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Shane
“Hey, man, you know we have a break room, right?” A voice asks from behind me.
I turn around and see Taylor walking toward me. Ever since I started working on the Mitchell Cattle Ranch, Taylor has taken me under his wing and shown me the ropes. He’s pretty much second in command to Jonas, the owner.
I started here a few months ago, doing anything and everything that needs to be done. It’s exhausting, but the pay is good, and everyone seems like good people.
On my lunch breaks, I come outside to eat—which brings us to this moment.
Taylor takes a seat on the stool next to mine.
I look at him and say, “Yeah, but our break room doesn’t have views like this.” I gesture to the beautiful landscape featuring the Smokey Mountains.
“Fair enough,” he says with a smile. “And pretty soon, all the leaves will start changing, and it’ll be even prettier.”
“Yep. My favorite time of year.”
We are quiet for a moment, both of us admiring the view. Out here in a small town like Grady, there’s a whole lot of nature to look at. That’s why I’ll always prefer the small-town way of life over the big city.
I’ve always appreciated the little things, and Grady is all about taking time to stop and smell the roses. Nothing against the big city; it’s just not for me.
Taylor is the next one to speak. “So, how’s it going with that girl you’re seeing? Sarah?”
I let out a heavy sigh. “Shit, man, that’s not going anywhere anymore.”
“What happened?” You two seemed pretty hot and heavy there for a minute. That day she came by to bring you lunch, she couldn’t keep her hands off you.”
Trying not to go into too much detail, I reply, “Yeah, it was wild there for a while, but it fizzled out pretty quickly.”
“Ah, I see,” he says. “Been there. You’ll know when you meet the right girl. Everything will just click.”
“How the hell do you know? Aren’t you single?”
He nods. “Yeah, but that’s the bullshit that Jonas always tells me every time I have a bad date.”
We both bust out laughing.
Our boss, Jonas, and his two brothers indeed have wonderful wives and idyllic families.
“Alright,” Taylor says. “The dating life sucks. How are things at home?”
He’s referring to my grandparents that I live with. My parents died in a car crash when I was a baby, and my grandma and grandpa raised me after that. They’ve always been fantastic, but the more time that passes, the more I can see their ages taking a toll on them. At this point, I feel bad every time I think about moving out because I know they’ve come to depend on me for more and more.
“Things are fine,” I lie.
He looks like he wants to say something else, but Jonas hurries over to us, interrupting any train of thought either of us had.
“Tay, I need you to keep an eye on things around here for the rest of the day. I have something I need to go take care of.”
Taylor looks up at our boss and adjusts his baseball cap. “Sure, Joe. Everything okay?”
“Jessie called. I guess we need to go pick up Jenna from school or something.”
Jessie is one of Jonas’s brothers, and Jenna is their little sister.
Jonas adds, “I don’t have any details, but Jessie said it was important.”
Taylor nods. “Yeah, no problem. Get out of here. We’ll be fine.”
