the world,” Josie murmured to herself as she drove onto the property. Her truck bounced and jostled with the changing landscape beneath it. With her good hand, she gripped the wheel and spun it around to angle down the dirt toward her fifth wheel. “Things will be okay.”
The lies didn’t suddenly ring true once she spoke them out loud, but she had to try.
Even though her home was on wheels, she’d created a solid foundation for her life during her year-long stay on the ranch. She cherished each morning spent plunked down in her folding chair, mug of coffee in hand as she watched the sun crest over the foothills. The clinking of her homemade cowbell and horseshoe wind chime was a fitting musical score for this stretch of land and this phase in her life. Sure, the trio of half-alive potted plants at her door didn’t have a proper porch to rest upon, but luxuries like that never mattered to Josie. What mattered was that this small, rented map dot was a place to call her own.
Well, it was her place until about ten minutes ago.
This time she intentionally switched the truck into park and just as she was about to hop down from the vehicle, her phone buzzed in the front pocket of her canvas jacket. Wrestling it out, she glanced down at the screen and the unfamiliar number.
Looking for a farrier. Was referred to you, was all the message entailed.
Short and to the point, which was just fine with Josie. With equal brevity, she typed her reply.
Broken arm. Not shoeing at the moment. Sorry.
That should button things up, she figured. She slid the phone into the back pocket of her jeans and took the straps of her reusable grocery bag into her grip. With her hip, she bumped the truck door closed and paced toward her trailer. Gravel crunched below the tread of her work boots, and, like the ringing of Pavlov’s bell, her calico cat, Cowboy, came charging out from underneath a wheel well at the sound. Weaving perfect figure eights, he did his level best to trip Josie up.
“Don’t worry. I didn’t forget your turkey,” she assured.
Like he didn’t fully trust her, Cowboy leapt onto the Formica counter once inside the trailer and eyed Josie intently as she pulled a plastic baggy filled with thinly sliced deli meat out from the cluster of groceries. The cat’s low motor began to rev a purr of approval.
Tearing off a little piece, Josie extended her hand for Cowboy to nibble from. “Silly cat,” she said with a smirk. “Do you think you could be a little more high maintenance?”
A raspy meow served as Josie’s answer.
She had wanted a dog. Some animal that could nap in the truck when Josie was out shoeing horses or taking ranch calls. When she had ventured down to the humane society, she’d originally hoped to adopt a blue heeler puppy that had been heavily advertised on the county’s website. Apparently, a young family of four also had the same idea. But Josie couldn’t stomach the thought of leaving that shelter empty handed. There were too many animals, not enough cages, and even less willing adopters.
No two ways about it, though, Cowboy was nasty. The Band-Aid the young volunteer sported on his left forearm was a testament to that cat’s ornery attitude. Like a sign in a warehouse that boasted accident-free days, there was a running tally on Cowboy’s cage indicating the number of times he’d hissed at, scratched, or intimidated volunteers and potential owners. By the time Josie met him, that total was a whopping 204.
“You’re the only person this devil cat hasn’t tried to attack,’’ the volunteer had sneered, noticeably done with Cowboy’s antics. “Believe me, that’s a huge compliment.”
How could she leave Cowboy to a life of solitary confinement in a metal cage knowing that information? With a heart filled with significantly more spite than gratitude, Josie signed the papers and carted the cat home in a cardboard box the staff had warned would be shredded to pieces before she even pulled out of the lot.
To this very day, Cowboy had yet to add to his tally.
Sometimes all one needed in order to let their guard down was the security of a place to call home.
Huffing a breath of frustration, Josie nearly felt like hissing as she reflected on her own sudden and unexpected lost sense of security. She needed answers from Marcie and Marty, but now wasn’t the time for