Page 38 of The Cowboy Who Worked Late

Henry looked at Jake, who still held the photo of Gentry. “Do you think you want to take on meeting Gentry today?”

Jake looked up at him, his eyes wide and afraid. “I’ve never met an owner before,” he said.

Henry nodded and clapped him on the shoulder. “Everyone has to do something the first time.”

Jake swallowed. “Where will you be?”

“Copper and I are on stable crew,” Henry said, which was the lowest ranking crew member for greeting a horse. It was the thing the horse saw last, though it was important. Every step along the way was important.

But greeting the owner was something the boss did. Moving the horse, getting him off the trailer, and settling him somewhere where the owner could see he was going to be taken care of was something really talented men did. Men the owner really trusted.

Cleaning the stable, the owner didn’t even see. So Henry and Copper wouldn’t even meet Gentry today.

“Copper and I’ll just be behind the scenes,” Henry said. “Or I can come with you to meet him and let you lead.” Now that he thought of it, that was probably the wisest move. “That’s probably what we should do,” he said. “I can be there to shake the man’s hand. He knows me. Pure Country knows me too. And then I can just stay out of the way so that you and Caleb can get the experience that you need.”

Caleb nodded, his expression resolute. “I can do it, boss,” he said.

“I know you can,” Henry said. “I know you can too, Jake. That’s why you’re on this team. That’s why we got Gentry and Pure Country. They’re both easygoing. It’s a great time for you guys to step up into a different role.”

Jake nodded as he swallowed. “I can do it, boss.”

“Yep, let’s do it.”

Everyone had their assignments. And even though Jake’s right now was to go away and study the profiles, make sure he knew everything about Pure Country and Gentry, and he didn’t really have much to do until this horse showed up in an hour and a half, Henry knew that every detail in that folder would be memorized before Gentry pulled onto the ranch.

He’d given himself stable duty because he needed something to keep his hands busy and his mind off Angel. Once they had Pure Country settled for the day, Henry would be back to his farrier rotation, and he’d find folders sitting on his standing desk with his charges for the day.

Angel usually walked around and handed those out, but today, he wouldn’t be surprised if Shad, Ford, or Clay did it. And he secretly smiled to himself that she was already doing less now that they’d returned to Lone Star.

This distraction in the stables worked for a little bit, but Copper certainly didn’t need instructions on how to move a horse, clean and prep a stable, and get things ready for anew boarder. He wasn’t a farrier but one of the more senior horsemen who worked with horses every single day, moving them, exercising them, caring for them, inspecting them, feeding and watering them. He knew every horse at Lone Star, same as Henry, and he worked fast, efficiently, and quietly so Henry’s mind was free to wander wherever it wanted.

And he wanted to think about Angel. He needed to see her, find out how her night had gone. Simply breathe in the scent of her skin. He wasn’t quite sure how to do that, and she hadn’t texted him at all since he’d dropped her off last night.

Was the ball in his court? Could he text her and ask about lunch or dinner? Or about meeting him in the afternoon shade of the eastern barn so that they could talk for a quick minute?

“I’ll get the name tag,” he said to Copper, and he headed toward their supply room down at the end of the row. They made a name plate for every horse who came to Lone Star, even if they’d only been there once.

Pure Country, of course, had been boarded here more than once, and when Henry found his name plate, it held seven stars. That meant he’d been here eight times—once to get his name plate made, and one star for each of his seven subsequent stays.

When a horse stayed with them ten times, they got a permanent star on their name plate in silver, and Henry couldn’t wait to tell Gentry that he only had one more stay before Pure Country got his silver star.

Once he’d hung Pure Country’s name on stall twenty-seven, Henry pulled out his phone and tapped on Angel’s name.

Of course, he had texted the woman many times over the past ten months since he’d been here at Lone Star, but he’d never had trouble with words with women. He always knew what to say, what questions to ask. His work was quick, and his mind sharp, and he could change directions at any time. He could read anyroom and any situation in less than a second and pivot on the spot.

He found himself standing in the stable in the middle of the aisle, outside stall twenty-seven, staring at his phone, at a complete loss for what to say. He finally tapped out a message and sent it, hoping it wasn’t the lamest thing on the planet. Then he sighed, shoved his phone in his back pocket, and went to find Jake so that they could go over how to greet an owner before Gentry arrived.

He had plenty of time to stew over Angel before he saw her, and he could only pray she wouldn’t think his message was the lamest thing she’d ever gotten.

Chapter Twelve

“It was nice.” Angel sat down at the table with her momma and her daddy. “Henry grew up on a really nice ranch in Three Rivers,” she said. “Well, it’s quite far outside of Three Rivers, kind of like we’re outside of Amarillo. If I could get in an airplane and fly there, it’s probably straight east of here. About thirty minutes is all, but we have to go south to the highway, across and into Three Rivers, and then all the way north. So it really took about an hour and a half to get there.”

Neither of her parents said anything, and honestly, Angel wasn’t sure what she thought they might say. “You look good today, Momma,” she said, and she smiled. “Daddy got your pills all weekend?”

“Yes,” her momma said. “He did just fine.” She wasn’t wearing her oxygen today, which was a good sign. She had a problem with her lungs, where they didn’t take enough oxygen from the air she breathed to maintain a high enough oxygen concentration in her lungs and her blood.

So she wore oxygen whenever she moved around too much, and Momma didn’t like sitting and doing nothing. She didn’t leave the house much anymore, though. But Daddy had gottenher a walker with a seat, and she could always be found cooking, canning, sewing, crocheting, or knitting.

---