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Without pausing to think, Garrett reached out and grasped her waist. Pulling her to himself, she slid onto his lap.
“Oh, hey,” she said, staring into his eyes. “Thanks.”
Garrett’s breath caught in his throat at the nearness of her. “Hey,” he said. “Are you okay?”
Elise smiled. “I’m just fine.”
“Sorry,” he said, realizing he had overreacted. “I guess you weren’t in imminent danger from a little water.”
“It’s okay,” she said. “I don’t mind being rescued like this.”
He relaxed his grip, but kept a hand on her waist. “Me either. In fact, I think maybe you belong right here anyway.”
27
Garrett smiled as he glanced over at Elise in the passenger seat of his truck. They were almost home, and he couldn’t wait to settle the boys down for bed and sit on the couch next to her. It didn’t seem to matter that they’ve been together all day, he just wanted more.
Elise was saying something, but his forehead creased as they neared the driveway. There was something on the road. “What is that?”
Elise sat up straight in her seat and leaned close to the windshield to get a better look. “Are those… No, it can’t be.”
“Cattle.” Garrett spoke the one word, and a sense of dread washed over him. “The cows are out.” He grabbed his phone. It rang several times before he got an answer.
“Hey, man,” Sawyer answered. “What’s up?”
“Where are you?” Garrett asked.
“Probably about 20 minutes from home. Why?”
“Get here as fast as you can,” Garrett said. “The cows are out.”
“What?” Sawyer practically yelled.
“You heard me right. Just get back fast. I’m pulling into the driveway now. Headed to the barn.”
“But where are they? How did this happen?”
“Just get here!” Garrett heard the sound of his voice rising. He didn’t look at Elise. “I’ll drop you and the boys at the house.”
Elise didn’t say anything else, and he didn’t turn to look at her. As much as he hated not to go home with her, he couldn’t even think about it right now. This was his job. This was what he had to do. At a speed that was beyond what he normally would drive on the ranch, he drove to the house, and only stopped for a moment as Elise and the boys got out. He put the truck back in gear and drove to the barn as fast as possible.
After he parked outside, he sprinted into the barn and straight to his horse. He was sure he set some sort of record in the time he saddled his horse, then he headed back out to the road. Just before he reached the end of the pasture, he came upon one of the day workers.
“Hey,” he called out, seeing one of the day workers riding toward the cows. “What happened here?”
“Hole in the fence,” the man said matter-of-factly.
Garrett could feel his irritation rising. “How many got out?”
The man shrugged. “We’re not sure. We’ve been working on rounding them up. Two guys are fixing the fence now.”
Garrett bit his tongue as he watched the men’s casual attitude. But he didn’t have time to deal with that now. All he could do was go to work. He clicked his tongue and nudged his horse into motion. Moving towards the road, he began to herd the cows in the direction of the pasture. A short while later, Lawson and Jensen, along with Sawyer, arrived on their horses. Without a word, they all went to work. It was all Garrett could do to keep his mouth closed while they worked to get all the cows back into the fence.
By the time things were settled, it was beyond dark. Garrett and the rest of his brothers moved to the barn, while Sawyer went to talk to the day workers.
Garrett had just finished brushing down his horse when Sawyer walked into the barn. “Well?” Garrett said, jutting his hands onto his hips.
Sawyer furrowed his eyebrows and tilted his head. “Well, what?”
