Chapter 8

Upon my return to the ranch I went straight to my room. Well room was an understatement, it was more like a suite. It took up it's own wing of the house with a bedroom, walk-in closet connected to an en suite bathroom with a soaking tub, standing shower and vanity, there was also a small office area with a window seat surrounded by bookshelves. It even had its own washer and dryer! This place was part of the reason I had agreed to stay here. This was Melanie's great grandma's room when she was still alive.

I stripped down and took a quick shower before crawling into the soaking tub. While soaking I followed Zip's advice and downloaded Facebook and it's messenger system onto my phone. Sure enough, once I was logged in, messages and notifications bombarded my phone. I placed it on the barn wood bath caddy and as I waited for the constant vibrating to stop I rested my head against the small towel I had placed upon the bath's edge. My world's were colliding. Both of the best parts of my past were merging, and I liked it. I liked it alot.

I couldn't believe I had found Rangeman, it was the missing piece to the puzzle I hadn't known I was missing. I always knew that getting out of the military was going to leave a hole in my life. I had been a part of the family for so long that leaving it had left me aching, craving for that familiarity. Hope bloomed in my chest as I remembered Ranger's text. Hope that Rangeman could be that family. Hell I already had Zip there.

Picking up my phone the first thing I opened was the messenger app and hit the first message on the list, coincidentally the group message that Zip advised me to answer before Mack imploded. I spent the rest of my time soaking in the bath on my phone, catching up the guys on everything, my new job, my new digs.

After drying off and retrieving all my bags from the pickup. I started finally putting things away in what was now my room. My speakers blaring Home Free, a new acapella cover group I had found on youtube. It took me a few hours, especially after grabbing the boxes I had shipped up here to Melanie a few weeks ago.

Finally settling down for the night, my heart and mind at peace, and for the first time in a long time, I slept through the night without a nightmare.

Waking up in the morning to the smell of coffee, like every other morning here at the ranch I dressed for the day and was still pulling my sweatshirt down over my head as I reached the bottom of the stairs, tripping slightly but catching myself at the last minute. Giggles lit from around the kitchen, blush shading my face a wondrous pink. Finally succeeding in pushing my head through the neck of the sweatshirt I plopped down in a kitchen chair, Kit kissing the top of my head and setting "my mug" in front of me.

We all sat at the table talking through our day. What was on the "To Do List", and the everyday chores that needed to be accomplished. Mel and Quinn hoped to get me up to speed and make me a real asset on the ranch, "earn my keep" as Quinn had so eloquently put it. I was determined to be useful and earn my place.

Getting our day started I was Quinns' shadow today, feeding and turning out the ranch horses, checking in with the barn managers and support staff. Speaking with clients about incoming horses, horses in training and in the stud barn. Scheduling breedings, shows, clinics and lessons. This was the serious side of Quinn I thought I would never see. He had stepped into the very large shoes of Mel's dad who had largely stepped back from the running of the ranch after his stroke. Melanie's parents still lived on the ranch and helped with client lessons and the clinics. This was not my forte, and after struggling to help Quinn in the office, he finally sent me out to go work with Kit on some client's rodeo horses.

Moving through the different client arena's I finally found Kit on a big sorrel working through some calf roping in one of the long skinny arena's designed for this type of roping. I hopped up on the rail and just watched him work. I couldn't deny that the man was poetry in motion. Despite being 6'5" he was light on his feet and quick on the ground. After watching him work the dummy and watching the horse hinder him more than help. I hopped off the fence and asked what I could do to help. He motioned me over and explained what he was trying to accomplish, and what he needed from me. We worked through 5 horses as a team, me warming up horses, putting them through their paces, before Kit put in the hard, dirty work, and then switching horses allowing me to cool off the one he had worked with and then starting on the next one. Me helping whenever he needed me to step in for an extra hand. After cooling down the last horse and getting everyone back to the barn, Kit and I put the tack away and headed towards the Stud barn hand in hand. We had just worked together, seamlessly, for 5 hours. No misunderstandings, no arguments, just flawless partnership using each other's strengths to their full ability.

I snugged myself into Kit's side absorbing warmth, his arm coming around my shoulders. Walking into the shedrow that housed the stud horses Kit told me "Go get your monster." With pep in my step, despite the long day, I headed straight for Outlaw's stall. I pulled his halter off the hook next to his door and gave a short whistle, which caused him to throw his head over the half open door. Giving him a quick rub I open the stall door backing him away before putting his halter on. We headed to the empty indoor arena with the round pen so I could pick up where we left off. Kit planted himself off to the side so he could watch without being in the way. I started the same routine over putting him through the same paces we did the day before. Outlaw excelled and we moved through the paces quickly. I made sure everything we had covered was better than yesterday before giving him anything new to work on. I could still see his shitty groundwork and manners poking through here and there. Finally, after getting after him a few times, proving that I was not to be trifled with, he quit testing me and settled down into a smooth working pattern. Giving him 2 new drills with a bit more complexity, I was able to watch Outlaw get frustrated before having a breakthrough. I finally returned back to the original drills that he was good at ending our session on a high note so he was getting plenty of positive reward.

I finally stopped him at the center of the round pen where we did nothing but stand there. Me petting him over every inch of his body, much like horses do in the wild for familiarity. I itched on some of his hard to reach spots before throwing the lead rope over his neck and walking back to his stall. He followed quietly ignoring all the horses in their stalls as we passed. I could hear Kit's quiet footfalls behind me, coming to a stop as I clicked cross ties on Outlaws halter. I moved to the tack room gathering his grooming supplies, I turned to see Kit in the doorway.

"You know Steph, I don't think I'll ever get tired of watching you work horses." I stood there speechless at his compliment, so he walked over, kissed me on the cheek before grabbing the grooming tote out of my hand and walking back out to the aisle to brush down Outlaw. Once I picked my jaw off the floor, I followed suit picking up a curry comb and started on the opposite side. We continued our questions from the night before, favorite movie, how you like your popcorn, favorite soda, anything and everything. I could feel myself falling for Kit, my high school crush kicked up 100%. I couldn't manage to stop myself, even if I had wanted to.