Chapter 39
Kaylee gave one of the bulls a distracted scratch on his forehead, then left them to their feed.
The bulls that bucked and kicked and spun with a cowboy on their back as soon as they burst out of the chute were something closer to docile puppies back on the ranch in their pen together.
Kaylee brought the empty feed buckets back to the barn, storing them where they belonged. She paused to catch her breath, bracing herself against the wall.
She had laid awake all night, reliving and replaying everything Maude had said to Ezra. Even worse, what Ezra had said to Maude.
If she had any interest in my money, I would toss her out the door myself.
Her head swam, the floor tilting beneath her and Kaylee stumbled a step to catch her balance, leaning more heavily against the wall. She blinked, trying to clear her vision.
Outside the barn she heard a vehicle approaching. Everything in her tensed, instinctively prepared for the worse. Maude had come back. Irrational panic started to set in until she realized the engine belonged to a truck, not the small rental car Maude had driven away in the day before.
Kaylee got her bearings and went to the door of the barn in time to see Chris' truck pull up, followed by JD's SUV and Nathan's car.
JD glanced towards the house, but went to Kaylee.
"I don't think Ezra's up yet," she said, including Chris and Vin in her statement. Her hands curled into fists trying to shove down the constant anxiety. Josiah got out of Nathan's car and they went up to the house with Buck after a look in her direction.
"Ain't here for Ezra," Chris said. "Not just him, anyway." He narrowed his eyes in concern as he looked at her.
Kaylee knew she must look terrible. Not sleeping, added to the constant knot in her stomach that had made her unable to eat breakfast hadn't done her any favors.
"You look like hell," Chris commented.
She felt like it. But she didn't tell him that. "Do you want breakfast?" she asked. "I was about to go in and see if Ezra wanted any."
"We brought breakfast," JD said. "We're kind of like FEMA," he said with a grin.
"FEMA?" Kaylee asked.
"Sure. Hurricane Maude blows through and FEMA comes in to clean up the aftermath. Feed people."
"Make sure Ezra don't drink his breakfast," Vin said.
Kaylee glanced at Vin, but didn't meet his eyes.
"Come on in," she said.
Inside the house, Buck was pulling Ezra upright on the couch. Ezra let out a surly curse. Kaylee started towards them, but Chris stopped her.
"Buck's got him," he said.
Between Buck and Nathan, they moved a stumbling Ezra towards the stairs.
"I should help," Kaylee fretted. This was entirely her doing. She had insisted Maude stay and then failed to protect Ezra from Maude's suspicions about her.
"Nathan brought cinnamon rolls from town," Vin said. "You should eat somethin'."
Kaylee felt her stomach turn at the mention of food, the ever present nerves making her hands shake.
"Sit," Chris said without giving her a choice.
Kaylee sat down at the table. Josiah pulled paper plates from a bag and Chris took cups from a cardboard carrier, handing her one before pulling up a chair himself.
Kaylee picked at the warm cinnamon roll JD gave her. She managed a couple bites, washing them down with coffee she couldn't taste.
She could hear the shower running upstairs and Buck and Nathan came down the stairs.
"Is Ezra…?" she didn't know what she wanted to ask. Was Ezra mad at her? Had he realized everything Maude said was true? Was he planning to drink until he didn't have to deal with her anymore.
"He's wakin' up," Buck said with a grin. "Cold shower'll sober him right up."
Kaylee felt Vin's eyes on her and couldn't handle it anymore.
"I'll go check on him," she said, getting up and hurrying towards the stairs before anyone else could suggest she eat something or rest.
#
Ezra sank down on the shower floor, the cold stream of water making the tile on the floor icy.
There was a soft knock on the bathroom door and Ezra didn't bother to temper his tone.
"Mr. Wilmington, if you intend to offer me any further 'help' I will help you right out the second story window!"
The door opened and Ezra squinted an eye open to see Kaylee standing uncertainly in the doorway. Her lips trembled as she looked at him.
Ezra looked down at his fully clothed limbs, heavy with the extra weight of the water soaking the fabric. Kaylee approached the shower and her frown deepened when she felt the temperature of the water. She adjusted the knobs and the icy blast Buck had set up for him mellowed to a warm spray.
Ezra mopped a hand over his face, leaning back against the shower wall.
"You experienced a visit with Maude," he commented.
"Yeah," Kaylee said softly. Ezra tried to focus his blurred vision on her. She didn't look angry. She looked…guilty.
Ezra blinked and lifted his face to the water coming down on him. He was more hungover than he realized if he couldn't even read a facial expression. He was the guilty party. The one who had failed Kaylee and hadn't protected her from Maude.
"You've seen who spawned me now," Ezra said through gritted teeth. He steeled himself for what he knew was coming. Kaylee was too good for him. She always had been and now she would know it.
"I saw how awful Maude is to you," Kaylee said quietly.
Ezra opened one eye and rolled his head to the side to look at her.
Mindless of the water, Kaylee came to his side, the water immediately soaking her, plastering her hair to her head. Her jeans grew damp as she sat alongside him. She reached for his hand, her fingers tentative.
Ezra laced his fingers with hers. He had no idea why she was with him, why she stayed with him, but he would never turn her away. Not when he had finally found someone who loved him for all that he was, and he was well aware all that he was wasn't anyone worth staying with.
#
Vin stared down at his plate, listening to the talk swirling around him. Chris' plans for the yearlings, Buck's thoughts on the ones they should be selling, Josiah questioning them keeping a couple to train as therapy horses for a nearby nonprofit. He hated keeping Kaylee bound to her secret, whatever it was. He knew she owed someone money. He knew she was running scared. And he didn't know what to do about it.
"You've looked better," Nathan said.
Vin looked up to see Ezra coming down the stairs, hair combed, shaven, and clean clothes on. Kaylee's wet hair was pulled back in a ponytail and Vin didn't much want to think about her getting into the shower with Ezra.
"Kaylee looks fine," JD defended staunchly.
"I meant Ezra," Nathan said.
The kid wasn't wrong, though. Kaylee was more than just jumpy. She was getting more on edge with every passing day. She had dark circles under her eyes and Vin wondered if she had lost weight.
"Good morning to you, too, Mr. Jackson," Ezra said, pulling out a chair for Kaylee.
He rubbed Kaylee's shoulder lightly and Vin saw the white in her knuckles as she gave Ezra's hand a quick squeeze before he took his own chair.
"Cinnamon rolls from Mile High Bakery?" Ezra asked.
"Nowhere else I'd get them," Nathan said.
Ezra perked up slightly and took a plate. He started to slide it to Kaylee but she took her plate with the roll she had already taken a few bites from.
Vin watched as she ignored the food once it was in front of her. She took a long drink of the caffeinated coffee, though.
"You planning to buck through your yearling bulls soon, Ezra?" Chris asked.
Ezra looked at Vin. "Will you be recuperated enough to be with us for that in a couple weeks?"
"You're going to put Vin on the bulls?" Kaylee asked, turning wide eyes to Vin like she wanted him to refuse.
Vin felt a smile tug at his mouth. "I just work the chute," he said. "Don't know I'll be up for that this year, but I'd like to see what you have to work with," he said to Ezra.
Ezra nodded. He turned to Kaylee. "Mr. Tanner is safe from the yearlings. We just put the bucking dummy on them."
Kaylee looked at Chris and Vin couldn't hold back the full smile that formed.
Nathan snorted and Ezra coughed to cover a laugh when Chris glared at him.
"There are times I don't doubt any cowboy foolish enough to strap himself onto a 2,000 pound bull is a 'bucking dummy'," Ezra explained to her, "For our purposes it won't be Mr. Larabee."
Kaylee winced and risked a look at Chris. He looked nonplussed.
"The bucking dummy's like a weight," Buck explained. "A lot lighter than this one," he said, clapping Chris on the shoulder and earning a glare of his own. "When Ezra sees the bull jump or spin the way he likes, he hits a button on a remote control and the strap releases and the weight falls off, teaching the bull to do that again. When he's got the real dummy on his back." He gave Chris a broad grin.
"If you want to be on horseback, I could use you and Josiah hazing them out of the gate when they're done," Ezra said.
Kaylee nodded eagerly.
Ezra nodded like it was settled. "Then we'll give Vin time to recuperate and work through the bulls when he's up and about."
Vin saw Kaylee glance at him again before her gaze bounced away.
Vin sighed heavily. Surgery would only fix one of his problems.
#
"Easy now."
Chris grunted as Vin leaned a little more heavily against him until Buck adjusted his grip on the other side of their friend and got Vin steadier.
"Thanks," Vin said, getting his crutches under him. The small recovery room was crowded with the three of them in there, the nurse supervising Vin's movement.
"I can go now?" he asked the nurse.
The nurse checked the ace wrap around his knee, holding an ice pack in place. Satisfied with what she saw, she straightened and handed a paper slip with a prescription to Chris. Buck plucked it from his hand.
"I'll take care of makin' sure Tanner gets his pain pills," Buck said with a grin of his own.
Chris grunted again. He was more than fine with someone else taking care of that, though he figured Vin wouldn't be dumb enough to listen to him and wash down his pills with beer again.
"Everything looks good," the nurse said. "The surgeon will see you in a week to make sure everything is healing like it should. Do you have that appointment scheduled?"
Vin nodded as he started toward the door. Chris didn't blame the man. He was eager to get out of the hospital himself. The smells and bustling staff was as uncomfortable to him as it was to Vin.
"Thanks, Darlin'," Buck said with a wink for the nurse. One of them clearly didn't mind the staff.
"Let's go, Buck," Chris said.
Vin managed his way out of the hospital on his own. Chris was thankful it had been outpatient surgery, he didn't think Vin would have agreed to stay any longer even if he was supposed to.
"I'll get the truck," Chris said.
"I can make it," Vin said.
Chris didn't argue with him. He was thankful it was Buck who had come with instead of Kaylee, though, as they helped Vin up the height to the passenger seat. Kaylee wouldn't have been strong enough in the best of circumstances to get Vin and his knee into the truck, but since Maude's visit last week she didn't look like she had slept more than an hour or two total.
Chris got behind the wheel of his truck. Vin leaned back in his seat with a sigh. Chris echoed it. He was glad to have the surgery behind them. Now Vin could focus on rehab and getting back in the saddle.
"You know, maybe I'll bust my knee this season," Buck said from the back seat.
Chris glanced at him in the rearview mirror.
"It'd be a small price to pay to have all them nurses fussin' over me."
Vin chuckled and Chris let out a small snort.
The couple hour ride from Denver to the ranch went quickly, Vin dozed off, the anesthesia no doubt still working out of his system.
When he pulled up close to the steps of the plain bunkhouse Buck and Vin shared, the door open and Kaylee came bounding out.
She waited on the steps, her hands twisting together until Vin opened his door and Buck helped him down. The look of sheer relief on her face hit Chris. He had known she was worried about Vin, still feeling some of the blame for his injury, but hadn't realized how much it was eating at her until he saw that look on her face.
Vin smiled at Kaylee. "I'm all put back together. I'll be bulldogging by next week."
Kaylee went to his other side, even though Vin didn't need help with the stairs.
"I brought over some lunch. I wasn't sure what you'd be hungry for. It's just something light. Some soup and crackers. And I fixed up a bed on the couch for you in case you don't want to be in your room. But I can—"
"That sounds perfect," Vin cut her off.
Chris brought in the small bag with Vin's prescriptions in it they had picked up in Denver and tossed them onto the table, watching while Kaylee hovered around Vin.
"I can bring supper over later," she said. "And I'll make some dessert. What sounds good?"
Vin stilled Kaylee's movements around him with a hand. Chris felt his gut clench at the way Vin's hand lingered over hers for a minute before he pulled it away. But Vin's movements were still a little sluggish from being knocked out for his surgery. Chris told himself that was good enough reason for what he saw. And Vin didn't make any more moves toward Kaylee. Vin let Buck stuff a pillow under his knee and assured Kaylee the soup was plenty.
"You and Ezra need any help bringing the yearlings down to the lower pens today?" Chris asked.
Kaylee gave Vin one last worried look, then shook her head. "We should be fine. But Ezra said to tell you we'll be over tomorrow to help exercise the colts."
Chris gave a short nod. Ezra had asked if any of the horses looked like a good barrel racing prospect and Chris knew the real reason Ezra was showing more of an interest in the horses this year.
"We'll see you tomorrow, then," Chris said. He
Kaylee nodded. She stopped by Buck. "There's plenty of soup for you, too."
Buck gave her a warm smile. "We ain't ate this good in years," he said appreciatively. "Play your cards right, Larabee, and we'll share some."
Chris watched Kaylee get into Ezra's truck and head down his drive, turning up the hill toward her and Ezra's place. He saw Buck watching her go and Buck turned to him. "It'll just take her a bit to get over Maude's visit," Buck said.
Chris frowned. He sure as hell hoped that was all that was going on.
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