“Hello?”
“Found you,” said Preston’s voice, the words like a slap. “I have been calling and calling. The only person I could get hold of at that stupid ranch foundation, or whatever it is, was some broad named Maddy Greenway, and I got to give me your number.”
“Preston?” Cal’s heartbeat sped up so fast he thought it would leap right out of his chest.
“Youliedto me,” said Preston in that heated way he had when he was so in the right and could never be wrong. “Maddy said I could come any Sunday. I could have come twoweeksago. Well, I’m coming out this Sunday—tomorrow—and you better have your bags packed and be ready to come home.”
“Uh.”
There was nothing Cal could say to this. Not with all the oxygen sucked out of his body, and his throat so tight he couldn’t speak.
He ended the call with a press of his thumb, and stood in the middle of his tent, staring at the phone, willing his brain and all of its images of disastrous outcomes whirling and whirling to just settle down and think.
He could just leave and take nothing with him. Or he could ask Zeke.Zeke, I don’t know what to do.
With that plan in mind, he got dressed and headed to breakfast. He had his phone in his pocket and though he turned it to mute, it buzzed and vibrated as though he’d tucked a handful of angry wasps in his back pocket.
But once he saw Zeke at breakfast, Zeke’s handsome solemnness contrasted so sharply with the idea of Preston’s voice at the other end of the phone, he hardly knew what to say.
So he said nothing, all the way up to lunchtime, when he happened to take a peek at his phone and saw the texts from Preston, lined up like knives.
Chapter 16
Zeke
It was right before breakfast that Zeke decided to have a chat with Gabe about the attitude and behavior of the majority of the parolees during riding lessons.
“They’re having a good time,” said Zeke. “And that’s fine. But they don’t focus, and they don’t seem to care.”
“What do you mean they don’t seem to care?” asked Gabe.
They were standing in the shade at the bottom of the steps to the mess tent. There was a soft breeze that indicated rain was coming.
It certainly smelled like rain, but Zeke hoped the rain would wait until nightfall, as it made the paddock muddy and lessons even more difficult than they already were.
“They’d rather take a swing at each other while on horseback than improve their neck reining technique. Cal is a big help, but it’s a wasted effort.” Zeke shook his head. “Oddly, there are three men who seem to want to learn, so maybe we should just focus on them.”
“Who, exactly?” asked Gabe.
“That’s Gordy, Toby, and Wayne,” said Zeke. With just three men in the lessons, the lessons would go better, and the men would learn more. Plus, Cal wouldn’t be run off his feet somuch, with fewer men to assist.” He paused and said, “To be honest, I’ve been thinking that it’s not Galen who’s inadequate to the task of teaching riding lessons. It’s the men who aren’t interested. If we cut the lessons just down to those three, then Galen is the perfect teacher.”
Instead of answering, Gabe reached into his pocket and pulled out his cell, which must have been buzzing. Glancing at the phone, Gabe said, “Excuse me, it’s Leland. I should take this.”
Zeke waited as Gabe greeted Leland. All the while, he kept an eye out for Cal, who’d not yet shown up. Which was odd. Cal was usually right at Zeke’s heels, a comfortable, helpful shadow that Zeke was coming to rely on. Not just for his willing nature, but in other ways?—
“Let me ask Zeke,” said Gabe, and Zeke turned his attention from inner concerns to the matter at hand, which was whatever Leland wanted. “I’ll call you back.”
“What is it?” Zeke asked.
“There’s been a landslide just outside of Aungaupi Valley. Nobody was hurt, but the trucks and trailers can’t get in to haul out a herd of mustangs that were rounded up and left there for transport.”
“They’re mustangs,” said Zeke, not understanding the urgency in Gabe’s voice. “They’ll be fine.”
“They were put in a temporary pen ready for loading into the trailer,” said Gabe. “The hitch on the trailer broke and so they went to get a new one. Got the new one, but couldn’t get back because of a landslide. They don’t have access to food and water until someone lets them out of that pen.”
“How long would it take to clear?” asked Zeke, finally understanding the issue.
“They can’t tell me,” said Gabe. “And they can’t send men over the slide. It’s too dangerous. Plus, that’s high country.Bears. Mountain lions. The mustangs were to be delivered to the Wild Mustang Program.”
