Debbi Rawlins – Her Cowboy Reunion (страница 9)

She jumped out before he could say anything else. Or she ended up oversharing. The emotion he’d tapped into ran deep, so deep she wondered what else was buried down there.

But now wasn’t the time to start digging for insight. She saw an entrance next to a loading dock and figured it was for employees. The brisk walk and morning chill felt good as she skirted the building to get to the front entrance. Dying for some coffee and time to get back her sense of control, she forgot to check the lot for Ron. Though what did it matter if he was around or not? It didn’t help that she was still confused about why she cared what Mike Burnett thought. So he’d been nice. Mike had always been nice.

She entered the lobby. Ron wasn’t there, but a fresh pot of coffee was. And luckily, Maxine was nowhere in sight. Savannah calmly got a Styrofoam cup and poured a quick one then hurried into the elevator before someone stopped her.

Leaning against the elevator wall, she wanted to weep. This trip wasn’t turning out to be the serene and healing experience she’d imagined. After wallowing for a few seconds, she realized she hadn’t pressed the button. She straightened, hit her floor and took a fortifying sip of caffeine.

She was made of tougher stuff than this. After what Mike had told her, how could she dare think this wasn’t the road to closure? And if she encountered a few bumps along the way, she’d just put the blame on Ron. That made her feel a tiny bit better.

Chapter Five

The wind was blowing again and despite the sun shining directly overhead, the cool afternoon air kept things pleasant for Mike and Chip. Not a bad day for moving the rest of the herd to Logan Flats, where they’d have a few more weeks of grazing before winter.

Mike wished he knew when Savannah planned on leaving town. After seeing her at the bakery yesterday, he’d decided it would be best not to run into her again, what with her getting all jittery around him. Though he couldn’t help wondering why she’d want to come back to Blackfoot Falls.

It couldn’t be nostalgia. And he knew for a fact it had nothing to do with the cabin and land she and her mom had left behind. The bank had owned the property for years. The shabby two-bedroom cabin had never been worth much, but the seventy acres it sat on butted up to Burnett land. At one point he and his dad had considered buying the whole thing. Now, for some reason, Mike was glad they hadn’t.

“Dammit.” Chip must’ve jumped five feet. “Why the hell did you let him go? I almost injected myself.”

Watching the calf plow past Chip, Mike swore under his breath. The little guy headed straight to his mother. They’d have to catch him again. Cool nights and warm days had produced four sick calves. They all needed antibiotics and to be put in a pen to heal. “Sorry.”

“Where’s your head at? You’ve been acting weird all week.”

More like two days, but he didn’t correct the kid. Mike shaded his eyes and checked to see if Bill and his brother had made it to the mouth of Sunrise Canyon yet. He’d hired the pair to help gather the rest of the cattle that hadn’t been relocated yet. Another day and they’d be done rounding up the heifers. He radioed Bill to ask for their head count.

Just over three hundred.

They were almost finished.

“Helluva job, guys. Meet me back at the house by six. I have cash for you.” He clicked off. “Thanks for recommending them. They’re good workers.”

“Yeah, they’re pretty quick for a couple of old dudes.”

“Shut up,” Mike said, laughing. “They’re in their forties.”

“Yeah, I know.” Chip grinned. “What are they...about seven years older than you?”

“And here I was going to ask if you’d like to work here full-time.”

Chip’s brows shot up. “Are you serious?”

“Not anymore.”

“Come on. You know I was just joking.”

“I was thinking you could start in about a month?”

“Sounds good to me, but isn’t that sucky timing? Will you have enough work for me all winter?”

“Yep. I got a lot to do, so you’ll be taking over some of my daily chores.” Mike stepped back after they treated the last calf. He’d asked his dad last night about making Chip full-time, and just as Mike knew he would, his dad told him to make the call. “Look, I know you do other odd jobs here and there and if you want to continue, we can work your schedule around them.”

“Thanks, Mike.” Chip carefully stowed the meds in the metal box. “Actually, I wouldn’t mind letting most of those jobs go. Let a high-school kid take ’em. Some of the older folks around here are just plain cheap.”

Mike smiled. Most of them were on fixed incomes. He’d never minded doing work for any of the old-timers. They hadn’t tried to take advantage. “As for which days you work, I’m flexible. Although I need you to do the morning feeding at least three days a week.”

“Hell, I live close. I can do it every morning if you want.”

“After a night of pool and beer?”

Frowning, Chip scratched the side of his head. “Okay, I might’ve jumped the gun...”

Mike laughed. “We’ll work it out.”

“Hey, you want to go to the Full Moon again?”

Mike knew he should say no. Savannah could have left already. But he had no way of knowing, so there was only one answer.

Chip blotted his sweaty forehead with his sleeve. “Maybe that cute blonde is still around and you’ll get lucky.”

“What blonde?”

Snorting a laugh, Chip said, “What blonde? The one you were eyeing every chance you got.”

“I thought she looked familiar, that’s all.”

“Right. Uh-huh.”

Mike shook his head. “If you’d been paying more attention to the game instead of me, maybe I wouldn’t have beaten the pants off you.”

That wiped the smirk off Chip’s face. “Okay, okay.”

“Twice.”

“Hey, I almost had you the second time.”

“And yet...” Mike’s attention was drawn to the silver sedan traveling south on the county road.

Chip turned just as the car passed. “Who’s that?”

“I don’t know.”

“Probably tourists. They’re always getting lost looking for old movie sets. Last month I found a carload of them stuck near the creek.”

The ill-kept gravel road was almost a quarter of a mile away, but Mike thought Savannah might have been behind the wheel. The sedan looked a lot like the one she’d been trying to avoid yesterday.

He headed for the cottonwood where he’d tethered Dude. “Nobody has any business down here,” Mike said, grabbing the reins. “I’m going to go check.”

“Want me to go?”

“I’ve got it. Probably just a tourist, like you said. You might as well head back.”

Mike rode straight toward the Rileys’ old cabin. Though she could be headed for the creek, he’d start with the cabin first.

Without a clear trail, the area thick with lodgepole pines and overgrown brush, it took him twenty minutes when it should’ve taken ten, and for all he knew, she was already gone, but once he’d made it to a small clearing, he thought he heard a faint bleat. Slowing Dude to a walk, Mike listened. It was a stray calf, all right. As he dismounted he heard another bleat.

After pushing his way through a thicket of gnarly sage and scaring a grouse, he saw the little fellow, exhausted and wobbling under a small cottonwood. The calf was clearly a late arrival and a runt, probably only a week old. Odd that he’d gotten separated from his mother. He didn’t belong to Mike, but it wasn’t uncommon for The Rocking J cattle that grazed on public land to stray in with his herd.

Damn, he wished he’d brought the ATV.

Mike doubted the mother was around, since she hadn’t responded to the bleating. But he remained perfectly still, trying to listen for her. After a few minutes, he phoned Chip, who hadn’t seen any men from The Rocking J. But he agreed to look for their number on Mike’s desk and give them a call.

Mike disconnected and inched closer. The calf barely made a sound. And when Mike scooped him up, he didn’t struggle.

“I bet you’re scared, aren’t you, buddy? Let’s see what we can do about that.” Dude wouldn’t be happy about giving the calf a ride, but too bad. It wasn’t going to be easy for Mike either.

All legs, weak and panting, the calf allowed himself to be laid on his belly over the saddle. Dude shifted nervously and his ears went back, but Mike soothed him until the gelding finally settled. Mounting was tricky, but he managed to plant himself in the saddle and then wrap the calf’s legs around his middle so he could hold on to the little guy.

A low bellow sounded from the direction of the creek, a popular spot for stragglers. He headed toward it. That bellow was from a bull, and not one of his, but the calf’s mother might be somewhere close to the bull.

Luckily, the creek wasn’t far, but he kept Dude at a slow pace, making sure the little one didn’t get jostled too much. The calf hadn’t moved much since his first two kicks, which wasn’t a good sign. Probably dehydrated. And Mike still hadn’t heard the high-pitched call of a momma who couldn’t find her calf.

As it turned out, the silver sedan was parked on the side of the trail that led to the creek, but Mike couldn’t spare it any attention. His focus was on the calf, and he’d given Dude his head knowing he’d follow the scent of the water.

Then something occurred to Mike. “Hey, no swimming today,” he said, leaning down to stroke the gelding’s neck. “You got that?” The horse ignored him and picked up speed. “I mean it, Dude.”