Page 99 of We Redeemed the Rain

Tag froze. He kept the light trained on the puddle, but looked over at me. He softly cussed. “Yeah. Yeah, there is.”

“Oh no.” My heart plummeted. Another expense? How much wouldthiscost? Wondering hurt my insides.

Tag sighed, long and loud and exhausted.

“Do you think it’s busted?”

“Seems like.”

“What do we do?”

“I don’t know. I’m thinkin’.”

I took that as my cue to shut up and wait for instructions. The purple light bloomed into soft lavender on the eastern horizon. Birds joined the ranch’s nighttime symphony of bugs and frogs. Horses nickered nearby and puffed with excitement, probably wondering why we weren’t bringing them their food yet. As I waited, I imagined turning the truck bed to face the sunrise, and Tag throwing an arm around me as we watched the sky light with fire, our feet dangling off the edge.

I shook my head. I couldn’t think thoughts like that. No matter how wonderful the mental image was. Tag wasn’t interested, not like that. Why was that so hard to remember?

It had been two days since our conversation in the barnyard. We still talked and worked together, but something had shifted between us. The looks he gave me were softer, gentler—relieved even. Like he’d been waiting his whole life to have that conversation.

My body seemed to be glitching, stuck in a permanent feeling of aphantom hug. Every moment, I imagined his arms around me and still felt the press of his open hands into my back and hips. I’d never had a hug like that. And I was craving another like an addict craved a high, plotting and scheming how to get one.

Tag took another deep breath. “If I’m rememberin’ correct, this line is the one that feeds to the pastures. So, if I cut it off, we won’t be able to fill the troughs from the faucets. We’d have to transport buckets from the barn hose.”

“Oh my.”

“Yeah, that’ll be a process.”

“Can we fill troughs first then cut it off?”

“That’d be best.”

“Will you have to hire someone to fix this?”

Tag ran a hand through his curls. The defeat in his voice made me ache. “I…I honestly don’t have the money.”

“Could we…leave it?”

“It’s only gonna get worse. There’s probably gallons dumpin’ into the dirt as we speak.”

We fell silent.

Tag stared at the puddle, his mind visibly working in the gentle light. He finally said, “I’m gonna have to dig this out today…I can’t pay someone ‘til after I get paid. But this is an emergency that needs to be taken care of. If I can access the pipe, I think I can replace it. Maybe Hank wouldn’t mind runnin’ into San Antonio to grab the replacement parts and save me some time.”

“Is there any place to rent like an excavator or a skid steer or something?”

“In San Antonio, yeah, but after the expense of the semi…”

Tag jerked his hat off his head in frustration. He ran a hand through his hair, puffing his cheeks with a noisy exhale.

Fixing the semi cost Tag more than he thought it would. Mike even charged extra for the rush.

What a mess.

Long moments passed again before he spoke up. “It’ll be alright. We will feed and water the horses then cut the water line. The horses…we won’t exercise them today.”

“I’ll muck their stalls and help Cook bring them up and back for training.”

“That’s way too much.”

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