Page 12 of The Cowboy's Christmas
Quinn lifted a hand in response, then headed toward the hotel. Either he and Pepper spent a few days in luxury at this fancy hotel enjoying the warm Christmas ambiance of this little town, or he spent the days working on Deke and Savannah’s ranch. Either way he was good, and that was what he told Jim when he called him as soon as Savannah’s truck pulled out of the lot.
“Let me get this straight,” Jim said. “The guy pulled in front of you and your truck is toast. Now you’re going to help out on their ranch?”
“They need help, I have time on my hands.” He didn’t mention that he felt sorry for Deke Hudson, who’d come out of the collision just fine only to take himself out by crossing an icy road. “From what I gather, the guy will be hard at it before his ribs start to heal, because it’s just him and his niece on the ranch, along with a couple little kids. If I lend a hand for a few days, it’ll give him a chance to start knitting back together.”
“Okay, that kind of makes sense.”
“The niece might call to see if I’m trustworthy.”
Jim started to laugh, and Quinn grimaced. “Do me a favor. No embarrassing stories, okay?” Jim did tend to run on.
“Oh no,” Jim said in a way that made Quinn roll his eyes. “I will not tell her about the time the cat attacked you in your truck.”
“Thank you,” Quinn said with feigned dignity. “Now I have to go. I’ll see you when I do.”
*
She hadn’t saidanything to Quinn, but Savannah was familiar with the name of Neary Bucking Stock. Her parents had served on the Fair Board of the Eastern Idaho town in which she’d lived before moving to Marietta in the eighth grade, and her dad had overseen contracting the vendors and entertainment. He’d always contracted Neary to provide the stock for the PCRA rodeo there.
That was a point in Quinn’s favor. The other point in his favor was that she needed him.
Needing made her uncomfortable, but there was no way around it—she would have a difficult time handling the chores alone. On a normal day, she would bundle up her nieces and they would ride in the tractor, belted into the jump seat. Either she or Deke drove while the other rode on the trailer they used to haul bales to the field at the Anderson Ranch. Technically that was still possible, but without another warm body, the tractor driver would have to climb in and out of the cab, opening and shutting gates, unloading bales, cutting strings, leaving the tractor running with two unsupervised little girls inside. And then there was the matter of bringing the cattle down from the high pasture. Pretty hard to do with Jessa and Sophie in tow. Deke would bring the cattle in alone, with the help of the dogs, but it would drive him nuts if she did the same thing.
After the girls had eaten dinner and all their many questions about Uncle Deke had been answered—some questions having been asked two or three times, such as why no Band-Aids—she dialed her dad.
“Jim Neary? He was good to work with. Why?”
“I’m calling him for a reference on a guy we’re hiring for daywork.”
“Deke is accepting help?”
“He slipped on the ice earlier today and did himself some damage, so yes. He is.”
“How bad?”
“We’ll know for sure in the morning, but right now it’s cracked ribs, a broken wrist and mild concussion.”
“That’s not going to slow him down for long.”
“Exactly. Thus, the day help.” She didn’t mention that the day help had been involved in the accident, because, why? “I’m hoping to keep him in his chair until his ribs start to mend, but we contracted to feed the cattle on the ranch next door, so I need day help.”
“What happened to Deke?”
Savannah went with a watered-down version of the accident followed by his fall on the ice. “He’s in the hospital now for observation, and I don’t know if I can control him when he gets out, so I want to hire someone ASAP.”
“Damn.”
“A least the flatbed is okay. It was towed to town because it wouldn’t start after the accident, but apparently the fuel line had come loose. Easy fix.”
“The thing is built like a bulldozer, so I’m not surprised, but I am worried about my brother. It takes longer to heal as you get up in years.”
“Deke believes himself to be the exception to that rule,” Savannah said darkly. “That’s why I’m checking this guy out tonight.”
“Jim has a good reputation. If he gives the man a decent reference, it’s the real deal.”
“Good.”
“How are the girls?”
