5. Chapter 5

Chapter five

"Greer Calaway, you watch what you say."

A fter listening to the women chat about his future for several minutes, Gage pushed away from the desk.

"It seems I'm not really needed for this. I'm going to go to the horse auction."

Clementine got up and hugged him. "We've got this."

"That's what I'm afraid of." He stepped away from her. "I still haven't agreed to do it."

She patted his chest. "Take some time to think about it. We'll talk later."

Gage gave Sydney a nod, then left Clementine's office. Maya looked up from the counter.

"How's it going in there?"

He shook his head. "I opened a can of worms, and I'm not sure I can put them all back in."

"Do you want to put them in?"

"Oh, yeah." He gave her a wave and left the station. It was a nightmare. His sister and his assistant were in there planning his future. He needed to put a stop to it. Gage Calaway as mayor? What a horrible idea.

He walked back to the newspaper office and went inside to get his camera bag. Then he got into his truck and drove to the fairgrounds. The auction was held inside the huge indoor arena and the horses being put up for sale were usually young stock horses ready to be trained as cow ponies.

He slung his camera bag over his shoulder and went inside. The auction was a loud, dusty event with a lot of participation. Only about half of the crowd were buyers and sellers. The rest were there to watch and hang out with other ranchers, which made it more of a social event than an auction.

Gage started working his way around the edge of the arena, taking pictures as he went. He got a few of the horses, but he was more interested in the people. And some of the old cowboys in the valley were perfect subjects for his theme this year.

When he spotted his grandparents, he made his way over to them. Before they saw him, he snapped a few photos of them watching the horse being shown. As he got close, Lillian noticed him.

"Gage." She waved him over.

Gage kissed her on the cheek and shook Greer's hand. "I thought you were sick."

Greer grumbled. "Never too sick to watch the auction."

"Are you looking to buy something?"

Greer scowled. "What the hell would I do with a horse, Grandson? Your grandmother made me stop riding ten years ago."

Lillian put her arm through Greer's. "Only after you fell off and broke your arm. Took you the better part of a year to get over it."

Greer grumbled. "I didn't fall. I was bucked off."

Lillian looked at Gage. "Like that's better."

He smiled. "If you're a cowboy, it's better." He sat next to Greer. "If you were in the market for a horse, which one would you buy?"

"She's already come up. Tommy Crane got her. A beautiful two-year-old paint."

"Do you think Tommy knows what he got?"

"Hell, yeah. He looked right at me when the gavel went down. Gave me a giant invisible F.U."

Lillian hissed. "Greer Calaway, you watch what you say."

He shook his head. "I didn't say it."

"The intent is the same." She looked at Gage. "He gets like this when he's around all these old cowboys. Most of them should have their mouths washed out with soap on a regular basis."

Gage grinned. "And that's why we young Calaways, mind our manners around you, Grandma." He sat for a few more minutes, then got to his feet. "I need to get some more pictures." He looked at Greer. "You behave, Grandpa."

Greer smiled. "I never was very good at behaving. And don't let your grandmother fool you. She's been known to misbehave from time to time."

"All right, you two. Both of you stay out of trouble."

Gage spent another two hours at the auction, in which time he talked with Cabe and Cooper, who were just there to socialize. And Lincoln and Rand, who were there to buy if the right horse came up. The one horse they wanted, they got outbid on, so they gave up and went to sit with Greer and Lillian to make sure they got home okay.

Gage had a beer with his brothers and fought the urge to tell them about the mayor situation. He'd already told two people too many. When he left them, he talked to some of the sellers, took a few more photos, then started working his way to the door. He was stopped several times for conversations before he made it. Once outside, he took a deep breath of the cold air. It had been stuffy inside the arena. And along with the dust and noise, he felt a headache coming on. He wanted to go back to the office, but he decided to stop at the ice cream social first to see how Sydney was doing. Assuming she was able to tear herself away from Clementine.

The social was held at one of the churches in town and was quite a contrast to the auction. It was mostly attended by women and children. Probably because their men were at the auction. He went inside and found Lyric with her two boys, Elaina with Joaquin, and Cassie with Rose. He went to their table.

"Is that ice cream as good as it looks?"

Rose jumped up and hugged him. "Come have some with us."

"Where's your dad?"

"He's at the clinic. Mr. Walters got his head smashed in by a horse."

Gage frowned and looked at Cassie for verification.

She shook her head. "Nothing that dramatic. Little bump. Slight concussion. But Corbyn didn't want Rose to miss out on the ice cream."

He looked at the boys. "And all the future Calaway men." He nodded at Elaina. "Even the unborn one."

She smiled. "Can you sit and have some ice cream?"

Rose sat in her chair and held up her half-eaten bowl of chocolate chip ice cream. "You can have some of mine."

"Hmm. I think I'll get my own. I'll be right back." He went to the counter where three ladies were serving a variety of ice cream flavors. He looked them all over, then smiled at the woman who wanted to serve him.

"What can I get you, Gage?" Mrs. Nalley had taught high school math for many years and had all of the Calaway siblings in her class.

"I think vanilla will do it."

She looked at him. "Vanilla? You need to live a little."

"Not dangerous enough for you? You can put some chocolate syrup on it if you want."

She smiled. "That's better." She put two scoops of ice cream in a paper bowl, then added chocolate syrup. "Here you go, dear. You're not here alone, are you?"

"No. Two sisters-in-law, three nephews, a niece, and Cassie are all here."

"Good. You can't really go to a function without finding at least a few Calaways."

Gage took the ice cream and put some money in the donation jar. "Take care, Mrs. Nalley." He returned to the table and sat down. "I can't begin to eat all of this."

Lyric smiled. "I'm sure you'll get some volunteers to help you with it."

When Sydney spotted him, she came to the table. "Wow. That looks good."

"The chocolate was forced on me."

"Hmm. Mrs. Nalley twisted your arm, huh?"

"Pretty much. Yeah. How's it going here?"

"Good. I think I got some really good shots."

"Great. Thanks."

She nodded. "I'll get back to it."

"I'll see you tonight."

As he watched Sydney walk away, Cassie nudged him. "When are you going to ask that woman out?"

He looked at her. "Sydney? Never."

"And why not?"

"Because she works for me. And puts up with me for eight hours a day. It'd just be cruel of me to ask her to deal with me after work, too."

Elaina smiled. "I'm pretty sure she wouldn't mind too much."

Gage shook his head. "We're colleagues. That's all."

"Mm hm."

Cassie laughed. "For someone who takes such beautiful photographs, you sure are blind."

Gage looked at the kids. "Can we change the subject, please? Who's going to watch the bands tonight?"

Lyric and Cassie both raised their hands.

He looked at Rose. "How about you?"

She shrugged. "I don't know. If Dad's free, maybe."

"If your dad has to work. You can come hang out with me if you want. You can be my assistant."

"Really?"

"Yeah."

"Cool! I want to do that even if Dad isn't busy."

"I'll talk to my brother and set it up."

"Yay!"

Gage ate about half of his ice cream. Then Lyric split what was left between the kids. He looked around the table. "I'm going to go catch a nap before tonight. I didn't get much sleep last night." He got to his feet. "I'll see most of you a little later."

He checked in with Sydney one more time, then left the church and drove to the office. There was really no sense in going all the way home. His couch would do just fine for a quick nap.

He went into his office and sat on the couch, then removed his boots. He smiled at his socks. Aside from his family, Sydney was the one person who knew about some of his more obvious quirks. Now she knew about his socks. And everyone seemed to think she wanted to spend more time with him. He'd never do that to her. He liked her too much.

He laid down and removed the blanket from the back of the couch. As he covered himself and tried to relax and clear his mind, there was one thing he couldn't quite shake. He did like Sydney. He rubbed his face. "Nope. Don't go there." And don't think about her before you go to sleep. You'll probably have another one of those dreams. And that didn't work out so well the last time. He closed his eyes and blew out a breath. Horses. Cows. The battle of the bands. Ice cream…Sydney.

"Dammit."