Page 4 of Tom's Chance
“I can do that.” Tom shook his head on the shared laugh, but left to go back to town. On the hour-long drive, he reflected on what Duane had said and looked at the heavens. “Come on, Grandpa, give me a break. I’m old enough to date now, stop shoving idiots at me and send me the woman of my dreams.” He chuckled because he had always gone to his grandfather whenever he had a question about the birds and the bees. He remembered that his grandfather would always tell him that when the right woman for him arrived, he’d know it. But he had also told him that there were a lot of gold-diggers out there that he might have to weed through before he could get to the woman of his dreams, he just had to be patient. He had also told Tom that while a woman kissed a lot of frogs to find her prince, men had to wade through a vipers’ den to get to his perfect match.
CHAPTER 2
Lorissa Gibson lookedup when a truck pulled into the barnyard and she couldn’t leave what she was doing, but she made sure the driver of the vehicle knew where she was. She smiled when Erin Riceman climbed out of the truck and headed toward her.
“What’s up?” Lorissa asked as she shoved the piece of metal she’d been pounding on into a bucket of water, and both women watched it steam.
“Can you take a break?” Erin asked as she looked around, impressed by what she saw.
“A little, what’s up?”
“I was over at Broken and I noticed that Misty is limping. I don’t know whether it’s her shoe or if she has a foot problem. If you could take a look, I’d appreciate it.”
“I’m not saying no, but I’m almost done with thisshoe for Peaches. I was going to go over there as soon as I was done with it.”
“Good, could you take a look at Misty?”
“I can. Why didn’t you call me?”
“Because I forgot to write your phone number down.” Erin laughed and pulled hers out and handed it to Lorrisa, who quickly entered her number along with her Nana’s and mother’s. She handed it back and grinned.
“All done.”
“Thanks, how’s your mother?”
“Frustrated,” Lorissa said with a heavy sigh. “She thought the trial would take place soon, but it seems like the asshat’s lawyers keep stalling with asking for depositions every time Mom turns around. One good thing about her going back home is that she’s able to stay in the old house, and it seems like there might be a buyer for Nana’s house.”
“I don’t like to get into a lot of details of my employees, but what about your old house? Or your mother’s? Aren’t they for sale?”
“No, or not yet. I lived in a caretaker’s cabin at one of the boarding stables I worked at. Sort of like the set up you have here for Wendell. Because I had an exclusive contract, I couldn’t work for anyone else outside those three stables, so they offered me a place to live. Believe me, they made sure every time I saw them that I was only the hired hand, and wasn’t getting a free ride. I had to pay for everything, rent,and utilities. They tried to take it out of my pay, but I had the receipts to prove that I’d already paid for it. They wouldn’t listen to me, but when I threatened to get my lawyer involved, they took my word for it.”
“Damn, what type of business people were they?”
“Terrible ones.” Lorissa sighed again as she picked up the shoe from the water and stuck it into the hot flames. She used her foot on the bellows to get the coals hot and continued to talk as she worked.
“The owners were from New York City, and because they made it big on Wall Street, they thought they knew it all. Sure, they might have been financially secure, and threw their money at the stables, they were the best around. But when it came to horses, they didn’t know jack shit about them. The people that boarded them would try to educate the owners, and when I went asking for a job, they hired me as a vet and a farrier. When I would tell them to contact the owners of a certain horse because it was showing signs of something, they wanted me to write a fifty-page report as to why. That might be a stretch, but they wanted everything in writing. They said it was to save their own behinds. After some research, it turned out that the owners worked in an office, and they couldn’t do anything without turning in a written report. When I told them that wasn’t how things worked, they threatened to fire me. I told them to go ahead, but I was going to contact the owners totell them what was wrong with their horse.” She looked at Erin with a smirk. “Without the written report. I told them a phone call was all that was needed.”
“What was wrong?”
“Colic.”
“Shit.”
“Yeah, and I didn’t spare the owners of the stables. I answered the horse owner’s questions, and even told them why the delay in contacting them.” Lorissa pulled the shoe from the hot coals, and started pounding on it. When it was steaming in the water again, she continued her story. “The horse owners were livid, they went to the other horse owners, and they had a meeting. Once that meeting was complete, they went to the owners of the stables.”
“Let me guess, the horse owners told the stable owners where the bear shit in the woods?”
“Exactly and they, the horse owners, told the stable owners that if they even thought of firing me, reprimanding me, or docking my pay in any way shape or form, they would pull their horses from them and black list them to everyone in the tri-state area.”
“What states are you talking about?”
“New York, Massachusetts, Connecticut,” Lorissa said with a grin. “The three stables combined held roughly fifty horses. I don’t know the exact amount of fees the stable owners charged, but I do know thatone month’s boarding fee for one horse paid my salary for three months.”
“Wow sounds like the stable owners were raking in the bucks. Was there over-crowding of the horses? Were they neglected?”
“No, I made sure that didn’t happen, and so did the other workers. Most of the horse owners came up on the weekends to tend to their horses, and sometimes some of them would pop in during the week.”
Erin giggled. “Was that planned so the stable owners couldn’t pull anything shady?”
