
“Well,” she said, “I was hoping for someone a little sooner than that. But as far as I can tell, you’re pretty much perfect for the job.
So, here’s the deal. Unless something shocking comes up in your background check, you’ve got the job.
I’ll call as soon as I know for sure, but you can pretty much count on it at this point. Does that sound like a plan?”
“Yes!” Charlie failed to hide how thrilled she was to have the job. “I mean, thank you. I mean, you won’t regret it, boss.”
“It’s OK to call me Kat,” Kat said, shaking the girl’s hand again. “And I know I won’t regret it. I’m going to need a horse expert around here since I plan to get a couple more horses.”
They stood, and Kat walked Charlie back to her car. Charlie got talkative on the way. “I’ve been following you on social media,” she said. “So I kind of already know the horses you have. I think it’s great what you’re doing here, and I’m so excited to be part of it.”
Kat burst out laughing when she heard that. “Now, why didn’t you say any of that in the interview? That would have been the perfect way to ingratiate yourself with me.”
Charlie shook her head. “I wanted to get the job on my merits. And I wanted to offer a bit of a suggestion, if you don’t mind.”
“I never mind suggestions from my people,” Kat said. “We’re going to be a team. More ideas are a good thing.”
“I can already tell you’re going to be a stellar boss,” Charlie said with a grin. “Well, I was going to suggest you look into possibly getting a donkey on the property.”
“A donkey?” Kat tilted her head to one side. “Why?”
“In my experience, they’re popular with kids who are scared of horses. They’re smaller, less intimidating, and great with children. If you find one with a gentle personality, you can offer rides to kids who are too small for horses.”
It wasn’t bad advice, Kat thought, something worth thinking about at the very least. “I’ll take that into consideration,” she said. “And I’m guessing I’ll see you in six weeks.”
Charlie looked like she was holding in a massive celebration, like she wanted to scream like a teenager and bounce up and down. “Thank you, boss! I mean, Kat. Thank you so much. I think I’m going to love working here.”
There was something so satisfying about making someone feel so good. Delivering good news was Kat’s favorite thing to do. She wished there was a job that was just like that all the time. More and more, she was feeling optimistic about her future and the future of her ranch.
She quickly found Tony and told him the news. “I think she’s going to be awesome.”
“I’m glad,” Tony said. “You’re due for a win or two.”
“And she recommended we look into a donkey for the smaller kids who are scared of horses. What do you think of that advice?”
He sat down on a hay bale and wiped the sweat from his forehead with a bandana he had tucked away in the center pocket of his overalls. “Well, it sounds like decent advice if we can find the right animal. It’ll need the right personality, but I can think of a few places we might check out.”
“I think she’s going to be perfect.” Kat sat next to him.
Oddly, she felt about as tired as he looked.
She hadn’t done a lot of physical work that day.
Most of it had been administrative stuff, but she felt like she’d just painted a coat on one of the guest cabins all by herself.
It was probably the stress of holding yet another interview and worrying it wasn’t going to work out.
“The only problem is that she isn’t available for another six weeks.
I’m not sure if I should try to find someone else. ”
She told Tony this to give him the chance to offer his input.
He was the only one who knew how much he could tackle without re-injuring his back.
But he was too proud to bring it up in complaint.
She figured he would find it easier to advise her on hiring than complain about his back.
However subtle she thought she was being, though, it was apparently not subtle enough.
“Don’t you worry about me, kid,” he said. “If you can handle it, I can handle it, remember? Sounds like you found the perfect hand. Six weeks of a little hard work will be well worth it.”
Kat took a deep breath and gathered her courage. “All right. Let’s do it. By the way, can you get like a pre-purchase inspection for a donkey?”
He laughed. “A pre-purchase exam, you mean? That’s a good idea. I’ll call around.”
Kat went to meet the vet and the donkey on a Tuesday. The sellers had a very nice setup compared to some of the places she’d visited, and the donkey was a delightful creature.
“Her name’s Dolly,” the seller said.
“Cute.” Kat patted the young donkey on the nose. “The kids will love her.” She was a chocolate brown animal with a soft coat and a gentle disposition. “She’s perfect,” Kat concluded, patting Dolly on the nose. “Let me confer with my partner first.”
Tony was waiting back at his truck, still chatting with the vet who had come to do the pre-purchase exam, when Kat walked up. “So, how is she?” she asked.
“Looks good,” the vet answered. “I’d feel comfortable with the purchase, especially if she’s going to be working with kids. She was quite patient with the exam, and sometimes, you know, they aren’t.”
“Perfect.” Kat reached out to shake the veterinarian’s hand. “Thank you so much for making it out here today, doc.”
“Call me any time.”
As he walked away, Kat pulled out her checkbook. “I’m going to purchase her now, so no one else gets to her first.”
Tony nodded and sat down in his truck with the door propped open.
Kat leaned over the hood to write her check and paused.
She suddenly felt dizzy and then nauseated.
It had been unseasonably warm that day, so perhaps she hadn’t had enough water.
Either way, she felt awful. She tried to push through it to no avail.
Finally, she was forced to run from the truck to the bushes bordering the property to throw up.
By the time she was finished, Tony was already walking toward her. “You OK? You’re white as a sheet.”
“It’s nothing,” Kat assured him. “I probably ate something that had gone off. I feel much better now that I’ve gotten it out. Honest.”
It was true. She did feel better now. She returned to the truck to finish writing the check and give it to the seller.
She patted Dolly one more time and told her, “See you soon, little one,” before leaving the ranch.
Not even a stomach bug could ruin her good mood, which was clear evidence of how much she had grown since she first came back to her hometown and inherited her uncle’s ranch.
So many times she’d felt like a stranger in her own town.
Even in Houston, she’d felt like she didn’t belong.
She was some kind of in-between person, a city girl and a country girl, wanting to live in both worlds at once, waffling between the two like an indecisive child.
Who could have predicted she’d finally find a way to embrace both lifestyles?
The ranch was her country life, her outdoor, slower-paced, hard-working life.
And her social media campaign brought the city back into her world.
The people and the faster pace, that feeling of endless possibilities, were all in the palm of her hand.
Truly, she had stumbled onto something perfect, and finally, she felt like she might have found a real home.
She would never complain that she didn’t belong ever again, not as long as she had this under her belt.
This was where she was meant to be. She could feel it deep down in her bones.
The drive back to the ranch was not only a drive back to the ranch. She was driving back home.