Chapter Four
Grady felt like he was repeating a chapter of a book he’d already read when he pulled into Roscoe’s gas station to fill up his truck. He hoped Kacey wasn’t working today. The last thing he needed was to catch hell from her.
He’d been gone for five weeks this time and wondered if it was even worth the effort to come home. The last time he did, he was home a week before he had to leave. He sure hoped this time his promised six weeks off was genuine. He needed to unwind and get his head straight again.
After filling up his gas tank, he walked inside to pay. This time, Edna Cole was sitting behind the register. “Well, looky here. I thought you’d cut and run for good.”
“No, ma’am. How are you, Mrs. Edna?”
“Any better and I’d need a keeper. How about you, Grady?”
“Ready to be home for a while.”
“Well, I was thinking we’d see you the first of the summer after you stopped by here. Roscoe said he thought you were gonna be home a while, but then you upped and hightailed it outta here.”
“Yep, business, you know.” Grady handed her cash for the gas.
“No, I most surely don’t. Heck, none of us do, but I reckon when the day comes that you want to tell folks what it is you do when you disappear, you’ll do it. Until then, I’ll just say it’s good to see you and I hope you get your wish and get to be home a while. And if you do, let me know and we’ll have you to dinner.”
“I’d like that, Mrs. Edna. Tell Roscoe I paid my respects and you have a good day.”
“You too, Grady. And welcome home.”
“Thank you, ma’am.”
He headed back out to his truck and just as he got in, his phone buzzed. He opened the text and smiled. Johnny, a teammate, had returned home just in time to be present for the birth of his daughter. He’d sent a photo.
Grady looked at the smile on Johnny’s face and the tiny baby cradled in his arms. Would he have been a good father? Chances were, he’d never know, and he shoved those thoughts away. You could bring yourself down and cause a lot of dissatisfaction by focusing on what you didn’t have instead of paying attention to what you did.
There’d been a lot of folks he’d known that had allowed that to happen to them. He had always been determined not to make that mistake. His phone rang again and since his phone was synced to his truck, he pressed the Answer button on the steering wheel. “Judd.”
“Hey, it’s Al. Remember me telling you that Cannon was having some problems? Well, I got the vet to check him out and he said it’s time for Cannon to be put out to pasture. The arthritis in his hip isn’t getting any better and he’s having a hard time being ridden. Long and short of it is, we need to get another cow horse—and sooner rather than later.”
“I’ll call JD and see if he has anything or can tell me who might.”
“Okay. When you headed back this way?”
“On the road now. Will be there by dark.”
“Want me to throw some steaks on the grill?”
“That’d be good.”
“Okay, see ya.”
“Yep.”
Grady ended the call with his ranch foreman and then placed a call to JD Weathers. As hoped, JD had a horse for him to take a look at, so Grady headed for the Weathers’ ranch instead of home.
JD was waiting when Grady climbed out of his truck. “How’s it going, Grady?”
“Can’t complain—well, except for needing a new cow horse. Cannon’s time is done.”
“You gonna have him put down?”
“Naw, just put him out to pasture and let him enjoy the rest of his days being a lazy, fat old boy.”
JD smiled and gestured toward the paddock. “Your man Al is doing a good job for you. I stop by every couple of weeks, just to say hello.”
“I appreciate that, and yeah, I’m lucky to have him. So, how’s the family? The twins still kicking ass in college?”
“Yeah, they’re juniors and have quite a few scouts nosing around them. They both hope to go pro.”
“And you?”
“I just hope they get an education so that if a sports career doesn’t pan out, they have something better to fall back on that rodeoing and ranching.”
“I hear you. They’ll do fine, and between you and me, I’d love to see them go pro. I got to see one of their games last year and I was impressed. They have skills.”
“And aren’t shy about telling you,” JD said and chuckled. “But they’ve both become fine men and I’m proud. So, what about you? You gonna keep doing what you do until you’re too old or ten toes up from the doing?”
“Probably. Don’t know I could cut it being a fulltime rancher.”
“Afraid you’d get bored?”
“Yeah, I guess. And it’s not like I have a family waiting on me to get home, so it doesn’t really matter.”
“You could. Plenty of fish still swimming the waters around here, buddy, and you ain’t ever had a problem hooking your share.”
“Just never hooked the right one.”
“There she is.” JD pointed to a pretty paint in the paddock and for the next ten minutes talk was of the horse, her training, breeding, and price. At the end of those ten minutes, a deal had been struck.
“There’s a shindig at the Honky Tonk tomorrow night,” JD mentioned as they walked back to Grady’s truck. “Me and Jo are headed over with Bryson and Hannah. You wanna join?”
“I don’t know. Last time I was there it got a little—rowdy.”
JD laughed. “Yeah, and from what I hear you missed the best part of the show.”
“Oh? How’s that?”
“The new deputy showed up and single-handedly kicked all them gals’ asses and had ‘em restrained and lined up on the floor when the rest of the department showed up to haul ‘em to jail.”
“He fought women?”
“She.”
Oh, her. He remembered seeing her as he was leaving. Now that was a woman.
“So, she’s a scrapper?”
“She’s a freaking Amazon, man. Built like—well let’s just leave it at built and yeah, she’s a badass. It’d take a big fella to hold that one down.”
“Anybody tried to do that yet?”
“Whole lot of ‘em, from what I hear but she’s having no part of it.”
“Lesbian?”
“Not according to Jo and they’re pretty tight. She’s just not much interested in getting involved. In fact, you might say she’s a female version of you, my friend.”
“Then God help her.”
JD laughed and clapped Grady on the shoulder. “Tell Al to come by any time tomorrow for the horse.”
“I’ll send the money with him. Thanks, JD. I’ll be seeing you.”
“My pleasure and I hope so. And if you change your mind about tomorrow…”
“Thanks. See ya.”
Grady once more got in his truck and this time, he finally headed home. As he drove, he thought about the female Deputy he saw that night at the Honky Tonk. She was indeed a lot of woman, but a lot in a sexy, makes a man want to claim and tame her kind of way.
He wondered if he’d see her around. The idea definitely appealed to him.
A lot.