Page 31 of Dust Storm

Her face turned bright red and she gaped at me. “What do you think gives you the right to?—”

I held up a finger. “One thing you should know about me. I don’t have time for bullshit. I will tell you exactly what’s on my mind. If you have a problem with that, then you’re just going to have to get over it.”

Thick lashes lowered and lifted as she looked me up and down. “That makes two of us.”

The steel toes of my boots bumped the pointed triangle of her heels. “I’ve gotta make some calls before we head out. You’ve got fifteen minutes to get your shit in order.”

Fourteen minutes and fifty-six seconds later, we were heading out of the office. “Think you can ride today?” I asked as I secured my radio to my belt and patted down my pockets, double checking that I had gloves, a knife, the cattle tag and applicator, and a multi-tool.

“Ride in an air-conditioned truck? Yes, I suppose that’ll do.”

I shook my head. “No, ma’am. Your options today are a horse or an ATV.”

Her jaw flexed and I could almost make out the chalky sound of her teeth grinding together. “The ATV, I suppose.”

“You’ll get dirtier riding that than if you ride a horse.”

She chose the ATV anyway.

Not that I was surprised, but it did make for an interesting fit. I loaded up the two-seat Outlander and double-checked the fuel.

“You know,” I hollered as we ripped over the terrain. “One of these days, you’re gonna have to start dressing for the ranch.”

“I dress for myself,” she shouted from behind me.

“Yeah, I can see that. Your dry-cleaning bill is gonna be high.”

Low brush was eaten up by the tires as we crossed the plains. CJ and the ranch hands had been working to move the herd to the west pastures so the southern pastures could recover.

Cassandra’s arms were wrapped tight around me, squishing into my stomach as we bumped and bobbed over rocks and divots.

Horses would’ve been so much easier, but I didn’t have the time to spare to argue with her about it.

The ground smoothed out, but instead of loosening her hold on me, I felt her head press against my back.

I stole a look over my shoulder and caught her with her cheek resting against my spine.

I let go of one handle and gave the hand holding onto my middle a reassuring squeeze.

As much as I wanted to bitch and moan about her being here, I knew my old man was right. We needed to shore things up. I just didn’t have time to do it.

Cassandra was having a shitty time, and it was about to get a lot harder.

Cattle dotted the horizon. The herd’s movement froze at the sound of the engine.

I reached back and patted Cassandra’s knee to get her attention. She straightened, loosening her grip as I slowed and swung left to circle the herd.

“What are we doing out here?” Cassandra shouted when I cut the engine.

“I can hear you,” I said with a chuckle.

She rubbed her ear. “Yeah, well I can’t hear you.”

“A calf was born last night.”

She looked around. “Out here? Should that be done in a barn or something?”

“Sometimes,” I said. “If we know the momma’s distressed. But letting calves be born in the pasture with limited intervention allows them to behave naturally. I had two guys out here making sure everything went alright.”

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