Page 19 of Jake

He seemed to be saying that last to himself, though Heather got it. You didn’t just set up a trailer on your boss’s land without at least asking first. Much less do it when some stranger would be staying there.

“How long you planning to stay? They’re going to want to know.”

“I don’t know. I don’t have anything keeping me here. I only came here to get away from Mobile and what was after me there. I can settle there as well as here. Maybe I can look around and find a job.” She didn’t know if he even wanted her around that long, but what if he did?

“I’d like that, but let’s not start off telling Lurch that.”

“Would he have a problem with it?”

Aaron snorted. “Not likely. You met him the other day, right?”

“I think so.” Honestly, she’d met so many people that day she couldn’t match names and faces in her head.

“He’s the guy with the Cajun accent.”

Coming from Mobile, she’d heard her share of Cajun, and with that descriptor, the man in question’s face popped up in her mind’s eye. “Oh yeah. I know who that is. I talked to him and his wife, but I don’t remember her name either. There were just too many new people that day.”

“No worries. Her name is Kerry, but that wasn’t the point. Any way he met a girl and moved her onto the ranch. So did Tuck, but since it’s his place, and they’re getting ready to go back to Tucson, I ‘m not sure that counts. Anyway, since Lurch and Kerry got together, we’ve had a couple of the guys who’ve found women that stuck. They’ve moved them into cabins on the ranch and it’s not been a problem.”

She wondered if there was a reason he didn’t have a cabin. Were they only built once there was someone to move into them? She had so many questions, but wasn’t going to ask them, not yet anyway.

“So how soon will you know?”

“A couple hours, tops, but I don’t want you coming all this way tonight. Is Iceman bringing the trailer?”

“Hell no.” She didn’t tell him she’d had to argue with Matt about what she was going to do or that he didn’t want her there. “I’ll bring it.”

“You good towing?”

She had to remind herself that he didn’t know what she’d been up to for the last ten years. He had no way of knowing that while yes, she’d gone to school, she had since found that she liked working with her hands better than being in an office. Fortunately, she’d found the best of both worlds when she’d decided to become a vet tech. In the south, that meant horses and sometimes cattle. She’d driven more trucks towing horse trailers, with a variety of passengers, than she could count.

Thankfully, her boss, Brandon, had been understanding when she’d called and told him she needed some time off. She’d told him it was a family emergency, and that she had to leave town and didn’t know how long she would be gone, or if she was even coming back. He’d told her to take as long as she needed and if it ended up that she wasn’t coming back, he’d give a good recommendation wherever she landed. She seriously loved that man, but he was a good thirty years older than her, and head over heels for his husband.

Wyoming was ranch country. She wondered how hard it would be to find a vet looking for some help.

“I can tow, no problem.” She might tell him more, later. If he ever asked.

Who was she fooling? He’d ask, it was just a matter of time. They’d been apart for so long; he simply hadn’t had time to ask about every detail of her life. And it wasn’t like she’d asked enough to know more than the vaguest idea of what he’d been up for all this time.

“Okay. I’ll take your word for it. Either way, it’s too late in the day to start that trip. I’ll talk to Lurch and get the okay, and let you know. You can take off tomorrow, or even the next day if you need longer to pack up and get ready. I want to see you, but I want you safe and comfortable more.”

Warmth pooled in her chest. She loved that he cared that she was safe, and that she felt safe. She couldn’t remember Mitch every telling her to be safe or even asking if she was okay. No, he’d dragged her along to meetings with those friends of his who talked about her as if she couldn’t hear them. She’d been more than uncomfortable, but when she’d asked to leave, Mitch had put her off. After that, she found reasons not to go along if she knew that was where he was headed.

“Will do. In the meantime I’ll start getting things ready. I’ll need directions for once I’m close. I can make it to Gillette, but I’ll need to know how to find you once I’m that close.”

“I’ll send that once I’ve got clearance from the boss. You sure you’re good with the trailer on your own? I can leave early and come help.”

“And then we’d have two vehicles here to get back. No. I’m good with the trailer. It won’t be my first rodeo.”

“What kind is it? Bumper tow, fifth wheel?”

“Technically it’s a fifth wheel.”

“Technically?”

“Matt’s modified it so now it’s a goose neck, which is good because my truck’s not set up for fifth wheel.”

“But it is for gooseneck?”

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