College is the fresh start Mackenna Baker is hoping for, but her past follows her from the small town she left behind like a ghost. She does her best to ignore them and no matter how hard she tries, she can never seem to actually let them go. Shovin...
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"Wow, that fence looks great," I startle two lazing ranch hands early on in the afternoon from where I'm towering above them on my stallion, a bay American Quarter Horse called Grizzly with a black mane and tail and black stockings.
"Oh, huh we were just about-" Nathan tries to cover up their excuse of not having the small section of fence fixed that I sent them out to work on after we had lunch, more than three hours ago.
"We just checked-" the other, Daniel, starts at the same time, further confirming they weren't actually working.
They had been gone far too long for this amount and I'd expected them back by now, I needed them to run into town for Miles.
I have still been keeping a low profile and not going into town almost at all and it's been paying off the past month. No one seems to know I'm here outside of the hands working on the ranch and their jobs have more or less been threatened if word got out about it.
Making good money again, considering the situation of the ranch and Baker family, has been great too. All in all, it's been going better than I thought it would be working here again.
Minus the fact that Mackenna isn't back, nor has Miles caved and told me where I can find her.
"I don't want to hear it. You can tell Miles when you go back to the yard what I'm doing in less time than it would've taken the two of you. He has a chore in town y'all need to run for him, so get going."
"Yes sir," they say in unison before quickly scrambling over to their grazing horses, mounting up and taking off for the yard.
It's not until they're out of sight that I dismount and lead Grizzly to the tree giving him shade coverage that I get to work on the fencing.
Over the course of the first week or so being back, I took on the role of getting the hands back in line for Miles, I'm basically his right hand now and the other ranch hands answer to me. We even had to cut a couple of hands loose when they didn't get their act together and start working as hard as everyone else was. I don't expect them to work their ass off like I do, I have way more to bed for forgiveness for than them, but that doesn't mean I'll allow them to slack off.
Miles needs their help if he's going to be able to keep this place running and with Grant gone and Lorena being M.I.A as usual, this ranch is all he and Mackenna have left.
I'll do whatever I can to not let anything happen to this place for both of them, mainly Mackenna of course. This place won't see a risk of foreclosure notice if I have anything to say about it.
Neither will my parents.
I know my mom won't say it, she's still a little too proud for her own good, but I know the extra money I have been sending, most of the two paychecks I have earned, has helped build their safety net back up. I've really only kept enough to keep Hank fed and entertained as well as the essentials for myself, Miles already takes a cut out of my board from the final paycheck.
