Though it had taken longer than she’d wanted, she’d known these field trips and tours of other facilities in the area would help her understand better how to run Feline Friends. After all, Lila Mae could admit her weaknesses and knew she had plenty to learn about opening and operating a cat sanctuary in a state where she’d only lived for a few months.
As she followed Smiles and Rock down the aisle and out a different set of doors that led directly into their second stable, Lila Mae knew God had provided these resources for her. While her idea to come to an enormous cattle ranch and see how they ran things had felt silly, God had actually directed her here so she could learn what she needed to succeed at Feline Friends.
As she took more notes, she wrote out in the marginTalk to Trap about Cat House design, and circled it. Suddenly, she couldn’t wait to go to dinner with him tonight and tell him everything she’d learned from Smiles and Rock at Shiloh Ridge Ranch.
26
Hailey Winters led Lila Mae up the steps and to the deck on the side of the homestead at Three Rivers Ranch. They’d made the long drive here together, with Lila Mae telling her everything she’d learned at Shiloh Ridge last week. Hailey had spent a lot of time at Shiloh Ridge, and she knew how charismatic both Smiles and Rock were.
Not only that, but Hailey didn’t think there were smarter cowboys on the planet, and part of her wished she hadn’t been so unhappy to be back at the ranch where she’d grown up.
She loved Shiloh Ridge, to be certain, but she also loved that she didn’t live there anymore. She knew there’d always be a place for her there, but she certainly didn’t have the same drive to live on a cattle ranch, despite the fact that there were a dozen breeds of animals she could take care of.
She knocked on the frame of the screen door and then called through it. “Libby, it’s Hailey and Lila Mae.” She smiled over to her boss, who had become quite a good friend. Lila Mae seemed to drink up everything around her, really absorbing it and learning and growing.
Yes, she had a vision for Feline Friends, but she was willing to make adjustments as she went, claiming not to knoweverything and constantly asking for help and feedback. Hailey needed to learn from her, because she naturally assumed she was right about most things, and she was very opinionated on the way things should be done.
“Come in,” Libby called, and the sound of a baby’s cry came through the open screen.
Hailey reached to open the screen door, and she entered first. It was cooler in the house, thanks to the air conditioner, and Hailey lifted her ponytail off the back of her neck where it had started to stick in the humidity. She was used to heat, having lived in Texas her whole life, and she smiled at the little girl in the living room.
“Hi, Nora,” she said, and she moved in that direction to pick up the little girl. Nora clapped her hands and babbled, and Hailey grinned at her. She’d had plenty of practice with babies and toddlers, as she had been almost eleven years old by the time her step-mom had had her and Daddy’s first baby. Then she’d had twins, and Hailey hadlovedthose babies with her whole heart and soul. She still loved Joey, Nash, and Nellie, and she got along great with her half-siblings.
Lila Mae smiled at her, and then at Libby when the woman came down the hall with her two-month-old son in her arms. “Can I hold him?” Lila Mae asked.
“I never say no when someone asks to hold my baby.” She passed the little boy to Lila Mae, who grinned at him, bounced him lightly, and cooed at him. “His name’s Gavin, right?”
“This is Lila Mae,” Hailey said. “You’ve probably heard Trap talk about her.” She smiled at Lila Mae, who seemed to beam sunshine out of her soul. Hailey thought that would be a whole lot easier if she had a bank account that looked like Lila Mae’s, and she schooled the somewhat catty thoughts as soon as she had them.
She didn’t want to begrudge anyone for anything they had, and she’d seen firsthand how hard Lila Mae worked. Of course, she’d been born into money, but that didn’t mean she didn’t have a work ethic. Hailey could admit her step-mom and all the Glovers had plenty of money, and she’d never wanted for anything.
“I swear I’m almost ready,” Libby said. “It takes forever to get out of the house with the kids.” She didn’t seem frazzled by it as she sank onto the couch with a groan, “Come on, Nora, let’s put your shoes on.”
Hailey moved over to hand the little girl to her mother so she could put on shoes and they could get out onto the ranch.
When Lila Mae somehow got Gavin to laugh, Libby looked at her with surprise. “Wow, I don’t think he’s ever laughed before.”
“Really?” Lila Mae asked. “He is just thecutestthing in the world.”
“Thank you,” Libby said, and she finished with Nora’s shoes and swept a kiss along Gavin’s cheek. “I’m going to put him in my sling.” It took a few more minutes for her to get the baby ready to go, and then the five of them left the farmhouse.
Libby led them into the shade created by the ranch buildings on the west side of the road, which led in front of the cowboy cabins. Hailey had a few friends who’d grown up out here at Three Rivers, some of them in these cabins as their daddies worked full-time here at the ranch.
Lila Mae asked her general questions as they walked, and Hailey simply listened. Lila Mae wanted to know how many full-time cowboys they had here, and Libby said, “Fourteen right now, and we have a full-time veterinarian and two vet techs.”
Hailey clued in then, because she happened to know that one of those vet techs was doing an internship here, and while it took a substantial amount of time to drive to Three Rivers Ranch,if she could live on-site and finish her certification here, Hailey thought that would be pretty amazing.
At the same time, she knew she was putting the horse before the cart, as she’d just started her vet tech certification classes and wouldn’t need an internship for another year and a half. She liked working for Lila Mae, and it gave her enough of an income to live on her own again. Of course, she had a roommate, so she couldn’t really afford to liveallon her own quite yet, but Hailey felt better about herself and her future than she had in a great long while.
Libby pointed out the buildings as they moved by them, including the chicken house, the stables, the barns, and the big arena that actually belonged to Courage Reins.
“Have you ever been horseback riding?” Libby asked, and Lila Mae looked at her as if Libby had asked if she’d ever consider cutting off her own arm.
“No,” Lila Mae said. “I suppose I need to learn now that I’m a resident of Texas and all.”
“This is the best place to do it,” Hailey said, looking past Libby to Lila Mae. “Courage Reins has the gentlest horses.”
Lila Mae nodded, pressed her lips together, and looked back at her notebook. “So you offer on-site housing?” she asked.
