It’d be a good thing too, Cheyenne, to get away from Colt.
Everyone was picking up something between us. My own family was. Tiffany sensed it too. I imagined the rest of Green Point had the same assumptions too. Distance. That was what I needed.
I finished the rest of my morning chores before hanging up a few brushes in the barn in the tack room. After checking that there was plenty of hay and water in the stalls, I started in the direction of the barn door when something brushed against my shoulder. I brushed off the pieces of wood from my shoulder with a frown.
“What in the—”
A loud crash filled the barn. The air was ripped out of my lungs when a pair of strong arms wrapped themselves around me followed by a heavy weight throwing me to the ground. Stunned by the sudden weight, I felt a pair of hands run down the back of my head to check for any bumps.
“You okay, Cheyenne?” Rick asked worriedly.
He helped me sit up from his crouched position next to me. I numbly took in the large wooden beam on the ground where I had been standing. Blood pounding in my temples, I looked back over at Rick as he gazed the wooden beam with a frown.
“I’m fine,” I said, voice distant with shock. “What happened?”
“The beam is rotted out,” Rick explained as he got to his feet. He kicked a dark and wet part of the beam. “I meant to have that replaced after the last rainstorm. Colt asked me to do it, and I completely forgot until now.”
“Thank goodness you were here,” I breathed out and got to my feet as well. “I would’ve been smashed beneath of it.”
“Don’t tell Colt,” Rick said, and his face contorted into a grimace. “If he knew that it almost killed you, I would either lose my job here, or I’d never hear the end of it.”
I ran a hand through my hair to control my frazzled nerves. “Don’t worry. Accidents happen, so I won’t tell him.”
Rick nodded before I turned to exit the barn, heart pounding the entire time. Accidents happened all the time. I knew that just as well as anyone else did, but this didn’t feel like an accident either. Nothing felt like a genuine accident anymore.
Chapter Fourteen
Colt
“Do all the wooden beams need to be replaced?”
I pinched the bridge of my nose to fight off the headache that wanted to turn into a migraine. The beam had been pushed off behind they hay bales, and from what I gathered, Rick had tried to hide it because he knew that I would be furious. I had asked him months ago to replace the beams when I noticed the wood rotting out.
“All of them,” Rick said, tucking his leather gloves into the back pocket of his jeans. “I climbed up there. A hole in the roof is letting all the rainwater come in. We better replace the roof too before the winter months.”
“That’s fine. Just have someone out here to take a look at it.” I glanced at my phone with a sigh, not really in the mood to head out to the Iron Stallion tonight. “Make sure to get the estimate over to Tiffany so she can do the books.”
Rick nodded. “Yes, boss. I will do that.”
“I have to get to the Iron Stallion,” I said. “Keep an eye out on Cheyenne for me too.”
“How much longer do you think she’ll be staying here?”
“Maybe a few more weeks at the most. They are going to rebuild soon according to the insurance company.” I patted him on the shoulder. “Get the beams replaced, Rick. I don’t want to repeat myself a third time.”
“No need to repeat,” Rick said. “I’ll make sure to get this done in the next two days.”
I walked out of the barn with my blood boiling. There were times that I wondered if with all the work around the ranch that Rick couldn’t handle it any longer. It was a lot even for me to keep up with. Without Tiffany balancing the books and her lists, things wo
uld be falling apart everywhere.
Tiffany was sitting near the living room window when I came in through the front door, pulling my hat off in the process. She looked up from the iPad she was reading on.
“Where you off to?” she asked.
“The restaurant,” I said and glanced in the kitchen for any sight of Cheyenne. “Where’s Cheyenne at?”
“I believe she went into town to grab a few personal things. That’s what she told me on her way out twenty minutes ago.”