“I did?” Galen asked, surprised by the compliment as he folded the sticky note with the password on it and stuck it in his front jean pocket. He paused, then said, low, “You know, I didn’t want to be a team lead in Leland’s program.”
“I know,” said Gabe, serious, head down, which told Galen this was a private conversation meant only for his ears. “Look, itcan be hard to imagine that an ex-con has anything good to offer the world.”
Gabe paused, his eyes on Galen, as if he wanted to make sure that Galen was listening.
“And maybetheydon’t think they have anything to offer, but we’re going to give them a chance. You gotta shift the way you look at things, is all. Just for a while.” He patted Galen on the shoulder and added, “The keys are in the truck. Did you let Maddy know you’re coming early?”
“Yes, sure did,” said Galen. Feeling as though he might actually get on top of things, he gathered his team.
“Who’s ready to try on hats and boots?” he asked, spreading his hands wide, gesturing to the nearest of the two silver trucks that could be seen beyond the trees.
“Shotgun!” shouted Toby.
Knowing he secretly wished that Bede had shouted shotgun, Galen resigned himself to Toby sitting in the passenger seat next to him. Owen sat behind Toby, and Bede sat in back of Galen.
Chapter 10
Galen
As he drove up the switchbacks, the pine-scented breeze flowing through the open windows as the heat rose, Galen could see Bede’s strong fingers gripping the edges of his headrest in the rearview mirror. Feel Bede’s focused attention on the way they were headed, and where they ended up when Galen parked the truck in the small gravel parking lot in front of the ranch’s store. Like Bede needed to know the way because it was going to be up to him to get everybody back home, safe, to the valley.
“We’re here during a regular day,” Galen said. “Which means there might be ranch guests inside the store. Which means I want you to be on your best behavior. Got it?”
They all nodded, even Toby, who was overcome enough to be perfectly silent. Suddenly well behaved as if the principal had just shown up in his first-grade classroom.
His team all got out of the truck and crowded around Galen, just as he opened the screen door and waved them inside, and just as Maddy was coming over from the main office.
“Thanks for being flexible,” he said to her as she stepped into the shade of the store’s porch. “It’s just too hot for them to be without hats.”
“It’s no problem, and I agree.” Maddy smiled. “We’ll get these guys fixed up in no time.”
“Why—?” Bede stopped. “Ma’am, can I ask a question?”
“You sure may,” said Maddy.
“We all got supplies, everything we need. There’s even a swimsuit in there, so why are we picking out these boots and hats?”
“Well,” said Maddy, then she paused. “What’s your name, son?”
Bede smiled, a faint flush to his cheeks, as if getting called son was the best compliment he’d received in a good long while.
“Bede, ma’am,” he said.
“Well, Bede, we think that boots and hats are too personal just to be handed out. You’re all individuals, so we wanted to give you a choice in the matter. Does that make sense?”
The kind words from Maddy made every single man on his team straighten up and throw their shoulders back. It was as if she’d instilled in them a pride they’d not had only seconds before.
“Come on in now,” she said, holding the screen door open, urging them inside with a wave. “Get out of the heat.”
The store was longer than it was wide. The walls were crammed with shelves, and the shelves with boxes of boots, hats on racks, candy of all kinds, and t-shirts and sweatshirts and baseball caps with the ranch logo emblazoned on them. And all the while, the old wooden floor squeaked beneath his work boots.
Galen had long ago acquired his own cowboy boots, a nice pair of Ariats with a bit of an inlay that reminded him of blue rust. They were nothing fancy, but they’d been easy to break in and let him hold his head up, whether on horseback or on the dance floor.
There were a few customers in the store milling about the glass case with the cowboy buckles. They were focused on their purchases and didn’t seem to notice that Galen had three ex-convicts with him.
As for his team, they kept to the walls and looked at hats and boots with wide eyes, as though they’d suddenly landed on the moon.
According to what Galen had learned, men in prison operated on a trade and barter system, which bolstered what they could buy in the prison commissary. So yeah, going on a shopping trip with carte blanche must feel like it was suddenly Christmas and very overwhelming.
