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“Then why’d you throw it at me?”
“Why’d you sneak up on me?” I snapped back, staring at his intense turquoise eyes.
“I didn’t.” His smile widened slightly.
“Well, maybe stomp louder next time.”
He grinned and chuckled a little deeper than before. “Razor’s parked over there. Let’s head to Eugene.” Without handing me the bag, he adjusted his usual cowboy hat on his head and walked around me towards the bunkhouse. The same side-by-side we’d journeyed in before was parked just past the entrance to the gate that led to the chutes we’d worked in last time.
I pursed my lips in annoyance, but followed behind Weston. No spurs adorned his boots today, and I couldn’t help but be a little surprised with how quietly such a large man could walk. And the view wasn’t half bad either. He had powerful legs and a wide back with even broader shoulders. He was built like a force to be reckoned with, and I really wondered if he’d taken on an animal once.
But now was not the time for that question as we arrived at the red and black Razor. I pulled open the cold door and climbed in before he set my bag onto my lap and turned the key over. Gripping the handlebar so I didn’t fly around too terribly, we sped off towards wherever it was he was keeping this prized bull.
The engine seemed muffled as we barreled along this sparkling white road. Traversed often by not just tires, but horses as well. I once again felt enchanted by the world around me.
“You don’t see this every day,” I quietly muttered to myself.
“I do,” Weston snarkily replied beside me, and I clicked my tongue.
“Well, I don’t. You seem to forget I grew up in L.A.,” I casually stated, staring out at the passing wonder.
The Razor slowed as we turned off the beaten path to one that had more hoof prints than tire tracks. “I didn’t know you grew up in L.A.,” he said and ran a hand over his mustache. “How does a city girl end up becoming a vet, as well as her parents moving to one of the smallest towns in Montana?” he asked, and I glanced his way. It was a good question. One I didn’t really have the most satisfying answer to.
“I’m assuming growing up in this world, you’ve seen the movieSpirit? The old DreamWorks animated film?” I asked.
He nodded once. “Obviously. Who hasn’t?”
“You’d be surprised.” I turned away and watched the trees begin to thin. “Anyway, one day I was home sick from school, and my mom let me pick out one of the new DVDs she’d bought from the clearance bin at the store. I put them all into a bucket and picked one blind. It wasSpirit. From that moment on, I became obsessed with animals. My parents adopted a dog from the shelter for us when I was in middle school, and I spent my entire free time training her. One day I came home to find her vomiting and seizing on the floor. Turned out she had cancer. It was on the day she passed that I told everyone I would become a veterinarian so no other animal had to suffer the way Belle did.”
The trees fell back and a large empty field with a few groupings of pines scattered throughout emerged in front of me. Off to the right side was a beautiful, natural looking stone wall that shone with untouched snow. Untouched except for in the middle, there were carefully placed boulders that created a makeshift staircase.
Rising above the retaining wall, extending in the distance at the end of the trodden footpath, stood a delicate but magnificent cabin home. Quaint, but impeccable.
“That’s your house, isn’t it?” I gasped, pointing at the log cabin with a porch stretching in front. Snow dripped from the green, metal roof, freezing into pointed icicles.
“Yep. I had the older cows here this morning, but I’ve shifted them into a lower pasture where I’ll push the first time pregnant heifers to join them. So, I brought Eugene to his winter home,” Weston replied, the Razor rocking as he stepped out.
I pushed open the door and hopped into the snowy embankment that rose above my boot. “Where is he?” I trudged around the front of the vehicle, the moisture soaking into the hem of my pants. My ankles were already beginning to turn numb.
Weston nodded towards the corner on our right. “I got him behind some panels happily munching on fresh hay over yonder.” He immediately began taking massive strides through the snow towards the metal gate. For every one step of his, it took me at least four shuffling pushes to cover the same amount of ground. I tried to hop between his footprints, but kept sliding and nearly crashed to the ground. So I went back to making my own path.
Within two minutes, he’d walked through the gate and was putting more distance between me and him as I was panting and fighting the snow that was rising higher and higher. Finally, I arrived at the entrance with the wet, dense frozen water up to my calves. Leaning against the cold, copper railing, I paused to catch my breath.
“Mr. Duke!” I wheezed, not loud enough.
“Mr. Duke!” I shouted once more, this time my voice carried to his ears, causing him to pause.
His head swiveled to both sides before he turned his whole body around.
“Will you slow down? My short legs can’t keep up!” If it wasn’t embarrassing enough already having thrown my bag at him earlier, he smiled so widely at the sight before him, I could see teeth.
“Stop it,” I grumbled, feeling myself unable to stop the smile that was twitching at the corner of my lips.
And he actually laughed. An oddly beautiful sound, though it was brief, as he started walking my way.
When he finally reached where I was standing, I spoke again. “Why can’t we drive all the way in?”
“Snow’s too deep, and I don’t want ruts in my pasture. It’ll kill all the good grass that comes back in the spring,” he answered, making me groan.
