On the ground, sitting close to his right boot, Hula roused herself, pricking her envelope-flap ears. The dog’s nose was like an arrow, and Jack’s glance followed her direction. It was a moment before he heard footsteps, another before Mike rounded the corner of the barn. He looked tired, and he was clearly trying hard to hide some new pain that had him gimping lately.
He gave Hula a leathery hand to sniff, patted her head, hitched up jeans that were already riding too high, looked up at the roof and folded his arms over his withering chest. “I’m gonna get to that this spring for sure.”
“After we finish calving.” Jack followed Mike’s lead, and the two men stood side by side, arms folded, eyeing the barn roof.
“Absolutely. I’ll have plenty of time then. Before it gets too hot. I’m countin’ on you to help me with calving.”
“You’ve got me. First on my list. Whenever things get slow here, I’ve got Jensen and Corey on there, too, but you know you come first.”
“You ever thought about taking on a partner?”
“You lookin’ for work?” Jack grinned as he adjusted the brim of his hat against the sun. “If I ever thought about it, which I haven’t, I don’t know too many other men I’d take on.”
“How about women?” Mike slid him a straight-faced glance. “Just kidding.”
“You got one in mind?”
“If you ever decided to expand, you’d want to go equal opportunity.” Mike was back to studying the roof. He lifted a shoulder. “A woman can cowboy as good as a man.”
“She’s trained for teaching. That’s about as good as it gets, I’d say. Lots of schools out here have trouble hangin’ on to good teachers. But cowboy like a man?” Jack shook his head. “I don’t think so.”
“I didn’t say like. I said just as good. Tell you what, Jack, my girl can ride.”
“When was the last time you said that to her?”
“I don’t know. Maybe never.” Mike slid one hand down the side of his left thigh and rubbed. “She didn’t need to be told. She knew what she could do, and she did it.”
“What’s going on with your leg?”
“It’s gettin’ old, just like the rest of me.”
Jack adjusted his hat again. “Did you skip your checkup again?”
“No. I did not. And if I needed a secretary I wouldn’t hire a cowboy.”
“So you finally kept an appointment.”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah, I got it done.”
“And?”
“They tell me I’m gettin’ old.” Mike turned, hands on his nonexistent hips, a scowl on his leathery face. “Patch, patch, patch. You just wait, boy. It ain’t pretty.”
“Trying to imagine you looking pretty,” Jack said after a moment’s study.
“I never turned female heads the way you do, but I did all right. Lily’s mother was a real beauty. You can tell, can’t you, just lookin’ at my two girls?”
“Sure can. Just so I don’t put my foot in it, did you ever tell Lily about your surgery?”
“Hell, no. The docs took care of it. Chopped that sucker out, sewed me up, good to go.” Mike gave a flat-handed wipe-away gesture, folded his arms and turned away again. “So now you’ve got your answers. Yes, I saw the doctor, and no, I don’t talk to nobody but her about my innards. If you hadn’t hung around the hospital that time like you were waitin’ for spare parts, I wouldn’t be havin’ this conversation with you, neither.”
“Her?” Jack grinned. “I never met your doctor. Man, you are equal opportunity.”
“She’s gentle. The one who took the knife to my lung was a man. I told him, leave no stone unturned, take no prisoners, just kill the bastard. And he did. And I don’t plan on ever seein’ that man again.” His thin lips stretched into a wistful smile, momentarily erasing the creases around his mouth. “My regular doctor’s a woman. Early forties, nice voice, good hands, laughs easy.”
“Surprised you’d ever put off going to see her.”
“You maybe haven’t noticed, but my charm is limited. I gotta save it up.” Mike grinned, raising his eyebrows. “I know what I’m doin’.”
“Knowing and doing are two different things.” Jack lifted his gaze. “I could finish this roof in a day if I knew how you wanted it done.”
“Take you three days at least. We could do it together in a day.”
“All right. Order up the materials.” Jack looked down at his boss. “Today, Mike. Those calves start dropping, we need a dry barn.”
“If I didn’t know better, I’d say you were trying to make work for yourself.”
“And if you said it I’d take offense, so it’s a good thing you know better.” Jack tapped Mike’s shoulder with the back of his hand. “Have we got a plan? ’Cause I’ve got things to do.”
“You’re not on my clock today.”
“What clock? I didn’t say I had work to do. I said things.”
“Messin’ with horses?”
“Messin’ with your daughter.” He allowed a two-count hush. “And horses.”
Jack grinned, and Mike gave him a watch-it-kid look, which was just what Jack was aiming for. He wasn’t messing with anybody except Mike, who needed a little poking every so often. He was the kind of guy who thrived when push came to shove, and Jack wanted him to thrive. Wanted him to keep on shoving until it was time to shove off. If Mike felt better keeping people in the dark, so be it. Jack had eyes like a cat.
“So you’re taking Lily for a ride?”
“Might be the other way around. She asked me.”
“Did she, now.”
“Asked what kind of horses you’re keeping around these days. Did I know of any she could start Iris on? Did I have time to take a ride with her and show her where the rest of the horses are?” He chuckled. “Shouldn’t’ve said that in front of Iris. They were heading out to get her enrolled in school, and the girl was already looking to put it off. Her mom was having none of that, so off they went.”
“Did Lily ask about her mare?”
Jack frowned.
“Pretty little palomino.” Mike glanced away, guiltylike. “I sold her. Lily left, and I just closed all the doors.”
“Water under the bridge, Mike. You can always get her another horse.”
“Not like that one. Lily raised her, trained her, showed her.”
“She can do that again.”
“They won’t be here that long. She’ll get things straightened around real quick. That’s the way she is. No grass growing under that girl’s feet.” Mike stepped back. The plan for the roof had been made. He gazed off in the direction of his pastures. “You’d better get a move on, check those cows.”
“Did that first thing. Nothin’ yet. Thought I’d head over to the Corey place. Calves are startin’ to drop over there.”
“I