“Hey,” Noah enters, grabbing our attention. “Can one of you swing by the stables after lunch? I need an extra hand.”
“I thought that’s why you have ranch hands,” Wilder says between chewing.
Noah ignores him, looking directly at me. “I need help sweeping the training center. Ellie’s coming this afternoon for training, and I wanna make sure it’s in perfect condition.”
Landen’s wife is a pro barrel racer and she’s headed to Vegas after Thanksgiving to compete in the National Finals Rodeo. The whole family’s going to support her and it should be a fun time.
“Yeah, no problem,” I tell her. “I’ll be there in twenty.”
“That’s why you’re myfavoritebrother,” she drawls, shifting her gaze to Wilder.
“Kiss-ass,” he murmurs.
I chuckle as Noah walks away.
“She just knows which brother to go to that’ll get the job done right.”
“I could sweep that arena in my sleep,” he mocks.
“Probably because you’ve done it hungover more times than not.”
“And it still got done, yeah?”
Shaking my head, I go back to eating and ignoring my messages.
The training center is Noah’s bread and butter. Hell, it brings in a lot of revenue for the ranch in general. It’s where all her professional training takes place. Noah’s well-known in the state and surrounding areas for being a horse whisperer and usually has a two-year waitlist. Mostly because she’s skilled in various pro rodeo events. I don’t think there’s anything she’s not knowledgeable about when it comes to horses. She’s been this way since she was a teenager.
If you didn’t know who she was before meeting her, you’d never guess she was only twenty-six. She’s already married, with a two-year-old daughter.
Fisher, her husband, is the ranch’s farrier and ironically, her ex-boyfriend’s dad.
Landen and Tripp might’ve threatened him a time or two before they confessed to having a secret relationship.
Wilder and I part ways after lunch, him to the retreat barn and me to the ranch. I’m not on this side much, only if there’s a big job that involves extra hands or someone’s out sick.
“Hey, Ruby,” I greet. She’s one of Noah’s ranch hands.
“Hey, whatcha doing?”
I explain where I’m headed and before I can get to where the sweeper is stored, two trucks drive up the gravel road toward the stables. It’s a long driveway, but I think one of them is Ellie. Although she and Landen live on the other side of the ranch, toward the mountains by the lake, she was probably running errands in town.
“Busy afternoon, huh?” I ask.
“Per usual,” she says.
“How’s that boyfriend of yours?” I ask, keeping up a conversation while she follows me to the four-wheelers. The sweeper attaches to the back and then I’ll ride in circles around the arena inside the training center until it’s clean and flat.
“He’s amazing. Great.Perfect.” The stars in her eyes make me laugh.
She finally dumped her loser ex-boyfriend months ago when he refused to propose after six years together and started dating his best friend, Levi. Her ex, Nash, ended up kidnapping her and would’ve killed her had Levi and Tripp not found her in time. Nash shot Levi at the same time Tripp shot Nash in the chest, and then Tripp jumped into the lake to save Ruby before she could drown.
It was a whole scandal.
The town called Tripp a hero and Levi spent months recovering from a gunshot wound.
Considering how crazy in love they are, I wouldn’t be shocked if they get engaged soon.
“And what about you? Thoughts on settling down yet?” Ruby asks when I hop on the four-wheeler.
