The barn door squeaked as I opened it and I made a note to grab some WD-40 the next time I was in town. Otherwise, it wouldn't get done. It was the sort of thing I could assign to one of the hired hands to make sure it happened, but if I left it up to one of my brothers to notice it, then it would be forever before it was taken care of. Pete was too busy with the business side of things, and I couldn't really blame the man for that. Taking care of his daughter and maintaining his new relationship was enough work for any one man. I didn't cut my younger brothers as much slack, but everyone knew that Jake was up to his own thing and the twins were always off doing as they pleased as soon as their work was done. Stephen and Sam were living up to their reputations as the youngest, and while I knew I could ask them to do something, they'd rather be off chasing tail than running errands for me. I was always the one who noticed the details and paid attention to the smallest changes around the ranch. I wasn't sure if it was a good thing or if I was slipping into my father's OCD ways since he was no longer around to monitor the day to day running of the ranch.
I grabbed the small notebook from the breast pocket of my shirt and started tallying the mares that we needed to have checked. They were spread out across the three barns, and it was going to take me a while to count which ones had been with a stallion in the past few weeks. We kept meticulous records on which mares had been with which stallions, but there had been an incident about a month ago with Nevada Rebel, one of our more cantankerous stallions, jumping a fence and getting into a group of mares before anyone could stop him. I tried to keep a close watch on that, and most of our breeding was intentional given the nature of what we did. Accidents happen though, and if any of the mares that had been in the group that Nevada Rebel had infiltrated turned out to be pregnant, then we were going to have to spring for the DNA testing once they foaled. It was pricey but a requirement for breeding purposes. No one would be willing to purchase a horse whose lineage couldn't be confirmed.
As I made my way to the second barn, my brother Jake caught up with me; saddle slung over his shoulder. He wiped the sweat from his brow, and I could see that he had already been up to some work that morning.
"Where are you headed?" I asked.
He nodded his head in the direction of the barn I was going to. "I've got a yearling in there I want to do a little work with. We've got a couple from Texas who are thinking about buying her, and I wanted to go ahead and get a little training in so they don't have so much to do with her initially. They're a little older, and I'm not sure they're up to the work the girl might require."
I nodded. "Which one?"
"Pineapple."
I took a look at my list just to make sure she wasn't on there. We kept the yearling fillies away from the stallions, but there was a possibility she had been with the group, and I would hate to be sending a pregnant horse down to Texas unexpectedly. Glancing over the list, I saw that she wasn't there and breathed a sigh of relief.
"She's a little skittish," Jake continued. "I'm going to do a little ground work with her and try the flag. She seems to be easily spooked by moving objects, and we need to work on that before we start trying to load her in a trailer."
"Good idea," I said as I placed the notebook back in my pocket.
"What are you up to?" He asked me as he gestured toward the notebook.
"Making a list of the mares we need to have the vet check when they come to make the rounds."
"Oh right," he said with a nod. "New vet in town. I haven't been around to catch a name yet. Have you heard who Doc Halloran brought on?"
I shook my head. "Nope, haven't heard a thing. Hope he's a good one. I don't really want to go looking for another at this time of the year. We've got too much work coming up for him."
"I heard it's a woman."
I stopped in my tracks and looked at my brother. "Seriously? The doc hired a woman?"
Jake nodded affirmatively. "Surprised me, too. I think a lot of the older guys are having a problem with it...well, I mean not the looks of her I'm sure. But you know how the old ones can be. They were already a little set against having a new vet, but the talk I've heard is the fact that it's a woman has them a little unsure about the whole thing."
I wasn't as backward or old fashioned as some of the ranchers in the area, but it was no surprise to me that they were against the idea of a female vet. Sure, there were some of them in the area, and it wasn't unheard of, but the one serving the nearby ranches for the past fifty years or so had been Doc Halloran, and they were accustomed to him. Having a new veterinarian working on their horses was one thing for them to get used to, having it be a woman when many of them still had pretty archaic ideas about what a woman's role was would be another thing altogether. And Doc Halloran had struck me as someone who might have fallen into this group that would have ideas about what a woman could and could not do. What that said to me was that he had a lot of faith in the abilities of this new vet and whether she was a man or a woman didn't matter to him one iota.
"Ah, well. I guess they'll have to get over it pretty quickly or find themselves someone new. And half the vets around here are women nowadays. They'll just have to get over whatever kind of old-fashioned ideas they have."
Jake nodded. "I agree."
We parted and went about our separate tasks and after I was done putting together my list of mares I headed back to the main barn to look for a can of WD-40 for that squeaky door. The supply closet was full to the brim with all sorts of things, but I couldn't find a single can of what I needed.
"Of all the damned things to be out of," I said as I pulled out my notebook to add it to my list.
I stopped by the main house on my way to my truck. Pete was in his office working on something on his computer and barely looked up to acknowledge me.
"Need something?" He asked. I could tell he was absorbed in his work.
"I was just going to ask if you needed me to grab anything. I'm on my way into Ashland to run a few errands."
Pete stopped to think and then shook his head. "Thanks for asking though. What are you going after?"
"Just a few things we need for maintenance. And since I'm there I think I'm going to stop in and meet the new vet. I've got the count of the mares we need to have checked, and I thought I'd give her a heads up about what our needs are. Jake tells me it's a lady vet."
Pete raised an eyebrow. "That surprises me."
"Me too. But you know Doc Halloran wouldn't have hired her if she wasn't the best around. I'd like to get a look at her." I said with a grin.
"Behave yourself, please," Pete said with an almost scowl. "We do not need to find a new vet right now. If you could keep your hands to yourself and your dick in your pants that would be great."
I threw my hands up in mock surrender. "I don't know what you're talking about."
My older brother shook his head. "I know you try to act like the twins are the ones with a reputation around here, but you've got one yourself with just about every new woman that moves anywhere nearby, and I would like if we could maintain a good relationship with someone we're going to be engaging with professionally for the foreseeable future. If she sticks around half as long as Doc Halloran, then she'll be here for the rest of her life, so unless you plan on marrying this girl, I want you to keep a wide berth of her."
I laughed. "I think you're taking it a little far. We'll have to see what she looks like first."
I waved to my brother as I headed back outside and over to my truck, starting the thing and speeding down the long road that led from the highway up to the main ranch house.
The drive into town was easy and uneventful, and the street parking in front of McCall's Hardware was nearly empty. I recognized all the vehicles there, save for one of them, and they all belonged to several of the older men in town who passed their time sitting on benches just inside the hardware store, sipping coffee that Mrs. McCall made every morning for her husband and the men who stopped by for what amounted to a gossip session.
"How are you doing there, Alex?" Charlie McCall bellowed from behind the counter as I pushed open the door and stepped inside the store, my arrival announced by the tinkling of a tiny bell overhead. I thought I detected a strange twinkle in his eye, but I couldn't imagine what that would be about unless one of the old codgers on the benches had just told a dirty joke.
"Not bad, just here to grab a can of WD-40 and a roll of twine if you've got the size I'm looking for."
"Good deal, you know where everything is. Holler if you need anything."
I nodded in greeting as I passed by the gentlemen enjoying their coffee and headed down the front of the shop until I found the aisle I was looking for. The lubricants were toward the back of the store, and once I found myself in the corner, I grabbed the can I was looking for and turned to head toward the rope and twine when I ran smack dab into a head full of curly red hair that barely reached the height of my collarbone.
"Sorry about that, miss. I..." I stopped and looked at the face in front of me and tried not to let out the gasp of surprise I felt when I realized I was face to face with Madison Graston, the woman I had thought I was going to marry, for the first time in a decade.
Chapter 2
Madison
The sign at the office needed a fresh coat of paint, and I was determined to do it myself, so I had walked down the street to McCall's Hardware to see if Charlie could mix up a nice sage green for me. When I turned the corner at the end of the aisle, I hadn't been looking and apparently neither had the man I ran into. His chest was hard and chiseled, something I could attest to as I brought my hands up to shield myself as I bumped into his pectoral muscles with my head. My hair was up in a loose bun, red curls spilling out. It was a work day for me at the office, but I was so busy trying to fix up the outside that I wasn't really focused on seeing clients in the office, and I dressed accordingly—in a pair of paint splattered overalls and an old kelly green t-shirt.
It took a moment for it to register whose face I was looking at. And when I finally realized whose face it was staring back at me, I couldn't look away.
Alex jumped back like he had stood too close to a wood burning stove and was risking burning himself, backing away slightly and then pausing to look at me.
"What the hell are you doing here?"
Taken aback, I held up the can of primer that I would be using to cover the old paint on the sign once I made it back to the office.
"I needed paint," I said without attempting to explain myself any further. In the moment it was too shocking to see him, but it didn't take long for those buried feelings to start bubbling to the surface again. It had been ten years since we last saw each other. Ten years since the biggest fall out of my life. Over half of my life had passed by since the last time I spoke with Alex Killarny, and even though I knew the chance was high that I would run into him once I moved back into town, I hadn't expected it to be within the first twenty-four hours.
"You're back then?"
I nodded simply, and he nodded in return, his eyes never leaving my own. It seemed like a challenge, but what he was challenging me to I couldn't be certain of. All I knew was that I wanted to get out of the hardware store and back down the street to my office before we got any deeper than the ‘Hi, how are you?’ portion of this conversation. McCall's Hardware was not the place to have this talk, not that I was looking forward to the content of the discussion wherever it inevitably occurred, but I preferred that it not happen in the middle of what amounted to the gossip hub of this town. Anything that went down here would be all over town by the time people started heading to Claire's diner for lunch.
"I've...I've got to pay for this. See you around." I whipped around and walked toward the counter. It felt like he might have been following me, or at the very least his gaze was. I had a $10 out of my pocket and on the counter for Charlie before he could take the time to ring up the total.
"I'll be back later for the rest of the things I need," I said as I hurried out the front door, the little bell ringing behind me as I stepped out onto the sidewalk, never pausing to slow down. My office was only a block away. A straight shot from where I stood and I wanted to get back there, to the safety of it, before Alex could appear from the hardware store and chase me down. Not that I thought he had any interest in doing so, but I really had no idea what was on his mind at that moment. Clearly, we were both equally surprised to have run into one another, and I could tell that he was feeling just about as enthused about the encounter as I had been.
What had shocked me the most though were the feelings that came surging back to me, like a jolt to my system. It had been ten years since I stood in front of him and just as long since he had last touched me, and already I could feel the desire for him growing again. There it was like it had only been yesterday when we were last together
I had thought we could manage to avoid each other once I came back. It wasn't likely, but there was a slim chance. Maybe we would only cross paths every once in a while and then our lives could go on like normal without bringing up too much from the past. I had no idea how his life might have changed in the past ten years. Mine certainly had. Through the years I had dated and finished college. The last time we had spoken had been around the time of our high school graduation...we had basically spent our entire time as adults apart from each other.
Even when my best friend Lorna had tried to tell me about what was happening back here in Ashland, I had always steered her away from any discussion about the Killarnys in general and Alex Killarny specifically. She knew that talking about them was far too painful for me. Even hearing about them in passing was more than I wanted and she had learned a long time ago to leave them out of any conversation we were having about things from the past, no matter how pertinent the Killarnys might have been to the discussion. Beyond that though, I hadn’t shared most of what had transpired between Alex and myself all those years ago with my best friend. As far as she was concerned, it was a breakup and nothing more, but still, she had never pressed.
I doubted that Alex was following me because it was quite likely he never wanted to see me again, but I rushed into my office anyway, uncertain if he even knew what I was doing back in town. Surely he would hear that I had taken over Doc Halloran's practice at some point, but word might not have made it out to their ranch yet. He would find out soon though as I noticed from the schedule Doc had left behind for me. I was due to head out to the Killarny Estate in the next week to check their mares. The place was big though, and there was a good chance I wouldn't see Alex at all while I was there.
But it was probably just as great a chance I would have to see him, and now that bandaid had been ripped off, so it was one less thing for me to worry about.
Lorna was in the front office pulling things out of boxes and setting them out on the desk that had been designated as hers. She was there helping me out until I found a full time office manager. Doc's granddaughter had been helping him out over the past few years, and he hadn't ever gotten around to hiring someone full time since his wife had retired from the practice. Now that was going to be up to me, and I would need to put ads in the paper or up around the noticeboards in town soon, but that was one thing on my to do list that I didn’t feel like focusing on at the moment.
Lorna looked up as I entered the office. “Hey…what’s up with you? You look like you’ve seen a ghost. Is everything okay?” She dropped what she was doing, and I could tell from the concerned look on her face that my regular porcelain skin must have gone a full shade whiter—a terrifying thought in itself.
“You might say that. I ran into Alex at the hardware store,” I said as I came around the other side of the counter to where her desk was and put the can of primer down.
“Oh, shit,” she said, bringing her hand up to her mouth. “I guess…well; I guess it’s a good thing it’s over with then. Now you don’t have to wonder when it will happen.”
I shook my head slowly and tried to bring myself back to the prese
nt. There was too much important work ahead for me to get my mind in a tangle over seeing a high school boyfriend. But deep down I knew that it was more than that.
“Do you want to talk about it?” Lorna asked, perceiving my emotions like she always did.
“Not now, maybe later. Right now I’ve got to get this sign primed and painted and outside so that people know who the new vet is.”
The painting was slow work as I stenciled my name on the wood and filled in the lines carefully. I hadn’t done anything like this since I was a child and it felt good to be doing something a little different from the norm. I had never been very artistic, but there were a few videos and photos I had looked at online to give me the inspiration for the sign. Once the letters were done, I would let them dry before putting a protective coating over the top, sealing it from weather damage. I had no idea how long I would be at the practice, but as it was something I had worked toward my entire adult life, my immediate plans were to stay here for the long haul.
Or as long as my father needed me, which might not be very long at all. The thought sent a pang of sadness directly to my heart, and I felt tears start to build behind my eyes. No, I would wait to cry in the shower later that evening, where no one could hear me.
The doctor had told my father his heart was bad a few years before and that he would have to do what he could then if he wanted to give himself a better chance at living. The particular kind of heart failure he was experiencing wasn’t reversible, but it could be slowed down for a time, and it had been for some years. But his latest report wasn’t good, and the doctor had essentially told him there would be another heart attack. Maybe big or maybe little, but eventually another big one would come, and that would be it. The small heart attacks had done so much damage that there really wasn’t anything left to do.
The Billionaire and the Bartender: Aidan's story (The Billionaires Book 2) Page 10