SCOTT
The sun sinking lower in the sky had me pulling my hat down a little more to shield my eyes. We were an hour behind on our return because of an unruly bull giving us a hard time out in the pasture. I checked my phone again.
Liam: Hey Scott, if you aren’t too busy tomorrow, I need a favor. Someone very special is visiting the ranch. I need you to give her the grand tour of the property.
It didn’t matter how many times I read the text, it still hadn’t changed. Why would Liam ask me for a favor? I would have expected him to ask one of his teammates to do this since they were the stars of the ranch, not a cowboy like me.
“Dude, what’s wrong?” Ty rode up beside me. We had just started making our way back from rotation when the text came in. I didn’t say anything, expecting Liam to text again, saying he sent it to the wrong person, but that hadn’t happened.
I turned my phone so Ty could read the message. “Weird. I wonder what that’s about.”
“What what’s about?” Travis asked, coming up to my other side.
“Liam texted me earlier asking if I would take someone on a tour tomorrow.”
“Did he say who?” Travis’ brows furrowed.
“He just said someone very special.”
“Hmmm.” Travis looked forward and scratched his chin. The corner of his mouth hitched quickly and then dropped. If I hadn’t already been looking at him, I would’ve missed it.
“Do you know who he might be talking about?”
“Not a clue.” I knew he was lying. He knew who it was, but didn’t want to tell me. I didn’t know if that was a good thing or a bad thing. I just had a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach that I wasn’t going to like it.
“I guess that means I’m going to town by myself,” Ty grumbled. Going into town wasn’t his favorite thing to do lately.
A girl named Kathy seemed to know every single time we were there, and she would appear out of nowhere. She was dead set on Ty being the cowboy for her. Little did she know that I also had to like her too, as Ty and I were going to take up the Cosland practice of our bosses and take a woman together. Not that I was looking for someone to settle down with right now.
Thank God Ty felt the same way I did about Kathy. Neither one of us could stand her.
So going into town for supplies was already not on the top of his list. Now he would have to go without me, unless he wanted to wait around for when I finished.
“I guess we’ll see who has a better day off tomorrow.” If this person was so special, why didn’t Liam give them the tour himself?
“Fifty buck says it’ll still be you.” Ty had a habit of making everything a gamble when it didn’t need to be.
“Guess it all depends on who this mystery person is.” I shrugged. Focusing on my phone, I replied to Liam.
Me: I’m free. What time do you need me?
Liam: Ten in the morning. I’ll have Jessie pack you a lunch.
Me: Fine. But you owe me.
Liam: Duly noted.
Sighing, I shoved my phone back in my saddle bag. With a sigh, I urged my horse, Jameson, into a canter. I was itching to get home fast so I could relax since my only day off was now taken. Travis and Ty followed suit and we made it home sooner than expected.
I decided to give Jameson a good scrub down since he was going to have to work again tomorrow. After making sure the big bay gelding was nestled in his stall happily munching on his hay, I went home and showered.
I walked through the mudroom door as the clock on the dining room wall chimed seven. I was too tired to venture back out to grab dinner, so I threw a frozen pizza into the oven before I trudged to the bathroom.
The hot water soothed the achy muscles from sleeping on the ground for two nights. Not that I minded that much, but I wasn’t getting any younger. Ty and I were older than most of the people on King’s Ranch, but we were determined to make sure we kept up with them.