Jake laughed. He knew exactly what she meant by that. His bank account was currently his worst enemy, but he might as well enjoy one meal with an attractive woman if his days were numbered.
“Are you free tomorrow night?” he asked.
It might be the last night he had of peace. After that, who knows what his life might be like if he still had one. It was better that she just wanted to keep it friendly. Despite his attraction to her, it was best for both of him. Still, just the company of a female would be nice.
“Tomorrow night is great,” she told him.
“I’ll pick you up at seven then?”
“Sounds perfect. Let me get going. I’ve got a full day today, and I’m sure you do too.”
“Yes, but I have something to look forward to now, at least.”
“Likewise. I’ll see you tomorrow night then,” she said.
“You will,” he replied as he opened the front door and she walked back out onto the porch.
Jake closed the door. Looking down at Apollo, who now stood by his side wagging his tail, he smiled.
“If I had a tail, I’d wag it too,” he told him before walking back to his room.
The rest of the day went fairly well, with just the usual ranch activities. He finished up the day with another shower to get the dust knocked off before making a light dinner of sautéed vegetables and a bit of chicken. It was bland as meals went, but he wasn’t much of a cook and couldn’t be bothered with seasoning beyond the basics of salt and pepper.
Bedtime came early, a result of having awakened before daybreak and dragged through his normal chores. There was a rumble of thunder, so Apollo had jumped up and was laying at the foot of the bed, not Jake’s usual sleep preference. But thunder was something that neither of them did well. It would be a sleepless night spent curled up together for comfort. Jake couldn’t help but think how sad that must seem to someone on the outside looking in. It felt pretty damned sad from his side too.
At first, the storm seemed to shift and die off. Perhaps there wouldn’t be anything to worry about, after all. He drifted off to sleep with Apollo still lying next to his legs on the bed. Then, in the early morning, the storm began again. The ominous clap of thunder could be heard in the distance. Bright streaks of light filled the windows as lightning crashed. Apollo crept closer to him, laying his head on his chest and whimpering.
Jake’s heart raced, his anxiety raged with the storm. Every loud crash, every massive thud of power from outside the window caused them to cling to one another. Jake could still remember when he loved listening to storms. Now, they just took him back to a place that filled him with anxiety to the point of being unable to function. Not many would believe that a big, mighty former army ranger would be scared of a storm, but they hadn’t been in his shoes. Most of them could never comprehend the way war affected those who had experienced it.
The storm finally subsided, giving way to the daylight. It was Saturday and Tucker would be tending the ranch while Jake had a day off. Tomorrow, Tucker would be off while Jake handled things here. Exhausted, he rolled over in bed and tried to get a few more hours sleep. Apollo was gone, off to explore what the weather might have scared up for him to examine. Though the backyard was fenced in, he had a spot that he had dug out to slip through. His escape from the house was easy enough to make out the dog door in the kitchen and under the fence.
Jake settled in and fell asleep, a much-needed rest that he felt he hadn’t gotten for days on end. It was thankfully dreamless, and he woke up feeling much more rested than he could have hoped for. Glancing at the bedside table, he saw that it was nearly noon.
“Jesus,” he muttered aloud.
Everything was downhill after that. Jake was pretty sure that it was internationally understood that if you got up after eleven o’clock, your day was lost. There was nothing to do but vegetate, and that is pretty much what he intended to do after he went out to check on Tucker and Tamara. He tossed on some clean clothes and made his way to the barn to find Tucker finishing up with the containers and hoses of the milking system laying to one side. It was pretty much automated once you got the dairy cows into place.
“We good in here, Tucker?” he asked.
“Right as rain, boss,” Tucker replied, glancing back at him and looking him over. “Bottom of the clothes pile already?”
Jake looked down at himself, taking in the sad state his jeans and t-shirt were in. They looked as if they had been wadded up into a ball for a few days and then just stuck on to wear. He laughed and shrugged a bit before walking back to the other side of the large enclosure to the inner stalls where Tamara stood. Pulling the latch, he stood back and looked at her.
“Are you bored yet, sweetheart?” he asked. She whinnied at him as if to answer that she was, making him laugh and lean forward to nuzzle her a bit. She shook her head against him, eager for more, but he couldn’t stay with her today. He had some things he wanted to try to get done before his date tonight. “Soon, my pretty girl. We’ll maybe take a walk in a few days and see how you move.”Closing her back in her stall, he called out to Tucker to say he was going back to the house and received a grunt in acknowledgment.
After Jake stepped inside, he gathered a few pairs of pants and some shirts and put them in the washing machine. It took him a moment or two to find the settings, but he finally did. Picking up his cell phone, he called his maid and cut her loose. He hated to lose her, but he had to cut corners where he could and even the small fee she charged him for coming in and doing a light cleaning, laundry and putting together a few freezer meals for him was money he could put toward his debt.
Next, he went through his invoices for the horses he boarded. Many on the ranch didn’t belong to him. Some were there to be broken, purchased by owners who wanted a horse but had no idea how to train it. Others were being boarded by people who were away or had no accommodations of their own in a separate boarding stable. Only Tamara and two other horses belonging to the ranch were housed in the smaller stables within the large dairy barn up closer to the ranch house.
Going down the list, he found six owners who were more than two months behind on their payments. Whether it was an oversight or just flat out non-payment, he couldn’t be sure. He was not usually one to bicker with them about their charges and most paid in at least a quarterly fashion, despite being due monthly. He could no longer afford just to let them pay when they felt like it. He was in a predicament that only money could cure.
He took a deep breath and then let it out as he called each of them personally to request payment in full. There were excuses galore, but he stood his ground, even telling one that if she didn’t pay her fees, which were now almost four months past due, he would have to follow through on the portion of their contract that involved him taking ownership or her gelding and selling it to recoup his losses.
When Jake was done, he had managed to get three electronic payments, a promise that a check would be dropped in the mail by the same day and two assurances that it would be paid as soon as the banks opened on Monday. He had made progress. Jake went back through the list to find the lesser offenders and created reminder notices to email all but one, who didn’t have email. He would have to toss his in the mailbox before the mailman arrived later in the day.
It wasn’t nearly enough to cover what he needed to pay Kessler, but it was a start. Hopefully, the milk payment would come at the beginning of the week, and that would cover the difference, at least for this payment. The problem was that he was behind and another would be due two weeks after that. He couldn’t keep robbing every profit from the farm to pay his debt. He also had employees to pay. The ranch was in need of repairs, and he was stretching his small crew too thin as it was.
The thought of repairs brought his mind back to Randy. He groaned as he realized that he had been so self-absorbed in his own problems that he had not even called to check on him. Picking the phone up again, he started to call the hospital, but decided against it and walked out to see Tucker ins
tead.
“Hey Tucker, you almost done here?” he asked.
“Yeah. Milk pickup just left, so I need to get the cattle back out to pasture.”
“How about I help, and then we take a little drive?”
“Drive? To where?”
Jake rubbed the back of his neck and said, “The hospital.”
“Are you sick?” Tucker asked, a look of concern on his face.
“No. I want to go check on that kid, Randy. Have you heard from him?”
“Yeah. Shannon called me. The leg is fine, just torn up. I was going to talk to you about him on Monday.”
“Is he still in the hospital?”
“As far as I know. Shannon said he would be there for a few days. Randy lost a lot of blood and is still a bit weak.”
“I’m going to go check on him personally. I feel bad that we brought the kid out here to do a little weekend work and damn near maimed him.” Jake replied.
Tucker shook his head. “No, Randy maimed himself. It was carelessness that landed him in the hospital. I asked him if he knew how to handle a chainsaw and he told me it was no problem. The kid had barely started to use it when he decided to take out his own leg.”
“May well be, but I still feel responsible. If you have the time to go with me, that’s great. If not, I’ll head up on my own.”
“Nah, I’ll go with you. I brought him out here. The least I can do is go check on him.”
“Alright, let’s get going then or did you want to clean up a bit?” Jake asked.
“I’m not too bad. We can go like I am,” Tucker answered.
“Alright, let’s get on our way then. I have plans later.”
“Plans, huh?”
“What sort of plans? They wouldn’t have anything to do with the new vet, would they?” Tucker stopped and turned to face Jake.
“What makes you say that?”
“I’ve seen you looking at her, checking her out.”
“Way out of my league,” Jake replied.
He wasn’t going to admit his plans were with her. He didn’t want Tucker asking him about it later on, especially since it was just a friendly gathering. He had always preferred to keep his personal life as private as possible, even from Tucker, though he felt more like a brother than an employee and friend.
“Don’t sell yourself short,” Tucker told him as they got on their way.
Jake steeled himself as they pulled into the hospital a bit later. It was the same place where he had said his goodbyes to his father on a night that didn’t seem like all that long ago. Walking through the bright lights that lead from the large double doors to the information desk seemed to zap all of his energy. Tucker asked for the boy’s room, and they made their way there. Jake would rather be anywhere else.
“Randy, how are you making it?” Tucker asked as they walked in.
Jake looked around to see that there were dozens of cards, flowers, and balloons around the room from well-wishers. He caught sight of an older man sitting to one side and introduced himself.
“Hello. Jake Morrow. Are you Randy’s father?”
“Yes,” the man replied coolly. It was a bad sign.
“It’s nice to meet you,” Jake continued.
“Wish I could say the same,” the man said sourly.
“Dad! I told you that this wasn’t their fault. It was me that screwed up, not them.”
“They are the adults. You shouldn’t have been operating a chainsaw,” the man said angrily.
“That’s my fault,” Tucker told him. “I thought he could handle it.”
“Obviously, you were wrong, weren’t you?” the man snapped back.
“Dad! You’re embarrassing me!” Randy complained.
“You’re going to be more embarrassed when I have to sell your car to pay your medical bills,” his Dad responded.
“No, Mister . . . I’m sorry. I don’t know your last name,” Jake said.
“Graves, Digger Graves.”
Jake was silent for a moment. Surely, he was shitting him with that name. He turned slightly and looked at Tucker who nodded his head up and down quietly.
“Okay, Mr. Graves. My ranch has insurance that covers anyone working on the property, even those just doing day labor. It will cover your son's medical expenses. Just have folks in the billing office here at the hospital give me a call, and I’ll make sure it is taken care of.”
Mr. Graves shoulders relaxed a bit. There was no doubt that his son had probably been his primary concern in the beginning, but now that he was out of the woods, it was the ridiculous cost of care to which his focus had shifted. Knowing he wasn’t going to be saddled with the debt seemed to go a long way towards his attitude.
“I appreciate that,” he replied.
Jake fished a card out of his wallet and handed it to him. “Number’s on there. Just give it to them in the office and tell them to call me for whatever information they need.”
“I will,” the man said. “I appreciate that more than you know.”
“It’s no problem.”
Jake turned to Randy and smiled. His leg was outside the covers and only sported one very large bandage that was taped loosely on the wound. He would imagine it was for ease of dressing it periodically and so it could get a little air, but not too much.
“So, what’s the damage, kid? I’m really glad to see there is still a mostly whole leg attached to you there.” Jake smiled.
Randy gestured toward his leg and explained, “The doctors said the woman at your ranch did a really good job of packing it up until they could get to it. I’d like to thank her when I’m better.”
Jake nodded. “I’m sure she’ll appreciate it.”
“Was she a doctor?” Randy’s eyes were wide.
“Of sorts. She’s our veterinarian.” Jake grinned.
“Ha-ha. Too bad Mom isn’t in here. She went home for a bit to get a shower and check on things. She’d love hearing that a vet worked on me. Always says my room looks like a wild animal lives in there.”
Jake nodded. “I hear you...my mother always said the same of me…and my room still looks like that.”
Randy raised his chin and said, “See, Dad? Mr. Morrow runs a whole ranch and has a sloppy room. It’s not the most important thing in life.”
“Don’t encourage him,” Mr. Graves told Jake.
“Sorry about that. I’m a bad influence, I guess. Well, Tucker and I need to get going and let you get some rest. Take care of that leg and let us know if you need anything at all,” Jake said to Randy and his father.
He and Tucker made their way back down the hallway in silence. They were almost to the exit when Jake laughed and turned toward him with a smile.
“Digger Graves,” Jake whispered.
Tucker burst out laughing loudly enough for everyone down the hall to probably hear him as they exited the hospital.
“You know what else?” he asked.
Jake looked at him, bemused. “What?”
“The man works down at the paper mill on the line, but he has a weekend job too. He’s the caretaker at Cedar Flats Cemetery.”
Jake jumped back in faux shock. “No. You’re just fucking with me now, aren’t you?”
“Nope. I shit you not. Of course, his real name is Harold. Digger is just his nickname, so maybe he got that because of the graveyard job.”
“God, I hope so!” Jake said.
They both laughed again as they made their way back to the truck and drove home. Tucker headed to the barn to close things back up for the day, and then he would be off to his little cabin for the night, most likely his girlfriend would come over, or they would go out. Jake said his goodbyes and headed back to his house to get his clothes into the dryer, pulling them back out while still warm — and wrinkle free — to put on after his shower.
Jake was a bit nervous as he made his way out to the Ford and headed north toward Vanessa’s place. She said it wasn’t a date, but it felt like the first one he had ever had.
Jake pulled into Vanessa’s place an hour later to find the lights on in the back of the house, but off in the clinic. That made it easier to know where he should pick her up. He parked in her crumbling asphalt driveway to one side of the house and walked up to the door. The doorbell was nowhere to be found. He knocked instead, looking curiously at the hole where a doorbell used to be while he waited.
“Hi, there!” Vanessa happily said as she opened the door.
Jake grabbed his hat and held it in his hand. “Wow, I mean, hello! You look nice.”
Nice wasn’t really the word though. He had toned it down in the name of keeping things on a friend’s level. She was absolutely stunning…no she was hot as hell! Her hair, usually in a ponytail was down. The dark tresses cascaded across her bare shoulders to meet the straps of a simple blue tank dress that only made her eyes appear even bluer. It hugged her every curve in a way that defined her perfect figure but wasn’t so tight to look gaudy.
“Thank you. So do you.”
Jake glanced down at his blue button-down shirt and jeans. He suddenly felt underdressed and wondered if she might not want to scrap going anywhere with him altogether.
“Shall we go then?” she asked.
“Absolutely. I feel a bit like Beauty and the Beast though.”
“You calling me a beast?” she teased.
“Yes. You’re hideous.”
She smiled up at him as he walked with her to the truck. The door squeaked when he pulled it open for her. Vanessa looked a bit out of place in her pretty blue dress sitting in his dusty old pickup, but Jake was pleased she had agreed to go out with him.
“I thought we would go over to Kaycee’s. They have a good choice there.”
“Perfect. I don’t know about you, but I’m starving.”
“I’m right there with you. I’ve been busy today and didn’t eat anything other than a banana I grabbed on my way out the door to the barn.” Jake turned the key and slid the truck into reverse.
“You’ve got to do better than that,” she replied as they began to pull away from her house.
Renegade Ridge Page 6
