Last Second Chance (A Thomas Family Novel Book 2)

by Kristi Cramer

  Without another word, they rode off, heading for the big open range over the crest of the hill. Tim didn’t know what they could possibly want to do up on the prairie after dark, but he did take note of the butt of a rifle sticking out from the back of Mr. Thomas’ saddle. More coyote trouble? They also had blankets rolled up behind the saddles, and saddlebags that looked full.

  Tim had gotten an impression of men on a mission, stoic and serious—about as different from Blue and Janie as they could be. Despite his age, Mr. Thomas looked like he was still strong as a bull. Trip was bulkier, although not quite as mountainous as Blue. Riding off side by side, backs ramrod straight, Tim had a vision of what the cowboys must have looked like back in the Old West. It was inspiring...and humbling.

  Even after they vanished into the dusk of the hollow, Tim watched until they emerged on the hillcrest, silhouetted against the gold and pink sky.

  At times like that, Tim felt like he had traveled back about a century when he came to the Lazy J.

  Chapter Twelve

  The month of May passed quickly for Tim. He settled in, getting into a routine with life on the ranch.

  He mostly worked with Jeff, helping out with the horses. Jeff acted as the ranch’s lead wrangler and farrier, although since they didn’t shoe most of their horses, that job mainly entailed trimming hooves, checking for damage to the horses’ feet, and cleaning frogs—the soft underside of the hooves, similar to the arch of a foot.

  As Jeff’s assistant, Tim cleaned stalls and cared for tack by oiling leather and checking for weak spots in straps and ropes. He even learned how to mend a few items.

  He fed the horses, learning when to give them grain and when to give them hay, and learned the different kinds of hay available. He brushed horses down after the other hands came in from a day’s work, and learned how to bathe them.

  He watched and learned as Jeff worked the three newer horses, gentling them and lunging them, doing activities to get them used to the idea of working with humans. In addition to the six Nokotas, the Lazy J had sixteen quarter horses, a total of two mounts for every ranch hand who rode, as well as some family horses, so there was no shortage of chores.

  And he cared for Roo, taking him for longer and longer walks, continuing his special feed schedule, learning how to change the foam pads and check for trouble.

  Most days, he got to see Janie when she checked on Roo. They talked—usually about Roo—and walked together, often with her horse, Carmelita. Tim got the distinct impression she was waiting for something. However, he was too wary of making a misstep to find out what that something was.

  Too much rode on him being able to stay out here.

  He endured periodic hazing from the other hands, like the day they left a plate of Rocky Mountain oysters in front of him, letting him eat one before they told him what they really were. He actually thought they were pretty tasty...for bull balls.

  Then there was the day someone hid all the towels and his dirty clothes while he was in the shower, and he had to walk back to his bunkhouse with nothing to cover himself but his hands. He wouldn’t have even bothered doing that if he hadn’t worried about Esmeralda or Mrs. Thomas seeing him.

  Then someone had put salt in his coffee mug, and tied his bed sheets in knots.

  With every incident, he just sighed and dealt with it. He knew it was Kenny, and probably Rick, who was Kenny’s co-conspirator in a lot of things. But he had never ratted anyone out, and he wasn’t about to start now.

  However, if he ever had the opportunity, he would make sure those two clowns got a taste of their own childish behavior.

  Mitzi checked on him periodically. He didn’t know if that had anything to do with Janie, or if she would do it anyway to make sure he wasn’t messing up. But his sister definitely wanted him to know she was watching him.

  On the first Saturday of June, it was finally time to learn how to ride.

  Janie stood up from one last inspection of Roo’s hooves and gave him a smile. “Well, near as I can determine, Roo has completely healed. I thought he was ready a couple days ago, but I wanted to be sure. Now you have no more excuses not to get up in the saddle. It’s time to ride.”

  Tim swallowed, reaching up to pat Roo on the neck. “All right,” he said evenly, hoping he didn’t sound as nervous as he felt, but the animal gave him away by butting him with his nose and snorting.

  “Don’t worry,” Janie said with a laugh. “You’ve learned a lot of the basics already and, as I predicted, you have really bonded with Roo. He loves you.”

  Tim smiled as Roo tossed his head as though nodding in agreement.

  “Why don’t you saddle him up? I’ll go get Carmelita and we’ll go for a real ride.”

  Over the course of the month, Jeff had found an unused saddle Tim could use to practice saddling Roo and get the horse used to wearing it, just until he had the money to buy his own. He assured Tim there was nothing wrong with it, other than it was old and plain. They’d had to rivet extensions onto the stirrups for them to be the proper length, and re-braid some of the gear ties, but he had oiled it up so the leather would be soft and pliable so as not to irritate the horse.

  He brought it out of the tack room and Janie looked it over, a strange expression crossing her face.

  “What’s wrong?” he asked, setting the saddle on end on a bale of hay and going back for a blanket.

  “Nothing,” she said. “I just haven’t seen that saddle in a lot of years.”

  “Who’s was it? Jeff didn’t say.”

  “It was mine. The one I had before I saved enough allowance to buy my competition saddle.” As she said this, she hefted the saddle she had brought out from under a cover. It was black with hand-tooled patterns in turquoise lining the edges and across the seat. Beaten silver conches with turquoise stones decorated the corners, and stainless steel stirrups showed signs of heavy wear.

  “I didn’t know you competed,” he said. He had heard the other hands talk about the upcoming fair and how some of them were going to compete in various events—mostly calf roping. They didn’t get to follow the circuit because of their jobs, but the Thomas family generously allowed them to ride at local events.

  “I barrel raced for a while,” she said, and something in her tone of voice told him not to pursue that line of conversation. It probably had something to do with Kylie’s birth. He had realized a couple things during the month as he conversed with her. One, the only time she got remotely guarded was on topics he could trace back to her kid. And two, she had to have been very young when she gave birth for her to have a teenage daughter old enough to work nights at a truck stop.

  He let the subject drop, and they went about saddling up their horses. He’d had several occasions to put a bridle and saddle on Roo, as much to get Roo used to it as himself, so Tim felt pretty confident as he worked.

  “You want me to check your setup?” Janie asked, pulling the cinch up on Carmelita’s girth.

  “Sure,” he said, wanting that extra confirmation...and a chance to stand beside Janie for a few moments. He could justify it as a legitimate reason to be near her, and he found it increasingly difficult to pass up an opportunity to be close to her. He took a small step back as she walked up, watching as she flipped the left stirrup up to check that he got the cinch tight enough. Then she ran her hands under the edge of the saddle, and again under the edges of the blanket, making sure he hadn’t bunched it up or picked up anything that would irritate Roo while he walked. She made similar checks on the bitless bridle, pulling a bit of Roo’s forelock from under the strap.

  “Very good,” she said, turning to him with a smile. “Now, as I understand it, Jeff had been working with Roo before the laminitis. He’d already gotten him under saddle, even to the point of riding him out in the pasture, so most of the repetitive stuff has been done.”

  Tim nodded. “Jeff had me saddle him up a few times, and we fiddled with the stirrups and stuff to keep him used to the idea of a saddle. Of co
urse, we didn’t do anything to put weight on his legs, but I leaned against him, tugged on the stirrups, put the bridle on him, gave him directions with the reins, that sort of thing….”

  “Excellent,” said Janie. “Now you know why we don’t take on too many green horses at a time. We don’t do the flashy, abusive horse breaking like you may have seen in some movies, and we don’t ‘bust broncs’ here. At the Lazy J, we don’t try to break their spirits. We want them to want to work with us. That philosophy has been around since Great-Great-Grandpa Blue first came out to Kansas.” Then Janie smiled at him and shook her head. “Listen to me lecture you.”

  “It’s all right,” Tim said, enjoying how her face lit up with animated passion as she talked.

  “Come on. We’ll go out to the corral and you can mount up out there. We don’t want to be in a confined space or out in the open, just in case he decides he wants to run away with you.”

  Tim’s heart sank when he heard that. He hoped none of the other hands would be around to witness it if he failed to control Roo...or, worse, fell off.

  Janie laughed. “You should see your face. You think you hide it so well, but I’ve learned to read you these last few weeks. Don’t worry. You’ll do fine.”

  “If you say so.”

  As they headed for the corral, he contemplated what she’d said about being able to read him. He’d never thought of himself as transparent, but took it as a good sign that she was interested enough to watch him that closely.

  Thankfully, the place was deserted as they walked up, and Janie let go of Carmelita long enough to shut the gate behind him.

  “Ready?” she asked.

  “As I’ll ever be,” he said with a sigh. Gathering the reins in his left hand, he reached for the saddle horn and put his left foot in the stirrup. Giving a little hop, he straightened his leg as he swung his right leg over Roo’s back, and he was in the saddle, looking down at a smiling Janie.

  “You’re a natural,” she said.

  “I’ve just been paying attention,” he said, trying hard not to embarrass himself with the foolish pride he felt at her compliment. When the horse shifted slightly under him, he marveled at the sensation of living, muscled horseflesh between his legs. Roo was a bundle of energy at his beck and call, fully capable of killing him if he decided he didn’t like what Tim was doing. It was exhilarating.

  Janie opened the gate, then hopped up on Carmelita and looked at him. “Go ahead,” she said, nodding her head toward the open gate. “Do you remember how to make him go?”

  Tim laughed nervously. “I’m more worried about remembering how to make him stop.” He put his heels to Roo’s sides, behind his belly, and leaned forward a bit. The horse took a hesitant step, so he pressed in his heels again, clicking his tongue in encouragement. Roo began to walk, both of them gaining confidence as Janie and Carmelita fell in beside them. They turned right out of the gate and headed away from the compound.

  “We’ll go up to the hillcrest and let you see something besides the Homeplace hollow. You haven’t left since you got here, have you?”

  “Why, no, ma’am. I haven’t,” he said, affecting his best John Wayne drawl. There was something in the swaying motion that made him feel like a “real” cowboy. “Plenty to do and see right here.”

  “You’re so odd for a city boy,” she said, shaking her head. “Most city folk I meet can’t stand to sit still for so long. They get twitchy without internet, Starbucks, and cell phones. But you’re happy as a hog in slop out here.”

  Tim remained silent. How could he tell her that this ranch afforded him more freedom than he had known for the past five years? That this ranch was heaven on earth to him? He saw her looking at him with curiosity, and he cleared his throat.

  “I guess I was just living the wrong life up until now,” he said. And that was more truth than she could possibly know.

  “I guess so,” she said amiably.

  They rode in companionable silence, climbing the hill at a steady pace. When they reached the top, prairie stretched in front of him as far as the eye could see. Cattle dotted the land out to the horizon, and scrub trees grew in patches here and there. Closer in, a sturdy wood-frame windmill turned languidly in the gentle breeze, the earth around its water trough turned up by hooves.

  “What is it about the prairie?” Tim found himself asking. “I mean, it’s brown, relatively flat, and there’s nothing out here. But I love it. I have never known the peace I feel out here.”

  He turned to see Janie nodding her head in agreement, and he considered telling her why his life was so much better here. She deserved to know. He wanted her to know.

  “My life before this was a mess, Janie. I don’t know what Blue might have told you—”

  “He said you’d seen some rough times,” she broke in quickly. “Nothing specific. I figure both you and Mitzi must have had it tough. She doesn’t talk about her family much.”

  “Well, that is an understatement. But we—” He caught sight of another rider approaching them, and stopped speaking.

  “It’s Trip,” she said, shading her eyes as she identified the rider. “He’ll be a few minutes...?” Her voice trailed off, as though she wasn’t certain she wanted to hear what he had to say.

  “It’ll keep, Janie,” he said, shifting as they turned their horses toward the approaching rider. When he had that conversation with her, he wanted to be able to say what he needed to say without worrying about getting interrupted and not being able to finish or answer any questions she might have.

  She gave a little sigh that sounded like relief. “Okay.”

  Chapter Thirteen

  Trip rode up and reined in beside her, and Janie couldn’t decide whether she was glad or disappointed for the interruption. For the last three weeks, she had entertained all kinds of stories about Tim’s past. On the one hand, she was curious to know what his story really was. On the other hand, maybe she didn’t really want to know. Maybe it was horrible, or worse...boring?

  “Hey, brother,” she said. “To what do we owe this pleasure?”

  “Hey, sis. Just coming in from checking out the yearlings. Glad to see Roo out here.” Trip nodded at Tim. “I hear you’re a big part of the reason he recovered so well.”

  Janie saw Tim blush. “I just did what Janie told me to do, sir. She’s a good teacher.”

  Trip gave a rather grim chuckle. “She has the patience of a saint. I’ll give you that. But from what Deke tells me, you’re a quick learner. It takes a special kind of person to jump in and take care of a sick horse like you did.”

  “Thank you, sir.”

  “He’s dedicated,” Janie added. “He hasn’t left the ranch since he arrived.”

  “Really?” Trip sounded surprised. “Well, what do you say to a night on the town to celebrate Roo’s recovery? A couple of the guys are going in tonight to get signed up for the rodeo. You can ride with them if you want, have a few beers at the bar.”

  Janie looked at Tim, who looked uncomfortable. “I don’t drink, sir,” he said reluctantly.

  “Still,” she added, “it will make for a nice change of scenery for you. I can meet up with you after I finish at the clinic, if you’d like.”

  Trip turned to give her a look, one eyebrow shooting up in surprise. If Tim hadn’t been watching her, she would have stuck her tongue out at him.

  Tim hesitated a moment longer. “I’d like that,” he finally said.

  “Good,” Trip said, looking at Tim again. “I expect I’ll be seeing more of you out here. We’ll need help when it comes to branding the new calves and arrivals.”

  “I look forward to learning, sir.”

  “Enjoy your ride.” With that, Trip turned Scotchie away from them and spurred his buckskin quarter horse into a gallop back toward the Homeplace. She watched his impeccable form as he leaned forward in the saddle, steady as a baby in a cradle.

  “Think I’ll ever be able to ride like that?” Tim asked, his tone wistful.

>   “Sure. You already have a natural seat, and you don’t have any bad habits to unlearn. Give it a few months and you’ll ride like a proper cowboy at every gait.”

  He smiled at her, and she had to bite the side of her tongue to help control her racing heart. “Let’s head back, shall we?”

  “Sure,” he said. “I have to check with Deke about tonight. I think I heard him say he had something he wanted me to do.”

  He had a curiously cagey look in his eye, and she looked closely at him, wondering what that was about. “You can tell Deke that Trip said it was okay.”

  “I’ll tell him, but as much as I’d like to see you in town tonight, I’m not sure I’ll be able to make it.”

  She frowned at him, but before she could ask what he meant, her phone chirped to tell her she had a text. She pulled it out of her pocket and swiped the screen, giving Tim an apologetic look. “Sorry. It’s from Kylie. Anyone else would have to wait.”

  “It’s all right,” he said. “If you’re sure it’s legal to text and ride.”

  She smiled...until she glanced at the screen.

  MOM! Stop hiding!

  Dinner with Dad 2nite at work.

  Come or I take drastic measures!

  “Everything okay?” Tim asked, apparently in response to her expression.

  “Oh, she wants to have dinner with me tonight. But I don’t want....” She hesitated. She’d been about to say I don’t want to miss seeing you, but she didn’t really want to admit that. Not yet. “I’ll tell her I already have plans.”

  “Oh, not on my account, Janie. I’d hate....”

  She thumbed a quick response, but her phone chirped immediately.

  O no u don’t!

  Dinner at 7.

  Don’t b late.

  She scowled and looked up to see Tim watching her with curiosity, but he didn’t voice any questions. With a sigh, she typed a response. “I can do both,” she said aloud as she typed.

  Kylie’s response was swift.

  Good. Don’t b late.