Page 11 of Tom's Chance
“I’m not saying you made a mistake, but I heard her story about how she and the others come to be at Broken. I can understand you missing something. Again, I’m not blaming you, but maybe you were overworked.” Lorissa’s hostility eased, but she still stood tall and glared at Tom.
“Now, if you really want me to go look at the other horse, give me the name of the rancher and their address. I’ll head over there and see what I can do for them.”
“I’ll go with you,” Tom said and shook his head at her. “You can follow me.” He stared after Lorissa as she turned on the heel of her cowboy boot and he couldn’t take his eyes off her ass as she walked away from him, he also noted that she was stiff, as if a rod had attached itself to her spine. He sighed heavily and looked at Lloyd. “I think I might have just pissed the little lady off.”
“Yep, and if you want to keep your balls attached to your body, I wouldn’t refer to her as ‘the little lady’ in front of her. I’ve been working with her for the last month, Tom, she’s good, and the horses seem to love her. I’m not saying she will be taking over your job, but if you admit it to just yourself, you might realize she’s right.”
“About?”
“You’re stretched thin.” Lloyd turned to him with a shake of his head. “I get it. I know that Naomi and Erin only call you when there’s an emergency, and you come out when you need to gather samples for Riceman Stallions. I’m not telling you what to do, but maybe you should be nicer to someone like Lorissa. I know she was hired as the farrier, but I also overheard Naomi and Erin discussing using her for her vet services if it's something minor.”
“I know, and I shouldn’t have gone off on her like I did. I’m just so frustrated in my personal life that I took it out on her.”
“Care to talk about it?”
“I wish I could,” Tom sighed and shook his head as he saw Lorissa climb into her truck. “Let’s just say that I had two dates in the last week and both of them ended badly. The first one sent a text that if I didn’t spent at least five hundred dollars on her for our first date, then I wasn’t worth her time.”
“Gold-digger.”
“Exactly.” Tom shook his head and bit the bulletwith his next statement. “Yesterday was my second date, and that ended up with her being hauled away in handcuffs. I was here a few days ago for Riceman Stallions and asked Duane to do a background check on her. It turns out that she had several felony warrants out for her arrest.”
“For what?”
“Identity theft. The name she used on the dating app was a combination of two names that she stole. It was a mess,” he said sadly, and shook his head again. “I better get going. I’m going to have to apologize to Ms. Gibson.”
“Good luck with that,” Lloyd slapped him on the shoulder with a laugh.
“Thanks, not,” Tom laughed back at him, shook his head, and made his way over to his truck. He tried to get Lorissa’s attention, but she looked away from him, so he shook his head sadly and climbed into his truck. He only hoped that she would follow him. He settled in for the two plus hour drive over to the ranch he’d been to the day before. Where he was an hour east of Fool’s Gold, this ranch was an hour Southwest of the town.
CHAPTER 5
Lorissa sighedin relief when she parked beside Tom’s truck, and she waited until the man she’d been cold to stepped out of his truck. The drive over had given her time to reflect on how she had reacted and realized that she might have been in the wrong for snapping like she did. She was intent on apologizing until she met Tom at the front of their vehicles.
“Let’s see if you know what you’re doing with this horse,” Tom said by way of greeting, and immediately regretted his words when he saw her expression. Before he could apologize for being a dick to her, the owner of the ranch arrived.
“Jared, hi,” Tom said as he shook the rancher’s hand. “Jared Coleman, this is Lorissa Gibson. Not the farrier I mentioned to you yesterday, but I’m sure she’s good at her job.” The second he started talking he knew he messed up and shook his head. He sawthe anger come over Lorissa’s face and knew he’d fucked up.
“Hello, I’m Lorissa Gibson,” Lorissa said as she stuck out her hand turned her back so she wouldn’t punch Tom in the face like she wanted to.
“Jared Coleman, welcome.”
“Thank you, can you tell me what’s wrong with your horse?”
“I don’t know if he picked up a stone or what, but he’s limping and Tom was here yesterday, when he looked at the wound, he pulled a stone out of the hoof.”
Lorissa immediately turned to Tom and stared at him in shock. “Did you find any infection?”
Tom shrugged, “I couldn’t really tell. I’m not a farrier.”
“Seems to me like you’re a piss poor vet too,” she said through gritted teeth and turned back to the rancher. “Please tell me you at least kept him inside for the night.”
“I did do that, let me show you.” He turned and led the way into the barn, leaving Lorissa and Tom standing there. Before she followed she turned a glare onto Tom.
“Do not talk to me. I’m here to do a job, as far as I’m concerned, you are no longer needed here.” She turned on her heel and strode away.
“Shit,” Tom whispered and shook his head. For some reason, when it came to this woman every timehe opened his mouth, he stuck his foot in it. Because he was the vet on record, he refused to leave, but followed slowly behind her. As he approached the stall the stallion was in, he saw Jared Coleman standing outside the area, and heard soft mumbling coming from within. He stood beside Jared and watched as first Lorissa soothed the horse, then was able to examine it. He didn’t know if it was necessary for her to check all the legs and hoofs before she reached the one that was obviously hurt, but he ground his teeth to keep his mouth shut.
“There’s swelling up the leg, we’ll address that, but right now do you have a place I can work? If you can get him to that area, I’ll go get my equipment.” She turned on her heel and when Tom started following her, she shook her head at him. “I don’t need you.”
