Page 58 of Ace of Spades
“I’m just saying, I still think we oughta throw the tourists on some steers. Gotta give them the real ranch experience, ya know?”
“We’ve gone over this, Chance. We’re not letting the tourists get on the steers, it would be too much legal paperwork and it’s too risky. We want them to leave with great memories, not broken bones,” Beau tells him, looking exasperated by his friend.
“We can just have them sign waivers,” Chance argues, shoving a piece of bacon in his mouth.
“No.”
“You’re no fun,”Chance huffs.
“On to more important things,” Rafe exhales, ignoring Beau and Chance as they bicker back and forth. “Wes—you want to tell them or should I?”
“Go for it,” Weston tells him from across the table.
“Tell us what?” Chelsea asks, the rest of us looking around the table at each other in question.
“Well,” Rafe stands, tapping his coffee mug with a fork to get everyone’s attention down the length of the farmhouse table. “I heard back from the inspector late last night. Ladies and gentlemen, the guest bunkhouses of Hidden Creek Ranch are officially up and running!”
A round of applause erupts down the table, everybody hooting and hollering at the great news.
“Hell yeah! So does that mean we can start advertising the retreat?” Allie—one of the female ranch hands—asks.
“Most definitely. Chelsea and Debbie ran to town two weeks ago to pick out and order all of the furnishings and decor, and Chelsea has been working on guest experience packages. We’ve got a few more details to bang out, but other than that, we’re pretty much set to go.”
The room buzzes with excitement, conversations breaking out around the room.
“And that brings me to the second thing,” Rafe continues, his commanding voice carrying through the space and quieting all of the whispers. “As of today, Hidden Creek Ranch officially has a social media manager.”
Rafe’s eyes find mine, a smile stretching across his face.
“That is, if she accepts the position.”
All eyes follow his, landing on me as my cheeks flush.
“Me?”
“Yes, you—ya dingbat,” Chance beams. “Who else?”
Everybody looks at me expectantly, my eyes darting between my friends as they all watch me intently, waiting for a response.
“Yes—yes, of course!” I finally manage to spit out, the corners of my mouth pulling into a wide grin.
Another round of animation engulfs the room, a few of the ranch hands congratulating me as the girls all come to offer me hugs. I chance a glance at Weston to find him already watching me, his green eyes twinkling in amusement.
“Well, it’s settled then. How fast do you think you can get a website up and running?” Rafe asks, sitting back down as the hands all get back to their conversations as breakfast wraps up.
“I can have it done by the time we leave for the rodeo this weekend,” I tell him, excitement bubbling through me as ideas race across my mind of all of the things I want to incorporate.
“That fast? Well alright then, I can’t wait to see it. I’ll give Don at the home goods store a call to see if all of the furniture has come in yet, if it’s ready to be picked up you could run to town with Debbie to pick everything up when she gets back tomorrow. You’ll have a lot more content to shoot once the rooms are set up.”
“Of course, that sounds perfect,” I tell him. “She had asked me to come to town with her anyway to help her pick out a gift for her daughter’s birthday. Which reminds me—I was going to ask what you guys thought about maybe finding a way to get Cheyenne down here for a weekend that we don’t have a rodeo? I was talking with Debbie the other day and it sounds like she really misses her, I think it would be such a great surprise!”
An awkward silence blankets the group, something passing between all of them that makes me think I was missing some piece of information.
“Cheyenne won’t come to the ranch,” Rafe finally speaks, his tone suddenly icy. “It’s a nice thought, but you would be wasting your time.”
With that, he gets up from the table, carries his plate to the sink, and makes his way out the doors.
I look around the group expectantly, waiting for someone to explain what just happened. Rhonda clears her throat, following Rafe’s lead and making her way to the sink to begin loading the dishwasher as the rest of the group picks at their food wordlessly.
