to fall too fast, she felt herself doing exactly that.
Chapter 13
August braced his boots against the pillars of the fence and pushed with his legs as he pulled with his arms. “Come on, Mama,” he said, his voice full of the same tension as that which ran through his muscles.
“Almost there,” Jess said, and in the next moment, the calf slid all the way out, and August fell back. “There she is.” Jess jumped to work, wiping the birth off the calf’s face so it could breathe. “Come on.” He rubbed its face and neck, and then down the chest.
The mother cow lowed and tried to turn in the birthing chute, and August hurried to get to his feet to keep her there. The last thing they needed on this last day of the year was to get kicked or otherwise injured.
“Hey, shh.” He patted the cow’s back while keeping one eye on the calf. The worst part about birthing season was the fact that not every calf made it. He and Jess had been working for hours with this mother, and he really wanted this calf to survive.
Jess knew what to do, and August didn’t need to get in the way. He tugged the mother a bit further down the chute and unlatched a gate to put her in the recovery area. It had plenty of clean straw and water, but she came right over to the fence where her baby lay. A distressed mother cow could make a lot of noise, and she certainly didn’t hold back.
“Come on,” Jess said, clearly frustrated. He rubbed the calf’s ears roughly, and then wiped his face again. The calf’s eyes opened, and a pitiful bleat came from its mouth. It tried to stand, and August grinned at the same time Jess did.
“There you go,” he said, standing with the calf. “Yeah, let’s get you over there with your mama.” He led the calf into the same pen as his mother, and August sighed. He loved the work here at Shiloh Ridge, because the operation was set up the way August would’ve done for his own ranch. The men and women here loved the animals, and they respected them. Preacher and Ward, the other foreman, expected good, hard work, and they gave the same. The owners of the ranch, Bear and Ranger Glover, got dressed and dirty every single day alongside their hired help. It felt like a real family operation, and since August had come from that, he really connected to it.
Shiloh Ridge was simply many times bigger than the ranch he’d worked in Dripping Springs with Josie. He waited for the overwhelming, almost debilitating sadness to punch him in the gut, but today, it didn’t.
“Final rounds?” Jess asked. “Then you’re off, and I’ll know what I’m dealing with.”
“Yeah,” August said. “Let me wash up first.” They both stepped over to the industrial sink and started getting sudsy, washing off anything and everything on their hands and arms.
Outside, they each swung their leg over their own ATV, and Jess led the way out onto the ranch. They kept their pregnant cattle in three pastures, and they’d learned quickly to check on the way out and the way back in for any problems. August couldn’t see everything from the road, and he followed Jess down the barely-there trail alongside the first field.
A chill rode in the air with them, the sky overhead of the threatening type with dark clouds and the promise of precipitation at some point. August didn’t mind the cooler weather—they certainly hadn’t gotten much of it in the Hill Country.
The Texas Panhandle was a lot different than what he was used to, and he loved it here. He could see himself staying here, raising Hailey here, and being happy here.
With Etta? he wondered. Everything had gotten a bit convoluted for their date on Friday night, and he’d ended up sitting with a stubborn mother when he should’ve been dining with his girlfriend.
Yes, he’d started thinking of Etta as his girlfriend, though they hadn’t defined themselves with labels yet. He also hadn’t spoken to Hailey about taking Etta out, because he hadn’t actually done that yet.
Tonight, however, if all the fields looked good and none of their cattle would be delivering in the next few hours, August had a real, going-out date with Etta. He’d have to tell Hailey then.
“You want to tell her,” he muttered to himself, the growl of the ATV swallowing his words the moment they left