“Oh, and I’m making an apple pie just for you, so you better be inside for lunch. You know if you’re on the grounds, you best not be missing any meal.”
Her declaration makes me smile, and I nod. “I wouldn’t miss it.”
She pulls me in for another quick hug before letting me go, and I head toward the barn, my heart feeling a little lighter.
As I approach the pasture, I see one of the ranch hands inside the fence with the herd, moving around without taking any of the necessary precautions. My stomach tightens with frustration. Standing nearby, leaning casually against the fence, is Wade, watching the scene unfold like it’s no big deal.
“Hey!” I call out, my voice sharp as I quicken my pace. “What’s going on here?”
He straightens, his expression unreadable as I reach the fence. “Morning, Doc,” he says, his tone almost flippant.
I point toward the ranch hand in the pasture. “Was I not clear about the protocols? Until we eliminate all possibilities, everyone needs to follow them to the letter.”
He shrugs, crossing his arms over his chest. “I understand. I’m doing the best I can with limited resources. We’re taking all the precautions we can, but I don’t have scrubs or hazmat suits, Sutton.”
“Then you should have brought that up yesterday when I was explaining the protocols.” I take a deep breath, forcing myself to stay calm.
“I did tell you the suits were on backorder. He’s wearing Ziploc bags on his boots right now—that’s the best I could do.”
I close my eyes and let out a long breath. I’m so used to ranchers fighting me on everything that I try to enact that I’m not really listening to what Wade is saying.
“I’m trying to save your ranch, Wade. Your herd. We have to be able to communicate. If you don’t care, then maybe I should stop trying to help.”
“We’re doing the best we can with what we got, did you not hear me?”
Before I can respond, Benny steps in, raising a hand in a gesture of peace. “Doc, I’m sorry,” he says, his tone genuine. “I promise us rednecks are doing the best we can with our ingenuity. I know Ziploc baggies probably ain’t as good as the booties, but they work. Our jobs depend on it, and we know it. We’re taking it seriously.”
I nod, some of the tension easing from my shoulders. “Thank you, Benny. I appreciate that.”
Wade doesn’t say anything for a moment; he just watches me with that same unreadable expression. I turn my attention back to the pasture, focusing on the work that needs to be done. As I start gathering my equipment, I roll my eyes. I’ve been in the ranching community for my entire life; you’d think I’d remember how to deal with these jerks a little better.
“We disinfected all the troughs, and we got the cattle separated in terms of how serious their symptoms are,” Wade says as he gestures toward one of the pens.
“What are you doing about the run-off from the sickest cattle to those with the fewest symptoms?” I ask over my shoulder as I take out the swabs.
Wade sighs. “I’ve been corralling it off with boards, but I didn’t share that with the rest of the guys, and I don’t know if they thought about it. I’ll make sure I fix that.”
“Hey, Benny, can you start loading the healthy cattle in the chute for me? I want to swab their nostrils, take some blood, and stool samples.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Benny says before running off to do what I asked.
“How many chutes do you have?”
“We’ve got about three working squeeze chutes for vaccines and checks.”
“Can you set them up? I want to be able to move efficiently with my checks and not be waiting around for the next heifer to go in the shoot. I’ve got a lot of cattle to check for just one person.”
Wade hollers at Jared and Tommy, instructing them to get the chutes ready, then he turns to look at me.
“Caleb said that you told him he could do herd checks with you today,” Wade says.
“I did. Doc Lucy has her own practice to run and needs to focus on that, so it’s just me. He would be a great asset for me. I planned on asking you about it after lunch. I wasn’t positive if he really wanted to do it.”
“He’s excited about it. You don’t have to do that, though.”
“Do what?”
“You can tell him no. Don’t feel like you have to say yes to him.”
