Chapter Four
Chance
I rose with the sun, as I'd always done, regardless of how late I’d stayed up. That was just what a man did out on his ranch; there was no sleeping in here. After a quick breakfast of bacon and eggs – all fresh and sourced from neighboring farms – I headed out to the stables to saddle up my favorite stallion, Silver. He was named, of course, for the Lone Ranger's steed, a character who happened to be a boyhood hero of mine.
After saddling him up and getting him out of the stable, I took a moment to admire him in the light of the early morning sun. He was jet black, and he shone like a freshly polished sports car, with the attitude and power to match one. He was all muscle, all-purpose – a horse after my own heart.
I mounted him and then took a leisurely trot down to the cattle pens, where Andy and some of the other farm hands were getting ready to take the cattle out to graze. Andy was berating the young hands for last night.
“And not one a' you had the damned common sense to check your damned cell phones? I don't care how loud the music in the bar was, couldn't you have just checked and seen that I called all of ya’ll at least fifty times?!”
“Morning, fellas,” I said, tipping my hat as I approached them on horseback. They were all looking sheepish and were presumably feeling guilty about not being around last night. It wasn't their fault, though; on Thursday nights, I always let them head into town for karaoke night.
“So, none of ya’ll checked your phones last night at all?” I asked the four hands.
They all shook their heads, looking down at the ground. I could tell that they really thought they were in big trouble. And they were, kinda – but like I said, it wasn't entirely their fault, so I wasn't gonna be too harsh on them. Still, they needed to know who the boss was around here.
“So ya’ll know what happened, right? Ya’ll know that I had to race here from my radio station at breakneck speed and that myself and Andy here had to get the foal outta the muck on our own. Ya’ll know this, right?”
They all nodded. The youngest, Sam, who was only nineteen, looked up at me suddenly.
“Boss, I'm so, so sorry. You know that we'd a' been here in a heartbeat if we knew what was going on. It's just that, well, in the bar, we was havin' such a fun time with these girls who was from outta town, they was real pretty, an'—”
As much as I wanted to give the guys a good tongue lashing over this, with young Sam explaining the situation with such earnestness, I couldn't help but chuckle. As I did, I held up my hand to silence him.
“So, Sam, you think that chasin' tail is a perfectly reasonable excuse to not check your phone for all of, what was it Andy, three hours?”
“Damn right, Chance, not one a' these useless som' bitches checked their phones for three hours! Not one a' 'em!”
“They must'a been some mighty fine lookin' ladies, they must'a,” I remarked with a dry grin.
“Oh, they was, boss, they really was!” spluttered Sam.
“Aw hell, you guys are makin' it real hard for me to be pissed off with ya’ll,” I remarked. “Even though I am! It wasn't no fun hauling a panicking foal outta that ice-cold mud late last night, I tell ya’ll that.”
“We're real sorry, Boss, we really are,” said Sam, looking down at the ground. The others mumbled in agreement.
“Well, ya’ll have to be a bit more responsible next time. I mean, what if it had been something worse? I don't want ranch hands around who I can't count on through thick an' thin, do ya’ll understand that?”
“We'd do anything for ya, boss,” Sam said quickly. “Anything.”
I sighed – it was true. These guys really would stand by me, no matter what. They were like a band of loyal soldiers, with me as their captain.
“I know that, I know that. Just please promise me ya’ll will be a bit more responsible next time. Can ya’ll do that?”
“We can, Boss, we can,” they all replied.
“Good. But I can't let ya’ll go without some sorta punishment for last night. Ya’ll do understand that, don't ya?”
They all bowed their heads and mumbled that they did.
“All right, well, once the cattle are out grazing, I want ya’ll to go get some shovels and the old pickup, and go get a few big loads of gravel, and then fill up all the muddy puddles around here so that no more animals get stuck in 'em. It'll be backbreaking work, but ya’ll are strong boys, ain't ya? Ya’ll can handle a bit of good ol' hard labor?”
They grumbled quietly, but all nodded in agreement.
“Good. And while ya’ll are shoveling gravel, think about checking your cell phones regular like! Now ya’ll have a good day. I'm off for a quick ride, and then I gotta take my Cassie to school.”
With that, I turned around, pricked Silver's sides with my spurs and galloped off.
***
“You ready to go, Cassie?” I shouted up the stairs an hour later.
“Coming, Daddy!”
“All right, well, you better hustle or we're gonna be late!”
“Coming!”
She came running down the stairs on her little legs, looking as cute as anything.
“I'm gonna be five years old in two weeks, Daddy!” she exclaimed with a big, broad smile – a smile that reminded me of her mother's. That sent a sharp and sudden stab of sadness through my heart, and I had to turn away from her for a second.
“What's wrong, Daddy?”
“Nothing Cassie. Just that... you're growin' up so fast is all.”
“I'm gonna be so old. Five years, Daddy! I'm gonna be so big!”
I couldn't help but smile – even with the sadness that the memory of my late wife, Joanna, brought on. It had been two years since she had passed, and while time had healed some of the wounds, some remained open and fresh.
“Yes, you are – but right now we can't waste no more time sitting around and yakking; we gotta get you over to school. You got everything?”
“I do daddy.”
“All right, let's go.”
We hurried out to my truck, and I got her strapped into the kid seat I'd installed between my seat and the regular passenger seat.
“You in there nice and tight, Cassie?” I asked.
“I am, Daddy. I like your new truck.”
“I like it too, pumpkin, I like it too. So, what are ya’ll gonna get up to at school today?” I asked as I drove off along the dirt track.
“We're gonna learn about animals in Africa. Have you ever been to Africa, daddy?”
“I have. It's a fascinating place.”
“What did you see there, Daddy?”
“Oh, I saw a lot of things. Most of the animals you're gonna learn about today, I think.”
“Did you see lions?”
“I did.”
“Elephants?”
“Plenty.”
“Crocodiles?”
“Yep, saw those too.”
“An' tigers? Did you see tigers?”
“There ain't no tigers in Africa, Cassie!” I replied with a laugh. “They live in India.”
“Where's India, daddy? Can we drive your truck there? I wanna see tigers!”
I laughed.
“It might be a bit of a long drive to go from here to India, princess, and there's a little hurdle in the way called the Pacific Ocean, or the Atlantic Ocean, depending on which way you wanna go.”
“So, we can't drive there?” she said, looking disappointed.
“No, I'm afraid not, pumpkin. But I do know a place we can to see tigers. You wanna go there?”
Her face lit up immediately.
“I do daddy, I do!”
“Well, if you're a real good girl, we'll see if we can go there soon, okay?”
“All right, Daddy! I'll be good, I'll be super good, I promise!”
***
After dropping Cassie off at school, I ran a few errands and was on my way to the radio station when I pulled up to a red traffic light. A car pulled up alongside me, and I didn't think anything of it, but I did get a feeling like someone was watching me. I glanced to the side, and my eyes almost popped out of my head at the sight of one of the most gorgeous women I'd ever seen. She had long, luscious brown hair and big brown eyes, set beneath finely arched brows on either side of a cute, slightly upturned nose. She had a friend with her in the car too, but I only had eyes for the brunette. I couldn't pinpoint it exactly, but the arrangement of her features just seemed to be quite perfect in my eyes.
When our eyes met, she smiled, parting her full lips slightly to reveal perfect white teeth. I smiled back, nodded – and then the light turned green. I stepped on the gas, gunning the truck hard away from the lights. I didn't know why, but I just felt like I had to speed off. Maybe there was something about her that caught me off guard, and I never liked feeling like that.
Still, even as I drove off, the image of her beautiful face remained imprinted on my memory, and I soon started regretting not having said or done anything. I mean, hell, I should have at least tried to get her number, right? Well, it was a bit late for that now.
I pulled into my parking space and got out, and headed up into the station. I bumped into Terry on the way up the stairs.
“Hey, buddy!” I said, offering him a hand, which he gripped tightly and shook firmly.
“Morning, Chance,” he replied. “How'd you sleep?”
“I didn't get nearly enough,” I replied.
“Oh no, why?”
“We had a bit of a situation on the ranch last night, and all the boys was in town drinking and chasin' tail, so Andy and I had to take care of it ourselves.”
“Damn. What happened?”
“Ah, nothing crazy. Our foal, Starlight, got out and got herself stuck in a big, deep puddle of mud.”
“That does not sound good. Did ya’ll get her out all right?”
“We did. Eventually.”
“Good, good. Hey listen, I'm gonna run a lil' contest on the late morning show in a couple of minutes. Can you get Farrah or one of the other assistants in the booth with me to help me out?”
I raised an eyebrow.
“Hey, look now, Terry, I give you a lot of freedom in there, and you know it, but you also know that you're supposed to clear stuff like this with me well ahead of the time. Why are you just springing this on me now?”
He smiled mischievously.
“Oh, it's nothing major, nothing at all. Trust me, I've got everything under control.”
“You're not gonna tell me what it's about?”
He kept smiling and shook his head.
“Just trust me, Chance, just trust me.”
I sighed.
“All right then, Terry, but I don't want no nasty surprises, you understand?”
“Don't worry, old friend, it'll be a perfectly good surprise, I promise you that.”
“If you say so. Anyways, I'm gonna order some Starbucks; would you like some?”
“I've already got, but thanks anyway. See you later, buddy!”
“Just remember to run any other contests by me first!” I called out after him as he hurried off.
After that, I headed out to my office and sat down to take care of a few emails and other matters. As I was doing that, Terry headed into the booth to start his late morning show. I glanced up and shot him a smile through the glass partition, which he returned. I flipped on the speaker next to my desk so that I could hear what he was saying.
“It's brunch hour with Terry McGuire on Corral FM,” he said, his voice rich with enthusiasm and joy. He really was a great DJ. “And this hour, in addition to some great country tunes, we're having a special, once-off contest. That's right, listeners: you get to call in and stand a chance of winning a great prize. This prize is, unfortunately, only available to single, unattached ladies.”
I sat up straight and shot Terry a questioning look through the glass. What was he up to?
“That, listeners, is because the grand prize in this morning's contest is a date with my boss, the owner of this radio station and one of Nashville's most eligible bachelors, the one, and only, Mr. Chance Lawson!”
My jaw dropped with disbelief. Half of me wanted to drop on the floor and roll around with laughter, but the other half wanted to punch Terry's lights out. What the hell was he thinking?! He flashed a shit-eating grin at me through the glass, and I pointed at him with one hand while I drew my finger slowly across my throat with the other.
Terry continued with his announcement, still grinning.
“All right, ladies, if you want to win this amazing prize, you need to call in within the next hour. We'll take twenty calls, and for each call, you'll only have ten seconds to tell us about yourself – or your friend, if you're going to enter for a friend. At the end of the hour, I'm going to narrow it down to five names, and then pick one of those out of a hat. Are ya’ll ready? The lines are gonna open after this great classic from Johnny Cash, so single ladies, get your fingers dialing!”
The next hour was pure torture for me as I listened with disbelief as a bunch of ladies called in, each introducing themselves in hasty ten-second spurts. Well, all right, it wasn't all torture – actually, it was a bit of an ego boost to see just how many women wanted to go on a date with me. Still, I was sure that not a single one of them would do anything for me.
Eventually, though, the hour came to a close and, as promised, Terry narrowed the field down to five contestants whose names Farrah wrote down on scraps of paper and put into a hat. Terry reached into the hat and pulled out a piece of paper.
“And here it is, listeners, the name of the lucky lady who my boss Chance Lawson is gonna take out on the town. Annnddd the winner is... Mackenzie Shea!”