Page 8 of Older Cowboy

Dad: What did he say?

Gabe: Bi-son.

Cody snorted again.

Dad: That was bad.

Gabe: IKR? *laughing emoji*

Luckily, Cody was able to translate this language into English which came out to mean, “I know, right?”

Gabe: You know, the university has a program that lets students earn their tuition by working in the on-campus bakery.

Cody was certain this was another joke.

Dad: Uh-huh.

Gabe: The opportunity is limited. It’s on a strictly knead to know basis.

Wow.

Dad: Boo. Hiss. That one’s even worse.

Gabe: Agreed!

He was so busy chuckling at these—the more he read them over the worse, and therefore funnier, they got—when he realized he was running behind on returning from lunch.

Dad: Got to get back, Gabriel. Keep texting me updates and jokes.

Gabe: Will do. Love you, Dad.

His chest caught as a knot formed in his throat.There’d been a few years there between eleven and sixteen when his son had been reluctant to say those words, even to repeat them back to him. So, it lightened his heart to see them written out to him so easily now. Especially since his son had volunteered such a sentiment on his own first.

Dad: Love you, too, Gabriel.

Then, he hurried to return to his section of garden space and greenhouses. Once he did, he noticed Zeke Knight standing over the organic alfalfa that had begun to grow about a foot high. It’d been going along at a better than decent rate, the color and texture of the plant promising positive things when it came to harvest time.

“All your crops are coming along nice,” Zeke said, waving out toward the rows of neatly planted organic goods.

“Yeah, I’m thrilled with how amazing the soil is here. It’s doing well, and anything more sensitive to the cold is paying for itself by being inside the greenhouse.”

“Bryce pleased?”

“Oh, yeah.” He was, too. Cody’s boss had complimented him privately and even in the big meetings they’d occasionally have at the main house. “There’s the frontend cost, sure. But all this should more than pay for itself within the year. Then, it’ll all be gravy, financially speaking.”

And the environmental impact would also be reduced. The more runoff from such operations could be mitigated and the ground water protected for future generations—and current ones, for that matter—the better.

Zeke nodded. He tended to be the silent or at least less verbal type.

“How’s married life treating you so far?” Cody asked him, and a light lit behind Zeke’s eyes.

“It’s wonderful. I’m a lucky man.”

“I’m happy for you, Zeke.” He clapped the other man on the shoulder. Through the gossip mill, he’d overheard at least part of the trauma Zeke had been forced to endure with the loss of his wife and baby years ago. Even though things hadn’t worked out for him and Stacey, Cody couldn’t imagine how horrible his life would’ve been if he’d lost her and Gabe the same way.

The thought gave him goosebumps and not the good kind.

That was part of the reason he switched subjects.

---