This Calder Sky (Calder Saga 3)

“How about a drink?” he asked and smiled for the first time when he saw the old brightness return to Buck’s eyes.

“I’d love one,” Buck declared. “I haven’t tasted good whiskey in almost ten years.”

“We’ll correct that.” His hand rested naturally on his old friend’s shoulder as they entered the den together.

“The place hasn’t changed much.” Buck glanced around the room as Chase walked to the bar to pour each of them a drink. “Everything is the way I remember it.”

“What do you plan to do now?” Chase handed him a glass.

“Find me some work. You don’t happen to know someone who might be willing to hire a rusty cowboy who’s been out of circulation for a few years, do you?” he mocked with some of his old sparkle.

Chase stared at his glass for a minute, the conflict rising again. “I might.”

“Hey! I wasn’t hitting you up for work,” Buck insisted quickly. “I mean—”

Chase slanted him a sideways glance, measuring him. “Do you mean you don’t want to work for the Triple C again?”

“I’d be lying if I said I didn’t.” There was a yearning quality in his sighing answer. Buck swirled the liquor in his glass and watched the changing amber shades. “Coming home is all I’ve dreamed about for ten years.” He shook his head in silent regret. “But it isn’t right for me to expect you to give me a second chance.”

“I’ll decide that, Buck. And if I discover that you don’t deserve it, I will personally kick you out on your ear.”

“Hey, I’d paint sheds, clean out barns, repair windmills—whatever you say,” Buck promised. “You don’t even have to put me on a horse until I prove myself again.”

“Sorry.” Chase shook his head. “I’m only interested in hiring Buck Haskell, the cowboy.”

“I’ll work longer and harder than anybody you ever saw. I promise you that, Chase.”

By the end of the second month, Chase believed him. Buck was the first one out every morning and the last one in at night. There were times when he did the work of two people. He didn’t go into Jake’s and rarely drank, except for a cold beer or a glass of whiskey with Chase if he happened to be at The Homestead in the evenings, which wasn’t often. From all Chase had been able to gather, he didn’t spend his money wildly, but saved some of each paycheck. And he didn’t try to pick up their friendship where it had left off, either, as if he knew he had to earn Chase’s trust before the old bonds could be established once more.

Elizabeth toyed with her appetizer, broiled grapefruit sweetened with a mixture of sugar and Galliano liqueur, usually something she enjoyed very much. Phillip studied her quietly from the opposite end of the table and recognized the introspective mood, guessing its cause.

“You heard from your brother today.”

She looked up in startled confusion. “How did you know?”

“I can tell,” he murmured and laid down his serrated grapefruit spoon. “What did he have to say?”

“Just the usual things.” Maggie shrugged and explained no further. Phillip had read enough of Culley’s letters to know he had ranted on about Chase Calder. It worried her sometimes at how obse

ssive her brother’s hatred had become. Her own had dulled with time and Phillip’s loving influence, which had healed much of her pain.

“Have I ever met my uncle?” Ty asked with a deep frown.

At ten, nearly eleven years old, he was acquiring an even more striking resemblance to Chase. Maggie was more conscious of it at certain times than others, like now, when Culley’s letter had freshened all her memories of the man.

“No, you haven’t.” She quickly changed the subject. “Where are you and Jeff going tonight?” Jeff Broad-street was a friend of Ty’s. Both boys attended the same private school. Jeff’s parents were taking the two out for the evening.

“To a movie, a Western. Jeff said the previews really looked good,” he enthused. “Doesn’t Uncle Culley own a ranch?”

“Yes,” Phillip answered when Maggie failed to respond to the question.

“How come we never go visit him? That would really be neat to stay on a real ranch. Can we go sometime, Mom?”

“We’ll see,” she said crisply. She knew they never would, but she didn’t tell Ty that because it would require an explanation.

“How about this summer?” he suggested.

“We are going to London this summer,” she reminded him.