Page 12 of His Fresh Start Cowboy
Jackson snorted, then sipped at his leftover noodle broth. “Not much to say, really. I was born into this life and don’t know much else. Failed out of high school, so I never bothered with college. I learn better on the job than with books anyhow. I drifted for a while until the Woods family gave me a chance. Now I’ve got a stable job and my place, such as it is. I’m not unhappy. I’ve got Dog. Can’t ask for too much more.”
The man hadn’t mentioned a wife or kids, but Hugo and Jackson had also known each other for a grand total of four hours. Not really long enough to delve into more personal questions, and the last thing Hugo needed was to be asked why he was still single.
Because I’ve hidden being gay and pined for our boss for years.
“Fair enough,” Hugo said. “So when do we do something besides grunt work?”
Jackson snickered. “After lunch, we’ll go out and I’ll show you the pasture borders. We’ve got a lotta acres, and there are a few spots the steer get stuck in on occasion, so you gotta know where to look if someone’s missing.” He told Hugo the head count for each herd; not an unmanageable amount, but enough to keep the workers on their toes while the herds were grazing.
And they did exactly that. Hugo saddled up No Name, while Jackson went out on Juno, a pretty paint mare with a lot of spirit. She kind of reminded Hugo of Tude, a horse from his old life back at Clean Slate. No thinking about that, though. It was time to look forward, not keep wandering back into the past.
Even if he did miss his old friends after less than a day.
The land was as open and beautiful as he remembered, in a far different way than California. Where Garrett land had mountains rising in the distance, Woods land was flatter, a bit dustier, with the occasional dry gulch or outcropping of rocks. Plenty of scrub trees and shrubs, the occasional cactus, and while it was chilly, there was none of the snow dusting they sometimes saw in winter. But it was also nearly March and the area was warming up for the season.
Hugo took care to remember the blind spots and dangerous spots where a steer sometimes got caught. They were pretty far out to the west, though, and Jackson said they only drove the herd that far out every other week or so for fresh grass, so the field closer to home had time to regrow. Hugo liked Brand’s idea to switch over to organic beef. With as much land as they had for the herd to graze, it would save them a lot of money on hay and feed—which they’d still have to buy for the barned heifers, but in smaller quantities than right now.
He spotted the wind farm turbines, too, and even though a lot of people objected to wind energy because it “looked ugly,” it didn’t mar the beauty of the land for him. They added to it, because Brand was trying to save the land by relying less on fossil fuels for electricity.
After returning to the barn and untacking their horses, they did a few more odd jobs around the property. Similar to work Hugo had done in California, just without the added bother of tourists around. He’d miss the overnight camping trips, but such was life. Things changed. Maybe he’d ask Elmer permission to camp out in one of his fields some night. Sleep under the stars.
The only other time he saw Brand was when he and Rem brought their horses back after a long afternoon out on the land. It was only four o’clock, but Brand excused himself quickly to his office, citing paperwork. Hugo tried not to let that sting as much as it did.
“So is he up to muster?” Rem asked Jackson as their trio headed to the break room for some water.
“He’s capable,” Jackson replied, Dog trotting at his heels. “He lasts his first week I think he’ll work out just fine.”
“Gee, right here,” Hugo said with feigned annoyance.
Rem snorted. “You’ll do fine. At least you know what you’re doing. The last new guy we hired could barely ride a horse, push a wheelbarrow, or muck a stall. I think he lasted three days and then never showed up again.”
“It’s a hard life, which is why when I heard Colt talking about your hiring problems, I decided to apply. I’ve got the skills, and I was ready for a change.” He accepted a small bottle of water from the break room’s fridge and drank greedily, parched from breathing in all the dust and hay bits. Hugo made a mental note to order a good canteen online so he could keep water on him while out in the pastures.
“Well, your need for change is our good luck. You wanna go get a beer when we’re done? Shelby works until eight, and Susie’s with her other grandparents tonight, so I’ve got some free time.”
“Sounds good to me.”
“Jackson?”
Jackson shook his head. “Nah, you two catch up. I’d just be a third wheel in this re-budding bromance.”
Rem laughed and took a good-natured swipe at Jackson’s head. “Fuck off.”
“If you insist.” Jackson left the break room with his bottle of water.
“He seems like a decent guy,” Hugo said. “A little quiet, but he showed me a lot today. Got me back into the ranching groove.”
“Yeah, Jackson is solid. Been here a few years now. Doesn’t like to talk about himself much, but he gets the job done so what’s to complain about? I’m just glad Brutus and Dog get alone great, because Brutus is a protective dog. When Dad’s dog Chance died last year, Dad tried getting another puppy but Brutus wasn’t having it, so we had to rehome her.”
“Bummer. But Brutus likes Dog okay?”
“Seems to. The first time Jackson brought her around, they sniffed and postured a bit, and now they’re friends. Sometimes it just takes a minute to figure someone out.”
If Hugo didn’t know better, he’d think Rem was referring to Hugo more than the pair of dogs. “Guess so. So what, no barn cats for mice?”
“Actually, we’ve got two, but they’re pretty shy during the day. Come out more at night when things are quiet and they can hunt better. Mom saves up all the meat table scraps for them so when she calls at night, they come running from wherever they’ve holed up.”
He could totally see Rose Woods feeding meat scraps to a pair of shy barn cats every night. “Makes sense. So should I meet you somewhere after work?”
