Page 48 of Cole's Joy
“As much as I love my job at Broken, I miss the racehorses. I love the horses at Broken, but feel that I belong at New Double. I didn’t want to tell Erin or Clark and have them think that now that my ranch was here, I would abandon them. It’s going to take some time to get a new manager, but when you came to me about your idea, I knew there was a solution.”
“I don’t understand,” Lois spoke then. “You want to addanotherranch to your portfolio?” She shook her head, held out her hand, and started tapping the fingers. “Erin’s Way, Riceman Stallions, The Broken Wheel, New Double, now a ranch with rodeo horses and bulls, along with a riding arena, and all that entails? Like a mini rodeo area here on this land?”
Erin grinned as she shrugged her shoulders and said nonchalantly. “Sure, why not. It would be a great investment, and we can get the word out.”
“I don’t know,” Cole said sadly as he leaned back in his chair and scratched his head in confusion.
“What don’t you know, Cole?” Naomi asked softly. “Talk to me.”
“It’s the money, I thought with the sale of the racehorses, we could use that to buy the rodeo stock.”
“Don’t worry about the cost,” Erin said quickly. “I mean it, Cole.” She waited until he looked at her and sighed heavily. “I’m assuming you do the books for New Double?”
“Yes.”
“Okay, think about those books and how much in taxes is paid out every quarter. Now, with Riceman Stallions, and Erin’s Way, I can balance the books, and even have a profit. Same with Broken. If we put in this new area, then think of the tax write-offs I can have.” She stopped when Clark cleared his throat, then laughed, “We, the tax write-offs we can have by building everything new, from the hay to the bulls. As a business, this makes sense, and believe you me, there’s plenty of money to get what we want.”
“Think of it this way, Cole,” Clark said with a chuckle. “Whatever Rin touches, it seems to turn to gold. I won’t get into the specifics, but one mounting from a stallion from Erin’s Way is roughly a hundred grand. That’s on the extreme low side, by the way.”
Cole felt his eyebrows disappear in his hairline. “Are you shitting me?”
“Nope, and I did a rough estimate, we’ve already done well over a hundred matings this year with more still to come. Also, triple that number from Riceman Stallions. Trust me, we have the money, and I love investing in new ideas. As long as it hassomething to do with ranching, then there’s nothing I won’t look into. I really like the idea you have.”
“Okay, but I only see one problem.”
“What’s that?”
“We need help. I meanhelp.” He drew the word out. “It seems like you’re set at Erin’s Way and Broken, however, if you don’t take Ducky into account, it’s only me, Clem, and Ann at New Double.”
“Are you sure?” Erin frowned at him.
“Definitely, the guys from Broken only come over when there’s a lull in their work. I don’t have enough people to keep up with the day to day let alone taking the time to actually get the horses out somewhere to stretch their legs. I only went to Noomi about this change because I was thinking that the horses weren’t living up to their potential.”
“Damn,” Naomi said with a shake of her head. “I guess I should have made it over there more often. I know once there and I start taking over New Double, I want to see if Clark and I can’t move in with Ducky and you.”
“About that.” Cole laughed and leaned forward with a gigantic grin on his face. “Clem’s claimed one of the cabins Ryan’s building. I haven’t discussed it with her yet, but I’d like to move in here with Lois, and Ducky’s been making noise about something.”
“What?” Erin demanded.
“He wants to move back in with Pru and Ryan. I know he’s discussed it with them, but he doesn’t want to leave Clem or I, nor does he want to leave the house empty. He said he enjoys us there, and he loves what we’re doing, and he’ll help Lois all he can with the garden and community pantry, but he feels better being in a smaller place.”
Erin threw her head back and laughed at the surprise of everyone there.
“What?” Clark asked in confusion at his sister’s reaction.
“How much do you want to bet it’s because Pru has chickens?”
“Oh, shit, I never thought of it that way,” he laughed his answer and turned to Cole. “Ducky ever tell you how he ran his farm?”
“Yes, he always mentioned chickens.”
“Those horse stables were his chicken barns and each one housed at least fifty thousand chickens each.”
“Holy shit, that was a lot of chickens.”
“Yes, he kept them until they started laying, then moved them to barns for their egg production, then sold them to the major soup makers.” He looked at Erin with a frown. “When did he get out of the chicken business?”
“When his wife got really, really sick with her cancer. He was her primary caregiver and they both refused to go to the hospital. When he started caring for her twenty-four/seven, he sold them all. Probably ten years ago. Maybe more. I know it wasn’t much before Mom and Dad died. She was still sick then, that’s why the Millers were able to do what they did and I was able to step in.”
