“That’s great. I’m glad you found your passion, Landon,” Wyatt said, smiling at his cousin.
“And I’m glad for the summer help,” Poppy said as she joined the table. “Do you want your usual?” she asked Wyatt.
“You know me. I like what I like.”
“You’re boring,” Cassidy teased. Normally it wouldn’t bother him, but in a few short hours he’d been called an old man and boring. Was he really?
“What can I get you, hon?” Poppy asked.
“I’m craving fish and chips,” Camila responded.
“We don’t have the kind you’re used to, but I know just the thing for ya. Welcome to Keeneston. Let me know if you need anything else.”
Wyatt watched her walk to the window that divided the kitchen from the seating and talk to her sister, Zinnia. She nodded and then turned back to the patrons. “Y’all, this is Camila Callahan. She’s a trainer at Wyatt’s farm. Nothing else.” The remaining patrons of the café groaned and went back to eating while Camila looked completely confused.
“We might gamble a wee bit,” Cassidy said, instantly picking up on Camila’s accent.
Camila grinned. “You’re good. And gamble on what?”
“Your love life. Be prepared,” Jace laughed.
“Or lack thereof,” Landon said with a sigh. “Do you know the Rose sisters asked me if I thought one of the male firefighters was sexy? I think I’ve gone so long without a date that they’re hedging their bets.”
Wyatt tried not to laugh and had to purse his lips until it hit him he wasn’t too far from that status either. It had been over a year since he’d had a relationship of any kind. And that one only lasted a month. He’d just been too busy to fit in dating.
“I know this great English trainer if you decide to switch teams. I mean, you’re a catch for a man or a woman. You’re handsome and most importantly you cook. If you do laundry, I’ll marry you myself,” Camila said as she picked up the glass of tea Poppy put down. Poppy snorted and hurried away. Cassidy just laughed out loud.
Jace shook his head. “Well, we know you’ll fit in just fine. I’m exhausted. I’ll see y’all later.”
Wyatt took Jace’s seat and the four of them fell into easy conversation. In the back of his mind it nagged at him that Camila might want to flirt with one of his cousins, but he shoved it aside. It wasn’t as if he could tell her what to do in her personal life. Especially when his was such a disaster.
Wyatt stuffed the last of his medical supplies into his bag. He’d been up for hours, and it was only six-thirty. His first client at the veterinary clinic was scheduled in an hour. Today would be a long day, but it was all surgery at the clinic. He wouldn’t be driving around Keeneston and Lexington to attend to animals at the farms.
This morning had gone well. Camila hadn’t been too jet lagged and had asked wonderful questions about the farm and the day-to-day running of it. It was clear that while she hadn’t officially done the job before, she was an expert. After their meeting, he felt confident in her ability not only to get the job done, but to do it well.
Wyatt was about to leave his home office when the doorbell rang. This time of day it was usually Bud with a question. Hopefully, it wasn’t Camila. They’d just finished up. Surely she didn’t require handholding? So it was a surprise when he opened the door and found his grandfather, Jake Davies, standing in jeans that were probably older than Wyatt and leaning on his cane.
Grandpa and Grandma Davies owned the farm directly behind Wyatt Farm. Marshall, Wyatt’s dad, occasionally helped out at the Davies family farm now that he had retired from being sheriff. “Grandpa, I didn’t expect to see you here. What’s going on?”
Wyatt held open the door for his grandfather as he slowly made his way inside. “Let’s go to your great-grandfather’s study. We have business to discuss.”
Wyatt knew better than to remind Grandpa Jake that it was his office now. His grandparents had been great friends with Great-Grandpa Beauford and Great-Grandma Ruth. They’d all been so happy when Marshall Davies asked Katelyn Wyatt Jacks to marry him. It joined together families that had been friends for generations. From what Wyatt had heard growing up, Beauford had been a mentor to Jake and Marcy when they’d taken over the Davies farm.
Wyatt waited for his grandfather to take a seat and then leaned on the edge of his desk. He crossed one ankle over the other and smiled at Jake. If Wyatt was late, he was late. He would postpone anything for his grandfather. “What business do you need to talk about? Do you have a cow for me to look at?”
“No. This is actually business between Beauford and me. Since all my sons are retired, they’ve deemed it necessary to help me with the farm. Not that I don’t appreciate the help. I’m too old to be farming. But your father goofed and ordered way too much seed. He’s been a sheriff for too long and forgot how to be a farmer.”
Wyatt was confused. “What does this have to do with my great-grandfather?”
“When I was younger and could plant my whole farm and then some, Beauford and I made an arrangement. The back two hundred acres of Wyatt Farm are never farmed and rarely used.”
Wyatt nodded. He had hay ready to be cut there now.
“Well, Beauford and I made an arrangement that I could use that land anytime I wanted in exchange for a percentage of the fall harvest. I’m here to call in that deal. I need to get that seed in the ground now so we can harvest it in September.”
“Is there an agreement I can see?” Wyatt asked, trying to figure out what land his grandpa needed and what the full terms of the deal were.
“Of course not,” Jake said, offended. “We stood right here in this office and shook hands on it. I’ve used that land dozens of times. I haven’t wanted to bother with it recently as I was trying to cut back, but then your dad . . .” His grandpa shook his head. “God love him.”
Wyatt wanted to roll his eyes. His grandfather and great-grandfather had both talked about the importance of handshake deals and to always live up to them. “I have a couple minutes before I have to be at work. Let’s drive out there and you show me the land you need, and I’ll have Bud get to work on clearing it.” In his spare time that he doesn’t have, Wyatt thought.
“We can clear it. We’ll take five percent of it in return. I have some use for it, and I can have it cleared in no time.”
“Deal.” Wyatt stood up and waited for his grandfather to lead the way. After twenty minutes, he had red ties on the posts indicating the land to be farmed and was heading to work.
He pulled into the vet clinic and saw his mother was already at work in the small animal clinic across the parking lot from his large animal clinic. Something was nagging at him and he wanted to make sure his suspicions were unfounded.
Wyatt went into the back of the small animal clinic and found his mom standing at the computer. A row of doors leading to patient rooms was either open or closed, depending on whether patients were inside. His mom still had her model looks, they’d just softened over the years. Her long blonde hair was pulled into a ponytail and she was dressed in the same scrubs as he was with the name of the vet clinic embroidered on the left chest pocket.
“Hey, Mom.”
His mom looked up and smiled. “Wyatt. How are you?”
“Grandpa Jake stopped by to talk to me this morning.”
She rolled her eyes and sighed. “Is he still in a tizzy about the extra seed?”
So there really was seed. Wyatt thought his grandfather might have made it all up. He told his mom about the meeting and then asked, “Did you know about this arrangement with Great-grandpa?”
His mom shook her head. “No, but it doesn’t surprise me. They were very close and often helped each other out. And frankly, if it gets him to stop ripping on your father, I’m all for it.”
“I guess. It was just strange.”
“If you want to see strange, you should see your father and his brothers trying to play farmer again. Pierce thinks he should be in charge, which
he should be since he’s the actual, you know, farmer. Cy thinks they should raise horses and cattle and not grow anything. Your father thinks he knows it all but forgot he hasn’t really farmed for years. Miles thinks because he’s oldest that he should make all the decisions. Cade— well—Cade is pretty laid back. Somehow starting a military and police training center is easy for the brothers, but deciding on what to plant and how much to order requires nothing short of a UN resolution or divine intervention.”
“Then I’m glad I could help. I’m in surgery all day. I’ll see you for family dinner at Grandma’s on Sunday?”
“We’ll be there hoping by then a peace accord will have been reached with your dad and his brothers over the planting. Oh, and bring that pretty new trainer of yours.”
“And how do you know she’s pretty?”
“I didn’t until you failed to correct me,” Katelyn said with a smirk. “You still have a lot to learn, little grasshopper.”
Wyatt shook his head at his mom as he chuckled. “Sunday is her day off. And while she might be pretty, she’s my employee. An employee I desperately need. So I’m sure as a cat having climbing gear, I’m not going to muck it up.”
“Family dinner won’t.” His mother paused and looked up as if she were looking into her memories. “Okay, point taken. See you Sunday. Don’t work too hard. You look tired.”
“Yes, Mom.” Wyatt kissed her cheek and headed for his clinic.
5
Camila felt her muscles aching and she didn’t care. It felt glorious as she raced Gent across the field. She and Bud were going to get the practice track back into working condition as soon as he finished ordering some farm supplies.
Her stomach rumbled as she slowed Gent to a walk. She’d met with Wyatt that morning and didn’t eat breakfast. Not that he had much food in the house. She needed to get to the store. She might be small, but she worked hard all day and flew through food. Ironic, since she didn’t cook. But she’d forgotten to ask and Wyatt had forgotten to give her the car he’d promised her the night before.
Camila closed her eyes and dropped her head back. The warmth of the early morning sun warmed her face. A breeze sent her ponytail dancing. She took a deep breath and smelled the grass, the horses, and the countryside. She had done it. She was in charge of her life. An image of her and Wyatt kissing flashed into her mind. His arms were wrapped around her back pressing her body to his as she laced her hands behind his neck and kissed him for all she was worth.
Camila’s eyes popped open. No. This was her chance to prove she was a professional horse trainer. No matter how attractive she found her boss, she couldn’t cross that line. She had to be one of the guys. Taking a deep breath to dispel the vision, Camila reached down and patted Gent’s neck. “Come on, boy. One more gallop and then I have to get to work.”
* * *
“I got everything ordered.”
Camila turned her head as she was taking the saddle off Gent. Bud talked with a thick southern accent. It had taken a little bit to get used to it when they’d first met. “Thank you. I want to get the practice track into shape. I can help with that if you’d like.”
He hooked his thumbs into the straps of his white tank top with Straight up Redneck written across it with a picture of what she presumed was a redneck doing a shot of bourbon on it. “I’d been fixin’ to do that now that Gent’s older. But I have a stack of business-like stuff that you’d be better at handlin’ than me. Which would you rather do? You’re the boss after all.”
She was the boss. Well, his boss at least. “Show me the business I need to handle and once that’s done I can help with the track.”
“Solid plan, boss lady.”
Camila had been worried that Bud might feel hostile having a new boss but he’d rolled with the punches and seemed grateful for the help. The next five hours were spent haggling over the price of feed, which she got for a reduced cost thanks to the negotiating skills she’d learned from her mother. Then she put three breedings on the books with one of the farm’s best stallions that was shockingly underutilized because of a lack of advertising. Camila also booked the breedings at a higher price than what was in the files once she looked over the stallion’s pedigree. When she went through the books, she realized none of the stud fees were up to date. So, she’d fixed those. Then she started a website and social media accounts for the farm. She highlighted the stallions and mares and the farm history. She left off Ruth’s Gentleman as she wanted Wyatt’s permission to post about him. Some trainers were like boxers who loved the hype. Others were like secret agents or poker players, making sure no information got out about their horse.
Finally, she was able to head to the track on one of utility carts the previous landscapers had used. Bud was riding on the tractor, grading out the dirt that had been raked. Clumps of small weeds and grass were piled high off the first turn. Bud had a tractor off to the side for her, and she didn’t wait for him to tell her what to do. This wasn’t the first track she’d helped clean up.
Camila started up the big tractor and smiled as she saw this one had a radio. She cranked the volume up and went to work. By the time the sun set, they had a practice track.
Camila followed Bud to the nearby barn where the tractors were stored and pulled in behind him. He pulled off his UK hat and wiped his forehead. His face was covered in red clay dirt as she was sure hers was, too.
“UK,” Camila said with a grin. “I didn’t know you’d been there. Did you like England, Scotland, or Wales better?”
“Uh?” Bud asked looking down at his hat.
“The UK. Which part did you like the best?”
“Football durin’ the fall and basketball durin’ the winter.”
Camila blinked. Basketball wasn’t a sport she normally heard of in the UK. Football was much more popular. “Who’s your favorite football team?”
Bud looked at her as if she were speaking another language. “UK.”
“Yes, but which UK football team?”
“Boss lady, there’s only one UK football team.”
“All Manchester United fans say that. What about Chelsea, Liverpool, or Arsenal? And of course, Celtic!”
“If I point out a mistake, are you going to fire me?” Bud asked.
“Of course not. I’m used to heated discussions over UK football.” Camila was ready for it. She had an argument for her favorite team ready to go.
“I think we’re talkin’ about two different UKs. Here UK means University of Kentucky and football means football. Not soccer,” Bud said with a slight cringe as if professional soccer wasn’t a major deal in Kentucky. People got into pub fights over football where she was from.
“Univ . . . oh. I understand now. American football. Don’t you have any professional soccer teams?”
“Uh . . . maybe?”
“How can you not like soccer? It’s the best sport in the world,” Camila said as the familiar pub argument feeling kicked in.
“I might be slow of mouth but not slow of mind. I know better than to get into this with my boss. I will say, though, it was a pleasure working with you today.” Bud smiled and his white teeth stood out from his dirt-covered face.
Camila laughed and knew she and Bud already were a good team. “Me too, Bud. I have a whole plan for the next couple months we can go over in the morning.”
Bud placed his UK hat back on and tipped it at her. “Sounds good. Goodnight, boss lady.”
* * *
Camila made her way back home using the cart and showered. The water ran brownish red as she washed the dirt from her body. She had to admit, while it was hard not to think of Wyatt while staying with him, living in this beautiful old house was so much better than some of the small, barely furnished houses her father had been given as he climbed the racing ladder.
Camila got out of the shower, dressed, and headed to the kitchen. She hadn’t eaten all day, and she was pretty sure she could put away an entire cow at that moment. She opened the refrigera
tor and found beer, orange juice, and chip dip. Well, that wasn’t much to work with. In the cabinets, she found power bars and a mostly empty bag of chips. Power bar it was.
Camila was trying to decide between something that did not look like “Cookies and Cream” and another one she doubted “Really tastes like chocolate!” when the back door opened and Wyatt walked in.
“Evening,” he said as he closed the door. “How was your day?”
“Good,” Camila said with excitement as she proceeded to tell him everything she’d done that day. Wyatt pulled out his phone and his eyebrows lifted as he checked out the website and social media accounts.
“These are great. If we can increase our stud services, I might be able to afford to enter the races in the fall.” Camila felt her chest puff out with pride. She had so many ideas she wanted to run with.
“I have more ideas,” she told him.
“Then run with them. And I agree with you—let’s keep Ruth’s Gentleman quiet for now. I want to see what he’ll really do before I say anything. If I say anything at all.”
Wyatt was about to walk away when she stopped him. “Um, your kitchen is a little sparse. You mentioned having a car I could borrow. I’d like to go to the store or run to the café for dinner.”
She felt horrible for saying anything as Wyatt’s face fell. He was incredibly masculine, but with the sharp angles of his face, you could also call him beautiful. “I am so sorry. I forgot all about it this morning. Come with me.”
Wyatt turned to the nearest drawer and opened it. He pulled out a large key ring with a needlepoint-on-leather keychain and handed it to her. “These are keys to the house, the barns, storage, and the car. The garage is right this way.”
“This keychain is beautiful,” she said more to herself as she ran a finger over the image of a single red horse, racing its way across a finish line with a small jockey on it. Wyatt was talking about the keychain as he opened the side door to the nearby garage but Camila was lifting the keychain closer. The jockey—it was a she—not a he. And the small tail of hair coming out from under the helmet was the same red as the horse. The same red as her own hair and the same red as Gent’s coat.
Forever Ventured Page 4