Total pages in book: 84
Estimated words: 80940 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 405(@200wpm)___ 324(@250wpm)___ 270(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 80940 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 405(@200wpm)___ 324(@250wpm)___ 270(@300wpm)
I rubbed at my temples and sighed.
“Is everything okay, Boss?” Howdy asked, a concerned look on his face. “You’re somewhere else this afternoon.”
I exchanged a look with Bubba, and then Billy, before I laughed. “Yeah, sorry.”
“You know what you need?” Larson asked.
I exhaled, knowing what was going to come out of his mouth. He was an amazing cowboy, could ride a horse backward with both hands tied behind his back and his eyes closed, but he was obsessed with sex.
“What do I need, Larson?”
He flashed me that boyish grin. “You need to find a nice warm body to fall into bed with.”
“That is the last thing I need, but thanks for the advice. I’ve just got a lot going on right now.”
Billy frowned. As the foreman, he knew everything there was to know about the ranch. If he thought I wasn’t telling him something, he’d think I didn’t trust him.
I sighed. “I guess you could say it’s woman trouble.”
Bubba’s brows shot up.
“You dating?” Jimmy asked, shocked.
“No, nothing like that. A friend of mine is going through some stuff, and she asked me for advice.”
Billy frowned. “Anyone we know?”
“Nah, she’s not from here.”
Howdy, who was a master at keeping all of our ranch equipment up and running, leered. “Old college flame?”
All I did was smile, and that was enough for this group. They let it go.
“Do we have the breeding schedule finished yet?” I asked Larson.
“Almost. I’d really like to breed Lonestar with Mitch Tanner’s stallion, Louie the First. That horse has some good blood running through him. The problem is, he won’t take any of my calls.”
I nodded and jotted a reminder in the notebook I had open in front of me. “I’ll give him a call; he’ll talk to me about it.”
Larson replied, “I hope so. I’m not sure what’s going on with him or why he’s being so stubborn. From what I heard, he’s not even letting anyone on his property these last few weeks.”
Bubba and I exchanged a look as I asked, “Is that so. You know why?”
“Not sure. Something’s going on with him, though,” Larson said.
“Maybe I’ll head on over there later today or tomorrow,” I said, writing down another note to inform Randy of this new bit of information tonight at dinner.
“Good luck. I’d like to get the schedule done and off my plate.”
I jumped when a loud boom suddenly shook the entire barn.
“Shit!” Billy said as he placed a hand over his heart. “I think that hit something close by.”
“This storm is going to cause some downed trees; tomorrow morning, eight a.m., we’ll check the fence lines. If it’s not too muddy, use the four-wheelers. I’ll check the west line myself and get a head count of the cattle in the far west pasture. What was the head count there as of last week?”
Billy turned a few pages in his own notebook. “Seventy-two last count in that pasture.”
I wrote down the number. “I’ll let you five divvy up the rest of the ranch. Billy, I want you to look into getting the old original barn torn down.”
In my periphery, I saw his head jerk up in surprise. “Torn down?”
Without looking at him, I acted as if I was reading something in my notes.
“Boss, did I hear you right? Did you say tear it down? The old barn? The original one?”
“Well, I hope he doesn’t mean this one!” Howdy said, laughing at his own joke.
Glancing up, I met Billy’s eyes. “Yes, the old barn. I stumbled upon it a few days ago and it’s clear the whole thing is ready to collapse. The last thing I want is for some local teenagers to find it and do God knows what, getting injured on my land. It hasn’t been used since my grandfather was running this place. It’s about to fall, so let’s just help it along. There’s a company in Missoula that uses old barnwood for projects. Get with them as soon as you can and see about them coming out to take a look at the wood. They might want to tear it down themselves, which is fine by me. Saves me the cost.”
Now all five of them were staring at me.
“What?”
“How in the heck do you know about a company that uses old barnwood for projects?”
Tossing my pen onto the notebook, I said, “Julie. The breeder in Missoula? She mentioned it. They’re called Recycle Me Wood, or something like that.”
“Right, Julie,” Bubba said with a slight laugh. “The breeder.”
I stood, my chair sliding across the wood floor. “I’ve got some paperwork to do, so I’ll be at the house the rest of the day. Good day for it, with the weather like this. Text or call if someone needs anything.”
They all nodded.
As I headed toward the door, Billy grabbed my arm. “Can we talk for a minute in my office?”