CHAPTER 1
Anthony ‘Tony’Jacobs looked over at his friend and former boss as he said something he hadn’t heard. “What was that? I didn’t hear you.”
“Are you sure you want to do this?”
“Do what?”
“Move half way across the country. What are you going there for? What will you do?”
“First, yes, I want to do this. I have nothing here in Pennsylvania for me since my parents and siblings moved before my last operation. I’m not begrudging them, because they moved for a better job. I’m happy for them. Before they left, Ramos left. I know you know that there was nothing romantic between the two of us, but she was, and still is one of my best friends. My only other best friend is you. However, I’ve since been discharged from the military, and you’re still active. Again, I’m not begrudging anyone,or crying in my milk, but I have nothing to do or anyone to hang out with when you’re on the job. I know that’s totally on me, but it is what it is. I believe this move will be better for both my mental and physical health.”
“I’m getting out within the next year. I thought that maybe if you were still around, we could hang around and maybe go on camping or fishing trips.”
Tony looked at him with a smirk, and had to wipe his mouth to hide it. “You fish?” He laughed at Shay’s expression.
“Well, no, but I figured we could hang out. I’m in the same boat as you. I don’t have any family here, and with me getting out of the service in less than a year,” he said as he let the sentence trail off, and shrugged. He didn’t know how to put his feelings about his best friend moving without sounding like a sniveling fool.
Tony continued to pack the box he had been working on, and when he finished taping and labelling it, he walked it over to the door to add to the others that he would be taking with him.
He turned to see Commander Shay Hall packing his dishes from his cupboard, so he went to get the pots and pans to pack in their own box. As they worked, Tony explained what he was going to be doing.
“I’ve been in contact with Marcia ever since she left here.”
“Marcia?” Shay asked in confusion as he paused in wrapping the cups in the newspaper.
“Ramos.”
“Ah, okay, go on. I keep forgetting her first name.”
“Well, Ramos and her boyfriend, a guy by the name of Lloyd Berry met a few months after she arrived in Colorado. I know I’m not explaining it in the proper timeline, but I’ll tell you what I know. First, not that it really matters, but Lloyd Berry is a former Navy SEAL. The last time I talked with Ramos, there were six former military women, and eight former Navy SEALs, along with an assortment of other people. Almost everyone that works for Erin Riceman, the owner and operator, has some sort of challenge.”
“By challenge, I’m assuming you’re talking about a disability? Does she, this Riceman woman, have one? Or does she think she knows what she’s talking about, but doesn’t have one herself?”
“Yes, she has a challenge, she lost her right hand in a motor vehicle accident when she was twenty-one. That fateful accident also took the lives of her parents. Her brother was still in the SEALs, and he had left a few months prior on a mission.” Tony made sure he had Shay’s undivided attention, then nodded once. “That mission was dark.”
“Shit, how long did it last?” He paused in his packing and shook his head at the information Tony gave him.
“I’m not positive, but I think it was for two years. One of the people on that mission was Lloyd Berry.”
“Ramos’ fella?”
“Yes. Anyway, as I said, Erin Riceman is the owner and operator of a horse ranch out in Colorado. But it’s not just one ranch.” Tony walked over to where Shay stood, grabbed the marker, and used the inside flap of the box to draw as he talked. “There is the main ranch, and after getting out of the hospital from the accident where she lost her hand, she did some things, don’t ask me, because I don’t know exactly what. All I know is that the main or I guess you could call it the original ranch raises stud horses and prize brood mares. I mean they are the crème of the crème in the horse world. She sold some of them off, and with the proceeds from those sales, she bought supplies to build an entire new ranch. I’m talking barn, stables, pastures, and even cabins for people like Ramos to live in. When the barn was built, and the cabins were almost done, she, Erin went to the slaughter house to purchase horses from there. There was nothing wrong with them, they were just broken, and beaten down. Previous owners had practically worked them to death or they didn’t want them any longer. She also worked with the SPCA and whenever they were called in about animal neglect or abuse, she fostered the horse, donkey, or mule, anything equine until the case against the abuser was finished. According to Ramos, nine times out of ten,Erin was able to keep the horse after donating to the SPCA.”
“Who would have thought of something like that?” Shay asked in awe. “She sounds like an astute business woman.”
“According to Ramos, she is, and that’s not all. Once The Broken Wheel was complete, as I mentioned earlier, the women working there are all former military and each of them have their own challenges. Like Ramos.”
“You’ll be working at this Broken Wheel ranch?” His expression and tone indicated interest in the subject.
“No.” Tony laughed at his shocked expression. “Again, Ms. Riceman is a great business woman. One of her employees, a former barrel racer with the rodeo, owned a ranch over in Wyoming. Erin’s employees went there and brought all those horses over to Colorado, and set up a ranch that borders Erin’s, roughly fifteen hundred acres for this new ranch.”
“How many acres is the original ranch?”
“Don’t quote me, but I believe it’s three thousand. In the spring, there is a property Ms. Riceman purchased across the street that is said to have five thousand acres, and she’s going to be turning that into a new ranch. I don’t know the name, and all I know about it is that it’s going to be a working rodeo ranch.”
“What’s that mean?”
“Remember, I’m getting all this information second hand, but according to Ramos, they are going to build an arena and barns where people can board their animals there in the off season from the rodeo. They are also going to have rodeo stock, like the bucking horses, and bulls. It will take a couple of years to get it built, and up and running, but I’m sure that once you retire you can come out and work there. Also, I have no clue how long it would take a horse or bull to be fully meted to be able to be a rodeo animal. That’s something Ramos couldn’t answer, since she didn’t know either.”
