Tammy limped to a living room window, pulled back the lightweight curtain, and asked, “Why is the tinfoil on the outside instead of the inside, where I could take it down?”
“I didn’t want to wake you up by working inside, so I went to the trouble of putting it on the outside.” He hadn’t mentioned needing money to pay his cell phone bill again and tried a different tactic. “You want to be well rested so we can leave on our road trip to Punkin Center soon, don’t you?”
“Yes,” Tammy said cautiously.
“Me too. Which I will gladly pay for once my social security check is deposited.”
“Why are there new locks on my doors?” she asked with suspicion in her voice.
“Yes. We’re in the middle of nowhere. Even the post office quit delivering mail, so now I pick it up for you since you can’t,” Winston said with a glance at her ankle. She could not be allowed to escape the house. Either the swollen ankle had to get worse or the other one needed to be injured. Today. “I put the locks on the doors for security reasons.”
“I want to go to Colorado Springs to see Tracy like I told her we would,” Tammy insisted and weaved sideways as she stood at the window.
“Of course, you do. And I’m going to drive you there in your truck.”
“Good,” Tammy said. “I want to stay with Tracy when we get there.”
“Of course, we will.”
“I’ll pack,” Tammy said, shuffling toward the privacy of the bedroom she refused to share with him. “Let’s leave today.”
“Why not?” Winston agreed and walked toward her. He’d kill two birds with one stone. When he purposely stumbled, it was over her bad ankle, and he took her down with him. “My arm! My arm!” Winston bellowed, rolling into a fetal position on the floor. Grabbing his right arm with his left, he accused, “You broke my arm!”
“You’re the one who tripped!” Tammy cried, clutching her ankle.
“How do you expect me to drive a stick shift with a broken right arm?”
“Wouldyou want a car with a stick shift?” Cash asked on Sunday afternoon.
“No, but I admire how you handled that rental Mustang.”
On that note, Cash escorted her to his four-car garage and showed Tracy his own Mustang. Her mouth had dropped open in surprise and she’d covered her face in embarrassment, recalling how she’d asked him if he could drive such a car. Taking her for a drive, they pulled into a car dealershipjust to look around,he said. Since the dealership was closed, she didn’t have to worry about him doing something rash. When he asked what her favorite car was of all the ones they’d seen, she was careful not to let on that she had fallen for the Cavalry Blue Rav4 with heated leather seats. Though a shade lighter, the color reminded her of Cash’s blue eyes. Back home, they played in the hot tub before crawling into Cash’s bed.
Bright and early Monday morning, she and Dude accompanied Cash to welcome the new dude ranchers for the week. It thrilled Tracy to be the lucky woman at Cash’s side and she enjoyed the guests getting such a kick out of theGerman shepherd’s name being Dude. On Tuesday when Jacob arrived on Triple C-East, they saddled up, and along with Cash, met Chase on the back road to Triple C Ranch-Central. Cash left them in his brother’s capable hands.
“Driving cattle is something I never expected to do,” Tracy told Chase an hour later.
“That’s what Jade said the first time she and I moved some Black Angus from one pasture to another,” Chase replied with a smile. He’d brought along ranch foreman, Bob, and a couple of his main cowboys; Martyman, who was married to their Aunt Rachel, and Mean Pete who was married to Katy, Jade’s assistant.
“Thank you for a great interview, Chase,” Tracy said. Dude had stayed with Cash. The German shepherd was proving good at making friends with Cash’s horses. But mixing Dude into a herd of cows on the move seemed like an unnecessary risk.
“I’m glad I brought my new video camera,” Jacob said. “I know we can’t use it in the magazine article, per se, but I may take some action shots from the film. Yes, thanks for your hospitality, Chase.”
“My pleasure,” Chase replied. The sun hovered high above Pikes Peak as Jacob snapped a final photo of Chase on his black stallion, Valor, with the cattle milling around a large corral in the background. Raising his right hand in a wave, Chase said, “Here come Cash and Dude.”
Tracy, saddled up on Cinnamon, and Jacob on Chief, saw Cash with Dude trotting at his side. Cash obviously knew that by now, the cows would be safely inside the corral. Cash and Dude were accompanied by Jeff and Beau and ten dude ranch guests.
The previous day, all sixteen of this week’s dude ranchers had practiced mounting and dismounting their horses and taken the typical short ride before lunch. Tracy had been there with Cash, and he had teased her about being an old hand at that now. Chase had texted Cash that he was going to round up a small herd of cows and relocate them into acorral for branding on Tuesday. He’d invited Tracy, Jacob, and Cash’s dude ranchers to join him.
Now, the guests who weren’t too saddle sore and wanted to ride to a real, live cattle ranch were in tow. Tracy’s heart flip-flopped as the handsome owner of the dude ranch neared. Tall in the saddle and muscular in command, Cash was a force to be reckoned with and she loved every minute she spent in his presence. Dude had never had so much fun.
“How’d she do?” Cash asked his brother, inclining his head toward Tracy as he broke away from his guests, letting Jeff and Beau lead them toward the corral.
“She was a pro,” Chase said regarding Tracy. “So was Jacob. I might have to steal ’em from the magazine and add ’em to my crew.”
Reaching them, Cash said, “Jacob might be up for grabs, but I’m gonna keep Tracy on my ranch.”
Chase chuckled. “Fair enough.”
