Chapter 11
Isaac
Damn! Olivia sure knows how to cook. Last night she came into the kitchen and whipped us up a spaghetti carbonara in no time. She really does love Italian food, she wasn’t kidding about that and I decided while we were eating and she was telling Neil about our adventures in the city that I must take her there. She’s never even been on a plane, which I find a little crazy, but she’s never had the money to just travel.
I haven’t had biscuits as good as hers since grandmother’s, I admit to myself as I watch Olivia take a platter full of biscuits out of the oven and place them on the table just as granddad walks in to join us.
“Morning,” he says cheerfully, for someone’s that dying he looks good. Even better than I do. But then again it’s been nearly a week since I’ve had anything to drink. The first few days were hard, but now I haven’t even thought about it. I managed to go to restaurants order wine for Olivia and just have a little, and the second time none at all.
“Feeling okay today, Neil,” Olivia asks. I can see she immediately regrets the question since it probably isn’t something you asked a person with a terminal illness.
“Right as rain,” he says and winks.
“You look a little pale, Neil. Have you been taking all your meds?” Olivia asks as she sets plates of scrambled eggs, bacon and toast on the table.
“Yes, I’m fine thanks, Olivia.” He turns to glance at me as I reach for the eggs. “We need to move some cattle to the back pasture. Can you help old Dan herd drive them down the Old Fork road?”
“Sure, I haven don’t that cattle for a long spell, but I’ll give it a try. Of course I’ll have to check with Mrs. Roberts and see if there are any emergencies brewing at the office first,” Olivia says as she sits down to eat.
“Can, I help?” I ask, because if she goes out all day as much as I love granddad I’ll rather spend my time with her. Seeing as we’re getting to know each other and I want to tell her about Dede. I just want to get it all of my chest. The truth, for once in my life. Whenever we’re alone, I just want to take her. At least out there while we’re working we can talk when we have a break and then she’ll know the demons that really turned me to drink. The real reason that I lost my way.
Olivia’s lost in her thoughts, “Autumn’s a good cutting horse and maybe if she’s out there working again then she won’t feel so down.”
“Sure of course,” Neil says beaming his ear to ear smile. “If that’s alright for Isaac to go with you too?”
I smile as there’s no one I would go driving cattle with than Olivia, the beautiful red head that doesn’t have a mean bone in her body.
“Think you’re up to it, Cowgirl?” I tease her.
Olivia raises her eyebrows. “When’s the last time you were in the saddle all day, Isaac?”
“Point taken. My butt has been glued to the office chair for a while and when I tried riding last week after an hour, I was getting tired.”
Granddad says, “Well there’s only one way to find out!”
“Granddad you’re right. Saddle me up and I’ll be there all day with you.”
She winks, “You’ve got a deal!”
***
After breakfast as we walk to the barn to saddle the horses, I can’t help but say, “I wish we were sleeping in the same bed. I don’t like you being in the guest cottage.”
“Sex friend.”
“Me, how can you even say that? Yesterday you were the one that wanted me in the shower.”
“Yes, I was an innocent cowgirl before you came along and branded me,” Olivia’s battering her eyelashes as if to say that she’s innocent.
“Really, you really think that?”
We’re both smiling at each other, playing and teasing, it’s kind of funny that she thinks that I’m the one that’s been after her. When I’ve wanted to stay as far away from her as possible.
Olivia raises her chin, “Yes, I was respectable before I met you.”
Suddenly, we are both laughing so hard that tears are running down our cheeks.
“I can see getting any work done today with you around is going to be hard,” I say wiping my eyes as we enter the barn.
“Yeah, well you better hold up your end of the drive. I have my doubts you can cowboy up for this one.”
I shake my head. “Cowgirl, you just haven’t seen me and Buckskin working cows. You just hold your hat while you watch, or we will blow it away,” I joke. Then I get a serious. “Be careful, Olivia. With a herd as big as the one we’re moving today anything can happen.”
“Yeah, same goes to you,” she says as she splits off and heads for Autumn’s stall while I go to greet Buckskin.
Minutes later we ride out to join Granddad’s hired hand who seems almost his age. However, I quickly find that Dan and his horse Smokey still have the moves. Of course, he has old Shep nipping at the cows heels helping out. We’ll be driving the cattle down a gravel road with fences on each side, I realize that Dan can probably move the cattle without our help. Maybe it would be a little difficult, but I’m sure that he could do it alone.
Damn is granddad manipulating me again?
Yet, this time I don’t mind. Sure, the work’s dusty, and I’m not used to being in the saddle all day. But, Olivia’s riding at the tail end of the herd with me and I hate to admit that as we get started, I’m enjoying myself.
The herd kicks up such a thick cloud of dust that it’s hard to see their feet in front of our faces. I know this is granddad’s way of getting back at me for not wanting to stay on the ranch and let men better qualified than me run the company. I just regret that Olivia must endure the dust too. But her being here beside me helps me accept riding drag like a new cowboy.
Although Olivia’s Autumn isn’t a cutting horse up to Buckskin’s standards, she’s pretty good. Olivia looks sexy with her boobs bouncing up and down as she rides back and forth hitting her lariat against her saddle. Several times I get a fucking hard on just watching her.
Finally, Dan closes to gate to the South pasture.
“You haven’t lost it yet, Mr. Isaac. You’re a little bit rusty, but you and the horse of yours still got the moves.”
Praise coming from a man that has won more than one calf roping contest made me smile all the way back to the barn.
“I guess we’re finished, right, Dan?” I say smiling at the old, wrinkle-faced cowboy.
Dan shakes his head.
“There’s more?” I ask thinking that I misjudged the situation. I thought that was it, more likely I hoped that was the end of it.
Dan glances at Olivia. “You want to tell him?”
I look at Olivia. “Tell me what?”
“Whenever we put cattle in a new pasture, we’ve got to ride the fence to make sure the barbwire isn’t broken.”
“I guess I forgot about that,” I reply. I glance at the fence that runs across the flat land until it’s lost in the distance horizon. “It’s a huge pasture,” I add with a sigh.
“Roger, that,” Dan says as he tips his hat and rides off to the right, following the fence line.
“That leaves us the left side,” Olivia says.
I know she’s hiding a smile taking pleasure out my discomfort. Still, I can’t get upset at her. At least she’s here rather than I’m just being stuck out here with Dan.
“Time to cowboy up,” Olivia says as she rides off following the fence line.
“I’ll cowboy you up for sure when we get back to the barn!” I say as I ride after her.
“Yeah, promises, promises! That’s all city slickers are good for.”
“When we get home, I’m going to make you sorry for calling me a city slicker,” I say as I catch up with her.
We ride side by side for what feels like an hour but is probably a forth that long when Olivia pulls Autumn to a full stop.
“What?”
She nods her head toward the fence row. “It’s a good thing we have the rule about riding the line after changing a herd to a new pasture. There’s a break in the wire just ahead.”
“Damn, you have good eyes.”
“Come on let’s fix it.”
“Uh . . . I forgot to bring the wire stretcher. I didn’t know we were going to be riding the fence line.”
“Don’t worry; it’ll be okay,” Olivia says reaching back and pulling a pair of fence stretchers out of Autumn’s saddle bag. She waves them at me.
“Yeah, you are a barrel of laughs,” I say shaking my head.
“A cowboy is always prepared . . .”
“Don’t start with me, Olivia, or I’ll rub your pretty little nose in a cow patty. And then we can call you Cow Patty, the cowgirl,” I say and start laughing so hard I almost fall out of the saddle.
“God, I wish you would fall off your horse so I can get a shot of it with my cell phone. It would look good on a Facebook page . . . CEO trying to cowboy.”
“What say we call a truce and fix the fence.”
I ignore her as she tries to bribe me about posting it on Facebook. Not that I care, it’s not as if I go on there that much.
“Yeah, spoken like a wise CEO,” Olivia says as she climbs off Autumn.
As I put on my gloves, I glance up at the sun that is threatening to suck all the moisture out of my body. “Suddenly, I remember why I moved to Houston,” I’m wiping my forehead with the back of my arm.
The sun’s pouring down on my face and burning me. I should have put sun lotion on before I came out here, because I burn easily.
“Why because you’re not a good cowboy?”
She raises and eyebrow and I know that she’s really pushing me to the limit.
“No, because…”
I can’t even think of a comeback. She’s got me there, I’ll make her pay for it much later, when I spend the night with her in the cottage or maybe before that, when we get back to the barn.