scramble up. I could tell by the look on his face he couldn’t even fathom ever leaving Montana. There might be a time here or there when a vacation would seem like an adventure. But it wouldn’t be too long before he was needing to get home to Montana. I admired that about him.
“I miss it every now and then,” Uncle Lucien said. “But I don’t have any regrets. Sometimes, I think about life here, but I’m happy with the life I chose in California.”
“I don’t know,” my father said, looking down into his coffee mug. “I wonder all the time what life could have been like had I stayed closer to my roots. Being back here only makes me wonder more.”
Chapter 21
Sawyer
Colt and I were behind the others, riding a little ways back so we could keep an eye on the herd. It wasn’t a lot of distance, but it was enough that they felt like they had a little privacy and could chat and enjoy themselves. It was an integral part of the Dude Ranch experience. Once they settled in and seemed to have things more or less figured out, they got to kind of control the situation a bit. Or at least feel like they controlled it.
Colt and I being behind them meant nothing was going to go wrong and it acted as a safety net against them not paying enough attention. Usually, it was just me, or sometimes Wade with me, but Colt being here meant that not only did I have one of the best rodeo cowboys in the world with me, but he was also a little easier to talk to. That meant I didn’t have to live in my head as much and could relax a little myself.
The family was laughing away, most of them huddled up close together while Rubin and Lucien rode ahead some. Jane’s laughter brought a smile to my face that I didn’t bother to try and hide, and Walter laughed along with her. Colt leaned forward on the pommel and stretched his back for a second before looking over at me.
“They seem to be getting the hang of riding a bit more,” he said, noting the two girls.
Indeed, they were, and even if I wasn’t occasionally finding myself staring at Jane’s behind as she rode, I would have noted that both she and her sister seemed to have gotten a much better hang of things.
“Cecelia still needs some work,” I said, “but they are both doing about as well as anyone does at this point in the drive.”
We rode in silence for a minute or so and another wave of laughter broke out between Cecelia, Jane, and Walter.
Colt grinned. “You know, I think I get it now.”
“Get what?” I asked.
“This,” he said, gesturing ahead of us. “The whole Dude Ranch thing.”
“Oh?” I asked.
“It’s valuable to people. Like really valuable. Most folks don’t really know what it’s like to work with their hands, to really put in hours and hours of sweat and blood and worry and love into what they do for a living. They just get up and they go to work and come home at five and eat sushi, you know?”
“Eat a lot of sushi when you’re out on the circuit?” I joked.
“Tons, but that’s beside the point,” he said. “People don’t really do a lot of hard physical work. They might garden or work on cars or something, but that’s all spare time stuff. Stuff they do when they aren’t working. And the people who do work physically, a lot of them don’t get to see land like this. They don’t get to see wide open spaces and blue sky. So many of them are stuck inside working their asses off for what?”
“A paycheck, I presume,” I said.
“Yes, smartass,” he said. “A paycheck. But then what do they do with that money? They buy TVs and video games and shit that keeps them inside even more. Everything is about staying indoors now. But the ranch, driving cattle? It’s hard, and it’s exhausting, but for a lot of people like these, it’s the first time they’ve really gone out and done something with their hands and accomplished it. You know?”
“That’s a whole lot of words for people like horses.” I laughed.
“Will you shut up and accept my congratulations, you jerk?” he said. “I’m trying to pay you a damn compliment.”
“Well, thank you for that late but appreciated recognition,” I said, chuckling.