Page 69 of The Cowboy Who Worked Late

“You all have skills to contribute, even if you’re just now coming up on your year mark, even if you haven’t graduated yet, even if you don’t get promoted. Everybody here has value becauseyou’re here, and just getting here means you’re in the top echelon of horsemen and farriers in the world. Don’t forget that.”

Trevor started to move down the ramp, where he hugged Angel when he reached the ground. She held at least a dozen folders in various colors in her hands, and Henry could only stare at her as she went up the ramp to the small platform. She reached over the railing and handed all the folders to Justin, and she swallowed as she looked out across the others standing outside stable one.

She wore her usual blue jeans, steel-toed boots, and her tank top this morning bore the color of bright, ripe apricots. Her wig sat clipped perfectly in place, and Henry swore the sunlight glinted off her glossed lips. His heart beat faster because she was so pretty and so perfect, and he wanted to be the one for her.

He also really wanted a new position at Lone Star. He hadn’t been able to admit it to himself until that moment. But as Angel cleared her throat and said, “Justin’s right, you know,” Henry could admit that he didn’t want to be a team lead anymore.

The next logical step for him would be captain. He had no grand aspirations of skipping that position and going to foreman. Though he supposed he could be a welcome greeter or, if one of their master farriers got moved into a higher position, he could become one of those. His mind whispered to him that he was not a master farrier yet, and in fact, not even a licensed farrier for six more weeks.

Even if Bard liked him, even if his work was exceptional, the best Henry could hope for was captain, and hope for it he did.

Angel could make speeches if she had to. Henry had heard her do it before. But today she let the country stillness drape over all of them for several long seconds. Then she said, “I really value all of you here at Lone Star. I appreciate your time in coming to interview with me, your honesty, your integrity. And just each one of you for who you are. I’m not going to make you suffer any longer. Anyone who gets a folder today is going to be asked to stay after this meeting, which is why we started a few minutes early. We’ll still be done at seven-thirty, and everyone will be moved on to their daily jobs by then. Remember that none of these positions begin until June first, including any increase in wage, the title that you might have after your name, and your duties between now and then. Justin and I will meet with each of you, and we expect you to meet with your new teams.”

She swiveled her head left and right, her eagle eyes missing nothing as a murmur rose through the men. “That’s right,” she said. “Every single person will be on a new team. From today forward, your team leads and your captains and your foreman—yournew foremen—will reach out to you and let you know that you’re on their team. And those of you who get leadership positions today, that needs to be done by noon. So you’ll have an extra job. And hopefully, we’re going to give you an extra fifteen or twenty minutes this morning to do it.”

She cleared her throat again and held out her hand. Justin put the only green folder in it.

“Without further ado,” she said. “Most of you won’t know your new position. But a couple of you do. Our higher-ups already know because today for them is going to be busier than usual.” She opened the green folder and said, “So everyone welcome your new foreman on the farrier side.” She looked up,her blue eyes blazing and her smile filling the whole sky with warmth and sunshine. “Shad Roundy.”

Applause burst out, and Henry added his clapping to it, trying to get some of the nervous energy out of his system through his hands.

“Shad’s gonna be great!” he yelled to Levi standing next to him. “What a great choice.” Levi’s smile rivaled Angel’s as he clapped and then whooped and hollered with everybody else.

Shad’s face bore a bit of ruddy color as he went forward and took the folder from Angel, accepted a handshake and a half-hug from Justin, and faded to the side to stand with Trevor.

Justin passed Angel the only yellow folder, and everyone instantly silenced. “With Shad moving into a foreman position,” she said. “That leaves a hole in our full-time master farrier trio.” She paused, looked at the closed folder, then continued with, “I’m pleased to say that Shad’s position is going to Levi Johnson.” She looked right at Henry—really, she looked right at Levi, who stood next to Henry. The crowd erupted again, and Henry turned to Levi and could only stare at him.

“You knew about this, didn’t you?” he yelled over the crowd. Levi finally laughed, shook his head, and grabbed onto Henry in a hug. Henry pounded him on the back, offering his congratulations before Levi jogged through the crowd to get his yellow folder.

Justin handed her a purple folder, and everybody instantly quieted again. “It’s with a heavy heart that I need to inform you that Flint is going to be leaving us this summer. He’s going to take his family and move to another ranch just outside of Austin,” she said. “That leaves a hole in our full-time apprentice leaders. And with Levi moving into a master apprentice position, we havetwopeople that we need to move up into these leadership positions.”

Angel handled herself with grace and power, and she beamed radiance out into the crowd. “Owen and Ranger.”

Applause burst out again, and Henry joined in, cheering for Owen and Ranger, who were great farriers. They’d graduated a few years ahead of him, and they’d be great in the apprentice management positions.

“Now I want to do team leads next,” Angel said. “These men are all farriers, and they’ll lead a team of two horsemen and one farrier, which makes a team of four. Our captains will do the same thing: two farriers, two horsemen on every team.”

Justin handed her a pile of blue folders, and she didn’t open them or consult a list. “Your new team leads are Cedric, Jake, Nathan, Thompson, and Miles.” Henry glanced over to the nearest man to him, who happened to be Nathan.

“That’s five,” he said as he started to clap along with everyone else. Angel had only announcedthreeteam lead positions a few weeks ago—why had she called five names? The men went forward and collected their folders, moved off to the side, shook hands, hugged those around them. The crowd in front of Angel was starting to be smaller than the one to the side of her.

“We have new captain positions,” she said as she accepted a handful of red folders. “Thane, Ray, Caleb, and Henry.”

The air left Henry’s lungs, leaving plenty of room for gratitude to stream in. Had his name really been called? It had, if the way Caleb beamed over to him and said, “Let’s go, boss,” and took off toward Angel.

Again, Henry’s mind cataloged that she’d called four names when she’d only announced three positions. But he realized now why—he was no longer a team lead. Someone had to take his place. She’d announced three captain positions but called four names, which meant somebody who was a captain would be doing something else. Henry couldn’t keep up with the buzz, theenergy, the handshakes, the smiling, and Angel had two more folders anyway.

“And lastly, we have our two brand-new, welcome greeter positions,” Angel said, holding orange folders in her hands now. The breeze kicked up, but Henry had never known a more perfect spring day.

“I’m thrilled to have two of our very best cowboys, one from the farrier side and one from the horseman side, taking the lead as the public face of Lone Star.” She smiled out at everyone, held up the folders in her hand, and said, “Zane and Copper.”

The crowd erupted again. Henry was impressed by those who didn’t hold a folder in their hands at all, at the way they cheered for their colleagues, at the way they smiled though surely some of them felt only disappointment.

Justin was out of folders, which meant the promotions had ended. Angel handed out the folders to Zane and Copper and got down off the platform.

Justin called, “That’s it, folks. We’d like our new positions to stay here and have a chat. Everyone else, you’re free to go.” Henry held the red folder in his hand, every cell in his body vibrating. He stayed for the meeting, flipping open his folder and seeing that he would be working with Grady, one of their full-time men over apprentices, as the other farrier on his team, and then two horsemen, Creston and Wick. His heart fell slightly because he didn’t get along super great with Creston, but he put a smile on his face, noted their phone numbers, and paid attention as Angel said she and Justin would be meeting with each group of men one day next week to go over questions, concerns, and other things as they moved into their new positions at the beginning of June.

Henry quickly sent the three texts to his team, got responses of high-fives, thumbs-ups, andcan’t wait. Then the meeting broke up.

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