Beautiful Soul - cash au -

Tides

It's very early in the morning. It's still dark out and Nash is carrying a sleeping Skylynn as Hayes trudges beside him, his eyes barely open.

He knocks on Mrs. Kaplans door and she opens moments later.

"Thank you so much, Mrs. Kaplan. I know it's so early... " Nash says as he hands over Skylynn.

"You really should stop thanking me dear, it's my pleasure. They make me feel young again..." Mrs. Kaplan responds, smiling at him. Hayes walks inside and lies down on the couch.

"I'll be back at 2," Nash informs her and she nods at him. He turns as she closes the door and begins to make his way to the farm. It takes him 45 minutes to walk there and it's not so bad in the morning when he's rested. It's a killer in the evening when all he wants to do is collapse onto a bed and sleep for hours.

He's carrying a plastic bag with 1 sandwich and 1 bottle of water. He eats half in the morning and half in the afternoon. It's not very much but it does the trick.

Nash is in deep thought while he walks and before he knows it he's at the Dallas Ranch. He walks over to the farm managers office to get his list of chores for the day. He's hoping for a lighter day but he keeps that to himself, he doesn't want to appear lazy to anyone.

He looks over that the main ranch where the Dallas family lives. The lights are off, they're probably all still in bed. He walks in and smiles at Bart, the farm manager, who is sitting at his desk typing away at the computer.

"Nash, good to see you bud." He glances at the time. "15 minutes early too, I like that work ethic, that's what we like to see."

Nash didn't even realize he was early, he must have walked faster than he thought. But he'll take the compliment, hopefully Bart remembers this when he picks who to keep over the winter.

"Today I'm going to have you work in the barn. You'll be learning how to feed the horses, wash em, clean their stalls, the works. Just head over there, Aaron will show you everything you need to know." Bart tells him and returns to his computer.

Nash heads over to the barn, he feels hopeful, learning to do the barn work is a good sign that they're keeping you for the winter. It's one of the main jobs for farm hands when there's no crop to plant or harvest.

He opens the barn door and notices a young guy at the very end of the barn. He approaches him quietly, he's nervous because this will be the first time he's meeting him.

"Uh..h-hi," he says softly, stuttering slightly. "Bart sent me over here to work with you?"

Aaron turns and gives Nash a once over. "You must be Nash Grier, I'm Aaron Carpenter."

He gives Nash a friendly smile and Nash relaxes slightly at Aaron's friendliness, but he's still wary.

"Yeah, I am." He replies. Aaron straightens up and shakes Nash's hand.

"You can relax, I'm not gonna bite. Them horses might, but I won't." He jokes around and Nash grins at him.

"So you'll basically be my shadow. I'm going to show you everything I do because this is what you'll be doing all winter with me." Aaron explains.

Nash's eyes widen and he breaks out into a huge smile. Aaron realizes his blunder, he assumed Nash was already informed that they'll be keeping him throughout the winter.

"Shit. Don't tell Bart that you know anything, he'll freaking kill me." Aaron tells Nash and Nash nods rapidly, agreeing with him.

He follows Aaron around and assists with all the tasks. He watches carefully at what Aaron does, he doesn't want to mess up and cause them to change their minds about keeping him on. Knowing that he'll have a job for the winter takes a huge burden off of Nash's shoulders, the pay is even higher and he'll be able to afford more groceries.