Page 21 of More Than a Fling

“I’m a little embarrassed to say, but I met a girl on the internet, we fell in love and now I’m here,” he said.

“Romance in the twenty-first century,” Gabe said, grinning.

“Yeah, I guess that’s about right,” he agreed.

“It sounds like you have the experience I’m looking for. I’m offering 25 to 30 hours per week, sometimes a little more, I’ll pay $16 an hour starting out and raise it to $17 after the first six months. I’ll need you to work weekends sometimes. Will that be a problem?” he asked.

“Not at all. I’m happy to have the opportunity to work for you. You are quite the accomplished trainer, according to some of the locals I’ve talked to. It appears you have a reputation as being somewhat of a horse whisperer,” he shared.

“Don’t believe everything you hear,” Gabe said, grinning. “When can you start?”

“Tomorrow,” he replied.

“Drop off your resume and your contact info and I’ll look it over and get back with you this evening.”

“Wow that’s great! Thank you, Mr. Hunter.” Cal said. “You won’t regret this.”

“Call me Gabe please, we’re all one big happy family here. The owner, Sam Parker, is away for the month, but he is a great guy and my best friend, he’s easy to get along with.”

“What’s with the guy that introduced us?” Cal asked.

“That’s Slim, hardworking, honest as the day is long, and gets on better with the animals than people, his bark is worse than his bite,” Gabe said.

“If you say so, I don’t think he was very impressed with me,” Cal said.

“That’s his way, don’t waste your energy worrying about it, as long as you work hard and do the job you were hired to do, you’ll get along fine,” he said. “Remember, Slim does have seniority, so what he says goes. But on the other hand, if there are problems, you report them to me.”

“Yes sir,” Cal responded.

“Glad you stopped by, and if everything checks out, I’d like you to start tomorrow, six a.m. We’re baling hay and we’ll need all the help we can get.”

“I’ll be here.” he said smiling from ear to ear.

Walking around the barn whistling, Gabe couldn’t believe his good luck. What timing. What were the odds that the perfect farm hand would show up when he needed him the most?

The only blip had been when Slim had approached him after Cal had left, to tell him that he didn’t like the kid. He said he couldn’t put his finger on it he just didn’t trust him. Seeing as Slim didn’t like anyone, Gabe chose to ignore his judgement and trust his own instincts.

The kid seemed likeable enough, and he showed enthusiasm. It also didn’t hurt that he was built like a welter weight champion, solid muscle. Why, if Slim were smart, he would welcome him with open arms. He should be happy to have some young muscle around the place to relieve him of some of the heavier duties around the farm.

This latest turn of events was the green light Gabe needed to feel good about his decision to take on the filly from Imperial Farms… if he got the chance. It seemed like everything was giving him the go-ahead. Zane had looked over the paperwork and felt it was pretty cut and dried, encouraging Gabe to move forward. He would make the call today and proceed with the application process.

* * *

As he was going over Cal’s references later that day, Pepper, who had recently started boarding her horse there, popped her head through the door to say hello.

“Hi Gabe, I thought I’d check in to see how you are holding up with Sam gone,” she said.

“Hanging in there. Speaking of … FYI, there is going to be a new face running around the farm. His name is Cal. You’ll recognize him, he’s the young, strong, good-looking one, with blond hair and blue eyes. I’m sure that will be a nice change of scenery after looking at Slim and me every day,” he said.

“You two hotties would be hard to beat. Seriously, I know it’ll be a relief for you guys to have some more help around here. I don’t know how you do it all,” she said.

“I love every minute of it, that’s how I do it,” Gabe replied.

“Even so, I’ll bet you’ll be glad to see Sam again.”

“You got that right. I’m also adding another client to my training roster. It’s a big-deal horse from a prestigious Kentucky horse farm, and it could be the platform I need to help me launch my reputation as a specialized trainer,” he said unable to disguise his excitement.

“That is great Gabe. You deserve it more than anyone I know,” she said sincerely. “Speaking of deserving…Have you been in the recording studio lately? Last time we talked, you and your band were working on a new CD of your original songs.”

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