“Yeah, sure. Maybe a half dozen I noticed a couple last week were past their best.”
“Good idea. Everything okay with the accountant today?” We’d just gotten a new guy as our old one had retired. He’d handed us over to a friend of his and Nash had spent the afternoon with him.
“Yep. Think he’ll be a good fit. Happy for you to keep doing the day to day bookkeeping and for him to polish everything up at the end of each quarter. You good with that? I mean now you’re pretty much living with Tally your nights must be tied up with more interesting stuff.” He grinned, knowing exactly what kind of interesting stuff I was tied up with. Funny ‘cause we did like a little bit of tying up occasionally.
“All good. I’m going to put aside a Monday to do the books.”
“Good idea. You finished for the day?” He whipped his baseball cap off and turned it backward. He’d always worn his hat like that, and Lily had told me once when she was a little drunk that she often made him wear it like that when they were having sex. TMI, Lil.
“Going to get some steaks from the deep freeze and make Tally some dinner.”
He nodded. “I’m glad you found her, Wild. She’s a great girl and you deserve some happiness.” He slapped my shoulder. “Just seen her actually, over by the paddock feeding Petey apples.”
Rolling my eyes, I laughed deep from the pit of my chest. “She kinda fell in love with him. Said he has pretty eyes.”
“Really, I think they look mean. I’m a little scared of him.”
“I know. There is nothing fucking pretty about him.” I looked in the general direction of the paddock where we were keeping Petey. “I’ll go and stop her turning his muscle into fat with treats.”
“I’m going to the house in a few, so I’ll grab you a couple of steaks.”
“Cheers, bro. See you in a few.”
With a bounce in my step, I changed direction to go and find Tally. Going past the shed where we kept the ATVs, I noticed the fence behind it was distorted and damaged. The woven wire mesh should have been taut but looked stretched. As I got closer the full damage came into focus. The mesh had been forced apart, its diamond-shaped pattern warped into a jagged mouth gaping toward the wild grass pasture that we used for hay. Strands of the wire were curled back like snapped guitar strings with the wooden post beside it bearing the struggle too. Its weathered grain was scored with fresh scratches where the staples have been yanked loose, one side leaning slightly under the strain.
The fence no longer stood as a boundary, but looked like a huge wound in the land, raw and ragged.
“What the hell?” I muttered out loud, as I examined the damage and pulled out my phone to call Davey who was on maintenance. It only took a couple of rings for him to answer.
“Hey, boss.”
“Davey, can you get one of the guys down to the ATV shed. The fence behind it is damaged.”
“Really? I was there only a couple of hours ago and it was fine.”
The cold fingers of dread twisted my gut. “It looks like someone pushed it to get through.”
“Fuck,” he muttered. “I’ll go grab some wire and a new post and be there in about twenty.”
“Make it ten if you can.” I looked around me, checking the surroundings but everything seemed normal. Quiet and still just a gentle breeze blowing in the scent of the mountains. “Just in case.”
After we ended the call, I inspected the padlock and chain on the shed door. While it looked okay at first glance, closer inspection found some cuts and grooves, and it was clear someone had tried to cut it. Thankfully, they hadn’t been successful, and I hoped that meant they’d decided to cut and run.
I’d check the CCTV later, but for now I wanted to see Tally, so strodethat way. The paddock we’d put Petey in was surrounded by trees, which meant it was cool in summer and protected during the winter. The track from the stables led to it, around a gentle hill that climbed gradually from the back of the winter barn. Taking the track was easier but climbing the hill was quicker, and I was all about getting there fast.
As I reached the brow of the hill, I spotted Tally a couple of feet clear of the trees and walking toward the track. I couldn’t see the paddock, but my heart stopped. Dead. No beat.
The sound I heard shattered every layer of my world. First the drum of hooves like thunder rattled the earth, then the bellowing of two thousand pounds of fury like distant drums of war. Dust rose in plumes, brown and heavy, marking Petey’s charge across the ground that had seen decades of cattle drives and broken bones, dreams and hearts being built, broken and buried. None of that mattered now, because death, nostrils flared and snorting steam, was racing toward everything I couldn’t lose, and I was too goddamn far away to catch it, to stop my own heart from seizing up and shattering.
“Tally!”
The scream of her name didn’t sound like it was coming from me. I felt like I was watching a scene in a movie, and someone else’s life and heart was about to be shattered. My legs started to pump like overworked pistons as I ran toward her, desperate to save her. Yelling and screaming hoping to distract the monstrous beast from reaching her. My lungs seized, refusing to take in air. Every muscle in my body screamed to move faster but even though I was close I was still too far away, too fucking far.
It didn’t change its course, heading for my life. My love. My beginning. My end.
“Brownie move!”
Instinct had her whipping around to see what the noise behind her was. Fear had her turning to me. Eyes wide and horrified, sadness and sorrow.
