Page 36 of A Reckless Memory

“Jackass,” I muttered under my breath, tucking my mouth into my collar to break the wind and keep my lips from being read. He was actually quite nice, usually one of my favorite coworkers, but not today. The guy had called a Friday afternoon meeting and then he’d kept asking the boss questions while the rest of us were squirming in our seats.

I lived for my weekends and resented having to stay five minutes longer.

Next week was Thanksgiving. I wasn’t sure I would go to Buffalo Gully yet, but I’d taken Friday off in case I wasn’t able to talk myself out of it by then.

Ansen hadn’t asked for time off. Did he know he could? He was probably going to go to Archer’s. The possibility was the only reason I entertained going out of town. Leaving Ansen alone on Thanksgiving tugged a little too hard on my conscience. It’d be hard to continue avoiding him if I was going to make sure he wasn’t alone for Thanksgiving. After that kiss and the memories of what it was like with him, I didn’t trust that I wouldn’t fling myself at him.

Inside the pickup, I turned the engine over just as my phone buzzed. I hadn’t caught up with Sutton in a while. Had she heard I might head there for the holiday?

I answered without looking. “Hello?”

“Is this Aggie with AKA Horse Rescue?” a gruff older man asked.

“That’s me. What can I help you with?” Mentally, I scrolled through calculations. With Ansen working, I had a real rescue that was nothing but a money drain right now, but I could take on minor cases.

“My name’s Samuel Gustafson.” Just as I was digging through the depths of my brain to figure out where I’d heard that before, he added, “Gustafson Performance Horses. In Kansas.”

Ansen’s old boss. The one he’d had the falling out with.

I didn’t give a shit where he was located. I only cared why he was calling me. Dread filled my insides. “Okay?”

“I’ve been made aware that Ansen Barron worked with you in the past.”

“I know Ansen,” I said flatly, not liking where this was going.

“You might not know what he can be like, especially around a young woman such as yourself.”

I knew what he could be like—that was my problem. “I do know older guys like you tend to think we can’t handle ourselves.”

“What was that?”

I bit into my lower lip. Sometimes I couldn’t outrun Daddy’s influence no matter where I went. “Do you have an animal you’d like me to board?”

“That’s not why I called. I wanted to give you due warning, professional to professional. He was roaming the state, and when he couldn’t find work, he migrated north. If he’s got connections, he’s going to try to use them. That man shouldn’t be around horses. Or women.”

“Oh?” I chewed off the word but managed to make it sound like an innocent inquiry. That man around horses was a wonder. Dr. Jake and I would’ve struggled with the five rescues if Ansen hadn’t been handling them. Ansen could read those animals like a psychic staring into a crystal ball.

“Being you’re a newly formed rescue from what your brother said, I thought to warn you.”

I dug my fingers into the phone. He thought to warn me? He was interfering with a person’s livelihood. I thought about what Cody had said about someone calling him about Ansen. “You talked to Alcott?”

“Uh, no. Eliot.”

Eliot barely talked to me, and he’d butted heads with Ansen too. They were close in age, and Eliot resented Daddy bringing on more help after Austen left for the Army, but then he’d put Ansen in charge of Eliot. My brother had taken it as one of Daddy’s many digs. When Daddy lacked faith in you, you knew it.

My brother had likely been extremely helpful in being a dick to Ansen.

“And you do this for every place where Ansen might work?” I asked.

“Yes, ma’am. It’s the least I can do.”

The whole situation stank. A bad reference was one thing. Tracking someone across the country to ruin their employment status was pathological. “Care to fill in some details, Mr. Gustafson?”

“He used my daughter. Planned to marry her to get the business. Then when she got savvy about how he was, I started having all kinds of issues. We lost two of the best horses I’ve been trusted to compete with.”

“Lost how?” I read the articles after I hired him. The story came off as small-town gossip with nothing but weak speculation.

“Someone shot them in the middle of the night. Right on my property.”

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