Page 95 of My Cowboy Freedom
Chapter 23
Sky
Boss had something on his mind when we rode out and it concerned me. He didn’t say anything, but he watched me closely. At the same time, he avoided my eyes.
Something was up.
That’s why it didn’t surprise me when he told everyone we should probably split into groups of two and three to check the area for signs of predators. He called me to his side and I followed, the sweat beading on my skin cooling me a little too well.
He spoke quietly. “I’m sorry you had to witness that scene this morning.”
“Not really my business.”
“I don’t hold it against you, you know.” His horse made its way slowly over the rock-strewn path.
“What?” I passed the reins from hand to hand to wipe my palms on my jeans.
“Taking Rock’s part like you did. Having watched him grow up, the other hands still see him as a kid, I guess. I’m glad you’re his friend.”
I nodded. If the boss was fishing, he wasn’t going to get shit from me.
“Up here.” He took the trail that led to higher ground. “I want to show you something.”
“All right.” He took a trail he must have known was almost straight up. I leaned over Ogre’s neck, praying the boss knew his horses well enough, knew they were up to this.
Heart pounding hard, I gasped when we finally reached the top. “Wow.”
From there you could see...everything.
“You like Rock and Maisy pretty well, don’t you?” When I didn’t answer, he frowned at me. “I guess I figured because you like them, you’d be willing to talk about them. I thought maybe you could help me out with Rock when—”
“I do like them,” I hedged.
“Well, then you should hear me out. Rock won’t tell you this, but things aren’t always easy for him. He doesn’t understand, for example, why his folks want him to live a quiet, stress-free life here—”
“If you think Rock doesn’t understand everything that’s going on around him—”
“Of course heunderstands.” Chandler gave a careless wave. “Rock’s problem isn’t that he’s unintelligent. Far from it. But he isafflicted. And it’s our job to help him manage his medical condition so he can live a full and healthy life.”
I didn’t like the wordafflictedreferring to my friends any better than I liked the word Lefty Wheeler used. Neither one of those things applied to the man I’d come to know.
“How do you mean ‘afflicted’?” ’Cause if the boss saw Rock as a disabled man, I didn’t know what able-bodied meant.
“Take Rock’s seizure disorder, for example. The doctors gave us a list of side-effects reported by lightning-strike survivors. Surviving a strike isn’t as rare as you’d think, but nobody will predict any kind of long-term outcome. He has some brain damage outside of the seizure disorder. It affects his ability to do math. Things like that. Of course that could be from football. The concussion thing.”
“So?”
“He’s got special needs.” He seated his hat more securely when the breeze caught it. “And he’s prideful. It’s hard on his ego.”
Ogre stamped, whipping his tail to rid himself of a particularly bothersome fly.
“Having Maisy is a blessing and a curse,” I said. “Rock wants to be invisible when he’s uncomfortable, but everyone’s drawn to the dog.”
Boss’s head came around. That time, when our eyes met, he didn’t blink. “You’re sharper than I expected.”
I waited for him to tell me why we were really there.
“I could give a speech about civil rights and freedom of religion, but I won’t bore you. You probably know more about the law than I do. At least, you’ve had some experience with the justice system.”
