Total pages in book: 70
Estimated words: 70566 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 353(@200wpm)___ 282(@250wpm)___ 235(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 70566 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 353(@200wpm)___ 282(@250wpm)___ 235(@300wpm)
Creed, another member of the Dixie Wardens, was a game warden for the state of Montana. He was a hard-ass when it came to wildlife, but he knew the score when it came to wolves attacking livelihoods.
“Good.” Hux jerked his head toward the forklift. “Give me a minute and we’ll get them out.”
We had them out and in the cleaning area in a couple of minutes.
“You need any help?” I asked, hoping he wouldn’t.
I’d help if I was needed, but that was damn near the last thing I wanted to do right then.
Hux eyed me. “If I said I did?”
“I’d carve out some time between dinner and bed.”
Though, just saying, but that wasn’t a very wide window. I usually ate, showered, and went to bed all within two hours of each other.
Hux chuckled. “Got a couple of high school students that are in a butchering class that are more than willing to learn and help.” He shook his head. “I got this. Any cuts in particular?”
“Whatever you can salvage.” I shrugged. “I’m not picky at this point.”
Couldn’t be when some of the meat would be ravaged by the damage the wolves had caused.
Ranch life was rewarding at times, but at others? It made me want to fuckin’ scream.
“Will do.” He fist-bumped me. “Go get some shuteye. You look like you could use it.”
I was about sixty hours short on sleep.
It’d be better if I could find more help, but until that happened, I was doing the work myself.
Juliana leaving had caused several of my other ranch hands to cut out, too.
She’d spread her lies, and everyone that’d loved her had all but lambasted me for “treating her wrong.”
“You ain’t lyin’.” I laughed and clapped him on the shoulder, feeling the lethargy in my body even from that small act. “Just finished up tagging and branding last week. Now I’m struggling my ass through repairing fences and whatever else needs done at the ranch. Wishing Juliana hadn’t flipped me the bird and stolen half my employees when she cut out.”
“You find anyone to help you in the mornings yet?” he asked.
All three girls would’ve normally had their mornings filled with feeding animals and cleaning out stalls.
However, all three had extracurricular activities that decided to move from afternoon to morning, meaning I was left without help to get all the animals fed.
Hence my putting out an ad in the paper offering room and board if they helped me.
I didn’t have time to add that on top of my already overflowing to-do list.
“Not yet,” I admitted. “It’s not a lot of room, and they don’t really want to go downstairs to shower in the barn.”
“Just get the shower up there fixed,” he pointed out.
“I’m working on it, but I don’t have enough hours in the day.”
Literally. I was already getting up at three. Working through lunch half the time. Then when I got home, it was time for bed.
“Get Koen to do it,” Hux suggested. “King Construction does fine work.”
He pointed at his state-of-the-art butchering facility behind him that he’d attached to his parents’ Mercantile and General Store.
Koen King, a member of the Dixie Wardens MC, had started his construction company, King Construction, a year or so ago when he’d moved here.
In the year that he’d been here, his construction company had gained a lot of traction thanks to all the projects that he’d taken on with the club.
Now, he was in high demand and had a waiting list a mile long.
“Koen has about as much time to do shit now as I do,” I pointed out. “And ripping old piping out of the barn is at the bottom of my to-do list. If they don’t want to take a shower in the shower downstairs, then there’s no reason they need to rent the apartment.”
“Guess you’ll be feeding the animals in the morning, huh?” Hux grinned.
“I’ll manage,” I grumbled darkly.
“If you say so, Denver.”
I flipped him off. “Let me know if you need anything.”
After dropping the cows off with Huxley, I headed to the feed store and got my pickup right before they closed.
After I was done with that, I stopped at The Mercantile again for a quick bite to eat out of their deli section before heading back home.
Dinner was just being cleaned up off the table, and I grimaced.
I’d forgotten that our new cook was here today.
The new cook, Enid, was a fill-in for our newest regular cook, Claudine. She was damn good at what she did. But she was only there three days a week, and I rarely remembered where my head was at, let alone the day of the week it was and when she was cooking.
“You missed dinner,” Enid said when she saw me.
I shrugged. “Work got in the way.”
“Pretty sure that I saw you grabbing a sandwich from The Mercantile a little bit ago,” Catalina whispered.