Snakes were part of the ecosystem and should be given a wide berth, left alone. But this snake was too close to the ranch and was, in fact, on ranch property. Removal was the next best thing. Not to mention where there was one, there might be others.
Standing up slowly, backing away even more slowly, Clay didn’t hardly take a breath till he was in the truck, next to Jamie, who’d picked up his cellphone to call the nearest snake control company. It was only then Clay could take a breath, wipe the sweat from his neck with his palm.
“You did good,” he said to Jamie, who was white.
“You did, too,” said Jamie. His mouth barely moved as he spoke. Then he dialed Leland’s number, and when Leland answered, he explained the situation.
“Leland wants us to wait here, so we don’t startle the snake,” said Jamie when he clicked his phone off. “He wants the snake to be where we saw it, so snake control can get it easily.”
“Got it.”
Rubbing his mouth, Clay thought about how there was a cooler in the truck bed full of several plastic bottles of ice cold water. But if he opened the door, he might startle the snake, so the two of them would just have to sit tight. Which they did for a good half hour, in the rising heat.
Jamie had left the windows down when he’d parked the truck, so at least they had a breeze. And if Clay squinted, he could see the snake, still wrapped around the fence post, basking in the sun.
Soon after that, a man came walking up the hill, carrying a dark cloth bag and a metal snake hook to capture the snake with. He nodded at them as he came up to the truck.
“You boys are smart,” he said beneath the shade of his cowboy hat. “Where is it?”
“There.”
Clay pointed at the fence post where he could still see the snake, napping, and he was very glad that it wasn’t him who had to approach the snake and grapple with it using the snake hook. The rattles started going, and the snake spun around, but the handler captured it neatly and tucked it in a bag. A bag that shifted around, like the snake was trying to find a way out.
“Tell Leland I’ll send him the bill,” said the man as he walked back down the hill.
Clay wanted a cold drink of water and then he wanted a beer and maybe a shot of whiskey, though maybe not in that order.
“Should we go back?” asked Jamie. “Pick up our tools and go? Or stay and work?”
“I think we should stay and finish,” said Clay, though it made his skin itchy to think of what a close call they’d had.
Jamie nodded, and they got out of the truck, grabbed a bottle of cold water for each of them to drink, and sauntered over to the fence line like they both weren’t about to jump out of their skins.
Clay had just picked up his hammer and was kicking dust over the spot where the rattler had curled around the bottom of the fence post when Leland came driving up the hill, parking his truck next to the other one. He got out in one smooth motion and walked right up to Jamie to take him in his arms. Kissed him hard. Carded his fingers through Jamie’s hair.
Clay looked away and let them have their moment, thinking maybe that if Austin had known, he might have come up and kissed Clay. Not like Leland had kissed Jamie, but in his own way, passionate and deep. Then Austin might have hugged him, a full body hug, like Clay was somebody he really cared about. Which he did, actually.
Ducking his head, hiding his smile, Clay kicked a tuft of grass and waited for the boss and the hired hand to end their kiss. When they did, Leland looked at Clay, face flushed, his smile tilted up at one end.
“Let me help you boys finish up,” he said. “I’ve got the snake wrangler coming up again on Saturday, after the guests have gone, to check for a nest.”
Together, under the cloudless blue sky, they fixed the fence, tightened the boards so they wouldn’t come loose in the wind and weather. They made short work of it, though it left sweat drying everywhere Clay could think of.
He itched for a shower, but there wasn’t time if he wanted to get back to the main lodge to have lunch with Austin. Which he missed, since he was late, and Austin had eaten early, according to Brody when he asked him.
“Why you wondering about him for?” asked Brody. Then, after a minute, as he tucked into the strawberry shortcake Levi had made for dessert, he said, “Oh, man. Have you fallen for theaccountant? What will Leland say when he finds out.”
“And he will,” said Clay. He stirred around the bits of strawberry left on his plate, knowing it was likely that the non-fraternization rule would apply to him, even if it didn’t apply to Leland. He had made a joke about it to Austin, but it was only a joke. Rules were rules.
“I won’t say anything.” Brody shrugged and went back to his dessert, drinking large gulps of milk between bites. Hardly any grown person Clay knew drank milk, but Brody did, every chance he got, and Clay had it on good authority that Levi made sure to order organic milk, just for Brody.
“Thanks.”
As Clay finished his lunch, he didn’t say anything to Brody about the snake. Snakes were a part of the landscape, though the ranch was pretty active, and the snakes liked it quiet. He couldn’t admit that he’d been scared, that even now he could imagine how it might have gone if he’d not backed away and been safe in the truck. Prairie rattlesnakes were deadly, especially when startled.
What he wanted, what he really wanted, was to tell Austin, and have Austin hug and kiss him, comfort him. Let him be scared for a little bit, unlike everywhere else, where Clay needed to put on a brave face.
Which, come to think of it would be the second time Austin knew something about him that nobody knew. First that he couldn’t dance, and second that he was afraid of snakes. Being so open about himself wasn’t his first nature, normally, but it was becoming so with Austin. The accountant.
