Page 19 of Roping Her In

“All right,” he drawled. “As long as the logic makes sense to you, and you really think you can be here from Thursday at seven p.m. until your shift on Monday. Sometimes we do three or four cows in a night.”

Hailey swallowed, because while she knew how to work hard, she also enjoyed sleeping in.

“And we’ve got internet in the administration building,” he said. “And all over the ranch.”

“Maybe it’s too much,” she said. “Libby won’t want me living with her from Thursday to Monday. That’s practically all the time.”

“And there’s no reason for you to drive back out here on Thursday night,” he said. “Maybe you can just do from the time your shift ends on Friday through the weekend. And if there’s any weekend that you don’t want to do it, you just say, ‘I’m tired, Jake, and I’m not going to be on-call this weekend.’”

Hailey liked the sound of his voice, and the slow Texan way he talked. “That’s really okay?” she asked. “You let your cowhands dictate to you whatever schedule they want?”

“Number one, you’re not one of my cowhands,” he said. “They’re getting paid to be on-call. You’re not. Number two, they get scheduled for their on-call shifts—they don’t volunteer—and yes, I rotate them off if they’ve had a particularly rough shift, or two, or three. You’ll be no different, and you definitely have more power than they do to say if you want to do it or not. It’s not a requirement for you. I just thought you’d like the experience.”

“I would,” Hailey said quickly. “Thank you.” She sat up again and looked at her laptop. “So Friday to Monday.”

“Friday to Monday,” he said, and he held on to the last word. “I’m actually going to put you down for Friday at five p.m. That way, you’ll have the afternoon for your schoolwork and a nap, if you’d like.”

“When you’re on-call, is there always a birth?” Hailey asked.

“Oh, no.” He laughed. “I thought you knew cows were totally unpredictable.”

She giggled with him, because she did know that. “Sometimes, like I said, we have three or four. Sometimes we don’t have any. Whatever you’re hoping for, you best start praying now, though God will probably do the opposite of it.”

She laughed again, a thrill running through her when his deeper chuckles joined her voice. Then silence crept in, and Hailey didn’t know what to say next. She had so many things she wanted to talk to him about, but the biggest one—the kiss in his office—was also the one thing neither one of them seemed to want to acknowledge.

“Well, I’ve got to read over all the notes,” Jake said. “So I’ll let you go.”

“All right,” she said. “I’ll see you on Wednesday.”

“Yep, see you Wednesday.”

The call ended, and Hailey laid her phone next to her laptop, and let the quietness in her condo spread over her like a warm comforter.

Maybe she and Jake wouldn’t be best friends, and maybe they’d never talk about that kiss. Maybe her insane, complicated feelings for the man would simply vanish. But maybe, just maybe, they could find a way to work together, and she would have the internship experience she wanted.

Hailey had just rolled over when her phone rang with Jake’s song. She’d programmed her phone with a special ringtone just for him, so she’d know if it was him or just one of her siblings texting her late at night. She dang near twisted her shoulder out of the socket as she wrenched her arm around to reach the phone.

Pete and Chelsea Marshall had graciously agreed to let her stay there on the weekends she was on-call, and she didn’t want to wake them up with the blaring of the Justin Bieber song she’d chosen for Jake’s ringtone.

If he knew that…. Hailey smiled just thinking about it, and she managed to swipe on the call in the middle of the third ring.

“Hey,” she said finally, rolling over and sitting up.

“I’m gonna send you my pin,” Jake said, apparently unable to say hello after midnight. “And you’re gonna head my direction. I was out checking the herd and came upon a cow having a hard time.”

Hailey stood and reached for the jeans she’d stepped out of a few hours ago. “All right,” she said, her heart pounding in the best of ways.

“You remember where the ATV keys are?” Jake asked.

“On the hook, right inside the door of the shed.”

“That’s right,” he said. “I brought the red one. There should be a blue one there for you.”

“Okay.” While she hadn’t driven a four-wheeler for a while, and Jake’s crash course on what to do when he called her in the middle of the night had not included a driving lesson, Hailey’s confidence remained high.

“I’ve got a kit with me,” he said. “And there should be one on the ATV. But double check, would you? It seems like she’s been in labor for a while, and I need more towels.”

“Yes, sir,” Hailey said, and she let Jake end the call while she finished getting dressed. She pulled her boots on at the back door and stole out into the night like a thief. Her first big mistake was taking a breath, forgetting that January was only a week old, and no one should be huffing and puffing in this weather.