Chapter 10
“H
STERLING ey, Carlton, where’s your dad at?”
I saw Dutch’s kid outside with a glove in his hand. I figured Dutch had to be around somewhere since he never
missed a chance to play catch with his kid. He had some sort of dream of him making it big and getting out of
Montana all together.
Carlton said, “He just went in to take a phone call. He’ll be back in a little while.”
I nodded and started throwing a few balls with Carlton.
“How’s school going?”
“Everything’s going fine.”
“So, are you pretty good at school work?”
The kid nodded.
I could tell he was probably just as conscientious as his father was. But I remembered him having trouble with
math last year. “How’s math going now?”
“I’m doing much better now that I’m getting help.”
“ Dutch came out after a few more minutes of Carlton and I playing catch, and he had a little grin on his face. It
was supposed to be his day off, and he was spending time with his kid, I got it. He didn’t want to get called into
work, but he knew as well as I did that the ranch wasn’t a normal nine to five job. That wasn’t how it worked, and
whether I liked it or not, I needed him. I didn’t want to take him away from quality time with his
family, but I knew Dutch, and he was going to do what I asked. I also knew he would take his son with him, and no
time would be lost.
Dutch saw me and sighed loudly. “What do you need me to do?” he asked.
“You know I wouldn’t ask if I didn’t have to.”
Carlton sighed louder than his dad. “I will go get my jacket and boots.”
I gave Dutch an apologetic grin and he waved me off. “We really need to hire some people. This is getting
ridiculous.”
“I am trying, Dutch. As soon as I hire enough people for the ranches, I will let you have the first vacation.”
He nodded, but he wasn’t very happy with me. Neither was Carlton, but at least his dad was able to hide it better.
At the dirty look I was getting from the kid, I changed my mind.
“Never mind. I’ll go track down the new hire. He was the last hired, so he can deal with some of the crap for a
while. Have fun with your kid.”
“Are you serious?”
“Yeah, I’m serious. Onyx doesn’t seem to mind helping me out.”
“I told you I would go, Sterling, don’t make a big deal out of it. You already got my kid dressed, so why not knock
it out and get it over with?”
“No, really, I’m going to let Onyx do it. It is about time he gets to know more about the other ranches. I’d like to
find him somewhere else to go.”
Before my second could protest anymore, I took off in the truck. There was a lot I didn’t understand, but the need
for him to be with his kid was one thing I did understand. While I didn’t have any children of my own, I was very
close to my father until he died.
I went to go look for Onyx, but didn’t find him in the bunkhouse. I had never cared what people did with their
time, as long as what they had to do for the ranch was done first. I checked all of his work for the day, and it was
finished. I asked a couple of people where he was, and nobody seemed to know. I was about to give up, when I
saw him sitting under a tree. It was kind of strange to see him there, until I realized he could see Snow in the
distance. I already made it clear that she was off limits, so what was he doing looking at her now? He knew better.
I put the truck in park, and didn’t exactly sneak towards him on foot, but I wasn’t being loud either. He jumped a
little bit when he saw me, and if nothing else, that made me smile.
“Are you busy?”
“No, can’t say that I am. I am just out here enjoying the afternoon and view. What are you doing out this way?”
Neither one of us talked about the fact that he was spying on Snow. But I couldn’t stop him from looking, could I?
If I could, I probably would have figured out a way.
“I was looking for you. I’m short a hand and I really need to get some hay delivered. Do you think you can help
me out?”
“Sure,” he agreed, just like I knew he would.
I wanted to say something about what he was doing, but there was no point. He wasn’t exactly doing anything
wrong. Just because I didn’t like anybody looking at her, didn’t mean it was enough to start something out of. I
was just talking to Dutch about needing more people. It would be stupid to get rid of anybody right now, especially
if it was a helper who was willing to pull his weight and then some.
I told him what needed to be done while we were riding out to pick up the semi. First, we had to load up one of the
work trucks and then we had several deliveries to make, as well as several loads to do. It was going to be a long
day and I wasn’t looking forward to it, but thankfully Onyx was in higher spirits than I was. He didn’t seem to
mind hard work, which was very helpful on a horse and cattle ranch.
We rode for a little bit, and we’d already filled up one of the smaller trucks from the load that came in on the semi.
It was from a local farm, but I still wanted to get it delivered before it got soaked. Since it had been raining the last
few days, I knew there was a good chance it was already wet.
Neither one of us spoke for a while, and I was enjoying the quiet, until Onyx started asking questions about Snow,
even though I had explicitly told him that she was off limits. It was bad enough that he was spying on her, another
thing altogether that he thought it was okay to ask me how she was.
“Why do you want to know about her? I thought we already had this discussion.”
“We have, but she looks familiar. I just wonder if I know her from the past, when she was younger.”
I don’t know if that was true or not, but I certainly didn’t want it to be true. Snow’s background was sketchy,
because her memory was sketchy.
“Trust me, you don’t know her. She came from a ways away. She is not from around here.”
Onyx nodded and I thought he was going to drop it, but he k ept on asking questions. He wasn’t doing a very good
job of hiding his true intentions. I knew right off what he wanted. Ever since I saw him looking at her that day
from across the field, I knew he was going to be trouble. I wanted to ke ep him on as a hand, but I wouldn’t do it at
the sake of losing Snow.
“Like I told you before, Onyx, you really should not worry about her.
She is already claimed and spoken for.” Even though I didn’t say that it was me who’d claimed and spoken for her,
I felt like it was implied. Implied enough that he should back off.
He seemed to understand, nodded his head as like he agreed, but then asked me something else about her and her
past. He just k ept on about it and finally I told him that she didn’t even know who the hell she was, so how was I
supposed to know?
I had no intention of saying something like that because it really wasn’t for me to say. That was Snow’s business,
not mine. Stranger than that, though, was how Onyx responded. He wasn’t even surprised, more like relieved. It
made so little sense, that I didn’t believe what I saw. I hoped I was reading him wrong.
He didn’t ask any more questions and I was grateful for that. I had been trying hard not to think about Snow
nonstop, but him bringing her up was not helping. I decided that after I was done with my work, I would go see
how she was doing. As much as I’d been trying to stay away from Snow, Onyx’s obsession with her made me
want to check on her.
We delivered some more hay to the ranches and normal conversation picked back up. He’d finally gotten the
picture that I didn’t want to talk about Snow.
“Do you have anything else that you need me for?”
“Well, I don’t have anything specific right now, but I will let you know if something comes up. I really appreciate
you helping me. I don’t want to spread you too thin and burn you out. We really need guys like you here, Onyx,” I
said.
I meant it too. He was a good worker, and we really did need about ten of him for each ranch, but I would drop
him like a bad habit if he didn’t stay away from Snow. As soon as I hired somebody to fill the position at Pullers
Ranch, I was sending him somewhere else. I had no intentions of letting fate take care of itself. I wasn’t stupid, I
wasn’t going to let it happen.
I knew exactly what you got when you put a man and a woman together for long enough. Well, unless that man
was Dutch, and then maybe things were a little different. Or Dutch was different. It was crazy because now I had
feelings for Snow too. I didn’t know why I was almost okay with Dutch having feelings for her, but it just made
sense. An outsider, though, someone like Onyx, that was just downright unacc eptable. If Dutch found out, he
would have a field day with the information. That was why I wasn’t going to tell him.
I dropped off Onyx back at Pullers Ranch as soon as the work was done, and thanked him again for his time. I told
him I would put a bonus in his check, and drove off.
Onyx was a good worker, but there was just something off about him.
Maybe it was because I was jealous and didn’t like the way he looked at Snow, or maybe it was something else.
Whatever it was, I was going to get to the bottom of it.
I drove until I found myself parking exactly where I had found Onyx only a few hours before. Snow was with the
horses—she was always with the horses. I loved watching her work, how she dealt with animals and had the most
serene way about her. The more time I spent around her, the more I could see why Dutch was positively smitten
with her. I really couldn’t be mad at him. It was obvious that he didn’t have a choice, because I was succumbing in
the same way.