Page 11 of Nate

“Nate?”

Nate glanced over his shoulder to see his boss. “Hey, Beau.”

“How’s she doing?” Beau asked, nodding at the filly.

“Great. I think she’s going to be a handful for her mama.”

Beau chuckled. “She’s a beauty though.”

“Has Lisa been to see her?”

“Yeah, almost every day. She said she can’t think of what to name her.”

“Really? I would have thought she’d have had that picked out before the birth.”

“She usually does.” Beau looked at him. “Have you called the vet for the vaccines?”

“I’m going to once I finish the barn. I’m sure Tess will schedule it for some time this week.”

“Okay. I figured you did, but wanted to check.” He slapped Nate on the shoulder. “I have to get to the office. I’ll see you later.”

“Yes, sir.” Nate grinned when Beau narrowed his eyes at him. “Yes, Beau.”

“Damn, you are hardheaded.” Beau walked from the barn.

Nate chuckled. Since he’d been made manager, Beau told him to call him by his name, but Nate was so used to addressing him as ‘sir’ that he still did it after all these years.

Two hours later, he entered his office, strode around the desk, and sat down. He removed his cellphone from his pocket, scrolled through the numbers until he found the number the was looking for and called it.

“Clifton animal hospital, how may I help you?”

“This is Nate Jefferson at Beau McCallister’s ranch, and I need to schedule vaccines for the horses.”

“Alright. Let me look at the file.” He could hear her typing on the computer. “Are there still twenty horses?”

“Yes, ma’am, and a filly.”

“Okay. Uh, actually, we could do that today if you’d like.”

“That would be great.”

“Alright. One of the vets will be there within an hour. We had a cancellation.”

“That’s good for me, right?” Nate said.

“Yep.” She laughed. “We’ll see you then.”

Nate hung up the phone then called one of the ranch hands to tell them to get the horses into their stalls. He decided to head home and take a quick shower. After mucking out the stalls, he didn’t smell good at all. He walked toward his truck, climbed inside and drove home. He’d be back before the vet arrived. He grinned as he hoped it was Dr. Russell.

****

As Markie drove up the driveway, she couldn’t help but sigh.

“Why me? Why couldn’t Tess have taken this? Damn, I hope I don’t see Nate Jefferson again.” But she knew she would since he was the manager and she knew that his boss was a livestock agent, so he was probably at work, and Beau’s wife Brenna was a schoolteacher. “Wonderful. Just great,” Markie muttered.

She stopped beside the barn, opened the door, grabbed her bag from the back and entered the barn. She slowly made her way along the aisle of the barn. She stopped when she saw him walking toward her. Even though she couldn’t make out his face, she’d recognize that tall frame anywhere.

“Dr. Russell, I’m glad you could fit us in today,” Nate said as he strode toward her.

---