Leland
After lunch clouds began to roll in over Iron Mountain. Leland met Brody on the porch of the dining hall and asked him about the trail ride.
“Might be too boisterous out there for some guests,” Leland said, looking at the ridge of hills where the edges flowed into the moody clouds. That was his way of giving Brody advice without telling him what to do. Brody was a responsible wrangler, one of the best the ranch’d ever had. At the same time, the group that was scheduled to go out were all new riders, having their first trail ride in their lives.
“It might be,” said Brody. “We’ll tie on rain slickers to each saddle, and the guests will love it. They’ll think they’re going on a trek into the wilderness with certain danger on every side. It’ll be good for ‘em.”
“What about Dorothy?” Leland asked. “She’s a very timid rider.”
“She’s got the heart of a lion.” Brody shook his head, as though this idea was mere foolishness. “Besides, I’ve got Jamie coming along. He’ll ride at her side the whole time, keep her calm.”
“He is?”
This stopped Leland and all the thoughts in his head, which were usually focused on everything he needed to get done. Everything, ever part of him, narrowed in on the idea of it. Of Jamie on horseback, riding along with that smile in his eyes, tentative, but bright. His first trail ride—Leland had wanted that ride to be with him, the two of them together. Only he’d foolishly squandered any possibility of that happening.
Any pain he felt was his own doing, and he deserved every bit of it.
“Sure,” said Brody. Then, as casually as any comment Leland had ever heard from him, he added, “You could come along too. Help me out.”
“You don’t need my help,” Leland said, wishing desperately that there was some way he could backpedal his way out of the conversation.
“Sure I do,” Brody said. Then he grinned. “Besides, they’d love it if the foreman of the ranch came along. It’d make it feel more meaningful if you were there.”
“Meaningful?” Leland had no idea what he was going on about.
“More official. Like, you’re giving it your stamp of approval if you’re along for the ride. Like the ride is worth your going on it.”
“Ah.”
All rides were worth his going on, but he didn’t always go. This time he would, if just to help Brody, help guests manage the upcoming rough weather. Which was a lie, all of it. He was going because Jamie was going. If he couldn’t ride with Jamie on his own—and he couldn’t—then at least he could be with Jamie this way. Under the guise of helping Brody. Then he could watch and dream and dry his own tears later over what he had lost.
“Sure,” he said, finally. “I’ll be ready. I’ll take any horse the guests don’t want.”
Guests wanted pretty horses, horses they could write home about and post on their social media, so he was always willing to take the horses that were less photogenic. And a time or two, he’d been able to show guests that all the ranch’s horses were good ones and worth praising.
As he walked back to the barn and his office, he decided the trail ride would be his long ride for the day. It would probably rain by evening anyway, and while a ride in the rain might look romantic on a movie screen, it was a miserable experience.
He took care of some paperwork, then grabbed his Carhartt jacket, along with some leather gloves, and headed out to the corral. There, ten horses were lined up, and guests were helping ranch hands to groom and saddle, though mostly it was the ranch hands doing the work while the guests flitted around with excited smiles and voices filled with expectation.
“Better bring out those yellow slickers, Mr. Calhoun,” Leland said extra loudly, drawing out theosound. He pulled on his leather gloves and steadied his hat as though preparing for foul weather and maybe even the worst storm the ranch had ever seen. It was a bit of theatrics on his part for the benefit of the guests, and to his pleasure, and as he expected he would, Brody snapped to.
“Yes, sir, Mr. Tate,” he said, then gestured to the ranch hands to dash off for those slickers.
All of them, except Jamie, went into the barn where the slickers had already been piled up. They came back, their arms full, and carefully handed out a slicker to each guest, and to Jamie and Brody and himself.
As Leland helped guests tie their slickers to the back of their saddles, demonstrating what the leather strings on their saddles were for, he watched Jamie out of the corner of his eyes. He couldn’t help it, it was like he was drawn to Jamie like a sighthound, hopelessly drawn to him.
Jamie helped Dorothy tie down her slicker and then tied down his own, but it was easy to see that Leland’s comments and theatrics had made her more nervous, which wasn’t right. With quick strides, he went over to her and Jamie and patted Travelle.
“Ma’am,” he said, touching his gloved hand to his hat. “Jamie,” he said. Jamie looked at him like he’d just smacked him, which made Leland heartsore all over again. “You probably won’t need to use that slicker,” he said to Dorothy. “It’s just a precaution.”
“But will the trail get wet?” she asked, her eyebrows high in her forehead. “Will the horse slip?”
Leland couldn’t imagine what grief she’d experienced having lost her husband, but he admired her for going back out into the world and trying something new and different. She might be nervous, but she’d not stepped out of the ring. It was Leland’s job to reassure her that all would be well.
“You’re smart to be thinking about these things, Dorothy,” Leland said, focusing his attention on her. “It it probably won’t rain, but if it does, we’ve got the slickers. The trail we’re riding along is mostly flat, except for a small rise that we go over to get into the valley bottom. Besides.” He gestured with his gloved hand to Jamie, standing close by. “Jamie will ride with you, keep you company. Dusty, the horse he’s riding, is the steadiest of all the horses being ridden today. And you already know Travelle is sweet as sugar, and will take you there and back again, quite safely. Now, can I give you a leg up?”
“Jamie,” she said as she reached out and touched his arm. “He makes me feel safe.”
