Chapter 22

Chapter Twenty-Two

H enry and Levi walked over to roll call by six-thirty the following morning. They clearly weren’t the only ones nervous and early. At least half the cowboys that lived and worked at Lone Star had already arrived. They stood around in clumps of two or three, most of them not talking, but every once in a while, one of them would say something and the others would nod or agree. Then silence would descend again.

Flint had built a proper stand for Trevor that didn’t have steps, but instead, a ramp. The man could get up that far easier, and he had something to hold onto the whole way.

“This is terrible,” Levi muttered, just as he had last night at dinner. Henry had gone to see Angel last night, but he’d made a promise to himself with every step of the fifteen-minute walk that he would not ask her for any of the names of the men in new positions. He didn’t want to know if he’d gotten one. He didn’t want to know if Levi did. Well, he did, but he didn’t want to ask her, and he hadn’t.

Six-forty came and then six-forty-four, and finally six-forty-five arrived. Trevor moved awkwardly up the ramp to start roll call, his helpers right there next to him and Justin at his side as well. The current foreman of the ranch stayed on the ground and folded his arms, making his biceps and shoulders look beefier than they already were.

He was an excellent horseman with a decade of age and experience on Henry. He was the barn manager at Lone Star, and Henry reported to him about his horses, but he’d never really worked with the man outside of that capacity. Bard and Angel obviously trusted him, and because they did, Henry did too.

Trevor started the day by saying, “Thanks for showing up on time. We know a lot of you are real nervous about today’s announcements, and we’re not going to prolong things and make them harder for you. Angel is just finishing up a few things in her office, and then she’ll be right out. I’ve asked Justin to give you a little insight into how this process went and some behind-the-scenes knowledge of the decisions that were made.” He looked down to Justin, who finally put a smile on his face.

“It’s a great Friday morning, men,” he called, and he clapped his hands once. Everybody clapped back at him, including Henry, and plenty of feet shifted left and right. Henry could barely swallow. His nerves assaulted him, and he wasn’t even sure why. He’d felt like his interview had gone well. He told Angel he was going to come back for another year, and she said she’d prepare his contract, that they’d be glad to have him.

He’d celebrated with his family on the group text string they shared, and he expected his momma to have a little gift for him when he went home for John’s graduation next weekend.

“All y’all have been here for at least a year,” Justin said. “Some of us a lot longer. If you know Angel White at all, you know that she pours everything she has into this place, into this job, into your lives, into her family’s life, into the land, into the horses. The only reason she’s announcing the jobs today is because I made her. Otherwise, she’d have endured three more sleepless nights before she finally did it on Monday. No matter what you hear, you’re valued here. Every one of you.” He paused and surveyed the crowd, the emotion streaming plainly across his face.

“You all have skills to contribute, even if you’re just now coming up on your year mark, even if you haven’t graduated yet, even if you don’t get promoted. Everybody here has value because you’re here , and just getting here means you’re in the top echelon of horsemen and farriers in the world. Don’t forget that.”

Trevor started to move down the ramp, where he hugged Angel when he reached the ground. She held at least a dozen folders in various colors in her hands, and Henry could only stare at her as she went up the ramp to the small platform. She reached over the railing and handed all the folders to Justin, and she swallowed as she looked out across the others standing outside stable one.

She wore her usual blue jeans, steel-toed boots, and her tank top this morning bore the color of bright, ripe apricots. Her wig sat clipped perfectly in place, and Henry swore the sunlight glinted off her glossed lips. His heart beat faster because she was so pretty and so perfect, and he wanted to be the one for her.

He also really wanted a new position at Lone Star. He hadn’t been able to admit it to himself until that moment. But as Angel cleared her throat and said, “Justin’s right, you know,” Henry could admit that he didn’t want to be a team lead anymore.

The next logical step for him would be captain. He had no grand aspirations of skipping that position and going to foreman. Though he supposed he could be a welcome greeter or, if one of their master farriers got moved into a higher position, he could become one of those. His mind whispered to him that he was not a master farrier yet, and in fact, not even a licensed farrier for six more weeks.

Even if Bard liked him, even if his work was exceptional, the best Henry could hope for was captain, and hope for it he did.

Angel could make speeches if she had to. Henry had heard her do it before. But today she let the country stillness drape over all of them for several long seconds. Then she said, “I really value all of you here at Lone Star. I appreciate your time in coming to interview with me, your honesty, your integrity. And just each one of you for who you are. I’m not going to make you suffer any longer. Anyone who gets a folder today is going to be asked to stay after this meeting, which is why we started a few minutes early. We’ll still be done at seven-thirty, and everyone will be moved on to their daily jobs by then. Remember that none of these positions begin until June first, including any increase in wage, the title that you might have after your name, and your duties between now and then. Justin and I will meet with each of you, and we expect you to meet with your new teams.”

She swiveled her head left and right, her eagle eyes missing nothing as a murmur rose through the men. “That’s right,” she said. “Every single person will be on a new team. From today forward, your team leads and your captains and your foreman—your new foremen —will reach out to you and let you know that you’re on their team. And those of you who get leadership positions today, that needs to be done by noon. So you’ll have an extra job. And hopefully, we’re going to give you an extra fifteen or twenty minutes this morning to do it.”

She cleared her throat again and held out her hand. Justin put the only green folder in it.

“Without further ado,” she said. “Most of you won’t know your new position. But a couple of you do. Our higher-ups already know because today for them is going to be busier than usual.” She opened the green folder and said, “So everyone welcome your new foreman on the farrier side.” She looked up, her blue eyes blazing and her smile filling the whole sky with warmth and sunshine. “Shad Roundy.”

Applause burst out, and Henry added his clapping to it, trying to get some of the nervous energy out of his system through his hands.

“Shad’s gonna be great!” he yelled to Levi standing next to him. “What a great choice.” Levi’s smile rivaled Angel’s as he clapped and then whooped and hollered with everybody else.

Shad’s face bore a bit of ruddy color as he went forward and took the folder from Angel, accepted a handshake and a half-hug from Justin, and faded to the side to stand with Trevor.

Justin passed Angel the only yellow folder, and everyone instantly silenced. “With Shad moving into a foreman position,” she said. “That leaves a hole in our full-time master farrier trio.” She paused, looked at the closed folder, then continued with, “I’m pleased to say that Shad’s position is going to Levi Johnson.” She looked right at Henry—really, she looked right at Levi, who stood next to Henry. The crowd erupted again, and Henry turned to Levi and could only stare at him.

“You knew about this, didn’t you?” he yelled over the crowd. Levi finally laughed, shook his head, and grabbed onto Henry in a hug. Henry pounded him on the back, offering his congratulations before Levi jogged through the crowd to get his yellow folder.

Justin handed her a purple folder, and everybody instantly quieted again. “It’s with a heavy heart that I need to inform you that Flint is going to be leaving us this summer. He’s going to take his family and move to another ranch just outside of Austin,” she said. “That leaves a hole in our full-time apprentice leaders. And with Levi moving into a master apprentice position, we have two people that we need to move up into these leadership positions.”

Angel handled herself with grace and power, and she beamed radiance out into the crowd. “Owen and Ranger.”

Applause burst out again, and Henry joined in, cheering for Owen and Ranger, who were great farriers. They’d graduated a few years ahead of him, and they’d be great in the apprentice management positions.

“Now I want to do team leads next,” Angel said. “These men are all farriers, and they’ll lead a team of two horsemen and one farrier, which makes a team of four. Our captains will do the same thing: two farriers, two horsemen on every team.”

Justin handed her a pile of blue folders, and she didn’t open them or consult a list. “Your new team leads are Cedric, Jake, Nathan, Thompson, and Miles.” Henry glanced over to the nearest man to him, who happened to be Nathan.

“That’s five,” he said as he started to clap along with everyone else. Angel had only announced three team lead positions a few weeks ago—why had she called five names? The men went forward and collected their folders, moved off to the side, shook hands, hugged those around them. The crowd in front of Angel was starting to be smaller than the one to the side of her.

“We have new captain positions,” she said as she accepted a handful of red folders. “Thane, Ray, Caleb, and Henry.”

The air left Henry’s lungs, leaving plenty of room for gratitude to stream in. Had his name really been called? It had, if the way Caleb beamed over to him and said, “Let’s go, boss,” and took off toward Angel.

Again, Henry’s mind cataloged that she’d called four names when she’d only announced three positions. But he realized now why—he was no longer a team lead. Someone had to take his place. She’d announced three captain positions but called four names, which meant somebody who was a captain would be doing something else. Henry couldn’t keep up with the buzz, the energy, the handshakes, the smiling, and Angel had two more folders anyway.

“And lastly, we have our two brand-new, welcome greeter positions,” Angel said, holding orange folders in her hands now. The breeze kicked up, but Henry had never known a more perfect spring day.

“I’m thrilled to have two of our very best cowboys, one from the farrier side and one from the horseman side, taking the lead as the public face of Lone Star.” She smiled out at everyone, held up the folders in her hand, and said, “Zane and Copper.”

The crowd erupted again. Henry was impressed by those who didn’t hold a folder in their hands at all, at the way they cheered for their colleagues, at the way they smiled though surely some of them felt only disappointment.

Justin was out of folders, which meant the promotions had ended. Angel handed out the folders to Zane and Copper and got down off the platform.

Justin called, “That’s it, folks. We’d like our new positions to stay here and have a chat. Everyone else, you’re free to go.” Henry held the red folder in his hand, every cell in his body vibrating. He stayed for the meeting, flipping open his folder and seeing that he would be working with Grady, one of their full-time men over apprentices, as the other farrier on his team, and then two horsemen, Creston and Wick. His heart fell slightly because he didn’t get along super great with Creston, but he put a smile on his face, noted their phone numbers, and paid attention as Angel said she and Justin would be meeting with each group of men one day next week to go over questions, concerns, and other things as they moved into their new positions at the beginning of June.

Henry quickly sent the three texts to his team, got responses of high-fives, thumbs-ups, and can’t wait . Then the meeting broke up.

He definitely had work to do that day, but he furtively moved toward Angel’s house. She’d likely come in the back door, and he slipped around to the front porch and texted her, Come see me out in front of your house when you get a minute .

On my way , she texted back. Henry looked up and across the dirt lane to the fields beyond. Pure happiness moved through him, and he tilted his head back and said, “Thank you, Lord, for giving me a captain position.” He could thank Angel and Justin too, but only one of them with a kiss.

Angel came out her front door a couple of minutes later, and Henry jogged up the steps, laughing. She grinned and giggled with him as he grabbed onto her and twirled her around.

“Is this joy about your promotion?” she asked.

He set her on her feet and ran his hands through her hair. “Sure is, sweetheart,” he said. “Thank you for taking a chance on me.”

“You’re a good farrier, Henry,” she said, planting both palms against his chest. “When are you going to start believing it?”

“I don’t know,” he whispered. “Maybe in June.” He kissed her then because every amazing promotion needed to be sealed with an amazing kiss.

Maybe he kissed her for too long or maybe too deeply, but when he heard a door slam, he came to his senses and pulled away. Angel jumped back, and she looked past him to her front yard. Henry turned and looked that way too, every ounce of blood in his body turning to ice as her daddy stared at him from the front corner of his pickup truck.

Bard let out a long, huffing sigh and then went around to the passenger seat to help Trevor get down. Trevor wore pure astonishment in his expression when he faced the house, and Henry wished he had chameleon skin so he could fade into the siding of Angel’s house and simply disappear.