His Ranch

Chapter 3 Hiding a Secret

Coulter had just finished checking the fences when Danny rode up to him.

"Hey, boss," Danny said in a cheery voice. Danny was an average size man with light brown hair and a good temperament. He'd been working for Coulter for about a year and had made a reputation for himself around the town as being a play boy. That didn't bother Coult a bit, he didn't care what he ranch hands did when they weren't on the ranch. As long as they worked hard, he didn't have a problem with them.

"What do ya need?" Coult asked, facing him. He couldn't understand why anger coursed through his veins. Ever since he dad told him Danny wanted to get with Flannery, he had wanted nothing more than to introduce his fist to Danny's face.

"Just wanted to let you know the new horses are here. There's a little bit of an argument between Robbie and Jimmy. I tried to get them to cool down but they're not listenin' to me."

"Goddammit," Coult muttered under his breath. He pulled the reins towards the barn and took off. That was one thing he didn't tolerate; fighting. There was a lot of work to be done every day and if the men fought, then there would be work on Saturday.

He pulled up to the barn and heard yelling, but wasn't expecting what happened next. Coult jumped off his horse as he saw Jimmy lay a fist into Robbie's gut. Before he could say anything, a little female blur blew past him and landed a right hook into Jimmy's eye.

~~~

Flannery had cleaned up all of breakfast and had started to prepare lunch. She had just pulled out a fresh batch of homemade sourdough rolls when she heard yelling outside. She ignored it and continued to cut meat and cheese when she heard swearing and threatening tones.

Flannery dropped the knife on the counter and walked out to the porch.

"Listen here you little shrimp fucker," said one of the bigger ranch hands, walking towards Robbie. "This is my horse to break, got that?"

"I got to him first, Jimmy," said Robbie, standing his ground. Flannery was slightly worried, Robbie was so much smaller than that Jimmy man. If they fought, Jimmy would most definitely win. Jimmy continued to berate Robbie and Flannery couldn't help but become defensive of him.

"Hey!" she called out to them. Five heads turned to her. "How about you all have some lunch and then discuss this after?" 

Robbie nodded his head in agreement, attempting to do the responsible thing knowing that the boss would be back soon and help settle the disagreement.

"Shut-up, girl" Jimmy yelled, turning back to face Robbie. 

Robbie knew that Jimmy was a drinker and would occasionally indulge during the day, but it became very apparent that he indulged just a little to much this morning.

"Don't tell her to shut-up, Jimmy!" Robbie yelled. Flannery knew things were escalating quickly. None of the other men looked like they were going to intervene. Jimmy began cracking his knuckles and laughed as a fearful look crossed Robbie's face. 

Flannery took a closer look at Jimmy and saw that he eyes were completely blood-shoot and he was weaving ever so slightly on his feet. Was he drunk?

"That's right pee wee! Tell me what not to do!" roared Jimmy with laughter. All of a sudden his laughter stopped and he looked Robbie up and down. "Ever since you started working here, you been a pain in my ass."

Flannery walked down from the porch and closer to the men. She wanted to be near in case something happened. 

"Jimmy, I'm not gonna fight you. Let's go have lunch and settle this later." Robbie attempted to reason with the man. There was no way he could win a fight against him, but maybe lunch would cool him down.