Page 6 of Broken Boundaries

I follow him through the big doorway. There are probably twenty stalls in here, all filled with beautiful horses. It also smells like it’s filled with twenty horses, and I try my best not to grimace. Brooks doesn’t seem to notice the smell at all. Must be something you get used to. Hopefully.

“Beck!” Brooks calls out.

A man comes out of a small office toward the back of the stable. He’s dressed similarly to Brooks in worn-in jeans, a Moonlight Ranch T-shirt, and boots. The only difference is that Beck is in a backward baseball hat while Brooks has his signature cowboy hat on.

“Hey, man.”

“Beck, this is our new hire, Aspen. She’s taking over Shelby’s position.”

“Ah, ok.” Beck wipes his hands on his jeans before he holds one out to me. “Nice to meet you, Aspen. I’m Beckham, but you can call me Beck.”

I shake his hand. “Nice to meet you.”

“Beck is our stable manager. He’s got a few guys who help out and do the trail rides with guests. Beck’s been with us for about ten years now. Probably knows more about this ranch than I do.”

Beck laughs. “I don’t know about that, boss. Maybe a close second. You ever ridden a horse, Aspen?”

“Um, no actually. I haven’t.” I’m embarrassed to admit that in front of two men who have very obviously been around horses for their entire lives.

“Well, we’ll have to get you out here one day. Let me know when you have time, and I’ll walk you through it. You’ll be riding in no time.”

One of the horses snorts next to us, making me jump a little. She’s a beautiful brown horse who looks like she wants to get out on the trails right now.

“That sounds great, Beck. Thank you.” I hope they can’t hear the wobble in my voice. As beautiful as the horses are, they’re huge. Which is a little intimidating for people who haven’t been around horses much, a.k.a. me.

Brooks pats one of the horses on the nose before he leads me back out to the UTV.

“Take Beck up on that offer,” Brooks says as we drive away from the stables. “He’s a great teacher. Very patient. He does all the kid rides, too. He’s got a little girl. They live on the property.”

“Oh, I didn’t realize people lived here.”

“Just me and Beck. His house is on the edge of the property. We’ll pass by mine in a bit. It’s by one of the lakes.”

“How long have you lived here?”

“My whole life. My parents lived in the house I currently live in. When I was old enough, I built a small cabin right next to theirs, where I lived until they retired and left this place to me. I renovated their house and moved in. Zach never mentioned it?”

“Oh, um, no. I don’t think he did.”

“Hmm. He used to stay with me in the cabin a lot. When he was really young, I’d set up a tent out back, and we’d camp. He always got so excited when he saw our sleeping bags ready to go. Once he got to be around ten or so, he stopped wanting to do that.”

His voice sounds sad as he reminisces. I feel bad for Brooks. He doesn’t seem like a bad guy. I wonder if he just had a hard time being a father at such a young age. I don’t know exactly how old Brooks is, but I know he doesn’t look over forty. Since Zach is twenty-two, I imagine Brooks was probably a teenager when Zach was born. I can’t imagine having a kid at that age. Hell, I can’t imagine having a kid now at twenty-four.

“I’ll have to ask him about it.”

“Yeah. Yeah, do that.”

The tour continues as we drive by two lakes where guests can fish and canoe. Brooks’s house sits a ways behind one of the lakes. We don’t get too close, but even from a distance, I can tell it’s stunning. It reminds me of one of those log cabins you see in the movies with giant windows, a big wrap-around porch, and beautiful landscaping all around. It’s obvious a lot of work has gone into the house. It’s like a mini mansion.

There is a little bit of space between the big house and the little house that Brooks says he lived in when Zach was younger. It’s a nice little house, but the size difference is kind of funny. There can’t be more than one bedroom in the smaller house. It almost looks like a shed compared to his house.

The tour of the property wraps up with Brooks pointing out the start of some hiking trails around the base of the mountains. He tells me a few that are his favorite, and I nod along, knowing that I’ll probably never hike them myself.

When the main lodge comes back into view, I’m actually disappointed that the tour is over. It wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be spending my morning with my new boss. It’s obvious that Brooks loves this ranch. Hearing him talk about the land and how passionate he is about it all makes me excited to work here. It also wasn’t as awkward as I thought it would be with just the two of us. With Zach being the only thing we have in common, I expected a lot of silence between us. But the conversation flowed nicely and professionally.

When I meet Harper back at the front desk, I’m smiling and thinking that maybe this job won’t be so bad after all.

CHAPTER 3