Page 42 of Stables Spurs Suits
I lean in close, and my hands find his waist.
“You helped make it, so it seems only fitting.”
“If we’re on horseback, can I have Whiskey again? I think we’re starting to understand each other.”
“You mean when he isn’t throwing you over fences,” I chuckle, and he glances side to side then pushes up on his toes, gives me a quick kiss on the cheek, and steps back.
“So, I’ll see you later, then?” he asks, digging one toe into the dirt as he waits for my reply.
“Absolutely.”
“Good,” he says, and then he turns and jogs off toward the old stables. I watch him go, and when he pauses at the main doors, I know he’s found it before he bends over. I was helping Perry spread the gravel yesterday and spotted it in the crushed rock. I decided to leave it half sticking out of the dirt at the corner of the old barn doors, hoping Matthew would find it and add it to his lucky penny collection.
He pulls out his phone, clicks a pic to send off to his mom, and shoves his phone and the penny into his pocket before continuing inside.
I finish helping set everything up for the party and then meet Perry by the start of the new trail. We had truckloads of gravel dumped in giant piles by the entrance, and I’d like to say that the piles are reducing down quickly, but I’d be lying. It looks like we’ve barely made a dent in them.
“Nial said you guys could use another set of hands,” Denver Royal, the oldest of the neighboring farm’s kids, calls as he pulls up on a mini digger.
“Is your father good with you borrowing his equipment?” I ask.
“It was his idea. Apparently, showing up with a rake and shovel isn’t being helpful,” Denver replies.
I hold up my heavy-duty rake, and he laughs.
“I guess you better keep helpin’ Perry run it up and I’ll keep spreading it out,” I reply, and then I hear Nial behind me.
“We’re here to help too,” he calls, jogging over with another rake. Behind him are Alan and Ryan, both holding rakes.
“Us too,” Ryan says, a wide smile taking up half his face.
“You two are supposed to be on vacation, not working,” I say, looking at Alan and Ryan, but Alan shakes his head.
“If we’re on the ranch, we’re working. You know how Gramps is,” Alan replies.
“Please tell me you’ll at least make sure Gramps does something relaxing,” I say, and he laughs.
“He’s been spendin’ most of his time in the cuddle cove with Connor, visiting with Miss Milky and Miss Moo,” Alan replies.
“Ahh. I figured he’d find a way to be with the cows. I’m actually surprised he hasn’t been helping with the milking,” I reply.
“He was in there earlier today,” Nial says. “He couldn’t figure out the scanner, so he mumbled something about technology taking over the world and decided to go check on the cove.”
The low rumble of the mini digger draws my attention and grows louder with every second. Finally, it and Perry come into view up the trail.
“With this many hands, we’ll have the trail done in no time,” I say, and we get to work.
***
I was wrong. So very, very wrong, I think, as I limp along the now completed trail back to the ranch. Connor and Matthew came looking for us about an hour ago with a floodlight and a couple of shovels to help out. Good thing they did too, or we wouldn’t be finishing up until tomorrow. I completely underestimated how much gravel we’d need to spread to create a sure enough footing up the slope and then to cover the rest area at the end of the trail. Matthew somehow didn’t, though; he ordered pretty much exactly what we needed, maybe a little more, the once monstrous piles now a scattering of loose rocks and scratched earth.
My stomach growls, and Matthew chuckles beside me.
“Good thing Sally-May said she’d have dinner waiting for us when we got back,” he says, nudging my side.
Denver laughs. “I hope my parents saved me something. I’m so hungry I could eat a horse.”
He turns back, smiling, then turning it into an apologetic frown.
