It took several moments, then the woman stood, placed her hands on her hips and glared at him.
“You will go over to Caleb’s to get an x-ray, you are to follow his instructions, you are not allowed to return to work until you are cleared. I know you’ve only been here for a couple of weeks, but do you have a physical doctor in town?”
“Who are you?” Faith blurted out, and it seemed like the entire cabin stilled as they looked between Erin and Faith.
“I’m Erin Riceman.” She stepped forward and held out her left hand. “Who are you?”
They shook, and Faith answered, “Faith Webber, Naomi and Cole hired me to be the resident jockey.”
“Oh, great, welcome aboard. If people haven’t told you yet, I’m in charge of everything.” At Faith’s expression, she nodded.
“Yes, Naomi owns New Double, Cole is the manager, however,Iown the land it sits on. Ultimately, if Shay decides to sue someone, it would be me.”
“I won’t do that,” Shay said as he used Tom and Tony’s help to stand. Everyone saw him wince, but he got the crutches beneath his feet. “It was my own fault, I wasn’t paying attention. No, I do not have a regular doctor.”
“Caleb has a list of them at his office. Go work with him, and see what he says, you’re not to return to work until you’re cleared by him, not Caleb, the new guy you go see.”
“Understood,” Shay nodded and used the crutches to get to the door. Everyone stood back as he slipped his feet into some slip-on shoes he had at the door, then turned to look at them. “The faster I get over there to get checked out, the faster I canget healed.” He turned to Faith and gave her a nod. “Thank you, I don’t know when I’ll be back, hopefully in a couple of hours.”
“I’ll be here, don’t worry.”
“See you then,” he said with a nod as he looked at the others. “Who’s driving me to Caleb?”
“I will,” Cole said as he helped him down and into the truck.
Faith stood in the doorway and watched them all get in their own vehicles and caravan away from the cabin. She shook her head at the efficiency of what had happened, and crossed her fingers that this was how New Double would work. On a heavy sigh, she closed the door against the bitter wind, turned to the kitchen, and started investigating the contents of the refrigerator and cupboards. Because she had been craving it, she decided to use the thawed hamburger she found and started mixing up a meatloaf. In no time it was in the oven, and she peeled the potatoes as she waited for it to bake.
CHAPTER 6
“Who the hellwas that in my house?” Shay asked as they drove away from the cabin and headed toward Broken Two.
“Faith Webber, just like she said. She’s also the resident jockey.”
“What does that actually man?”
“You know we raise racehorses, right?”
“Yes.”
“Well, we have a dozen of them ready to start running the track when the snow melts and the track is worked. By worked, I’m talking running the equipment over it to get it ready for the horses. She will be riding all the horses. We have buyers for some, but until we can get their stats, they aren’t interested.”
“I’m assuming by stats you mean how fast they run?”
“Among other things, but yes.”
“She’s going to be riding all of them?”
“Not at the same time.” Cole looked at him with a grin, and laughed at Shay’s expression. “Sorry, I couldn’t resist. Naomi and I’ve been talking, and we want to keep Champ for the ranch. We don’t want to sell him.”
“I thought someone wanted to buy him.”
“Just because someone wants to buy him, it doesn’t mean we have to sell him. Naomi, Clem, and I believe that Champ will be good for the ranch. I know we’re short staffed as it is, but eventually, we will have enough people to operate like Erin’s Way, and Broken Wheel are. Just like Erin, we, Naomi and I, do not want to hire just anyone, we want quality people to work for us.”
“Is that what I am? Quality?”
“Yes, you don’t have any challenges, but with your military experience, you have discipline, stamina, and integrity.”
“What if Caleb says I can’t work until this bruise heals? Then what will I do?”
