Chapter 5

Chapter Five

“ A mes. There you are.” Ryder caught him as he stepped out of the office where he’d been giving his report to Kase.

The herd up at the high pastures was someone else’s problem for a month now. And there was a camp cook installed there with the crew who’d changed places with them.

But the last thing he wanted to do was talk to another boss. He wanted an hour-long shower, and then he was headed into town for a huge plate of Mexican food. Or a steak. Maybe an all-day breakfast of pancakes and a Denver omelet at the diner.

He was fucking starving.

It never occurred to him how quick and how bad a cook could fuck your world up, but damn, it didn’t take much at all. He’d been polite, he thought, but apparently Nathan had taken offense to his request for normal food. So he’d had precisely measured tasteless crap for a week. And there hadn’t even been a bag of Cheetos or an extra cookie in the kitchen at three a.m.

“Here I am,” he agreed, trying for anything but snarky.

Maybe a deep-dish pizza.

“I need to speak with you. Come to my office?” Ryder’s face was a thundercloud.

Fuck. Fuck, what had he done now? Had that cook asshole complained about him?

“Sure, Boss.” He had no intention of asking what he was in trouble for. Go for innocence. That was his thing.

“Good deal.” When they got there, Ryder closed the door.

Dammit.

This was bad.

He sat when Ryder waved him to the chair across the desk, and he tried not to fidget or breathe too hard. Was he getting his ass fired? He sure as fuck hoped not. He was in his groove.

“I got a phone call from Jennifer—she’s our social worker.”

He nodded, tension easing from his shoulders. That had nothing to do with him. He’d taken the foster training like everyone else at the ranch, but he wasn’t signed up as a potential parent.

“She says that she’s afraid your aunt, Reba, has been killed in a car accident.”

He sat back, his eyebrows flying up. “Jesus. Aunt Reba?” That was— “Wait. What does the social worker have to do with anything?”

“Your cousin, Sophia. She’s heading this direction. Partially because you’re the only family that anyone knows of, and partially because we have room for her, and she identifies as queer.”

Holy shit. His cousin. The last time he’d seen her she’d been…what? Five? “I—wow. Sophia. She’s okay? She wasn’t in the accident?”

“No. No, she was in school. I’m going to have her brought here, but I wasn’t sure how you wanted to play it.”

“Of course she can come here. I mean…” He pondered the situation. “But I’m the trail boss, and the gather is coming up. I’ll be out for two, three weeks before I’m back for the branding for a while.”

“Well, we can give her a room here, let her be settled. I mean, you have room for her, but she can’t be on her own for weeks at a time…” Ryder shrugged, wincing a bit. “Not that I’m telling you how to deal with your cousin.”

“No, I would appreciate that. It could be super awkward until we get to know each other again. I haven’t seen her since she was little.” It was a bit embarrassing.

“That’s fine. You two can spend time together, but she can be here in the main house with the other guys—we have Jaime and Bea here, and ’Lijah, of course. They’re all her age.” Ryder gave him a wry smile, shook his head. “I am sorry for your loss, Ames.”

“Thank you.” He felt stunned, kind of stuck to the chair. “I mean, Reba was…she was difficult for me. But I know she loved Sophie.”

“Well, I know Sophie told them to get you, but she wasn’t sure your last name, so they were having trouble.” Ryder’s eyebrow lifted and he shrugged. “She told the social worker there that you worked at a big gay ranch. Jennifer happened to talk to her because we place LGBTQ kids, and—guess what?”

“Wow. I’m glad I have a not-average first name.” He really was. “When will she be here?” Please say tomorrow. I need a minute to breathe.

“She’ll be in Albuquerque late tonight or early tomorrow morning. Someone is bringing her to Albuquerque, and then Jennifer will bring her to us. I don’t know about probate or anything, though. Do you need a lawyer?”

“I guess? I mean, I can see my mom going to war over the house and land Reba had. Not over Sophie, but her stuff, since she’s not of age. I would want her to have it or have the sale money.” She deserved anything Reba had left her for college.

Ryder’s nostrils flared. “Then we’ll get you with Roger. He’s on retainer. He’ll make sure to arrange everything for her.”

“Thank you. I’ll pay you back.”

“You will not.” Ryder cut a hand through the air. “We do foster care here. We deal with this stuff so the families don’t have to, you included. Now, once you get her moved in with you, then you can decide what to do about those kinds of bills, but this is what Kase and I do.”

His cheeks heated some, but he was also proud to work for an outfit like this. “Then I’ll help out in other ways, Boss. You have my word.”

“Thank you. I’ll have one of the rooms made up for her. Her paperwork, a couple of suitcases, and the girl herself will be in hand by this time tomorrow, at the latest.”

“Okay.” He nodded. Okay. He could clean up. Get some stuff together for her at the store. Eat something so he was less of a bear. And then be around when she got in. “Okay, that’s doable.”

“Take the rest of the day off. Take care of what you need to. The work will be here tomorrow.”

“Thanks, Boss. I was ready to go have a shower.”

“We’ll call you if she should get here early.”

“Thanks.” His belly rumbled loud enough to hear.

“Nathan’s in the main kitchen. He’s always got food for people that stop in. He’s testing hors d’oeuvres for the Fourth of July party.”

“Oh, I won’t bother him.” He would give Ames a bowl of cereal. “I’m sure he’s glad to see the last of me. I dared to ask him for a hamburger.” He chuckled, shaking his head.

“He seems much happier now that he’s in a commercial kitchen. There are brisket egg rolls that are the finest thing I’ve ever eaten.” Ryder actually licked his lips. “But suit yourself.”

“Yeah. I don’t know, Boss. I think I really pissed him off. And I thought I was being diplomatic.” Not his strong suit, he guessed. “And I’m craving pizza or enchiladas.”

“You might see what’s in our kitchen then…did you guys fight in the camp?”

“No. Not really.” He might as well come clean. “We disagreed about everything, Boss. Every damn thing. And then asked him to put something normal on the menu. Steak. A burger. Just one meal… So I got cereal, ham sandwiches, and burgers. For a week. With six chips or six tater tots.”

Ryder fought his amusement with everything he had, Ames could tell. Truth be told, it was pretty damn funny, if it wasn’t happening to him.

“Yeah.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “I’ll order a pizza. See if the kids up at the Slice will deliver.”

“They should have someone on tonight.”

“That’s my thought too.” But then he needed to shop—He guessed he could order some stuff off Amazon.

“Whatever you need, man.” Ryder stood. “Get some rest and some food.”

“Yeah. Will do.” He climbed to his feet. “Thanks for all of this, Boss.” He would have been in a world of hurt if this had happened, and he wasn’t at this ranch, and he knew it.

“I really am sorry for your loss, and don’t stress the chef. He’s had a hard row to hoe, and he was very raw when you two met.”

“Sure. I get that.” And he did. He’d been licking his own wounds when he’d showed up at the Chiara place, and they’d been good enough to let him recover. So he would do the same favor for the chef.

He would simply leave the guy alone.