Chapter Five

The next morning, Dallas had everyone gather in the dining room for the morning meeting. They were all sipping coffee and munching whatever they were eating before work started.

Dallas was nervous, never having relished speaking in front of people. As all those eyes were on him, he swallowed the newly formed lump in his throat, then coughed for no apparent reason, then looked for and finally found his voice.

"Uh, yeah, hey everybody. I have the assignments for today. I know we've all kinda been doing what needed done, but we're about to get more hands in here. I'm looking over applications today, so I figured it would be good to, you know, get organized or something."

His eyes found Ruben, who was staring up at him, eyes shining. He didn't know why, but that helped.

"So, until we get some help around here, we gotta do double and triple duty, as we have been. But a few things need handled today. I wanna make sure they get done. Avery, you and me are gonna head to the stables and get them cleaned out, give the horses the day in the big corral and then we'll check them over one at a time and put them on the hot walker to get them some exercise or we'll ride them a bit to go check some of the fence.

"Bonita, you and Ruben head to the southeastern fence, start there and move around to the northwest fence. It shouldn't take you long, if everything is good, but if it's not, call it in and I'll send Del here, since he's back this morning from going and seeing his sick ma, he'll be the runner. Del, check on the horseshoes, see if we're stocked on them, listen for Bonita and Ruben to call in and if all that is good, help me and Avery at the stables today."

"Sounds good, boss," Del said with a mostly toothless grin. He was an older guy, in his later fifties, and had the rattiest beard Dallas had ever seen, huge spots of it bare, and it couldn't make up its mind if it was gray, blond or red.

"Any questions, complaints, you know where to stick them."

Ruben was up first and out the door in a second, and Dallas noticed, but he wasn't the only one. Bonita charged over to Dallas and hissed in a deadly whisper, "What the fuck is your problem?"

"What?"

"Why did you send him off with me? You that scared you might like him?"

Before he could answer, she waved a hand over him and rolled her eyes before spinning on her heel and heading out the door. Avery came over and asked, "What was her problem?"

"Nothin'."

He hadn't thought about it, frankly. In fact, if he had, it wouldn't be any other reason than Ruben and Bonita worked so well together. They were close, best friends as well as siblings. They mirrored each other and could work without saying a word for hours, just knowing each other's rhythms.

Forgetting that for the moment, he got busy with his work, but when he saw that Avery had most everything well in hand, he headed for the office to deal with some of the paperwork.

There was a box on the desk, and he quickly saw it was the one with the personal effects of the previous owner. It wasn't much, some loose pictures, a few letters, more pictures in frames of champion horses and cattle the ranch had raised over the decades.

He fingered through them only to come on the picture with Harrison and the boy that was unlabeled. "Who is this kid?"

It was stupid, sure, but he got a weird feeling when he looked at it. It felt like there was a story behind it, and it was a hell of a story. Sure, it was more likely just some hand's kid or other relative, but it didn't feel that way.

The closer he looked, he saw a sadness on the kid's face at the same time he saw annoyance or even anger on Harrison's. As he was looking, Jace came into the office and said, "Shit, I forgot about that box. I guess we should send this stuff to his sons?"

"I guess."

Jace moved behind him to look at the picture he was staring at. "Oh, that one."

"I can't seem to just lay this one down like it was some stupid picture. I mean, sure, it's probably some kid of someone that worked on the ranch, some cousin or nephew or something, but look at it. Harrison's face. Why would he be so pissed?"

"He was an asshole; you all have told me that."

"Yeah, but the pictures with his sons, and the hands and stuff, he may not be smiling like a loon, but he doesn't look like he's ready to scream. And this kid, why would he be so pissed at taking this picture, and yet he saved it."

"You're looking too far into this, Dallas. He probably got a copy of this picture and threw it in a drawer. If not, well, I guess it's weird, but nothing to stress about."

"Yeah. I guess I'm still shocked the guy is missing. Where do you figure he is?"

Jace took a seat in front of the desk and settled his boots on the top of it. "Yeah, uh, that is really weird, but if he wasn't all that close to his kids, maybe he took the money he got from this place and went nuts. He could be shacked up in some house with a few girls, drinking, fucking, and whatever heteros do."

Dallas laughed and tossed the picture in the box. "Well, that makes me ready to lose my Frosted Flakes. Let's get to work."

The books were getting in order, the office finally clean, and Jace even told him they could probably start breeding the horses that next spring. Then, the subject of winterizing came up and Jace groaned for the both of them. "This is a big place, man. I'm sure Harrison had ways of doing it, but who knows all of them?"

"Not me. We did the bunkhouse and stables, we set up the shelters for the cattle, shit like that. As for the rest of it, I'm clueless."

"The generators would need to be maintained, on the houses and the other buildings, unless they have solar or wind power, and even then, don't you all use gennies?"

"Yeah, we do. We have to."

Jace got up and walked out of the office with him, telling him, "Then we are getting someone to check the gennies tomorrow."

"That would be me. I'm the only one left that's dealt with them except for Del and he's worthless when it comes to anything except cattle and horses directly."

"Gotcha."

They went over applications, made some calls, including phone interviews, then made appointments for them all to come in, to do an in-person interview and to possibly take the job. There were ten of them, but he really wanted fifteen at least.

When Ruben rode back with Bonita, Dallas was outside the stable with Jace, checking on a horse that was reported to have a limp. "Had to be a rock. He's not limping now," Jace said as Dallas's eyes kept cutting to Ruben.

Ruben had yet to look his way, and it felt purposeful. Bonita did, however, throwing him a scathing look that chilled him to his bones. "Damn, I'm in trouble."

"Oh?" Jace followed Dallas's gaze and chuckled low. "Wow, she is pissed. Why?"

"For sending Ruben out with her this morning! I mean, they work the best together. I didn't do it to be a prick."

"But he obviously didn't feel that way, and his sister is defending him. You might want to talk to him."

He'd thought of that, of course, but he had no idea what to say. "Jace, how did you…with them?"

"In case I'm wrong, I think you mean, how did I get with my men? Correct?"

"Yeah."

Jace sat in the dirt, kicking his legs out straight so he could cross one boot over the other as he took in a long breath. "Well, we were in the middle of a…thing. Some bad fellas were coming to kill my friends back in this little town where I lived in Colorado. In the middle of all that, Roland was there to build a house for my boss's son and Tango came to work security for all of us. He was working for Burke then, doing private security. Well, I'll tell you, I met them separately, and I was in a spin over each of them. It slowly gravitated to us flirting, then getting closer, but only so close. We had a crisis going on, after all. But, right in the middle of it, when I volunteered to help negotiate the end of it, they both let me know exactly what they thought of that. They made a united front about it, and, well, I knew it then, that they could be into each other like I was into both of them."

That hit him hard. He'd figured he could get away with dismissing the thought of Ruben at least, and for sure, Ruben and that annoying mobster. It didn't sound as harrowing as Dallas thought it would be.

Of course, that was Jace's life, not Dallas's. Those two men were not Ruben and Marius. Dimples. Lord, even a nickname like that should be a red flag. "One of them isn't a criminal and the other didn't work for you."

"Excuses, my friend. We can always come up with a ton of them, but in the end, they die an easy death once you're holding those men in your arms."

Those thoughts were a little much and he had to check the gennies. As he rubbed the back of his neck, he rushed, "I gotta…get back to the bunkhouse."

Jace got back to his feet and stopped him with a hand on his shoulder. "I'm not pushing you; I promise. I like you, Dallas. You're the kind of guy that I've always been friends with. Simple, good, hard-working, and loyal. I guess, being that I'm happy with my guys I'd like to see you have that too. But, if you're not into them, I'll back off."

Dallas relaxed but acknowledged his new friend was right. "Jace, I've been alone a long time. Maybe I'm just afraid I don't know how to…to be with someone past a night."

Jace sighed as he nodded. "Yeah. I unfortunately know that feeling. It's hard to get around, I do know that."

"Thanks for all this, Jace. It's been even longer since I had a friend I could…you know, talk to?"

"Is that a question?"

"No, I guess not."

The next morning, he knew he shouldn't assign Ruben with himself. He was saved from that decision by Jace, who walked into the bunkhouse right as Dallas was about to make the work announcements. He sidled up to Dallas and whispered, "Three of those guys are here for the interviews. I'm thinking on the job interview. Might help a bunch today, since we have to check the rest of the gennies."

"Good thinking." To the room, he said, "Ruben, Avery, and Del are riding out to check the herd today. Bonita, I have another job for you. Head to the stable for now and start getting the horses out to the corral."

"Sure thing, boss," she said smarmily.

He ignored her for the moment and followed Jace to the office, where the three were standing around, waiting. He shook their hands and introduced himself, letting the first man into the office, before closing the door.

Jace offered the man a chair after he shook Dallas's hand. "I'm Sam Rustin," he said, and he was a very pretty man. He was clean-shaven and had actual dimples, unlike the man who claimed to.

Sam had his hat in hand as he took his seat, setting the hat on his knee as he set one ankle over his thigh. As soon as Dallas took his seat, he found it wasn't easy. The guy's shining green eyes were crinkled at the corners from his wide smile, and it was hypnotizing.

Jace broke the spell. "Sam, huh? Good name, easy to remember."

"Oh, hell, they called me Sam Hill at my last job. Ya know the sayin', what in the Sam Hill?"

"I always said Sam Hell, but I gotcha," Jace said, then looked pointedly at Dallas, who took the hint.

"Oh, Sam, okay, um…" He shuffled through the papers on his desk until he realized the applications were online. Feeling dumb, and trying to cover, he set the papers to the side as he asked, "Your experience? I have it here, but if you can give me a few more details."

"Surely can. Well, sir, I have been on one ranch or ‘tother since I was knee-high to a baby pig, and I guess I done it all. Ropin', herdin', muckin', I can break a horse like nobody's business, and I also rodeoed quite a bit a few years back. Had me some fun there."

Dallas was soothed by the accent, and he relaxed more. "That's what we're looking for."

"Remind me to introduce you to my friend, Joel. He still ropes in competition," Jace said.

"I'd like that, surely. Thank ya."

Right off, Dallas knew he'd be a good hand. The important question was still coming. It wasn't asked on the application, though it was made clear the ranch was gay-friendly. "Sam, well, when we spoke on the phone, you said you read the application fully. The part of it we were talking about was the gay-friendly part of it."

"Oh, hell, yeah. I read it alright."

The seconds ticked by as Dallas and Jace leaned toward him to listen to more, but more didn't come. They'd have to be more direct.

"You don't mind…gay men working and coming here on vacation, you know, once the resort is finished?"

"I'll be working at the resort? I thought I was cowboyin'."

Still, not a hint about his sexuality, but being gay wasn't a requirement. Dallas went on, unwilling to ask him. In fact, he thought it might be illegal to ask. "You will be, Sam, but there will be times you might see the guests, you know, need to interact with them. There will also be a club…a gay club leaning to a certain kind of…"

"Specialty," Jace said when Dallas couldn't find the word.

Sam looked from one to the other, then back again. "Okay, y'all are playin' ‘round, right? Do you mean a leather club?"

Dallas let out his held breath and Jace laughed as he answered, "Yes. Yes, exactly. You know about those?"

"I should. Been going since I figured out I liked guys. The only kind to find in the cities near one-horse towns is where I usually end up."

Dallas smiled and said, "Welcome to Carrillo Ranch, Sam Hill Rustin."