Chapter 5

“Hey, Wiley! You finish up with that mare yet?” I shout from across the yard, my eyes on the wrangler currently strolling out of the barn.

“Yeah. She’s all ready. I expect she’ll give birth any day now. You need something?” Wiley tugs his gloves off and shoves them in his back pocket as he walks up to me.

“Sure do. How much work you still got?”

Wiley scoffs. “So much, I’ll never finish in time for winter. Why?”

I sigh. I’ve known this day was coming. The three of us, Wiley, Levi, and I have managed to keep this ranch going for a decade now despite the bad lot we’d been left with. We have a fair amount of people who work on the ranch with us, but it’s not enough. There’s too much to be done. We’ve grown too fast, and without extra help, we’re never going to get things ready in time for the cattle drive, nor will we be prepared for winter. We’re gonna need help.

“Shit,” I grumble. “I hate to say it, but?—”

“We need more help,” Wiley finishes, nodding. “Yeah. I think the same thing. Or else we’ll never get the prep done in time. I’ve got a mile long waitlist for foals and Levi mentioned that there are at least triple the heifers ready to calve this year. We’re gonna be screwed in a few weeks.”

The weight falls on my shoulders. Always. While Levi and Wiley are my business partners and best friends, this place bears my surname. It’s been in my family for too many generations to count, long before cowboys were something to joke about. The cowboys of generations past slept beneath the stars and ran cattle drives for miles. Nowadays, we don’t have to sleep outside if we don’t want to and we certainly don’t have to be gone for long. But none of that means I still don’t have to make hard decisions. Hiring more workers means more mouths to feed, more people to take care of, but if we don’t, we may very well run this place into the ground like my dad nearly did.

“You think there’s some kids looking for after school and summer work?” I ask, glancing at Wiley.

I don’t mingle with the kids in town too often, but Wiley likes doing talks for career days. He likely knows plenty of kids who need some spare change.

“Of course, but we’re gonna need more than that,” Wiley comments with a shake of his head. “We’ve got the empty cabin. We can hire at least one, maybe two live-in helpers, someone full-time that can alternate giving us a hand. The kids are great for menial work, but we need some more hands on deck. You’ve done the books?”

I nod. “We can afford it thanks to your horse venture, but we gotta make sure the jobs are getting done. If not, we’ll be in trouble for the drive.”

Wiley raises his brow. “So, what do you need me for then if you’ve already made the decision?”

Wincing, I clap him on the back. “Make up some flyers for me? You know I hate crap like that. And take ‘em into town to post around. We should get a few bites. Hopefully.”

Wiley sighs. “Fine. But you get to tell Levi I can’t help him with the south fence posts.”

“I’ll go help him. You just figure that all out and I’ll see you back for dinner.”

I watch him leave, the weight of the ranch on my shoulders feeling heavier than usual. We’re so close to fixing everything my dad ruined, and at the same time, we’re so close to losing everything. It’s taken a decade to get this far, but it hasn’t come easy. There’s never no work to be done on a ranch. Our jobs don’t end with sundown, and it starts well before the sun comes up. But at least with Wiley and Levi on my side, we can make it happen. We’ve done it so far, and now Steele Mountain Ranch is booming.

Now we just gotta keep that good luck coming.