Page 24 of Unbroken

“I’ll second that.” While I had to admit that I’d missed Lost Valley Ranch and Poplar Springs while I was living in Denver, I would never miss the pettiness that some of the local residents seemed to excel in dishing out.

FIFTEEN

ELI

Iresisted the urge to honk my horn at the tractor in front of me moving at a snail’s pace. One of the more unusual quirks of living in a small ranching town was that folks’ choice of transportation could be almost anything. It wasn’t uncommon to see horses tethered to hitching posts outside the different businesses on Main Street, and the roads were often home to most anything on wheels. Like tractors. This particular relic looked to have a topped-out speed of ten miles per hour, which we weren’t even close to, and I was sure I’d lose my mind if the old man driving it didn’t pull over at the next wide shoulder.

I played with the radio tuner, hoping to find something to listen to that would help pass the time, and stopped on a sports talk show.

“…and Buffalo Days just wrapped up with an epic team roping event that came down to Cal Pierce and Tanner Greene,”one of the sports hosts said.

“I know, man, I was right here, sitting next to you calling the event.”

“Nah, you were too busy staring at all the bronco bunnies.”

“Now, that’s not true. Why do you have to say stuff like that? You know my wife listens to this show.”

“Oh look, we have a caller—and from the ID, it’s your wife.”

“Well, shhhh-ooot. Hey, hon.”

I hit the tuner scan, not interested in hearing more. Whether it was all one big joke or whether the argument that started between the other guy and his wife was real, it hit a bit too close to home for me.

As I was debating taking my truck offroad to get around the slowpoke in front of me, tractor driver finally moved over onto the shoulder so I could pass him—and finally see him. Sitting in the tractor saddle was quite possibly the oldest human being I had ever laid eyes on. All dressed up in formal cowboy wear with every bit of metal polished to a shine, he tipped his hat to me as I cruised past. What made me choke out a laugh was the hound dog riding shotgun and wearing a cowboy hat and bolo tie.

I gave them both a wave, kicking myself for not snapping a pic to show Patrick. He would have loved it and so would Fiona. In fact, she probably would have insisted we stop to take selfies with them all while complimenting everything about them.

I finally made it to the ranch—almost thirty minutes late—and parked next to Josh’s truck before hopping out to go find him. We were supposed to meet in his office, but when I checked inside, he wasn’t there. Jogging out to the barn, I found him saddling Gatsby and Indigo.

“Hey, boss, I thought we were meeting inside?”

“That was the plan, but it’s too nice of a day to spend indoors. A couple of the trail cams got knocked over out on the loop and now I can’t get any feed from any of them. I figured we could have ourmeeting and get everything back up and running at the same time,” Josh told me as he tightened Indigo’s strap.

Ordinarily, if there were problems like that on the trails, we took an ATV out as it was easier to haul any tools we might need. But I didn’t question the decision to use horses. I just quickly checked Gatsby to make sure the saddle was secure.

The ride out to the first dysfunctional trail cam was in relative silence, both of us lost in our own thoughts. We got to the tree where the camera box was mounted—or at least, where it wassupposedto be mounted. We found the box hanging at an angle and the camera on the ground at the base of the tree. We both dismounted and checked the area to see what could have caused this.

“These look like deer scratchings.” I pointed to the trunk where it was clear that something had scraped away at the bark.

Josh had the camera in his hand and was checking it over when he looked where I was pointing. Nodding his head, he said, “Yeah, I agree. I was concerned it might be a bear. This time of year, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see them, and it’s not as if we would know since the cameras weren’t recording.”

Earlier in the summer, there’d been reports of wolf sightings, but the cowboy network hadn’t made mention of any bears. American black bears—which was a misnomer as they came in different colors—were indigenous to the state. While they normally kept to themselves, if they found an easy food source or some sort of beary entertainment, they could be outright pests.

It took us a couple of hours to check all the cameras on the loop trails and make sure they were all working again. On the way back, Josh finally started talking. “Zoe pointed out that I have a tendency to not ask questions and assume that everything is okay, so I thought I might need to actively check in to see how it’s going working with Fiona.You seem to be getting along better after the Belle and Diesel incident, but I wanted to make sure that was really the case. I mean…I know you took her to the wedding as your plus one and there’s all that fake relationship stuff the two of you have going on and…” He caught my flinch and raised his hand. “I am staying out of all of that. You’re both adults. What you do on your own time—even if it’s with my sister—is not my business unless you want it to be.”

I didn’t. I really didn’t, so I shook my head.

“Okay, then back to my work question.” Josh pushed his hat back and rubbed his face. “Andonlymy work question because I really don’t want to know about what the two of you get up to after hours.”

I was in one hundred percent agreement with that. “It’s been good. You know as well as I do that Fiona has a way with people. She can normally make even the surliest of people smile. She’s popular with the riders and they seem to enjoy all the tidbits she adds to the rides.”

Josh was nodding as I talked. “Good. That’s good. It seems to me that her popularity with the riders has contributed to all those positive reviews we’ve been getting on social media. You’re mentioned too, but Fiona tends to be brought up more.”

That didn’t surprise me, and it didn’t sound like it surprised Josh, either. He knew how charming his sister could be.

“And you?” Josh added. “Is she getting along with you?”

I didn’t know how to answer that. Working with Fiona and being in a fake relationship with her not only crossed the line between work and personal, it pretty much obliterated it. “Given our history, I didn’t think it was possible that we could work well together, but it turns out that we sort of mesh.”

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