Page 6 of Grady

“I’m going to check on the men. They’re putting up new fence in the west pasture.”

“You’re going to ride there?”

“Yeah, I might hate the snow, but I do like riding in it. I’ll see you later.” Grady entered a stall, hooked a lead to his horse, and led him out.

“Let’s take a little ride, Onyx.”

After tying him to the rail, Grady entered the tack room and carried a blanket and saddle out. Once the horse was ready, he led him toward the doors, but the horse pulled back on the reins.

“Quit being a pussy. You’re going out in it. It’s not like you’d melt,” Grady said, then quickly moved his head when the horse tried to take his hat. “Stop.”

Shaking his head, he mounted the horse, nudged him with his knees, and the horse walked toward the doors, but stopped.

“Damn it. Why are you so stubborn?”

“Takes after his master,” Wes Coleman said as he walked from a stall.

Grady laughed. “I’m not this bad.”

Wes frowned. “I’m sorry, have you met you?”

“What are you saying, Wes?” he asked with a smirk.

“I’m saying, I’ve met some pig-headed men in my time, but not one gets close to your stubbornness.”

Grady shook his head. “Yeah, whatever. I’m heading out. I’ll see you later.”

“This snow is going to get worse, so be careful.”

“Yes, sir.” Grady nudged his horse and they rode out into the snow.

As he rode toward the west pasture, the snow started getting heavier but at least the wind died down.

He thought he heard something, so he stopped to listen and recognized the sounds of the ultra-terrain vehicles coming toward him. He couldn’t see them until they were almost upon him. He moved his horse to the side and watched as the UTVs stopped, and Jeff stepped out.

“Hey, Grady. I almost didn’t see you.”

“I heard you but couldn’t make out where you were. Are you guys done with the fence?”

“Almost. We have another section to do.”

“Don’t worry about it today. It’s too damn cold. You’re going to freeze your balls off. Since we don’t have any cattle there yet, head in.”

“Yes, sir. We were going back for lunch, but you convinced me.” Jeff grinned.

Grady chuckled. “Yeah, I bet I did. I’ll be behind you. Get going before you can’t see at all. This shit needs to stop for the year.”

“Says a man out in it on a horse.”

Grady narrowed his eyes. “Don’t be a smartass. Head in.”

Jeff saluted. “Yes, sir.”

Grady shook his head, but grinned. The Triple C had goodmen working it. He enjoyed his job here. He had shown up a year after Maverick and they became good friends. They were both made foremen at the same time. A ranch the size of The Triple C needed four men to hand out chores since there were so many ranch hands.

Grady lived in one of the foreman cabins, as did Maverick, but on opposite sides of the expansive ranch. The Coleman family lived on the ranch but away from each other as well. Wes and Warren were the sons of Robert and Charlotte Coleman, and their houses were a good distance apart. With one hundred thousand acres, they could all go days without seeing each other.

Grady wouldn’t want to work anywhere else. He had good bosses and the ranch hands were hard workers. It was very seldom they had to get after them to do anything.

---